Canterbury Tales Research

Kaitlyn Watson October 6, 2011 Research Project: The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet who was raised in the 1300s. Although his exact date of birth is unknown, he Is believed to have been born in the year 1342. Little is known about his education other than some form of teaching in Greek and Latin. Shortly after his schooling, Chaucer began work in the house of the Countess of Ulster, a home of royalty. Later becoming the Knight of the Shire of Kent, he became a member of the well-to-do King’s household and was frequently sent on diplomatic errands around Europe. With much thanks to his position of work, Geoffrey Chaucer gained the inate knowledge he needed to write The Canterbury Tales Chaucer died in early October of 1400, beginning the “Poet’s Corner” in the cemetery of Westminster Abbey when he passed.

Chaucer shines light to the quality of chivalry in the descriptions and assertations of many of his charactors in The Canterbury Tales. The Knight and the Squire are the two most prime examples as their names alone depict class. In fact, the Squire is the son of the Knight. The Knight is chivalrous and devoted to his work, showing consistant honesty. The Squire possesses qualities of far less admirability and has an attitude contradictory to that of his father. The Wife of Bath is another character of Chaucer’s who not as much displays chivalry, but more so exhibits the use of weaponry. This is done in the form of sexuality and youthfulness and resulting in the suffering of her husbands. 'How pitously a-night I made hem swinke!' She found this method highly effective with her domination of the first three of her husbands, as she withheld sex in order to get her way. Once her sexuality and youth begin to wither, The Wife of Bath no longer has a weapon of which to manipulate men with

The Black Death (Black Plague) spread rapidly across Europe during Chaucer’s childhood. Altering of the population’s view on mortality was prevalent after an estimated thirty to fifty percent of the population was wiped out by the widespread plague. The plague originated in the northern India during the 1330s and spread quickly to most of Asia by the 1340s. Trying to discourage Italian trade caravans from crossing their territory on their way back and forth to China,

Mongol-Tartar armies spread the plague to Europe intentionally. Carried by fleas and rats, the Black Death killed 25 million people throughout Europe. In India, in 1994, when the Plague broke out and people were dying, the people wouldn't kill the rats because rats were considered sacred. Citizens thought that the epidemic was "the end of the world" because there had been droughts, earthquakes, etc. also occurring around the time.

John Wycliffe led an early English religious movement called Lollardy. Chaucer makes mention to Lollardy in The Canterbury Tales. Pardoners gathered money in exchange for exemption from sins. Chaucer exhibits an opinionated view of the Church in The Canterbury Tales because it was very relevant at the time of its origin. After the Black Death spread across Europe, many citizens began to question the church as well as authority. At this point in history, Lollardy gained popularity as it was both a political AND religious movement. John Wycliffe himself was a critic of the church and that was what led him to dismissal from Oxford University in 1382 as he demanded reform of Western Christianity.

Oxford has multiple connections to The Canterbury Tales. First and foremost, The Clerk’s Tale is led by The Clerk of Oxenford who studied what we would now consider philosophy. Within his tale, the Clerk tells the tale of Griselda, a young woman who is tormented with acts in Biblical book of Job by her husband. Chaucer also establishes Oxford clerk as a character. He is a thin and impoverished, devoted and hard working student who also studies philosophy. Oxford is also the place of study of John Wycliffe, who played a significant role in religion and politics during Chaucer’s life.