A Pitcher of Wine Forever

Chaucer, drunk as a chamber pot

     King Edward III gave Chaucer an annuity of 20 marks in 1367, calling him dilectus valettus noster (our beloved valet). By the end of 1368 Chaucer was an Esquire. Six years later, however, Chaucer received his greatest accolades from the king: a pitcher of wine per day for the rest of his life!
       -from Lives of the Poets, pg. 56 (Schmidt)