Geoffrey Chaucer’s family had for generations been in service of the British court and moved up the ranks. The family’s last name in French would have been Chaussier – shoemaker, while Chaucer’s father was the wine merchant to Edward III. Young Geoffrey, born of a French attendant of the court enjoyed a solidly upper-middle class upbringing, including service in the diplomatic corps in Europe during the Hundred Years War, where he got the inspiration to write his famous tales.

On this day, April 17, in 1397 Geoffrey Chaucer was recorded to have given the first presentation of his Canterbury Tales at the royal English court. Readings were the mass entertainment of the day — though readings of English-language literature rarely were.

The Tales were one of the few instances of English speech at the royal court. The Norman conquest of England brought a preference for the French language by the upper classes, but around Chaucer’s time that started to change. The French King Charles VI expelled British landowners in France during the 100 Years War; in response the British switched from using  the language of their enemy to English.