Gaunt's influence in favour of Chaucer was a cause for any of them.
Further John of Gaunt's influence would have been worthless in helping
Chaucer to become Justice of the Peace in Kent in 1385. This appointment
must have been made by the Chancellor--Michael de la Pole--possibly at
the recommendation of the Lord Lieutenant of the County or the Custos
Rotulorum. Whether there was a Lord Lieutenant of Kent or not, I do not
know. At any rate the constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque
Ports (at this time Simon de Burley) held powers in Kent similar to
those of a lord lieutenant, and he occupies the position of the lord
lieutenant in the list of Justices of the Peace--at the top. Both de la
Pole and de Burley were enemies of John of Gaunt. Even if the
appointment was not due to them, we cannot ascribe it to John of Gaunt,
for I have been able to find no evidence that John of Gaunt had
influence in Kent, or that he controlled any of the other Justices.

Furthermore that Chaucer did not owe his place in the customs to the
influence of John of Gaunt is clear from the fact that the
collectorships of customs in London, at any rate, were controlled by the
duke's enemies. If they had sufficient power with the king to gain
control of those offices, it hardly seems likely that the King would
appoint a member of the faction opposed to them to serve with them. It
is to be noted also that Chaucer on account of the business connections
of his family--his father was a vintner and another relative evidently a
pepperer--would be more likely to sympathize with the party of Brembre
than with that of Northampton.

Now we come to a point where nearly all writers on Chaucer make
inferences in regard to John of Gaunt's influence--Chaucer's separation
from the office of controller of the customs. Most writers have said
more or less directly that Chaucer lost the office because John of Gaunt