chi è Geoffrey Chaucer?


Geoffrey Chaucer  (1340? – 1400) entered the court of king Edward III as a page (= paggio),  served as a soldier in the Hundred Years’ War, and married a lady of noble origins, enjoying (= godendo)  the patronage (protection = protezione)of a royal prince, John of Gaunt, a son of king Edward. 
He had many important official positions and made a number of journeys abroad. He  visited Italy (Genoa and Florence) on a diplomatic mission where he had the opportunity to read Boccaccio’s works and Petrarch’s poems. During the eighties Chaucer increased (enlarged = ampliò) his fame and authority  becoming more active in society and as a man of letters: his first books were written in French and in Italian, then, in the  period of his maturity (1386-1400) he  produced The Canterbury Tales, his masterpiece, in Middle English. The great merit of this work is  that it represents an  amalgamation of Anglo-Norman culture.
Chaucer died on 25th October 1400 and was buried (= sepolto) in Westminster Abbey, in what later became the Poets’ Corner.