Geoffrey Chaucer is a poet/author who was born in 1383 in London, England. When he was 14, he was the public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster. While Chaucer was 16, he fought in the Hundred Years War in France and he was held for ransom. Luckily, because of his connection with royalty, King Edward III paid for the ransom. Few years later, approximately around 1368, King Edward pronounced Chaucer as one of his esquires. In 1370, Chaucer went out to complete a few tasks on Florence and in Genoa until around 1373. While in Florence and Genoa, he studied the works of famous poets Dante and Petrarch. He was sent out to find a wife for Richard II and he did so. The Canterbury Tales was one of his best works written. Some of his other major works of his was The Parliament of Fouls, Troilus and Criseyde, The Legend of Good Women, and Dream Visions.