192 Chaucer and Henry, Earl of Derby 



When at Prague on Oct. 22, 1392, Henry made oblation on 

 the anniversary of the death of a son of Lewis Gififord, the 

 father (born about 1336) having served with John of Gaunt 

 at least as early as 1373. He was made Knight of the Garter 

 in 1378/ and became an adherent of Wiclif, but finally recanted. 

 In 1387 he was with John of Gaunt in Spain, though present 

 at the Feast of St. George on April 23. He was at the jousts 

 of St. Inglevert, as was Henry, in the spring of 1390, and 

 joined the expedition against Mehediah in the same year. He 

 died between Sept. 17 and Dec. 5, 1404.- 



It seems to be generally agreed that Chaucer's Lenvoy a Scogan 

 was written in 1393"; and we know that Scogan was at some 

 time tutor to the four sons of Henry IV,'* to whom he addressed 

 a poem in the opening years of the new century.' This, then, 

 is another link between Henry and Chaucer. 



4. CHAUCER AND HENRY 



As early as Feb. 19, 1386, Philippa Chaucer had been admitted 

 to the fraternity of Lincoln Cathedral, together wdth Henry, Earl 

 of Derby, Sir Thomas Swynford, and six others, in the presence 

 of John of Gaunt, who, with Edward HI, the Black Prince, 

 and Lionel, had been admitted in 1343 (Hotspur was to join 

 on Feb. 15, 1386-7)."' 



If it had been demonstrated that Chaucer was born at King's 

 Lynn," in Norfolk, he would doubtless have been interested in 

 the fact that Henry's second expedition began at Lynn on July 

 19, 1392; but this is a hypothesis not generally received as yet. 



So far, then, there seems to be no evidence that Chaucer had 

 stood in personal relations with Henry. On the other hand, 



^ Beltz, p. 261. 



^ Beltz, pp. 260-264; Wylie 3. 296; Armitage-Smith, p. 155; Le Roulx, 

 p. 176; D. A., p. 312; Kittredge, in Mod. Phil. i. 11-13. 



^ Hammond, p. 393. 



^ Skeat I. 82; 7. xlii ; in both places Skeat makes the princes too 

 young (see above, p. 166, note 5), for in 1407 Henry would have been 

 21; Thomas, 20; John, 18; and Humphrey, 17 — so that the poem was 

 probably written earlier. 



^ Scogan died in 1407. 



"Kirk, pp. xxxiii, 257; Coulton, p. 59. 



' Coulton, p. 15, note; Athcnccnm for 1908; Acad. 75 (1909)- 425; 

 Rye, Chaucer a Norfolk Man (Norwich, 1915), pp. i ff. 



