Geoffrey Chaucer in the Common Pleas

[celticp...@gmail.com]

Dear Newsgroup ~

It's been said "time and tide wait for no man." Those are the words of Geoffrey Chaucer, the English poet and author, who died in 1400. Widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, he is best known as the author of The Canterbury Tales. He has been styled the "Father of English literature" and was the first writer buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.

Recently I unexpectedly encountered a Common Pleas lawsuit involving Geoffrey Chaucer. A brief abstract is provided below.

In Easter term 1400 Robert Shirwynd, Esq., and Isabel his wife, administratrix of the goods and chattels of Walter Bukholt, Esq., who died intestate, sued Geoffrey Chaucer, Esq., in the Court of Common Pleas regarding a debt of £11 11s. 11d.

Court of Common Pleas, CP40/557, image 78f (available at http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT2/H4/CP40no557/aCP40no557fronts/IMG_0078.htm).

Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah

[Vance Mead]

Thanks, Douglas. That's an interesting discovery.