Editing Geoffrey Chaucer (section)

==Literary works==
[[File:Portrait of Chaucer - Portrait and Life of Chaucer (16th C), f.1 - BL Add MS 5141.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Portrait of Chaucer (16th century). The arms are: ''Per pale argent and gules, a bend counterchanged''.]]
Chaucer's first major work was ''The Book of the Duchess'', an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster, who died in 1368. Two other early works were ''[[Anelida and Arcite]]'' and ''[[The House of Fame]]''. He wrote many of his major works in a prolific period when he worked as customs comptroller for London (1374 to 1386). His ''[[Parlement of Foules]]'', ''[[The Legend of Good Women]]'', and ''[[Troilus and Criseyde]]'' all date from this time. It is believed that he started ''The Canterbury Tales'' in the 1380s.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Riverside Chaucer |edition =3 |editor1-first=Larry D. |editor1-last=Benson |author-link=Larry Benson |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford UP |year=1988 |chapter=Introduction: The Canon and Chronology of Chaucer's Works|pages=xxii–xxv |first1=Larry D. |last1=Benson}}</ref>

Chaucer also translated [[Boethius]]' ''[[Consolation of Philosophy]]'' and ''[[The Romance of the Rose]]'' by [[Guillaume de Lorris]] (extended by Jean de Meun). [[Eustache Deschamps]] called himself a "nettle in Chaucer's garden of poetry". In 1385, [[Thomas Usk]] made glowing mention of Chaucer, and [[John Gower]] also lauded him.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer |editor=Thomas Tyrwhitt |chapter=Introductory Discourse to the Canterbury Tales |page=126 note 15 |publisher=W. Pickering and R. and S. Prowett |year=1822 |isbn=978-0-8482-2624-4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=guo3AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA95}}</ref>

Chaucer's ''[[Treatise on the Astrolabe]]'' describes the form and use of the [[astrolabe]] in detail and is sometimes cited as the first example of technical writing in the English language. It indicates that Chaucer was versed in science in addition to his literary talents.<ref>'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p9: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966</ref> ''[[The equatorie of the planetis]]'' is a scientific work similar to the ''Treatise'' and sometimes ascribed to Chaucer because of its language and handwriting, an identification which scholars no longer deem tenable.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Reviewed Work(s): The Authorship of ''The Equatorie of the Planetis'' by Kari Anne Rand Schmidt |first=Jeremy J. |last=Smith |journal=[[The Modern Language Review]] |volume=90 |issue=2 |year=1995 |pages=405–406 |jstor=3734556 |doi=10.2307/3734556 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Reviewed Work(s): The Authorship of ''The Equatorie of the Planetis'' by Kari Anne Rand Schmidt |first=N. F. |last=Blake |journal=[[The Review of English Studies]] |volume=47 |issue=186 |year=1996 |pages=233–34 |jstor=518116 |doi=10.1093/res/XLVII.186.233 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Reviewed Work(s): The Authorship of the ''Equatorie of the Planetis'' by Kari Anne Rand Schmidt |first=Linne R. |last=Mooney |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]] |volume=71 |issue=1 |year=1996 |pages=197–98 |jstor=2865248 |doi=10.2307/2865248 }}</ref>