res, Chaucer's
posts may have been wanted for nominees of the Duke of Gloucester and
his Council--such as it is probably no injustice to Masters Adam
Yerdely and Henry Gisors (who respectively succeeded Chaucer in his two
offices) to suppose them to have been. Moreover, it is just possible
that Chaucer was the reverse of a persona grata to Gloucester's faction
on account of the Comptroller's previous official connexion with Sir
Nicholas Brembre, who, besides being hated in the city, had been
accused of seeking to compass the deaths of the Duke and of some of his
adherents. In any case, it is noticeable that four months BEFORE the
return to England of the Duke of Lancaster, i.e. in July, 1389, Chaucer
was appointed Clerk of the King's Works at Westminster, the Tower, and
a large number of other royal manors or tenements, including (from 1390
at all events) St. George's Chapel, Windsor. In this office he was not
ill-paid, receiving two shillings a day in money, and very possibly
perquisites in addition, besides being allowed to appoint a deputy.
Inasmuch as in the summer of the year 1389 King Richard had assumed the
reins of government in person, while the ascendancy of Gloucester was
drawing to a close, we may conclude the King to have been personally
desirous to provide for a faithful and attached servant of his house,
for whom he had had reason to feel a personal liking. It would be
specially pleasing, were we able to connect with Chaucer's restoration
to official employment the high-minded Queen Anne, whose impending
betrothal he had probably celebrated in one poem, and whose patronage
he had claimed for another.
The Clerkship of the King's Works to which Chaucer was appointed, seems
to have been but a temporary office; or at all events he only held it
for rather less than two years, during part of which he performed its
duties by deputy. Already, however, before his appointment to this
post, he had certainly become involved in difficulties. For in May,
1388, we find his pensions, at his own request, assigned to another
person (John Scalby)--a statement implying that he had raised money on
them which he could only pay by making over the pensions themselves.
Very possibly, too, he had, before his dismissal from his
comptrollerships, been subjected to an enquiry which, if it did not
touch his honour, at all events gave rise to very natural apprehensions
on the part of himself and his friends. There is accordingl
|