Marlborough, Henrietta Churchill, Duchess of, 1681-1733

The 2nd Duchess of Marlborough, Henrietta Churchill was the daughter of the famous general John Churchill and Sarah Jennings, a friend and business manager to Queen Anne. She became Lady Henrietta Godolphin through marriage in 1698 and subsequently Viscountess Rialton in 1706 and Countess of Godolphin in 1712. It was rumoured that Henrietta's fifth child, Mary, was the result of her affair between Henrietta and William Congreve. Upon his death in 1729, Congreve left his entire fortune to Henrietta.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400

A translatory, diplomat, and customs official as well as a poet, Chaucer is most famous for The Canterbury Tales, written in the late fourteenth century and composed partly of narratives that Chaucer adapted or even appropriated from Boccaccio's Decameron. Chaucer's many other works include The Legend of Good Women (c. 1386), which collects tales primarily from Ovid and Boccaccio; Troilus and Criseyde (c.

Chatterton, Thomas, 1752-1770

Inspired by a growing English interest in antiquated and primitive poetry, Chatterton fabricated a number of works supposedly by fifteenth-century Bristol sheriff Thomas Rowley, whom Chatterton fictitiously recast as a poet, providing spurious documentation for the poems' authenticity as well. Made desperate by poverty, he committed suicide while still in his teens, inspiring his reception among Romantic readers as a quintessential example of tragically neglected genius.