A Treatise on the Astrolabe is a mediæval instruction manual on the astrolabe, completed by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1391. Notable as technical prose from a writer better known for poetry, it describes both the form and the proper use of the instrument. It was written in Middle English rather than the more typical Latin.
The treatise is dedicated to Chaucer's son Lowys (Lewis), who was ten during its composition.
Geoffrey Chaucer (/ˈdʒɛfri/ /ˈtʃɔːsər/; JEF-ree CHAW-sər; c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, writer and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the 'father of English literature', or alternatively, the 'father of English poetry'. He was the first writer to be buried in what has since become Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his ten-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in public service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat and member of the Parliament of England, having been elected as shire knight for Kent.