1. Chaucer's ancestry and some remarks on fourteenth-century English history --
2. Chaucer's youth and early education : life and the specter of death on the Ringing Isle (c.1340-1357) --
3. Chaucer as young courtier, soldier, and, in some sense, lover (1357-1360) --
4. Chaucer's further education, a summary of some fourteenth-century ideas of great importance to Chaucer, and the poet's marriage to Philippa Roet : speculations and scurrilous gossip (1360-1367) --
5. Significant moments and influences : Pedro the Cruel, two deaths, that shameless woman and wanton harlot Alice Perrers, and Italian artistic humanism (1367-1373) --
6. Chaucer's adventures as celebrated poet, civil servant, and diplomat in the declining years of King Edward III (1374-1377), with some remarks on Chaucer's honesty and comments on his art --
7. Life during the minority of Richard II : the peasants' revolt and its aftermath (1377-c.1385), with more scurrilous gossip --
8. The rise of Gloucester, and Chaucer's fortunes as a Royalist in evil times --
9. The deaths of Gloucester, John of Gaunt, and the hero of this book.