Katherine (Chaucer) Manning (abt. 1345 - aft. 1383)

Born about 1345 in London, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 1383 after about age 38 in Kent, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Katherine Chaucer may have been the only daughter of John Chaucer and his wife Agnes Copton, who were the parents of poet Goeffrey Chaucer. She was probably born about 1345, before the Black Death. She may have married, some time before 1366, Simon Manning of Codham, Kent. They may have had a son John.

In 1366, Katherine and her husband Manning sold property in Greenwich to his partner in business Robert Atwood, which she had recently inherited - possibly from her father, who died in that year. ^{[1] [2]}

A pedigree included with the 1619 Visitation of Kent claimed that the wife of Simon Manning was "Catherina, soror Galfridi Chawcer militis celeberini poetae Anglicani", which is incorrect, as Geoffrey Chaucer was not knighted. This is the only record directly connecting Katherine with Chaucer, and as it is not a contemporary one, it can not be considered totally reliable. The pedigree was not part of the original Visitation records but apparently a subsequent product of an arms painter named Richard Mundy, who sometimes worked with them. ^{[3] [1] [2] [4]}

In 1386, Geoffrey Chaucer stood surety for Simon Manning, who, along with Robert Atwood, was being sued for debt. ^{[1] [2]}

These circumstances are consistent with Katherine, wife of Simon Manning, being a sister of Geoffrey Chaucer, although the connection must be considered tenuous. It is marked "uncertain".

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Crow, Martin Michael. Chaucer life-records. pp. 288-289. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1966. Life-Record
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Pearsall, Derek. The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer. p. 204. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.
3. ↑ Pedigree
4. ↑ Howard, Donald R. Chaucer: His Life/ His Works/ His World , pp. 35-36, p. 384. New York: Fawcett, 1987.

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