7 Famous Writers Who May Not Have Actually Existed

5. Geoffrey Chaucer

Despite Shakespeare being one of the most famous and influential writers to ever live, there's one figure who towers above him when it comes to English writing. Geoffrey Chaucer is widely regarded as the Father of English literature and one of the greatest English poets to put pen to paper (or quill to velum, as it may have been). Chaucer is known for works such as Troilus And Criseyde, The Book Of The Duchess and most famously The Canterbury Tales, which follows a group of diverse travellers who make pilgrimmage from London to Canterbury in order to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. Along the way the group tell stories and interact with each other, often with hilarious consequences. Despite the fact that we have much work attributed to Chaucer, there are still theorists who claim that he was not a real man. They point to the fact that we known very little about the precise date and location of his birth, as well as the fact that large portions of his life are very uncertain, including his death. Some claim that Chaucer's writings were actually penned by talented peasants eager to upset the higher classes and monarchy by satirizing the hierarchical system, an attempt to incite members of the lower class into trying to enact change.