Chaucer and Henry's Relatives 183 



of Hereford (1341-1373), whose daughter was to become the 

 wife of Henry IV, was commissioned to negotiate for the mar- 

 riage (Rymer), and on Jan. 19, 1367, the first draft of the 

 marriage-contract was signed by Violante's father, Galeazzo 

 (Rymer). Hence Lionel may well have been planning ahead 

 for his trusted attendants. 



(3) There is no evidence that Chaucer received his pension 

 with his own hands on May 25, 1368 (see p. 182). 



(4) In 1372 Chaucer was sent to Italy as an envoy to treat 

 with Genoa/ suggesting some special knowledge or ability on 

 his part. 



(5) Chaucer was absent from London between May 28 and 

 Sept. 19, 1378, in the retinue of Sir Edward Berkeley, sent by 

 Richard II to negotiate with Bernabo Visconti and the English 

 condottiere, John Hawkwood. As both of the latter were 

 present to greet Lionel in 1368, we may discover in this some 

 reason for Chaucer's being selected for the later mission, if he 

 had seen them ten years before. And if Tatlock^ is right in 

 assuming that the mission of 1378 may have related in part to 

 negotiations for a marriage between Richard and Bernabo's 

 daughter, Caterina, this fact would tend to the same conclu- 

 sion. As Chaucer may have been chosen to membership in this 

 matrimonial commission partly because he had recently been 

 employed upon similar business in France,^ so he may have been 

 selected for an embassy to the court of Milan in part because 

 he was already acquainted with conditions and personages there. 



(6) Froissart was certainly in Lionel's company on the 

 journey. In his Prison Amour e lis e,'^ dating from 1371, he 

 describes as an eye-witness the reception of Lionel in Savoy 

 in 1368, and in the Buisson de Jonece,^ dating from 1373, he tells 

 of the gift made to him by Lionel's host, Amedeus VI, Count of 

 Savoy (1343- 1 383), at Milan, whence Froissart passed to 

 Bologna, Ferrara, and Rome.^ 



' Kirk, p. 181. 

 ' P. 41. 



' Kirk, p. xxviii. 

 * 363-4, 370-4. 

 ° 339-347. 



' Froissart had seen Lionel in 1361 at Berkhamstead, 28 miles northwest 

 of London, as he himself tells us ; cf . Kervyn 16. 142. 



