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BUKTON. There are two Bukton men who were close to Chaucer, and his poem, Lenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton could have been addressed to either of them. Sir Peter Bukton (1350-1414) lived in Holderness in Yorkshire and was close to the House of Lancaster. He served in John of Gaunt's army in 1369 and later became Keeper of Knaresborough Castle, where he served as warden to Richard II. In 1399 Henry IV granted him the office of steward for life, and in 1400 he became constable of Knaresborough Castle. The other possibility, Sir Robert Bukton of Goosewold, Suffolk, served as equerry to Queen Anne, wife of Richard II. In 1390 he was appointed one of the king's justices in South Wales. He was a member of Parliament from Suffolk for several terms from 1390 to 1401. Like Chaucer, both Buktons were courtiers, serving either the king or the duke of Lancaster. Chaucer, Bukton, and Scogan all belonged to the same class. Haldeen Braddy and E.P. Kuhl support the identification of Sir Peter Bukton, while J.R. Hulbert and J.S.P. Tatlock support Sir Robert.

The Envoy de Chaucer a Bukton is dated after October 1396. Chaucer humorously warns Bukton against marriage, advising him to read Dame Alys of Bath's comments. [Scogan]


H. Braddy, "Sir Peter and the Envoy to Bukton." PQ 14 (1935): 368-370; Chaucer: The Minor Poems, Part One, ed. G. Pace and A. David, 104; J.R. Hulbert, Chaucer's Official Life, 54-55; E.P. Kuhl, "Chaucer's 'My Maistre Bukton.'" PMLA 38 (1923): 115-132; J.S.P. Tatlock, The Development and Chronology of Chaucer's Works, 210-211.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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