In the more than five hundred years since the death of Geoffrey Chaucer, scholars have labored steadfastly to bring to light early criticisms of the poet's works, comments on his life and the customs of his time, and any recorded facts that would contribute in any way toward a better understanding and appreciation of the Canterbury Tales, the poet's life, and the practices of his age. It is the purpose of this study to show this contribution of scholarship; and the writer has relied heavily upon the publications made by T. R. Lounsbury, Caroline Spurgeon, and F. N. Robinson, each of whom has brought together the results of scholarship up to his own time and without whose works this writer's task would have been impossible.