Q 01/05

Which Chaucer poem is thought to hold the first recorded link between Valentine's Day and romantic love?

A) The House of Fame

B) Parlement of Foules

C) Troilus and Criseyde

D) The Book of the Duchess

Answer · why

B) Parlement of Foules

Parlement of Foules sets a parliament of birds choosing their mates on the saint's feast, and no earlier romantic meaning for Valentine's Day is known...

Q 02/05

In 1374 King Edward III rewarded Chaucer with a daily gallon of which drink for the rest of his life?

A) Ale

B) Mead

C) Wine

D) Cider

Answer · why

C) Wine

Wine by the gallon was granted on Saint George's Day, when artistic work was traditionally rewarded, so it is read as an early royal nod to his poetry...

Q 03/05

Chaucer was captured at the siege of Reims in 1360 and ransomed by the king during which long conflict?

A) Hundred Years' War

B) Wars of the Roses

C) Thirty Years' War

D) Wars of Scottish Independence

Answer · why

A) Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War took the young Chaucer to France with the English army, and Edward III paid £16 towards his release.

Q 04/05

In The Canterbury Tales, the pilgrims ride to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of which murdered archbishop?

A) Thomas Becket

B) Thomas Cranmer

C) Stephen Langton

D) William Laud

Answer · why

A) Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was cut down inside the cathedral by knights of Henry II, and the martyr was soon reputed to have healing powers.

Q 05/05

Chaucer was the first writer buried in what became Poets' Corner, inside which church?

A) St Paul's Cathedral

B) Southwark Cathedral

C) Canterbury Cathedral

D) Westminster Abbey

Answer · why

D) Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey buried Chaucer as a royal official and tenant, not for his verse; a grander tomb followed in 1556 and Edmund Spenser was later laid ...