The 'Age of Chaucer' (1340s - 1400) was a time of great social and political upheaval, therefore providing lots of topics and ideas for an essay.
Politically, for example, this period was dominated by the Hundred Years' War, a series of territorial conflicts between England and France. This war produced some of the era's most infamous battles, including Crecy (1346) and Agincourt (1415). Chaucer himself worked briefly as a soldier, though he was captured by the enemy and returned to England one year after his arrival, in 1360.
Socially, this era is also notable for the Black Death, a plague which spread across Europe and arrived in England in 1348, decimating between one-third and one-half of the population. In the aftermath of the plague, society was changed considerably: surviving peasants, for instance, demanded better wages and working conditions while the clergy suffered from a national shortage of trained priests.
This era also witnessed the Great Schism, a split in the papacy in which three different men claimed to be pope. The papacy not only lost authority and prestige during this time: the Schism also caused instability across Europe as governments were forced to back one of the claimants. This situation was not resolved until 1417, almost two decades after Chaucer's death.
For more information, please see the reference links provided.
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-canterbury-tales-by-geoffrey-chaucer
Monday, December 1, 2014
What are some ideas for an essay on 'The Age of Chaucer?'
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