Take out a pen and paper Imagine you are going on a long trip.

There is no music or movies in the car and you don’t have any electronics with you. How do you pass the time?

The Canterbury TalesFrom www.absasso.com/canterburytales.ppt

Importance to the English Language Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was universally

admired as soon as it appeared.* Chaucer wrote in middle English, which could

be understood by more common people. Before that, poetry was written in Latin or French.

Chaucer is considered one of the greatest English writers.

He was one of the first writers to really develop characters through direct and indirect characterization.

What is the book about? The Canterbury Tales is a series of 24 tales told by a

vast representation of late Middle Age English folk on a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral, mid-April, 1387.

They agree to engage in a storytelling contest, mediated by the owner of the pub where they first meet, located in Southwark, just over the London Bridge.

They are heading to the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket, the archbishop murdered there on Christmas, 1170, by the knights of Henry II.

Originally, it was meant to contain two tales going to the cathedral, and two coming back, as told by each pilgrim, but Chaucer never finished the work, and of the thirty pilgrims, we hear from 23 (one tells two tales) going.**

Historic Elements Many folks took pilgrimages to make business

connections, meet potential mates, appease an irate wife or boss, or to advance their social position – or for entertainment! Remember, society was changing!

In England today, the smaller roads from Southwark to Canterbury (about 60 miles)are still lined with pubs, which offered the pilgrims of Chaucer’s time lodging, libations, and sometimes other worldly pleasures…

The pilgrims of the time could also get little pins to wear that said, basically, “I went on a pilgrimage to Canterbury!” and other kitschy things that are now in the British Museum!

Historic Elements Thomas à Becket (a real person) was murdered

because he refused to appease Henry II by petitioning Rome to get rid of the ecclesiastic courts – or at least to put Henry in charge of them.*

Thomas is considered a martyr for the Church and was almost immediately canonized. Twelve miracles quickly came to light that he had performed, which are presented in beautiful stained glass windows in the cathedral.**

By the time Chaucer is writing The Canterbury Tales, about 200 years later, society is not exactly so pious…

Historic Elements The pilgrims in Chaucer’s work are truly a

motley group. The Canterbury Tales represents a vast representation of people and occupations from the late Middle Ages in England. Historians have looked to the Prologue to discover aspects of medieval life, including what people did and how they thought.

The changes from the medieval world to the ideology of the Renaissance are beginning, and these are represented in the attitudes of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.