Influence of Italian humanism on Chaucer

Petrarch's Arquà house near Padua in 1831 (artist's depiction with a tourist).

The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, such as the Canterbury Tales, frequently borrow from the works of the Italian humanists Petrarch and Boccaccio.

For centuries, some scholars have further proposed that Chaucer might actually have met Petrarch and/or Boccaccio in person during a trip to Italy. Notable proponents of Chaucer–Boccaccio and/or Chaucer–Petrarch contact include F. J. Furnivall (1825–1910), W. W. Skeat (1835–1912), and Donald Howard (1927–1987). More recent scholarship tends to discount these speculations. As Leonard Koff remarks, the notion that Chaucer ever met Boccaccio in person is "a 'tydyng' worthy of Chaucer himself" — alluding to the mingled true and false tidings that fill Chaucer's House of Fame.

Chaucer's trips to mainland Europe

There are government records that show Chaucer was absent from England visiting Genoa and Florence from December 1372 until the middle of 1373. He went with Sir James de Provan and John de Mari, eminent merchants hired by the king, and some soldiers and servants. During this Italian business trip for the king to arrange for a settlement of Genoese merchants these scholars say it is likely that sometime in 1373 Chaucer made contact with Petrarch or Boccaccio.

Milan 1368: The wedding of the Duke of Clarence and Violante Visconti

They believe it plausible that Chaucer not only met Petrarch at this wedding but also Boccaccio. This view today, however, is far from universally accepted. William T. Rossiter, in his 2010 book on Chaucer and Petrarch, argues that the key evidence supporting a visit to the continent in this year is a warrant permitting Chaucer to pass at Dover, dated 17 July. No destination is given, but even if this does represent a trip to Milan, he would have missed not only the wedding, but also Petrarch, who had returned to Pavia on 3 July.

Chaucer's works

The Knight's Tale

Chaucer's "Knight's Tale" is a condensed version of Boccaccio's Teseida. Chaucer changes some scenes and deepens the philosophy of the original. In the tale, the disguised Arcite takes the name "Philostrate," which may be an allusion to Boccaccio's Il Filostrato.

The Clerk's Tale

The last tale of Boccaccio's Decameron became Petrarch's "De Patientia Griseldis", which later became Chaucer's Clerk's Tale.

The Clerk's Tale – story of "Griselda"

Chaucer's "Clerk's Tale" tells the story of Griselda. This story had previously appeared as the final tale of Boccaccio's Decameron. Petrarch then translated Boccaccio's story from Italian into Latin. In the "Clerk's Prologue," the (fictional) Clerk himself claims to have traveled to Padua and there met Petrarch, who told him the story.

I wol yow telle a tale, which that I
Lerned at Padwe of a worthy clerk,
As preved by his wordes and his werk.
He is now deed, and nayled in his cheste;
I prey to God so yeve his soule reste.
Fraunceys Petrark, the lauriat poete,
Highte this clerk, whos rethorike sweete
Enlumyned al Ytaille of poetrie,
As Lynyan dide of philosophie [...]
[...] this worthy man,
That taughte me this tale as I bigan [...]

Of course, that Chaucer made his fictional Clerk travel to Padua and meet Petrarch is no evidence that Chaucer himself (in real life) ever made such a trip.

The Monk's Tale

Zenobia in Chaucer's Good Women and The Monk's Tale is taken directly from Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris

Troilus and Creseyde

Boccaccio's Filostrato is the major source of Chaucer's Troilus and Creseyde.

The Legend of Good Women

Chaucer followed the general plan of Boccaccio's work On Famous Women in The Legend of Good Women.

Sources

• American Society for the Extension of University Teaching, The Citizen, Volume 3, American Society for the Extension of University Teaching, 1898, University of Michigan
• Bell, G. & Sons, 1912, The age of Chaucer (1346–1400), p. 152, Indiana University
• Brown, Peter, A companion to Chaucer, pp. 454–456, Wiley-Blackwell, 2002,
• Chambers, Robert, Cyclopaedia of English literature: a selection of the choicest productions of English authors from the earliest to the present time, World Publishing House, 1875, from HUP
• Chaucer, Geoffrey, The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Publisher Macmillan, 1898, Harvard University
• at Internet Archive
• Crow, Martin M. et al., Chaucer Life-records, Clarendon Press, 1966. It includes materials such as receipts for his travels in Italy, copies of commissions, etc.
• Edmunds, Edward William, Chaucer & his poetry, Volume 26 of Poetry & life series, p. 50, C.G. Harrap & Company, 1914
• Garnett, Richard, English literature : an illustrated record, Heinemann, 1906, from University of Michigan
• Gosse, Edmund, English literature : an illustrated record, p. 137, Heinemann, 1906. University of Michigan
• Hammond, Eleanor Prescott, Chaucer: a bibliographical manual, p. 306, The Macmillan Company, 1908
• Hunt, Leigh, Leigh Hunt's London journal, Volumes 1–2, C. Knight, 1834
• Hutton, Edward, Giovanni Boccaccio: a biographical study, J. Lane, 1910, University of California
• James Clarke & Co., The literary world, Volume 21, 1880, p. 251, Princeton University
• Jenks, Tudor, In the days of Chaucer, p. 144, A. S. Barnes & company, 1904, Harvard University
• Johns Hopkins University, Modern language notes, Volume 12 No. 1, Johns Hopkins Press, 1897
• Jusserand, J.J., The Twentieth century, Volume 39, The Nineteenth Century and After, 1896, pp. 993–1005, detailed analysis of Chaucer coming in contact with Petrarch in 1373. UOM
• Koff, Leonard Michael. "Introduction". The Decameron and the Canterbury Tales: New Essays on an Old Question. Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2000.
• Langer, William Leonard, An encyclopaedia of world history, ancient, medieval and modern ..., Volume 1, p. 267, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1948
• Rutherford, Mildred Lewis, French authors: a hand-book of French literature , p. 39, The Franklin Printing and Publishing Company, 1906, Princeton University
• Schibanoff, Susan, Chaucer's queer poetics: rereading the dream trio, p. 316, University of Toronto Press, 2006,
• Stearns, Peter N. The Encyclopedia of world history: ancient, medieval, and modern, p. 240, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001,
• Tatlock, John Strong Perry, The development and chronology of Chaucer's works, Pub. for the Chaucer society, by K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co., limited, 1907
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• White, William, Notes and queries, Volume 96, p. 284, Oxford University Press, 1897