Richard Firth Green

A Chaucer Holograph

  • Literature and Literary Theory
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ABSTRACT The article argues that when Chaucer asked Richard II for leave to appoint a proxy to perform his duties at the London wool quay in 1385, he wrote the petition in his own hand. The evidence is the informal nature of the petition itself, which is short, simply worded, and carelessly written; its form (as a “chamberlain’s bill,” it offered the simplest bureaucratic option for a member of the royal household); and the facts that it is an original, not a bureaucratic copy, and once bore Chaucer’s personal seal; that its spelling of Chaucer’s name as “Geffray” may reflect a personal preference; and that Chaucer was allowed no clerical staff and was expected to keep records in his own hand. Chaucer’s contemporaries wrote more elaborate petitions than this one in their own hands, so the burden of proof lies with those who wish to claim that this petition is the work of a professional scribe.

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