Cultural and Intellectual Background to Chaucers Era free essay sample

Chaucer’s incredible career reflects the changing social and economic structures of England in the late 1300s. Before the 1300s, as I discussed, there were basically two classes. There was the Nobility, the wealthiest one or two percent of England, and there were the Serfs, everyone else. As centuries passed, families began to pass on skills at trades and crafts they would pass on. By the time of the 12th into the 13th century, the products that peasants or serfs were able to make became a commodity for exchange. Instead of importing goods, or having certain products costume made expensively, aristocrats and nobility began to buy from and realize the benefit of trading with domestic and local merchants. Instead of enslaving the masses to maintain agriculture, those with money began to cultivate certain populations for the products and services they could offer. Particularly as trade between nations began to grow, London evolved into a bustling port. We will write a custom essay sample on Cultural and Intellectual Background to Chaucers Era or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This collapse in the two class society created a more mobile middle class that broke from agricultural serfdom, and began to find economic autonomy servicing the rich and, as time goes on, each other. By the time of Shakespeare, the popularity of theater was the result of a rapidly grown middle class that has some disposable income and a desire for leisure earned after a work week. Chaucer grew up and lived during this expansion of a merchant class. Because his father served an important recreational function for the wealthy — wine distribution — he had connections through clients that allowed Chaucer entrance into a noble and aristocratic world. As he worked his way up the ladder in the aristocratic and royal world of London (much like a young person working his way up the corporate ladder), Chaucer had access to and enjoyed many of the privileges of nobility. Importantly, he was not aristocracy, nobility or royalty. Chaucer had exposure to a vast variety of humanity and experience, which is reflected in his writing, particularly The Canterbury Tales. In short, he was a true social and literary Renaissance man many decades before the Renaissance itself settled in England. Even though Chaucer is one of the three or four most important figures in English literature, it is important to recognize that no one at the time, including himself, would have called him a â€Å"poet† or an â€Å"author. † Chaucer would have called designated himself at whatever job he worked, such as Comptroller, or Forester, never, â€Å"poet. † Writing in the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, was not a career. There were no career writers in England until the eighteenth century, when the publishing industry made it possible for writing to become a commercial enterprise. Poets or narrators, like Chaucer, created their work on the side. They usually distributed their work to other members of the court or nobility in limited circulation. Or, as in the case of Sir Gawain, a poem was written and used for an aristocratic or royal event, like a wedding, birthday or holiday. The Canterbury Tales was more than likely distributed for readership amongst Chaucer’s friends and colleagues in the various aristocratic spheres he traveled. Depending upon how you choose to interpret a work, audience can be an important factor. It could be significant to know, for instance, when you read â€Å"The Wife of Bath’s Tale† that only rich and noble men would have read it.