During the middle ages many things changed. The middle ages began in 1066
with the crowning of the new king and we saw many new ideas brought to England. The
first big difference we saw was the introduction of the feudal system the feudal system
took all the land and gave it to the king. The king would then loan out land until he
needed it to his vassals. The vassals all built huge castles to show off their wealth to
everyone this was different than the acquirement of wealth during the Anglo-Saxon
period. Women also lost all of their rights they were viewed as property. There were also
some big things that took place. One of them was the Bubonic Plague. The plague killed
one third of the population of England and it managed to loosen the feudal system. We
also had the introduction of the Doomsday Book this book told the king exactly what
everyone owned so he knew how much to tax them. The last big event was the signing of
the Magna Carta. This took a bunch of power away from the king and gave the power to
the lords. Signing the document made King John so hated by future kings no, no other
king would ever be named John again.
Geoffrey Chaucer led an interesting life. He was a civil servant and he wrote
poetry on the side. His most famous piece of literature is Canterbury Tales it is a
commentary on society at the time. Chaucer created the vernacular of the time period and
he made it respectable to write in English before him everything important was written in
either Latin or French. Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales as a frame narrative very
much resembling work he had seen while working in Italy for the king.
Canterbury Tales is a story about a group of pilgrims going to see the Shrine of
Sir Thomas Beckett he was killed by the king for going against his wishes. The pilgrims
set off in the spring that was the most popular time for travel. People went on pilgrimages
to seek Holy divinity go on vacation and meet new people. In our story our travelers meet
at an inn and they decide to travel to Canterbury together. When the travelers set out from
the inn there are 30 total there are 29 pilgrims plus our narrator. Our narrator is also our
writer. Chaucer could not simply say that he had problems with the feudal system without
ending up in jail or dead so he had to do it in a subtle manner. Our narrator likes everyone
he is on the journey with and does not see anything unusual or wrong with their behavior.
Our writer however does not agree with the way some people behave so he points out
their flaws to us.
On the road to Canterbury the pilgrims decide to tell stories to one another to pass
the time on the road each person will tell a tale. The tale we read in class was about the
Wife of Bath she is a slightly scandalous traveler. She is very provocative and has
managed to outlive all five of her previous husbands. She tells us a story about marriage.
In our story a knight rapes a young girl and is sentenced to death unless he can find the
answer to the question what do women most desire. The knight gets one year and one day
to learn the answer he does not have much luck. He has given up and is on his way back
to the court with no answer when he stumbles across an old woman. The old woman tells
the knight she can give him the answer that will save his life but he will have to agree to
do what ever she asks of him as long as it is within his ability. They go to court together
and the knight tells the queen that women most desire to have power over their men. The
knight is saved and the old woman demands the knight marry her. He does as he is told
he is not happy about marrying her. The knight insults her low breeding lack of money
and old age. The woman says gentility comes from actions and from the grace of God.
She then says it is ok to be poor because Jesus chose a life of poverty and would not
choose something shameful. Her age she says she could change if he ere nicer to her. She
also points out that young beautiful women must be watched because they are not always
faithful and an older woman would not have to be watched. The woman presents him
with the choice of old age and faithful or young and not so faithful. After thinking it over
the knight decides to let his wife make her own decision this shows the knight has learned
his lesson. This story certainly tells us what the Wife of Bath thinks about men and how
their relationship should work.