Philip de la Vache ""The Canterbury Tales"". However, the reference to Vache in Chaucer's poem may on good grounds also be a pun on his own name. The phrase Vache, leve! in the first line of the Envoy corresponds to medieval French Vache, reïs!, 'cow, leave!'. The French phase reïs, Vache!, (REISVACHE), when reversed, becomes CHAVSIER, the French form of the poet's name (this is a so-called palindrome). In the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament, the cows on their way to Beth Shemesh are likened to holy men, or monks on their way to the Heavenly Jerusalem. Chaucer may have regarded
Richard de la Vache Richard de la Vache Sir Richard de la Vache, KG (d.1366) was an English knight of Buckinghamshire belonging to the Delavache family. The Delavache family, often claimed to be of Gascon descent from Buckinghamshire, but were more likely Norman and the name was only found in Gascony belonging to a merchant, referenced in the Calendar Patent Roles, 1330-1334, called John del La Vacarie, with no evidence of a connection to the Buckinghamshire family. Richard was first mentioned fighting at the Siege of Calais 1345-6. In 1347, Richard was summoned by Edward III and arrived with one man-at-arms and two archers