Canterbury Tales was written by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343?-1400). He was a great English poet who was an important influence on literature of the time.
Much of Chaucer's early life was put together by guesswork. He may have gone to a Latin Grammar school and was said to have studied law. He worked as a page for a countess, and as an esquire. He married a lady-in-waiting to the queen and worked as a controller for customs and clerk, was justice of peace and representative to Parliament, traveled on many diplomatic missions France, Spain, and Italy. Upon his death in 1400, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, in what has now become known as the Poets' Corner
Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories about a story of pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. Chaucer is in the story himself as the narrator and joins a group of Pilgrims at the Tabard Inn to embark on the journey to Canterbury. This group contains a variety of people from nobility, to clergy, to common-folk. The host suggests a storytelling contest to help pass the time. Chaucer died before he could complete all of the tales as each of the 30 pilgrims were supposed to tell four tales each. There are 22 tales in this work. The tales tell what life was like in medieval Europe ands are effective because every walk of life is represented.
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