{"id":5165,"date":"2025-05-04T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/?p=5165"},"modified":"2025-05-04T23:40:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T22:40:48","slug":"geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/","title":{"rendered":"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For many years, there has been a cloud over Geoffrey Chaucer’s name.  Medieval records show that, in 1380, Geoffrey Chaucer and Cecily Chaumpaigne, the daughter of a London baker were involved in a legal case involving the term ‘raptus’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term can mean rape or kidnapping.  The May 4, Close Rolls of the English Chancery, releases Chaucer from \u201call manner of actions related to my raptus<\/em>\u201d (\u201comnimodas acciones, tam de raptu meo\u201d). So, we know he was not charged for the offense, but the original records suggest he was accused of it and possibly paid his way out of difficulty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I attended a lecture about 18 months relating recently discoveries by Euan Roger<\/a> and Sebastian Sobecki<\/a>. It shone light on the long misunderstood case, and cleared Chaucer of rape or kidnapping.  The scholars were investigating medieval records which academic opinion thought not worth persuing.  But in the papers they discovered that Chaucer and Cecily Chaumpaigne were on the same side in the legal dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than being a case of Chaucer mistreating Champaigne, the two of them were accused by her former employer, Thomas Staundon, of raptus. The case was caused ultimately by the shortage of labour following the Black Death of 1348. It killed over one third of the population of the UK. With the loss of life, the ruling classes found they were having to pay more for labourers, and goods. So, having control of Parliament, they passed legislation called the Statue of Labourers which insisted that people should work at the same pay rate and conditions as before the Black Death. Labourers had to swear to keep to the old conditions, and drastic consequences, including imprisonment, awaited those who transgressed. It was one of the major causes of the Peasants Revolt of 1381 as the legislation was still in use 30 years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it would seem that Cecily left her employer to work for Geoffrey Chaucer (presumably at a more realistic higher pay rate). Her former employer pressed charges against her and Chaucer for breaking the financial rules and poaching a worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a very crude summary of a fascinating piece of historical detective work. To find out more, read The Chaucer Review<\/a> Volume 57, Number 4, 2022<\/a> Penn State University Press<\/a> or follow this link https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/pub\/2\/article\/867751<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my post of Chaucer and St Valentine’s Day follow this link.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For ‘May the 4th be with you’ see my post here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First posted on May 4th, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many years, there has been a cloud over Geoffrey Chaucer’s name.  Medieval records show that, in 1380, Geoffrey Chaucer and Cecily Chaumpaigne, the daughter of a London baker were involved in a legal case involving the term ‘raptus’. The term can mean rape or kidnapping.  The May 4, Close Rolls of the English Chancery, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-almanac-of-the-past"],"yoast_head":"\nGeoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th - And Did Those Feet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"About Geoffrey Chaucer and the charge of Raptus? Was he accused of Rape of Kidnapping?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th - And Did Those Feet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"About Geoffrey Chaucer and the charge of Raptus? Was he accused of Rape of Kidnapping?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"And Did Those Feet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-04T19:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-04T22:40:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin Flude\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin Flude\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin Flude\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f\"},\"headline\":\"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-04T19:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-04T22:40:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":419,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Almanac of the Past\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/\",\"name\":\"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th - And Did Those Feet\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-04T19:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-04T22:40:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"About Geoffrey Chaucer and the charge of Raptus? Was he accused of Rape of Kidnapping?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/\",\"name\":\"And Did Those Feet\",\"description\":\"The Past brought to Life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f\",\"name\":\"Kevin Flude\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04-new.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04-new.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04-new.jpg\",\"width\":525,\"height\":371,\"caption\":\"Kevin Flude\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/04-new.jpg\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chr.org.uk\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/chr.org.uk\\\/anddidthosefeet\\\/author\\\/kpfludechr-org-uk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th - And Did Those Feet","description":"About Geoffrey Chaucer and the charge of Raptus? Was he accused of Rape of Kidnapping?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th - And Did Those Feet","og_description":"About Geoffrey Chaucer and the charge of Raptus? Was he accused of Rape of Kidnapping?","og_url":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/","og_site_name":"And Did Those Feet","article_published_time":"2025-05-04T19:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-04T22:40:48+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Kevin Flude","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin Flude","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin Flude","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#\/schema\/person\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f"},"headline":"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th","datePublished":"2025-05-04T19:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-04T22:40:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/"},"wordCount":419,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#\/schema\/person\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg","articleSection":["Almanac of the Past"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/","url":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/","name":"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th - And Did Those Feet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-04T19:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-04T22:40:48+00:00","description":"About Geoffrey Chaucer and the charge of Raptus? Was he accused of Rape of Kidnapping?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2021-01-27-12.04.33-668x1024.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/geoffrey-chaucer-the-charge-of-raptus-may-4th\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Geoffrey Chaucer & the Charge of Raptus May 4th"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/","name":"And Did Those Feet","description":"The Past brought to Life","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#\/schema\/person\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/#\/schema\/person\/cb27a3e695fa933f259306aab8fab59f","name":"Kevin Flude","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04-new.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04-new.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04-new.jpg","width":525,"height":371,"caption":"Kevin Flude"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04-new.jpg"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.chr.org.uk"],"url":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/author\/kpfludechr-org-uk\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5165"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7306,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5165\/revisions\/7306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}