'Tis a shame Becket was murdered in a brutal fashion, but w/o this scene our history, language, and literature would never be the same. Mass pilgrimages to Canterbury and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales would never have been written.
#CanterburyTales
#Chaucer
britishmuseum.org/blog/thomas-be…

1. Old English (Beowulf era):
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum,
Si þin nama gehalgod.
2. Middle English (Chaucer):
Oure fadir þat art in heuenes,
Halwid be þi name.
3. Early Modern English (KJV):
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.

Chaucer made a fateful choice that changed the course of history when he chose to write in local vernacular English when the ruling class spoke French and wrote in French and Latin. It was not the beginning of English, but it lent it respectability and created a new identity.

One of my favorite quotes from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (The Merchant's Tale). #Chaucer #CanterburyTales

The Progenie of Gefrey Chaucer. An early depiction shows Chaucer resting between his descendants ending in the last Yorkist claimants of the de la Poole family, murdered by the Tudors, and his brother-in-law John of Gaunt's descendants, the House of Lancaster.
#Chaucer
#medeival