Notes for The Canterbury Tales
pil·grim·age - [pil-gruh-mij] - noun - 1. a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of
religious devotion: a pilgrimage to Lourdes. 2. Islam. a. the Pilgrimage, hajj. b. ?umrah. 3. any long journey,
especially one undertaken as a quest or for a votive purpose, as to pay homage: a pilgrimage to the grave of
Shakespeare. verb (used without object) - 4. to make a pilgrimage.
Origin: 1200–50; Middle English pilegrimage (see pilgrim, -age); replacing earlier pelrimage, alteration of Old
French pelerinage
Notice that the etymology of this word begins with Old French. Why is this significant for a Middle English word?
FEUDALISM: based on the exchange of land for military service - everyone owed allegiance to the King and their
immediate superior - established by William the Conqueror following the defeat of the English Anglo Saxons at the
Battle of Hastings in 1066 - William used feudalism to reward his Norman supporters for their help in the conquest
 Top of hierarchy: King, followed by nobles – make up the aristocracy
 Knights (vassals) follow and have varying ranks
 Serfs (peasants) the bottom of the hierarchy – biggest part of the population
 Priests/Clergy: a class unto their own with their own hierarchy
 Merchant class (aka middle class) emerging during this time with people beginning to make wealth instead of
only inheriting it – Chaucer’s father was a wine merchant, making him middle class. Chaucer rose in rank,
however.
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Father of English Poetry
Timeline of Life Events:
born c. 1343
1348-50 The Black Death (the plague)
1357 serves as page in the household of the Countess of Ulster
1359-60 serves in the Hundred Years War in France
1360 captured by French, ransomed
1360-69 Treaty of Bretigny halts war for a while
1361-62 the plague returns
1366 marries Philippa Roet, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Phillippa, wife of King Edward III (wife's sis became Katherine Swynford,
mistress of John of Gaunt, bro to Edward III and ancestor to the Tudor dynasty)
1366 travels to Spain / father dies
1367 son, Thomas, born
1367 serves as valet, then squire in the court of Edward III (20/yr)
1368 travels to France as diplomat
1368-72 writes Romaunt of the Rose, The Book of the Duchess
1369 serves in John of Gaunt's army / 1370 back in French Army
1372 wife Philippa now in household of John of Gaunt's wife
1372 travels to Italy as diplomat
1374 granted daily gal. pitcher of wine for life
1374 appointed controller of the customs & granted a lease
1375 receives grant from John of Guant (for poetry)
1376-77 travels repeatedly to France to negotiate peace & the marriage of Richard / Richard II becomes king
1378 travels to Italy as diplomat
late 1370s writes Saint Cecelia and others
1380 son, Lewis, born; writes Parliament of Fowls
1382-86 writes Boece, Troilus and Criseyede
1385-87 writes "Palamoun and Arcite" (later to be The Knight's Tale), The Legend of Good Women
1385-89 serves as justice of peace for Kent / serves as member of Parliament for Kent
1387-92 begins The Canterbury Tales; granted 20 pounds per year from King Richard II
1392-95 continues The Canterbury Tales
1396 writes "The Envoy to Bukton" (urging to read The Wife of Bath)
1396-1400 continues The Canterbury Tales, including probably The Nun's Priest's Tale, The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, The Parson's Tale, and other short poems
1398 granted a tun of wine a year
1399 Richard II deposed; Henry IV becomes king; King Henry IV adds to Chaucer's royal annuities (income)
1400 Chaucer dies (Oct. 25 by tradition)
Influences on  Chaucer's Writing from Other Writers
 Dante Alighieri - poet of the Italian Renaissance - His Divine Comedy, an influence on the narratives within
narratives and allegory used by Chaucer, is still considered the greatest Italian work of poetry.
 Boccaccio - poet of the Italian Renaissance - Chaucer modeled The Knight's Tale after Boccaccio's early work,
and used framing style of narrative found in Boccaccio's very famous work, The Decameron.
 Francesco Petrarch - poet of the Italian Renaissance known for establishing the sonnet form - Another strong
influence on Chaucer's use of language and allegory.
