The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer, Middle English, & medieval era.

Medieval England  The Norman Conquest took place in 1066, in which William the Conqueror (of what is now known as France) conquered England.  This period lasted from about 1066–1435.  Because of this influx of French-speakers at court (the monarchs & noblemen), French became the language of the educated aristocracy.  Society was based on the feudal system.

Feudalism  The nobility / aristocracy were comprised of barons, knights, and clergy (in that order).  Below these ranks were freemen, or tradespeople and artisans and merchants who made a living working at a craft or trade (think: plumbers, electricians, small-business owners of their day).  Lowest class were serfs and peasants, or farmers indebted to landowners, who lived on and worked a small part of land owned by a wealthier baron.  If you were born into one of these classes, that was the class in which you remained for your life. There is no such thing as class ascendancy.

Roman Catholicism  There was no separation of church and state.  Concept of salvation existed only within the institution of religion.  All people paid 10% of what they earned in tithes. Failure to pay tithes resulted in eternal damnation.  Corruption and deceit were so prevalent among the clergy that there were many reforms that took place throughout the medieval period—encouraging monasticism, abstinence, and vows of poverty. (St. Francis of Assisi.)

The Black Plague  Also known as the Black Death, originated in Sicily (Italy) when ships that had crossed the Black Sea arrived with most of their sailors dead.  Caused black, oozing boils on the skin (origin of the disease’s name), and caused delirium and vomiting.  Disease, which spread quickly due to poor sanitary conditions (no plumbing), the rise of cities (people living in close proximity to each other), and the contagion of the bacteria being carried by vermin like fleas and rats, over 20 million people in Europe perished from the Black Death over five years.  After so much of the population disappeared, this left “gaps” in society where people could become upwardly mobile.

The Archbishop of Canterbury  Thomas à Becket was a middle-class son of a merchant who was well educated and respected. Born in around  He quickly became an assistant to the then-Archbishop of Canterbury. As this was a prominent position, the King Henry II took notice of the talents of this young upstart and eventually made him chancellor.  The two became close friends and confidants, however, when Henry II appointed him to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Becket took the role very seriously and sided with the church against the king.  This created a huge rift in their personal and professional relationship.

Martyrdom  As their relationship grew increasingly strained, legend (rather than history) has it that Henry II shouted “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest!”  Whatever the actual case, there were a group of four enterprising knights who believed that Henry II had expressed an urgent desire for Becket to be murdered.  Becket was assassinated in Canterbury Cathedral on December 29,  It was alleged that he was praying at the time of the assassination, and never saw them coming. He was canonized (made a saint) in 1173.

Canterbury Cathedral

Geoffrey Chaucer  Born around 1343 and lived until about  Chaucer was the son of a middle-class wine merchant. Chaucer thus was not nobility, but was well educated enough to move within the ranks of nobility.  He was as a vassal, or person who served a lord to receive protection. He served as court page beginning at age 12. He also served as a soldier, and eventually married a lady in waiting.  He spoke French, Latin, and Italian and traveled to Italy several times as a statesman.

Geoffrey Chaucer  Largely considered the “father” of English literature.  Is as famous and as widely read as Shakespeare.  As French was the language of the court, and Latin the language of the clergy and the law, Chaucer preferred to write in the Mercian dialect.  Mercian derived from Anglo-Saxon and Germanic languages and was known as the Anglian dialect of central England.  Unlike Modern English, it had genders (male, female, neuter) and nouns, adjectives, and pronouns were inflected for case.  The first poet buried in Westminster Abbey.

Canterbury Tales: The Premise  Written between 1387 and Never finished—only 24 tales exist.  30 pilgrims = people traveling on foot to visit the shrine of Thomas à Becket in Canterbury.  They represent a cross section of society (higher-class members like a knight and a prioress; lower-class like the miller, the reeve, or the pardoner).  All these pilgrims meet at the Tabard Inn in Southwerk to begin their journey, and the proprietor of the inn, Harry Bailly, dreams up a storytelling contest to pass the time.  All pilgrims tell two tales on the way there and two on the way back. Whoever wins (as judged by Harry), gets a feast in their honor.

The Canterbury Tales Image from a 15 th century manuscript of The Canterbury Tales. —From

Literary Elements  The overall premise of the The Canterbury Tales is one narrative, and contained within it are the many different narratives of the pilgrims. This is called a frame story or framing device.  The courtly romance is represented in the Knight’s Tale. These romances were usually based on a knight’s pursuit of a married woman.  A short, ribald tale told in rhyming verse and usually based on puns of children’s nursery rhymes is a fabliaux. They were popularized for the French, and often recall stories of women cheating on their husbands or naughty priests.  Chaucer wrote nearly the entire text in rhymed, metered verse. Two lines would rhyme in a row, thus creating a heroic couplet.

The General Prologue Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour, Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open ye (so priketh hem Nature in hir corages), Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; And specially from every shires ende Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende, The hooly blisful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

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