London Showcase: Chaucer

This film explores the development of English language since the Medieval period and how Geoffrey Chaucer's original works are still relevant to the modern reader. With the use of illustrations from old manuscripts and extracts from the Canterbury Tales, the life of Chaucer is examined.

The role of a scribe, how vellum was prepared, how to make a quill and how manuscripts were decorated with gold leaf and other illustrative designs are each discussed, with attention given to how these designs are now useful resources for Medieval social, agricultural and Royal history. To end, an introduction to printing and its history, including a filmed visit to a London-based printing museum.

Date: 1972
Reference No: ILEA/VID/01/2380
Collection: ILEA

This film is part of the collections at London Metropolitan Archives, a public research centre which specialises in the history of London. If you haven't visited an archive before, it's a little bit like a library but with one key difference; the majority of items in an archive are unique, handwritten documents which cannot be seen anywhere else.

We care for and provide access to the historical archives of businesses, schools, hospitals, charities and all manner of other organisations from the London area. With 100 km of books, maps, photographs, films and documents dating back to 1067 in our strong rooms, we're proud to provide access to one of the finest city archives in the world - you could call it the memory of London.

Find out more at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma and explore our film clips, photographs, maps and prints of London at www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk