However, it was in his role of “Dan Chaucer, well of
English undefyled” (Spenser, THE FAERIE QUEENEIV ii 32)
that he most influenced the literature of the English Re-
naissance. CAXTON’s proem to his second edition of The
Canterbury Tales (1484) praises Chaucer as “that noble
and grete philosopher” who “enbelysshed, ornated, and
made faire our Englisshe,” and the theme was taken up by
several subsequent writers on the development of the ver-
nacular, although SIDNEYin his Defence of Poesie was more
guarded: “I knowe not whether to mervail more, either
that hee [Chaucer] in that mistie time could see so clearly,
or that wee in this cleare age, goe so stumblingly after
him. Yet had hee great wants, fit to be forgiven in so rev-
erent an Antiquitie.”
See also: DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE
Cheke, Sir John (1514–1557) English humanist
Cheke was born in Cambridge, where he became a fellow
of St. John’s College (1529) and took his MA in 1533. He
became first Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge
(1540), a canon of Christ Church, Oxford (1544), and
tutor in Latin and Greek to King Edward VI. He was
knighted in 1552, but, as a Protestant, he was imprisoned
and then driven into exile (1554) on the accession of the
Catholic Mary I. English agents captured him near Brus-
sels (1556), and he was brought back to England where he
was forced to make a humiliating public abjuration of his
faith. Consumed with remorse for his recantation, he died
in London the following year. A renowned scholar, Cheke
made a number of translations of Greek texts into Latin.
He also took part in the controversy surrounding the pro-
nunciation of Greek (see GREEK STUDIES), his letters op-
posing Stephen GARDINERon the subject being published
in Basle in 1555. This study of phonetics led him to evolve
a reformed spelling for English which he used in gospel
translations that he made around 1550 and in his letter to
Sir Thomas HOBY, published in the latter’s translation of
Castiglione (1561).Chenonceaux, Château de A château in central France,
southwest of Paris, bridging the River Cher. Incorporating
a single tower from an earlier building of the 15th century,
the château was begun in 1513 by Thomas Bohier, the fi-
nancial minister of Normandy, but was subsequently con-
fiscated by Francis I and became a royal residence (1535).
Noted for its combination of Gothic and Renaissance fea-
tures, the château was inherited by Henry II who pre-
sented it to his mistress DIANE DE POITIERS. She added an
arched bridge spanning the Cher, designed by Philibert
DELORME. When the château passed to Catherine de’
Medici this wing was enlarged (1570–78) by Jean BULLANT
as the Grande Galerie.chiaroscuro A term describing the handling of light and
dark in the visual arts, particularly with regard to painting.
Derived from the Italian words chiaro (lightness) and os-
curo (darkness), chiaroscuro was first developed by artists
during the 14th century as a means of heightening atmos-
pheric qualities and achieving three-dimensional effects.
The use of contrast of light and dark was also applied to
manuscript illustration and, by UGO DA CARPIand PARMI-
GIANINO, to woodcuts. Also referred to as tenebrismo, the
effect was employed by numerous artists of the Renais-
sance, such as CARAVAGGIO(whose followers were some-
times called “tenebristi”), and reached its greatest heights
in the 17th-century works of Rembrandt.Chigi, Agostino (1465–1520) Italian banker and patron
of the arts
Also known as “Il Magnifico,” Chigi was a member of a
noted Sienese family and the founder of a major banking
house in Rome (1485). As leasor (1500) of the papal alum
mines and treasurer to the Church he exerted financial in-
fluence in several European countries and was in an ideal
position to become acquainted with the foremost artists of
his day. Peruzzi’s masterpiece, the Villa FARNESINA, was
built for Chigi near Rome and decorated by RAPHAEL, theCChhiiggii,, AAggoossttiinnoo 1 10033Geoffrey ChaucerAn engraving based on an illumination in
the Ellesmere manuscript (c. 1410) of Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales. This is the earliest known likeness of the poet.
Mary Evans Picture Library