The Knight's Portrait from the General Prologue of "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Knight's Portrait

from the General Prologue of "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer

There is evidence that Geoffrey Chaucer based his "Knight's Tale" on the lives of the Scropes. Chaucer, one of the squires who testified in the Scrope-Grosvenor Trial (1385-1390), may have dedicated his "Knight's Tale" to Richard Le Scrope, 'Who was a very gentil knight'. Since Chaucer's Knight, as described in "The Knight's Portrait" of the "General Prologue," had a long and distinguished career in the profession of arms, the tale he tells is befitting to him as the story teller. The tale the Knight recites is an expression of the noble ideal as likely understood by many of the knights who testified in the Scrope-Grosvenor Trial. The testimonies offered by various knights and squires in that trial describe the careers of some actual knights of the time, many who had been at the same places where Chaucer's Knight had campaigned.