Edward III paid part of a ransom to the French for the release of which writer?

Chaucer was born in London, around 1345, into a well connected family of wine-merchants. As a young teenager he was taken into an aristocratic household. Still in his teens, he fought in Edward III's army in France. In 1359, Geoffrey Chaucer was sent to fight in the Hundred Year’s War. In the same year during an attack on Rheims, Chaucer was taken prisoner. In 1360 he was ransomed for £16 and released. It is known that Edward III paid part of the ransom showing that Chaucer must have been held in high regard by the king.

Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1345-1400) was the most famous writer of Medieval England. He immortalised Medieval England in the ‘Canterbury Tales’ – the stories of various people gravitating to Canterbury Cathedral at the end of a pilgrimage. Chaucer is regarded as one of Britain’s finest writers.