LITERATURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES (MEDIEVAL PERIOD)
Chivalric Romance A preferred literature of the nobility. They consisted of chivalry, love, magic, giants,
dragons and sorceresses. (Knight’s Tale, Squire’s Tale)
Ballads
The preferred type of literature by the common folk. These were songs sung in ale
houses and around campfires, continuing the oral tradition.
Morality Plays
Also enjoyed by the commoners. They would be staged in front of the local
Cathedral. The plays had a religious theme, but were entertaining as well.
(Everyman)
Set in the Brittany region of France. Celtic in origin, of magic, fairies, folk lore and
courtly love. (Wife of Bath’s Tale, Franklin’s Tale)
Animals are given human qualities and involved in clever tales that preach a moral
lesson. (Nun’s Priest Tale)
A tale which treats a trivial subject in the “grand” or “epic” style; it makes a trivial
subject ludicrous by overstating it. (Nun’s Priest’s Tale)
Breton Lay
Beast Fable
Mock-Heroic
Fabliaux
Stories of low humor based on clever tricks involving infidelity. Often bawdy and
sometimes denigrating to the clergy and women. Miller’s Tale; Reeve’s Tale)
Exemplum
A sermon that illustrates a known moral lesson.
(Pardoner’s Tale)
CANTERBURY TALES
 Frame Tale
o CT is a series of stories bound together by a frame which gives unity to the whole work.
o Frame is the pilgrimage; only way Chaucer could bring together representatives of all the classes of
the 1300s
 uses realistic language and coarse humor
 a man of the world who knew how a variety of people spoke and acted
SOCIETY IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
 Social structure was feudal meaning the power goes from king through nobles through their subjects

Three traditional “estates” (social classes). Categories are gender-specific and defined by what a
man does for a living as much as by the social class into which he was born.

First Estate: Church (clergy = those who prayed); Nun, Monk, Friar, Parson, Summoner, Pardoner,
Prioress, Nun’s Priest
o 8 of the 30 pilgrims belong to this
o Superficial Prioress; Holy Parson; Outright hypocrisy of Summoner and Pardoner

Second Estate: Nobility (those who fought): Knight, Squire

Third Estate: Peasantry (those who supported the first two estates with their labor): Plowman,
Yeoman

By Chaucer’s time (mid-14th century), two new divisions arise: Intellectuals trained in literature and
writing ("clerics" like Chaucer's Clerk), but not destined to a Church career. And Mercantile class
(urban middle-class merchants/professionals): Franklin, Reeve, Miller, Merchant, Sergeant at the
Law, Five Guildsmen, Cook, Shipman, Physician, Wife of Bath (clothmaker), Manciple, Host
o Franklin owns some land—he would probably be obligated to give some of the profits from his
yearly harvest to the king or noble.
o Reeve manages an estate
o Miller does not own land, but mills all the grain on an estate
o Both Reeve and Miller are servants, but an exalted form, and they take advantage of their power

Women were also categorized by three specifically "feminine estates": virgin, wife and widow