For an idea of the world the London Carpenters inhabited in the 1300s, no better source are the works of the father of English literature Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400). The two families shared a good deal more than the coincidence of time and place, there is good evidence that the Chaucers and the Carpenters associated and knew each one-another. The Chaucers were a vintner family, but in the retail side of the business; and this coupled with their dealings in leather, provided the family wealth. This translated into education and court appointments for poet Geoffrey, which enabled the poet to compose and popularize his writings at court. Thus we have the Canterbury Tales and other works that are now the very foundation of our English language culture. Geoffrey Chaucer’s step-grandfather and kinsman Richard Chaucer (d. 1349) appears in a good many documents with Rodger le Carpenter, a premier merchant of London in his day. They were asked to provide money to the crown together and were often summoned to court together. Bruce E. Carpenter