Editing Geoffrey Chaucer (section)

==Relationship to John of Gaunt==
Chaucer was a close friend of [[John of Gaunt]], the wealthy [[Duke of Lancaster]] and father of Henry IV, and he served under Lancaster's patronage. Near the end of their lives, Lancaster and Chaucer became brothers-in-law when Lancaster married [[Katherine Swynford]] (de Roet) in 1396; she was the sister of Philippa (de) Roet, whom Chaucer had married in 1366.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://muse.jhu.edu/article/727757 | title=Chaucer's Other ''Wyf'': Philippa Chaucer, the Critics, and the English Canon | author=Seal, Samantha Katz | journal=The Chaucer Review | year=2019 | volume=54 | issue=3 | pages=270–291 | doi=10.5325/chaucerrev.54.3.0270 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Weir|first=Alison|year=2007|title=Katherine Swynford: The story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess|publisher=Vintage Books|location=London|pages=225–227}}</ref>

Chaucer's ''The Book of the Duchess'' (also known as the ''Deeth of Blaunche the Duchesse'')<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Riverside Chaucer |last1=Chaucer |first1=Geoffrey |editor1-last=Benson |editor1-first=Larry D. |editor2-last=Pratt |editor2-first=Robert |editor3-last=Robinson |editor3-first=F. N. |year=1984 |chapter=The Legend of Good Women |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |location=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/600 600] |isbn=978-0-395-29031-6 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/600 }}</ref><!-- DEETH, BLAUNCHE, & DUCHESSE are correct Middle English spellings; please do not change --> was written to commemorate Blanche of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's first wife. The poem refers to John and Blanche in allegory as the narrator relates the tale of "A long castel with walles white/Be Seynt Johan, on a ryche hil" (1318–1319) who is mourning grievously after the death of his love, "And goode faire White she het/That was my lady name ryght" (948–949). The phrase "long castel" is a reference to Lancaster (also called "Loncastel" and "Longcastell"), "walles white" is thought to be an oblique reference to Blanche, "Seynt Johan" was John of Gaunt's name-saint, and "ryche hil" is a reference to Richmond. These references reveal the identity of the grieving black knight of the poem as John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Richmond. "White" is the English translation of the French word "blanche", implying that the white lady was Blanche of Lancaster.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Riverside Chaucer |last1=Wilcockson |first1=Colin |editor1-last=Benson |editor1-first=Larry D. |editor2-last=Pratt |editor2-first=Robert |editor3-last=Robinson |editor3-first=F. N. |year=1987 |chapter=Explanatory Notes on 'The Book of the Duchess' |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |location=Boston |pages=[https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/966 966–976] |isbn=978-0-395-29031-6 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/966 }}</ref>

===Poem ''Fortune''===

Chaucer's short poem ''Fortune'', believed to have been written in the 1390s, is also thought to refer to Lancaster.<ref name="Gross, Zaila 1987 635">{{Cite book |title=The Riverside Chaucer |last1=Gross |first1=Zaila |editor1-last=Benson |editor1-first=Larry D. |editor2-last=Pratt |editor2-first=Robert |editor3-last=Robinson |editor3-first=F. N. |year=1987 |chapter=Introduction to the Short Poems |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |location=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/635 635] |isbn=978-0-395-29031-6 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/riversidechaucer0000chau/page/635 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=A New View of Chaucer |last=Williams |first=George |year=1965 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham |page=55}}</ref> "Chaucer as narrator" openly defies ''[[Fortuna|Fortune]]'', proclaiming that he has learned who his enemies are through her tyranny and deceit, and declares "my suffisaunce" (15) and that "over himself hath the maystrye" (14).

''Fortune'', in turn, does not understand Chaucer's harsh words to her for she believes that she has been kind to him, claims that he does not know what she has in store for him in the future, but most importantly, "And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve" (32, 40, 48). Chaucer retorts, "My frend maystow nat reven, blind goddesse" (50) and orders her to take away those who merely pretend to be his friends.

''Fortune'' turns her attention to three princes whom she implores to relieve Chaucer of his pain and "Preyeth his beste frend of his noblesse/That to som beter estat he may atteyne" (78–79). The three princes are believed to represent the dukes of Lancaster, [[Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York|York]], and [[Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester|Gloucester]], and a portion of line 76 ("as three of you or tweyne") is thought to refer to the ordinance of 1390 which specified that no royal gift could be authorised without the consent of at least two of the three dukes.<ref name="Gross, Zaila 1987 635" />

Most conspicuous in this short poem is the number of references to Chaucer's "beste frend". ''Fortune'' states three times in her response to the plaintiff, "And also, you still have your best friend alive" (32, 40, 48); she also refers to his "beste frend" in the envoy when appealing to his "noblesse" to help Chaucer to a higher estate. The narrator makes a fifth reference when he rails at ''Fortune'' that she shall not take his friend from him.