‘Chaucer’s Century’ is the history of England in the 14th century, a truly remarkable time. Chaucer is regarded as the father of the English language as we know it— bringing together elements of Old English, Norman French and Latin— and the talk will focus on the Canterbury Tales and Chaucer’s other works. But there is a great deal more to Chaucer’s life. He lived through a time of great social change and important events. The talk links these events to his work. In the middle of the century came the great plague the Black Death where people were taken ill in the morning and were dead by afternoon or early evening. In England alone the Black Death may have killed between a quarter and a half of the then population of about 8 million. The plague had immense social consequences. For the first time there was an acute shortage of labour leading to demands for real increases in wages and proper land tenure. This led in 1381 to the Peasants’ Revolt resulting in an end to feudalism by the mid-15th century. Chaucer touches on both these subjects in his work. The religious protest giving rise to the Protestant Reformation is usually associated with the 16th century. But in the 14th century there was an earlier religious movement, the Lollards, in England under the leadership of John Wycliffe which echoed much the same protest. Wycliffe denied the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, condemned the Pope as Anti-Christ and stressed the importance of preaching and the primacy of Scripture as the source of Christian doctrine. Whilst charged with heresy he was never brought to trial and continued to preach his controversial beliefs until his death in 1384. Wycliffe’s patron was John of Gaunt who also was Geoffrey Chaucer’s. Chaucer satirised the evils of the established church in the Pardoner’s and Summoner’s Tales. From 1346 started long wars against the French (now known as the 100 Years’ War). These feature the advent of the feared English longbowmen and the famous English victories at Crecy and Poitiers and the seizure of Calais. Chaucer himself briefly featured in these wars. As a young man he was captured by the French at Rheims and his freedom was obtained by payment of a ransom. It was an era of political upheaval. At the end of the century King Richard II was overthrown by his first cousin Henry Bolingbroke. Under Richard II Chaucer had been a courtier, diplomat and had served in various positions including customs control, Justice of the Peace, an MP in Kent and Clerk of the King’s Works. Chaucer died only a year after Richard’s deposition.