However, only twenty-three pilgrims received a story before Chaucer's death in 1400.
When his wife died in 1387, according to records, Chaucer was sued for debt. Several of his friends were executed by the Merciless Parliament. In 1389, Richard 11 regained control and Chaucer reentered the service of the crown as Clerk of the King's Works, to upkeep and repair governmental buildings in and out of London. .
Chaucer lived at Greenwich the last years of his life. Chaucer died in London in 1400. He did not leave a will and it was speculated that he was murdered. Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey. A tomb, erected by an admirer in the fifteenth century, marks his grave although his remains were subsequently moved. He was the first who was buried in what we now know as the "Poet's Corner" in Westminster Abbey.
Chaucer had many occupations during his life: soldier, diplomat, intelligence officer, construction officer, Controller of Customs, and member of Parliament. Although, it is for his literary accomplishments that he has is most famous. He was one of the outstanding English poets before William Shakespeare. He is most famous for Canterbury Tales, which still ranks as one of the greatest works of world literature. He made an important contribution to English literature in using English at a time when much court poetry was still writer in Anglo-Norman or Latin. The midland dialect, in which he wrote became the basis of the standard English of today. Chaucer's Tales quickly spread throughout England in the early fifteenth century. Scholars feel The Canterbury Tales continue to be successful because of their accurate and vivid portrayal of human nature, which has not changed much for 600 years since Chaucer's time. .
Chaucer lived in the period of time called the Middle Ages., where society ws structured round the system of Feudalism. This meant that the country was not run by the king but by individual lords, or barons, who administered their own estates; made their own money; ran their own justice system; and charges taxes and tolls.
