1 82 Chaucer and Henry, Earl of Derby 



If, then, we may assume that Chaucer was with Lionel in 

 Ireland during the whole or part of the period 1361-6, this would 

 render probable Chaucer's journey with him to Milan in 1368, 

 when the prince went to marry the daughter of Galeazzo 11.^ 

 Already in 1598 Speght had said: 'Some write that he with 

 Petrarke was present at the marriage of Lionell Duke of 

 Clarence with Violant daughter of Galeasius Duke of Millaine: 

 Yet Paulus louius nameth not Chaucer, but Petrarke he saith, 

 was there. And yet it may well be.'^ Skeat combats this, on 

 the ground that Chaucer received his pension on May 25 of 

 that year.^ This, however, has been proved a mistake. The 

 payment was indeed made on May 25, but not into Chaucer's 

 own hands, as the receipts commonly run.^ As Lionel, on cross- 

 ing the Channel in April, 1368 (before the i6th, on which day 

 he entered Paris), had a retinue of 457 men, what more natural 

 than that Chaucer, if he had been in his service so long, and 

 had deserved recognition of his faithfulness at the hands of 

 the king, should have been included in the number?'^ 



The arguments in favor of Chaucer's attendance upon Lionel 

 are briefly these : 



(i) Chaucer's apparently recent membership in Lionel's suite. 



(2) The union with Violante was planned for before Lionel 

 left Ireland, since on July 30, 1366, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl 



Thou hast translated the Romance of the Rose, 

 That is an heresie ageyns my lawe. 



Hence it would seem to follow that, as the translator made a wrong 

 rendering of ircse, he must either have been some one else than Chaucer, 

 or Chaucer before he was thoroughly acquainted with French, or 

 Chaucer going out of his way to reflect upon the Irish character. 



^Bond favored this view in 1866 {Life-Records III, p. 103); Furnivall 

 saw 'no good outward reason' against it in 1875 (see note 4, below) ; and 

 Lounsbury (i. 157), following Bond, remarks: 'It might almost be said 

 that the discovery of Chaucer's previous connection with the household 

 of Prince Lionel lends an air of probability to the statement.' 



■ Hammond, pp. 26-27. 



^ I. xxiii; cf. Lounsbury i. 156-7; Kirk, p. xv. 



* Chaucer Society, Ser. 2, No. 10 (1875), P- iSo (Furnivall) ; Athenmim, 

 Sept. 17-Nov. 26, 1898; M. L. N. II. 210; 12. I (Mather). 



° The notary who drew and sealed Lionel's will on Oct. 3, 1368, must 

 have accompanied him from Ireland, since he was a clerk of the diocese 

 of Meath (clericns Miden' dioc') ; cf. Nichols, Wills of the Kings and 

 Queens of England, p. 90. 



