Influence of Italian humanism on Chaucer

Contact between Geoffrey Chaucer and the Italian humanists Petrarch or Boccaccio has been proposed by scholars for centuries.

[2][3][4][5][6] There are government records that show Chaucer was absent from England visiting Genoa and Florence from December 1372 until the middle of 1373.

[7][8] During this Italian business trip for the king to arrange for a settlement of Genoese merchants these scholars say it is likely that sometime in 1373 Chaucer made contact with Petrarch or Boccaccio.

No destination is given, but even if this does represent a trip to Milan, he would have missed not only the wedding, but also Petrarch, who had returned to Pavia on 3 July.

[29][35][37][38][39][22][40][41][42][43][44][45] The Knight's Tale uses Boccaccio's Teseida and the Filostrato is the major source of Troilus and Creseyde.

Petrarch's Arquà house near Padua in 1831 (artist's depiction with a tourist).
Petrarch's Arquà house near Padua where he retired (picture taken 2009).
The last tale of Boccaccio's Decameron became Petrarch's "De Patientia Griseldis", which later became Chaucer's Clerk's Tale.
The Clerk's Tale – story of "Griselda"
Zenobia in Chaucer's Good Women and The Monk's Tale is taken directly from Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris [ 27 ]
Masterpieces with Canterbury Tales