I have managed to find a source discrediting my Chaucer descent this evening.
According to "Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families" by Douglas Richardson, 2004, p. 55-56 (and wikipedia): Joan de la Pole was not the daughter of William de la Pole and Alice Chaucer. She was the illegitimate child of de la Pole and allegedly a nun named Malyne de Cay. This source then matches the OneWorldTree descent down through Margaret Harcourt. And I trust my ascent up through Joanna Chamberlain. (see previous entry) So there's only three unproven links to a direct descent from "someone mentioned in a Shakespearean play" - but that takes longer to say and explain than 'Chaucer'.
Back to more serious pursuits...
I had a brief moment of thinking I had a Chaucer-de la Pole descent, but alas no. I have had other moments similar to this, too. So far as have got a few good lines back to some interesting medieval people, but not quite the ones I had hoped for!
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