Of some small relevance to those who study The Canterbury Tales.

Of some small relevance to those who study The Canterbury Tales.

I, who call myself Sir Chaucer in the cyber space environment am actually Aleyn D Lester.

My name "Aleyn" was taken by my parents from The Reeve in Chaucers Canterbury Tales, it is unfortunate though that they did not choose to tell me any more so, in the 1990's I had a quest to "Find out about myself" so to speak.

Firstly I read The Tales in the old english and, despite not having met that style of language before, was amazed that the story was so clear to me.

However, there were a couple of things which I uncovered which had immediate relevance to the 1990's.

1) During the time of Chaucer the "Governing Powers" introduced a "Poll Tax" of something like 1 groat per head of population.

They suffered riots and were forced to re-state that Poll Tax as 1 Groat Per Family.

The importance to me?

In England Margaret Thatcher introduced a Poll Tax at "£'s Per Person" and caused similar riots until she re-stated it as "£'s per family"!

2) A Strong Governing Power (Royalty actually) was replaced by a "Weak Governing Power".

The Importance to me?

Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher was replaced by John Major who, to all intents was a "Weak Ruler" (Prime Minister)

Strange then how history repeats and, that I should read The Tales at a time when history had actually repeated!

Just one extra point.

In the version of The Reeve on this site, the students "Johns Friend is named "Alein"...

I say that is incorrect, the name should be spelled "Aleyn" as in my own name and, all the versions of The Reeve I've read (yes, there's lots of versions published!)

So, why not go to Gutenburg and download the "Correct Version"?

With respect, Sir Chaucer in Cyber Space, Aleyn in Real Life!