Geoffrey Chaucer Was Captured By The French During The Hundred Years’ War

(Portrait of Chaucer as a Canterbury pilgrim, Ellesmere manuscript of The Canterbury Tales, c. 15th century, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

In his youth, the renowned English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400 CE), tried his hand at soldiering in the army of King Edward III of England during the Hundred Years’ War. He was deployed on the French front in 1359, but he soon found that war was not his calling—the eighteen year-old Chaucer was captured by the French during the English siege of Rheims in 1360.

Yet, Chaucer was a man with connections. In the years prior to his being called up for war in France, Chaucer had been employed as a page for the Countess of Ulster. Fortunately for Chaucer, the Countess had become the Duchess of Clarence, and her father-in-law was none other than King Edward III. Therefore, the king of England paid the ransom for Chaucer’s release, allowing the young man to return home—which was around the time Geoffrey Chaucer likely began dabbling in the poetry that would make him immortal.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Check out our Geoffrey Chaucer biography, HERE.

Take a look at our Geoffrey Chaucer quote pictures, HERE.

Source:

• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill. New York: Penguin Classics, 1977.

Thank The 15th-Century Bureau Brothers For Bureaucracy

(Print of Jean Bureau, from Ambroise Tardieu, Dictionnaire iconographique des Parisiens, Herment, 1885, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

In the last decades of the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453 CE) between France and England, artillery began to play an increasing role in warfare. Around 1424, two brothers, Jean Bureau (1390-1463) and Gaspard Bureau (1393-1469), joined the French army of Charles VII and quickly became the king’s most skilled artillery officers.

King Charles VII had the Bureau brothers develop an organized and centralized department to procure, distribute and deploy the French artillery in an efficient and effective manner. Many scholars believe that the administration and oversight provided by the Bureau brothers for the French cannons inspired the word ‘bureaucracy.’

From 1437 onward, the Bureau brothers used their expertise in artillery to aid in obtaining French victories. In 1437, they helped siege Montereau. The Bureau Brothers were also at Meaux in 1439, Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1440, and Pontaise in 1441. Next, they played a large role in the French campaign against Normandy—their cannons fired upon cities such as Bayeux, Caen, Rouen and Cherbourg. Finally, they turned their artillery against Gascony, where they captured Bordeaux and defended Castillon in 1452.

When the Hundred Years' War ended in 1453, the Bureau brothers were renowned in France for their skill in artillery management and administration. The name, Bureau, eventually spread to encompass government administration in general, and led to the bureaucracy that so many people love to hate in the modern world.

Source:

•   The European Reformations (Second Edition) by Carter Lindberg. Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare And Military Technology, edited by Clifford J. Rogers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 
• http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095535959