igo Chaucer and Henry, Earl of Derby 



Everything tends, then, to show, not only that Chaucer owed 

 his offices to court-favor,^ but that he was, as Professor Kittredge 

 has said, 'a first-rate example of a "king's man." '^ Legouis calls 

 him 'a clever courtier, . . . for the sole merit of his verse 

 could hardly explain the enduring favor which he enjoyed at 

 court'^ ; and he adds (p. 20) : 'Chaucer succeeded in winning 

 for himself, and in keeping all his life, the protection, one 

 might almost say the friendship, of John of Gaunt. The old 

 king Edward III appreciated and loved him. Capricious 

 Richard II gave him as constant a patronage as he was capable 

 of, and, notwithstanding, the usurper Henry IV took him into 

 favor from the time of his accession. Women, naturally partial 

 to the poet of love, seem to have been particularly kind to him. 

 There is every likelihood that the Duchess Blanche of Lancaster 

 and Queen Anne of Bohemia were instrumental in obtaining 

 many of the privileges he enjoyed.' Chaucer's reticence regard- 

 ing matters of political concern — a mark of his prudence — has 

 been touched on by Coulton,* and Skeat remarks^ that 'perhaps 

 it was not altogether without design that the poet, in his House 

 of Fame [2. 647 ff.], took occasion to let the world know how 

 he devoted his leisure time to other than political subjects.' ^~ 



3. CHAUCER AND HENRY'S DEPENDENTS 



Having considered Chaucer's connections with other members 

 of royal and princely families, we now come to his relations 

 with certain of the immediate dependents of Henry, Earl of 

 Derby. 



One of the latter was Otto (familiarly called Otes) de Gran- 

 son, a nobleman of Savoy, who had received $2500 from John 

 of Gaunt a quarter of a century before, had an annuity of $5000 

 from him in 1391-2, and was attached to Henry's second expe- 

 dition (1392-3) at a higher salary than any one else, receiving 

 over $5000 between Aug. 12 and May 31. A special cabin on 

 the ship was built for him, Lord Willoughby, and others, and 



^ Coulton, p. 59. 

 ^P. 162. 

 'P. 19. 

 ' P. 50. 

 ^7. xxiv. 



