Writer: John Gower, c 1330-1408

Books were a highly prized luxury item in Medieval times, due to the amount of work that went into writing, printing, illuminating and binding them.  Medieval libraries included poetry, ballads and stories, histories, religious works, many of them written in French and Latin.  Reading books was a privilege of the upper classes.  Becoming a published author was also expensive and available only to the select few.  One had to have education and connections to secure the patronage of a royal or noble person whose support was necessary to allow time to compose and write, and to print and circulate the work after it was done.

John Gower was one of a group of poets and writers called the Ricardian Poets, since most of them flourished during the reign of Richard II, 1377-1400.  The leading light of this group was Geoffrey Chaucer, who enjoyed the patronage of both Richard II and John of Gaunt as well as Henry IV and whose most famous work was the Canterbury Tales.  Another poet, known probably only to scholars and English literature majors, was John Gower.  Gower was born most likely in Kent or Suffolk.  Little is known of his early life except that his family was well-to-do enough to provide him an education where he could learn Latin and French and have access to the classic works he quoted in his own writing.  At some point, Gower may have become a lawyer in London.  He became acquainted with Geoffrey Chaucer, as well as fellow poet William Langland.   In 1385, he happened to meet Richard II while the King was sailing on his barge on the Thames River.  Richard was impressed enough that he commissioned Gower to write a work that later became a poetic Christian treatise, Confessio Amantis.  Since London lawyers weren't typically invited onto the King's barge and just randomly given commissions, most likely there was some know-who and backstory to this meeting which is lost to us now.  Was Chaucer involved?  We'll never know, although the two men were close, Chaucer naming Gower as an executor of his will. 

Gower is known for a range of works, mostly utilizing allegory and complicated rhyming schemes, as well as writing in French and Latin with heavy quotations from the classics.  It would be dull and boring today but was just the stuff well-heeled audiences of the time favored.  On of his works, Vox Clamantis, was an allegorical commentary on the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, which was one of the highlights of Richard II's reign.  Confessio Amantis and Mirror of Man were both contemplative Christian treatises in verse.  Later, when Richard II was overthrown, Gower achieved the patronage of Henry IV and wrote works for him, including In Praise of Peace, which extolls Henry IV as the savior of England.  Gower also wrote ballads and other propaganda pieces for Henry. 

Patronage could bring many fringe benefits, including personal wealth.  Gower died in 1408 and was buried in a elaborate tomb in Southwark Cathedral.  He obviously died a wealthy man, most likely from royal patronage.  Writers weren't paid royalties as they are today.