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The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, was written in the late 1300s, soon after the bubonic plague killed millions of people in England and throughout Europe. Chaucer was one of the first English poets to write in the vernacular of Middle English, popularizing the language of his day.
The poem is a collection of 24 stories built around a frame narrative about a group of pilgrims making their journey to Canterbury. Chaucer’s work addresses gender relations, religion, and sexual immorality within English society. He critiques members of the nobility, clergy, and peasantry, who were often in conflict with each other, and uses satire to call attention to the pilgrims’ hypocrisy. Chaucer unveils the vast spectacle of human failings by exposing the pilgrims’ preoccupation with worldly endeavors while on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral.
The Canterbury Tales begins with the famous words, "When April comes with his sweet, fragrant showers, which pierce the dry ground of March, and bathe every root of every plant in sweet liquid….Then people desire to go on pilgrimages." The narrator, who is meant to be a version of Chaucer himself, is staying at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, just outside the gates of London, when the company of twenty-nine pilgrims descend.
The inn’s owner and host, Harry Bailly, sets up a challenge: each pilgrim should tell four tales on their journey—two on the way to the shrine of martyr Saint Thomas à Becket at Canterbury Cathedral, and two on their way back to London. The host will accompany them so he can judge the best story and the other pilgrims will pay for the winner’s supper upon their return.
The narrator then introduces the pilgrims, starting with the Knight who has the highest status and drew the shortest lot for the right to tell the first tale.
The Knight is a chivalrous nobleman who has fought in the Crusades in numerous countries in defense of Christendom; he is honored for his worthiness and courtesy. The Knight’s 'Fustian' tunic, made of coarse cloth, has rust stains from his coat of chainmail.
The Knight’s son, the Squire, accompanies him. At twenty years old, the Squire is a lover and a lusty bachelor, wearing clothes embroidered with red and white flowers. He constantly sings or plays the flute and is the only pilgrim, other than Chaucer himself, who explicitly has literary ambitions.
The Yeoman (a freeborn servant) also travels with the Knight, clad in a coat and a hood of green. He carries arrows made of peacock feathers, a bracer (an arm guard), a sword, a buckler, and a dagger as sharp as a spear. He wears an image of St. Christopher on his breast.
The narrator then moves on to the clergy. The Prioress, called 'Madame Eglantine' (or Mrs. Sweetbriar) sweetly sings religious services, speaks French and has excellent table manners. She would weep if she saw a mouse caught in a trap, and she has small dogs with her. She wears a brooch with the inscription 'Amor vincit omnia' ('Love conquers all').
The Prioress travels with the Second Nun who serves as her secretary, as well as three priests.
The Monk is next—a modern man who prefers to hunt hare with his greyhounds rather than read books in a cloister. The Monk is well-fed, fat, and his eyes gleam like a furnace in his head.
The Friar, named Huberd, is wanton and merry, and is licensed to beg in certain districts. Franklins (or landowners) love him as do worthy women all over town. He hears confession and gives absolution and is an excellent beggar.
The Merchant wears a forked beard, motley clothes and sits high upon his horse. He gives his opinion solemnly, and does excellent business, never being in any debt. But the narrator ominously remarks that he—the narrator—doesn’t know what other men think of the Merchant.
Next is the Clerk. A scholar of Oxford University, he would rather have twenty books by Aristotle than rich clothes or musical instruments, and thus is dressed in a threadbare short coat. He only has a little gold, which he spends on books and learning.
The Man of Law or “sergeant of the law,” is judicious and dignified, or at least seems to be. No one can find a flaw in his legal writings. Despite his high standing, the Man of Law rides in a homely, multi-colored coat.
A Franklin travels with the Man of Law. He has a beard as white as a daisy, and is of the “sanguine humour” (dominated by his blood). He lives for culinary delight and his house is always full of meat pie, fish and more meat.
The five guildsmen include a haberdasher, carpenter, weaver, dyer, and tapester. Representing an emerging middle class, all of them are clothed in the same distinctive guildsman's dress. None tells a tale.
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