Career Influences on Chaucer's Writing
 married a woman who was a lady-in-waiting to two very powerful women
 served as a page in a noble household
 had the king as a patron of his literary work
 served as an English diplomat in Italy during the height of the Italian Renaissance
 served as a diplomat to establish a treaty and broker the marriage of King Richard II
 served as Justice of the Peace, living in Greenwich, Kent, where he would see pilgrims on their way to
Canterbury by way of London
The Roman Catholic Church (The Church)
In Medieval England the Church was all powerful:
 fear of going to Hell was very real
 people told that only the Catholic Church could save your soul
 head of the Catholic Church: the pope based in Rome
 head of the Catholic Church in Medieval England (directly under the pope): the Archbishop of Canterbury
 the Archbishop & king usually worked together
 A king of England could not remove a pope from his position, but popes claimed that they could remove a king  by excommunicating him. This meant that the king’s soul was condemned to Hell, and people then had the
right to disobey the king.
 So who does one obey above all? The pope or the king?
Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury
 good friend of Henry II
 was named Henry's Chancellor - top position under the king
 Henry was at odds with the Church over their courts
 The Church had its own courts; a member of the Church could be tried in the king's or the Church's courts. The
Church usually doled out easier punishments (especially where money was concerned!) Henry felt this
undermined his authority.
 When the Archbishop who was in opposition to Henry II died, Henry appointed Thomas Becket as Archbishop,
thinking he'd have a powerful ally.
 Becket turns very pious - doesn't support Henry's attempts to take away the power of the Church courts
 friendship ends when Becket asks the pope to excommunicate a the Archbishop of York for going along with Henry II
 Henry exclaims, "will no-one rid me of this troublesome priest?" -- Some knights take him at his word and kill
Becket. -- The people, who love Becket (probably because he has stronger Anglo-Saxon heritage than Henry),
are extremely upset!
 Henry eventually goes to Canterbury to and performs penance (strips down, has himself scourged, etc.), thus
making the church at Canterbury a place of pilgrimage to honor the martyrdom of Becket.
The Humours:
 four liquids in the body corresponding to the elements
o


Blood: Air (hot & moist),  Phlegm: Water (cold & moist),  Yellow Bile: Fire (hot & dry)  Black bile: Earth
(cold & dry)
humours gave off vapors which ascended to the brain
o must be balanced: disease/illness could be the result of one humour dominating over the others, or
from a lack of balance
o characteristics of one’s personality come from the balance of humours
o Perfect people do not have any one humour dominate over any other.
Examples of imbalance (found in TCT characters):
o Sanguine man: Blood dominates - joyful, amorous, and beneficent
o Choleric man: Yellow bile dominates - easily angered, impatient, stubborn, and vengeful
o Phlegmatic man: Phlegm dominates - boring, pale, and cowardly
o Melancholic man: Black bile dominates - greedy, fat, backward, lazy, pensive, and sentimental
Physiognomy:
Etymology: C14: from Old French phisonomie, via Medieval Latin, from Late Greek phusiognōmia, erroneous for Greek
phusiognōmonia, from phusis nature + gnōmōn judge
Definition: 1. a person's features or characteristic expression considered as an indication of personality 2. the art or
practice of judging character from facial features 3. the outward appearance of something, esp the physical
characteristics of a geographical region
People truly believed that physical features could reveal one's personality.
Examples: Sparse, soft, long yellow hair = cunning and deceptiveness
Hare eyes = mean gluttony and drunkenness
Goat-voice and beardless face = a lack of manhood and treachery
Slenderness, calfless legs = a choleric humor (quick temper, sharp wit, and wantonness [deliberately cruel or
sexually immodest)
Gap-teeth = propensity to travel (or get around), risky behavior, love of luxury, boldness, envy, irreverent,
deceitful
Alchemy:
Etymology: C14 alkamye, via Old French from Medieval Latin alchimia, which comes from Arabic al-kīmiyā', derived
from al "the" + kīmiyā' "transmutation", from Late Greek khēmeia "the art of transmutation"
Definition: a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and
concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a
universal solvent and an elixir of life.
This is now known to be a pseudoscience (false science), but in the Middle Ages, scholars thought they could turn base
metals into gold. While we know this can't be done, the alchemists's experimentation actually did lead to advances in
math and sciences.
Astronomy:
Today, astonomy is the science that deals with the material universe beyond the earth's atmosphere. In the Middle
Ages, astronomy was what we know of as astrology.
Definition: 1. the study that assumes and attempts to interpret the influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs.
2. the study of the motions and relative positions of the planets, sun, and moon, interpreted in terms of human
characteristics and activities
This is another pseudoscience (false science), but in the medieval times, scholars--especially doctors--used the alignment
of the planets to determine aspects of life, personality, and even illness. Their observations actually did lead to advances
astronomy, math, and sciences.