Chaucer and Henry's Relatives 189 



or 1 39 1 should have been made by Roger Mortimer, fourth 

 Earl of March, grandson of Lionel,^ and heir-presumptive to 

 the crown after Richard 11.^ His father, Edmund, husband 

 of Lionel's daughter, Philippa, was Viceroy of Ireland from 

 1380 till his death on Dec. 26, 1381.^ The son, Roger, was 

 made viceroy in January, 1381-2 (being then in his eleventh 

 year), and continued nominally in this capacity till 1383.^ Roger 

 was again viceroy from 1395 till his death in 1398.^ By Roger's 

 widow, Eleanor,^ Chaucer seems to have been made sole forester 

 in the same year."^ By Edmund, the fifth earl, son of Roger and 

 Eleanor, the sub-forestership was granted to Thomas Chaucer^ 

 in 1416-y.^ 



The tradition, then, of Chaucer's services in Ireland under 

 Lionel may well have lingered among the Prince's descendants, 

 and have suggested in later times a reward to him and his.^^ 



(5) Henry's cousin, Richard H (1367-1400), son of the 

 Black Prince. Passing over Chaucer's official appointments 

 and rewards during Richard's reign (1377-99), we note only 

 the poet's Parliament of Fowls, probably written in 1381 to 

 celebrate the betrothal of Richard with Anne of Bohemia/^ See 

 also Legouis' remarks (pp. 39 ff.) on the Prologue to the 

 Legend of Good Women, and the Envoy to Steadfastness. 



^ Skeat I. xl ; Kirk, pp. xxxix-xl ; and esp. Selby, in Life-Records 

 III, pp. 1201. 

 ^Wylie I. 3; Ramsay 2. 229; Beltz, p. 41; Gilbert, p. 273. 



* Gilbert, pp. 244-7. He had agreed to govern the colony for three 

 years, upon 'being paid twenty thousand marks, in discharge of all his 

 expenses, including those of the men-at-arms and archers, which he 

 undertook to provide, but without being held to account to the Crown; 

 and it was also stipulated that the King's revenue in Ireland should be 

 expended, according to his directions' (Gilbert, pp. 244-5). 



* Gilbert, pp. 248-251, 27 Z- 

 ^ Gilbert, pp. 273, 278. 

 "Beltz, p. 219; Gilbert, p. 272,- 

 ^Kirk, pp. xl, 291; Life-Records III, p. 118. 



* See p. 178. 

 ^Kirk, pp. xl, 291; Skeat i. 1. 



'"Selby {Life-Records III, p. 121) speaks of the 'friendly connection, 

 extending over more than forty years, between the poet and the dis- 

 tinguished descendants of Prince Lionel and Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster.' 



"Tatlock, pp. 41-44. _ 



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