Short answers, pulled from the story.
Geoffrey Chaucer began writing The Canterbury Tales between 1387 and 1400. This period coincided with political instability in England while he served as Controller of Customs starting in 1386.
Eighty-four medieval manuscripts and four incunabula editions preserve The Canterbury Tales. Only about 24 stories survive from the original plan of roughly 120 tales across all known copies.
The pilgrims travel from London to visit Saint Thomas Becket's shrine at Canterbury Cathedral. They gather at the Tabard Inn before departing on their journey to Kent.
Chaucer wrote in a London dialect of late Middle English featuring distinct pronunciation differences from modern speech. Final -e sounds were pronounced clearly so words like care sounded different than they do today.
Dante and Petrarch influenced his writing significantly making him the first English author to use their works extensively. He borrowed heavily from Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron during diplomatic missions to Italy starting in 1372.