Today’s entry in A Writer’s Tale will be shorter than our usual fare, as what I’m about to share with you is less a story and more along the lines of a hysterical, historical tidbit. But to be honest with you it was just too good a tidbit not to share. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, his Canterbury Tales being a staple of most 12th-grade literature classes.
Well, modern audiences are not alone in their admiration of Chaucer, he was very much appreciated in his own time as well. In fact, to show the nation of England’s appreciation for Chaucer’s work, on St. George’s Day in 1374 King Edward III granted Chaucer a lifetime supply of wine to the tune of a gallon of wine a day.
This alcoholic windfall only lasted Chaucer four years, however, as Edward’s successor Richard II deemed the expense too extravagant for the crown to continue and ordered Chaucer to be paid a yearly wine stipend instead.
But for four sweet years in the fourteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer was living the dream. Until next time, bottoms up!