Speaker of the English House of Commons and son of Geoffrey Chaucer and Philippa Roet. He was Chief Butler of England for almost thirty years, first appointed by Richard II, and on 20 March 1399 received a pension of twenty marks a year in exchange for offices granted him by the Duke, paying at the same time five marks for the confirmation of two annuities of charged on the Duchy of Lancaster and also granted by the Duke. These annuities were confirmed to him by Henry IV, who appointed him constable of Wallingford Castle, and steward of the honours of Wallingford and St. Valery and of the Chiltern Hundreds. About the same time he succeeded Geoffrey Chaucer as forester of North Petherton Park, Somerset. On 5 November 1402 he received a grant of the chief butlership for life. He served as High Sheriff of Berkshire and Oxfordshire for 1400 and 1403. He attended fifteen parliaments and was Speaker of the House five times, a feat not surpassed until the 18th century. On 23 February 1411 the Queen gave him the manor of Woodstock and other estates during her life, and on 15 March the king assigned them to him after her death. In 1414 he also received a commission, in which he is called ‘domicellus,' to treat about the marriage of Henry V, and to take the homage of the Duke of Burgundy. The next year he served with the king in France, bringing into the field twelve men-at-arms and thirty-seven archers, and was present at the battle of Agincourt. In 1417 he was employed to treat for peace with France. On the accession of Henry VI he appears to have been superseded in the chief butlership, and to have regained it shortly afterwards. In January 1424 he was appointed a member of the council, and the next year was one of the commissioners to decide a dispute between the Earl Marshal and the Earl of Warwick about precedence.