“Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote [showers sweet]…” So begins the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, following thirty pilgrims from the Tabard Inn, Southwark, to Canterbury Cathedral – an 87 mile pilgrimage recently walked by Dame Sarah Mullaly to her Inauguration as Archbishop of Canterbury.
What connection did Geoffrey Chaucer have with Exmoor? That Tale revolves around the ancient manor of North Petherton (whose extensive lands included the Parish of Withypool and Hawkridge) and is best told by Hazel Eardley-Wilmot in her enchanting history ‘Yesterday’s Exmoor’.
In 1390, towards the end of a very active life (as a diplomatic envoy to France and Italy, as Controller of Customs for wool and hides in the Port of London, and as clerk of the King’s Works), Chaucer was made deputy Forester at North Petherton, remaining in charge of that estate and ‘park’ for at least eight years.
“His national appointment ended, and he probably spent much of his time in Somerset. Now Chaucer is not an obscure or remote figure; he moves unobtrusively in full daylight, and everything we know about him makes it inconceivable that he would not ride over, now and then, to the outlying villages on the Barle, Hawkridge and Withypool, to meet the tenants and see for himself what was going on. And he would miss nothing and would relish all that he saw.”
Eardley-Wilmot tells of the characters in the Canterbury Tales, which Chaucer was writing at the time, so familiar to fourteenth century Exmoor. “One is a yeoman, a forester, dressed in green; he is neatly built and brown as a berry, carrying (even on pilgrimage!) a mighty bow, sheaf of bright peacock-arrows, and a hunting-horn. Another is a country landowner, white-haired and rosy-cheeked, who has been a sheriff, understands good food and wine, and keeps open house – as it might have been at Selworthy or Timberscombe.”
