Grainy

Geoffrey Chaucer is a name that many have heard, but few actually know about.

Chaucer is incredibly well-respected by English scholars who consider him the father of English literature, because he quite literally wrote some of the first English literature at the time when poets and storytellers were more likely to use French or Latin.

But he lived hundreds of years before Shakespeare, so his curious history has mostly fallen into legend.

It's truly ancient history, with some details that are almost impossible to believe.

Chaucer was likely born around 1330, and by his late teens or early 20s, his life was already dark and exciting.

As he traveled with his lord, Duke Lionel of Antwerp, to fight in the Hundred Years' War in France...

King Edward III aimed to claim the French throne, and Chaucer was duty-bound to help.

You can see how from an early age, the very idea of England was central to Chaucer's life.

In this case, the conflict was to decide whether France was also England.

One cloudy morning in 1360, Chaucer's battalion was ambushed.

Before he could raise his sword, he was surrounded and taken prisoner.

The French didn't kill him, though, but rather they ransomed him and the other men back to the English.

Edward needed every man that he could to siege Paris, and so he gladly paid the ransom, and Chaucer was free.

And lucky for him, this phase of the Hundred Years' War finally came to an end a few months later when Edward failed to take Paris.

It turned out that France is, in fact, France and not England.