I. INTRODUCTION . 



In my paper, The Historical Background of Chaucer's Knight 

 {Trans. Conn. Acad, of Arts and Sciences 20. 161-240), I 

 touched upon Chaucer's relations with Lionel, Duke of Clarence, 

 and incidentally discussed (pp. 182-6) the statement reported by 

 Speght to the effect that Chaucer had been present at the mar- 

 riage of Lionel and Violante, daughter of Galeazzo II of Milan. 

 It has seemed to me that a more detailed account than has 

 hitherto appeared in print of LioneFs journey to Italy in 1368, 

 of the circumstances attending his marriage, and of his brief 

 life thereafter, might especially help, whatever its value to the 

 biographer of Lionel, or to the student of England's relations 

 with Italy in the 14th century, to determine the probability of 

 Chaucer's visit to Italy on the occasion in question. The men 

 and manners that he would have observed on the journey, even 

 as a humble attendant of Prince Lionel, appeal so powerfully 

 to the imagination, and would have contributed so significantly 

 to his poetic education, that the student of Chaucer's life can 

 hardly remain satisfied until the teasing question has been 

 answered, or the impossibility of answering it has been in a 

 measure demonstrated. It is with primary reference to Chaucer, 

 then, that this study has been undertaken. The poet is never, 

 it is true, in the foreground of the picture. At best he is a 

 somewhat shadowy figure in the background. How far he can 

 be said to emerge, it is left for the reader to determine. Mean- 

 while, certain other characters — knights, squires, men-at-arms, 

 fair ladies, poets, statesmen, and even kings — will at least troop 

 across the page, to some extent in their habits as they lived. 



