# Geoffrey Spirleng

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English scribe

**Geoffrey Spirleng** (c. 1426-c. 1494) was an English [scribe](/source/Scribe). He worked for [John Fastolf](/source/John_Fastolf), and was common clerk of [Norwich](/source/Norwich) from 1471 to 1491. As common clerk of Norwich, he was responsible for the register known as the Old Free Book.[1] Spirleng is best known to English literary history as the scribe of MS Hunter 197 (U.1.1), a volume of the *[Canterbury Tales](/source/The_Canterbury_Tales)* that he copied with his son, Thomas.[2][3]

## Further reading

- Deborah Thorpe, "Documents and Books: A Case Study of Luket Nantron and Geoffrey Spirleng as Fifteenth-Century Administrators and Textwriters," *Journal of the Early Book Society* (2011): 195–215

- Richard Beadle, "Geoffrey Spirleng (c. 1426c. 1494): A Scribe of the Canterbury Tales in His Time," in *Of the Making of Books: Medieval Manuscripts, Their Scribes and Their Readers: Essays Presented to M. B. Parkes*, ed. Pamela Robinson and Rivkah Zim (Aldershot, UK: Scolar Press, 1997), 116–146

- Daniel Wakelin, "When Scribes Won't Write: Gaps in Middle English Books," *Studies in the Age of Chaucer* 36 (2014)

- Frost, Ruth H. (2021-10-01). ["A Common Clerk as Courtholder: Geoffrey Spirleng in Late Medieval Norwich"](https://utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/flor-34.003). *Florilegium*. **34**: 7–26. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3138/flor-34.003](https://doi.org/10.3138%2Fflor-34.003). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0709-5201](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0709-5201).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Frost, Ruth. 2016. A brief note on geoffrey spirleng, co-scribe of MS hunter 197 (U.1.1), and his compilation of the old free book of norwich, NRO, NCR case 17c. *Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History* 19, : 241-248

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Chaucer and his works"](https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/library/files/special/exhibns/chaucer/works.html). *www.gla.ac.uk*. Retrieved 2024-08-13.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["English Language: literary manuscripts"](https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/library/files/special/teach/manuscripts/literary.html). *www.gla.ac.uk*. Retrieved 2024-08-13.

v t e Geoffrey Chaucer Works The Canterbury Tales General Prologue The Knight's Tale The Miller's Tale The Reeve's Tale The Cook's Tale The Man of Law's Tale The Wife of Bath's Tale The Friar's Tale The Summoner's Tale The Clerk's Tale The Merchant's Tale The Squire's Tale The Franklin's Tale The Physician's Tale The Pardoner's Tale The Shipman's Tale The Prioress's Tale Sir Thopas The Tale of Melibee The Monk's Tale The Nun's Priest's Tale The Second Nun's Tale The Canon's Yeoman's Tale The Manciple's Tale The Parson's Tale Chaucer's Retraction Other works The Romaunt of the Rose The Book of the Duchess The House of Fame Anelida and Arcite The Parliament of Fowls Boece Troilus and Criseyde The Legend of Good Women A Treatise on the Astrolabe The Complaint of Mars Spurious The Cuckoo and the Nightingale The Complaint of the Black Knight The equatorie of the planetis The Floure and the Leafe Pierce the Ploughman's Crede Jack Upland Tales The Tale of Gamelyn Prologue and Tale of Beryn The Plowman's Tale The Pilgrim's Tale Language Accentual-syllabic verse Rhyme royal Heroic couplet Manuscript tradition Order of The Canterbury Tales Hengwrt Chaucer Ellesmere Chaucer Harley MS. 7334 Adam Pinkhurst Scribe D John Shirley Geoffrey Spirleng Related Chaucer's influence on fifteenth-century Scottish literature Influence of Italian humanism on Chaucer Philippa Roet (wife) Katherine Swynford (wife's sister) Thomas Chaucer (son) Alice de la Pole (granddaughter) Poets' Fountain (1875 sculpture) A Knight's Tale (2001 film)

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