Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1343-1400), English author and poet. Chaucer was born in London, but little is known of his early life. He worked as a couriter and diplomat and travelled across western Europe before settling into a life of service at court. He is best known for The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories told by fictional pilgrims on the road to Canterbury Cathedral. This focusses on English subjects and was written in the vernacular of the day with bawdy jokes and satirical comments on those in authority. In scientific circles Chaucer is more famous for the essay A Treatise on the Astrolabe, the oldest English work describing a complex scientific instrument. This engraving by Houbraken comes from Birch's The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, published at London in 1747.