One could argue about whether Geoffrey Chaucer was famous in the fourteenth century, but it is true that he was a diplomat, Clerk of the King's Works and, of course, a poet. But whether or not he was a spy is more difficult to determine. Chaucer traveled a great deal on the king's behalf and conducted business for him both openly and secretly. In 1372, for instance, he traveled to Genoa and Florence in order to negotiate the appointment of a special seaport for the use of Genoese merchants, and perhaps to negotiate a loan for Edward III from the Compagnia dei Bardi, one of the most powerful banks in the fourteenth century. Chaucer was involved in a military campaign; he was in the company of Lionel, Earl of Ulster, in the French campaign of 1359-60.