The Illustration of the Medieval Christian Church

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The Illustration of the Medieval Christian Church

• In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

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Geoffrey Chaucer

• called the Father of English poetry
• born in London in about 1340
• for most of his life connected with the royal
  court in London
• married a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, had at
  least two sons
• in 1372 visited Italy where he came into contact
  with the works of Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch
  and realised the importance of creating
  literature in the vernacular language of the
  people
• described himself in his writing as a fat man
  with a modest, simple personality
• was deeply interested in religion but also
  enjoyed earthy humour
• died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey,
  which shows he was popular with the King and the
  court

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Geoffrey Chaucer
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Chaucers World

• dangerous times
• three kings during his lifetime Edward III who
  became less popular as he grew olderRichard II
  who was murdered and Henry IV
• long, continuing war against France and
  disagreements between the English king and the
  Pope
• Black Death (Plague) as much as a third of the
  population of England died
• complete villages destroyed
• both rich and poor suffered three Archbishops
  of Canterbury died of the Plague
• God is deaf, wrote one English poet

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Medieval Church

• religion continued to be a powerful force
• that power was often misused
• church offices changed hands for cash
• people believed the Plague was Gods punishment
  for human beings
• they believed in Hell and were afraid they would
  burn in everlasting fires
• the existence of God was never questioned
• the theme of salvation was truly paramount
• selling pardons was wide-spread
• pilgrimages were very pupular

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The Canterbury Tales

• Chaucer was about forty when he began The
  Canterbury Tales
• He never completed The Tales it was a huge
  project which would have included 120 stories if
  it had been finished
• A group of pilgrims are travelling from the
  Tabard Inn in London to the shrine of martyr
  Thomas Becket in Canterbury
• On the way, they decide that each traveller
  should tell a story about love, about marriage,
  about war, about murder, about jealousy, about
  magic
• The plan of The Canterbury Tales where each
  pilgrim tells a story to the others is almost
  certainly based upon Boccaccios Decameron

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The Canterbury Tales Manuscript
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The Pilgrims in the Tabard Inn
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People related to the Church in The Canterbury
Tales

• The Prioress
• The Monk
• The Friar
• The Oxford Cleric
• The Pardoner
• The Summoner
• The Parson

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The Prioress

• A female religious leader, the head of a group of
  nuns
• Madam Eglantine spoke fine French with an English
  accent and had very good manners
• She was a fine, sensitive lady when she saw a
  mouse caught in a trap, she cried
• She gave roast meat or milk or fine white bread
  to her little dogs and when one died, she was sad
  for weeks
• She wore a graceful cloak, a coral bracelet, some
  beads and a golden brooch with Amor vincit
  omnia Love conquers all written on it.
• This comfort-loving lady saw religion as an
  opportunity to obtain a high social position.

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The Prioress
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The Prioress Tale

• The story begins with an invocation to the Virgin
  Mary, then sets the scene in Asia, where a
  community of Jews live in a Christian city. A
  seven-year-old school-boy, son of a widow, is
  brought up to revere Mary. He teaches himself the
  first verse of the popular Medieval hymn 'Alma
  Redemptoris Mater' though he does not understand
  the words, an older classmate tells him it is
  about Mary. He begins to sing it every day as he
  walks to school through the Jews' street.
• Satan incites the Jews to murder the child and
  throw his body on a dungheap. His mother searches
  for him and eventually finds his body, which
  begins miraculously to sing the 'Alma
  Redemptoris'. The boy continues to sing
  throughout his burial service until the holy
  abbot of the community asks him why he is able to
  sing. He replies that although his throat is cut,
  he has had a vision in which Mary laid a grain on
  his tongue and he will keep singing until it is
  removed. The abbot removes the grain and he dies.

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The Prioress Tale

• In contrast to her fine and sensitive appearance,
  her story is suprisingly violent, brutal and full
  of Anti-Semitism.
• Thus her portrayal as a character is not positive
  at all. In fact, the language and structure of
  her prologue and tale have led many literary
  critics to argue that Chaucer is mocking the
  Prioress.
• The Prioress' French accent is a sign of social
  climbing. She makes her oaths by "Seint Loy" (St.
  Eligius), the patron of, among others,
  goldsmiths. Her overzealousness to her pet dogs
  and to mice killed in traps is perhaps
  misdirected in a nun, who might otherwise be
  serving the poor. The bangle she wears on her
  wrist bears the Virgilian motto 'Amor vincit
  omnia' (love conquers all) is also a rather
  dubious maxim for a nun and it illustrates her
  fascination with courtly love. In addition, the
  fact that Chaucer chose to set her tale in
  elaborate rhyme royal, a rhyme scheme generally
  used in tales of courtly love, seems at odds with
  her tale's apparent emphasis on simple piety.

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The Monk

• Although medieval monks were supposed to renounce
  all their wordly belongings and to take vows of
  poverty, chastity and obedience, the Monk in
  Chaucers work is someone who combined godliness
  and wordliness into a profitable and comfortable
  living.
• He is fat, dressed in fine clothes and he above
  all loves fine food especially roast swan
  hunting and riding his several horses.

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The Friar

• This fat Friar loved pretty girls, silver and
  gold and singing
• He knew all the inns in town and loved drinking
  better than praying

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The Oxford Cleric

• He rode a thin horse
• He preferred to have books by great philosophers
  next to his bed, not bags of money
• He tells the tale of Griselda, a young woman
  whose husband tests her loyalty in a series of
  bizarre torments.
• He says the real moral of the tale is to teach
  endurance

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The Pardoner

• He is one of the most despicable pilgrims,
  representative of the corrupt church and a broken
  or twisted faith
• He is a church official who has the authority to
  forgive those who have sinned by selling them
  pardons and indulgences
• He also sells relics he always carries bits of
  wood and cloth and bones which he says come from
  the Virgin Mary or Jesus or the saints
• He is clearly in the church business for
  economic reasons
• He has only one goal to get the most money for
  pardons by almost any means of coercion necessary
• He seems to be just as corrupt as the church he
  works for

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The Prologue of the Pardoner
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The Pardoners Tale

• In his tale, the Pardoner slips into his role as
  the holiest of holies and speaks of the dire
  consequences of gluttony, gambling, and lechery.
• The story is about three greedy men that
  eventually perish at the hands of their sin
• The irony is that Pardoner in himself is the
  personification of sin
• In the epilogue of his tale, he offers each
  pilgrim a pardon for a price, of course
• Chaucer makes the main point of this tale
• Salvation is not for sale.

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The Summoner

• His job was to punish people who broke the
  religious laws
• He used his power to make money from poor people
  who were afraid of him
• He had a red face with large pimples
• He stank of garlic and onions
• He looked so terrible that children were scared
  when they saw him!

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The Parson

• A good man was there of religion,He was a
  poor COUNTRY PARSON,But rich he was in holy
  thought and work.He was a learned man also, a
  clerk,Who Christ's own gospel truly sought to
  preachDevoutly his parishioners would he
  teach.Gracious he was and wondrously
  diligent,Patient in adversity and well
  content,Many times thus proven had heHe
  excommunicated not to force a fee,But rather
  would he give, there is no doubt,Unto his poor
  parishioners about,Some of his income, even of
  his property.He could in little find
  sufficiency.

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The Parson

• Wide was his parish, houses far asunder,
• But never did he fail, for rain or thunder
• In sickness, or in sin, or any state,
• To visit the farthest, regardless their financial
  state,
• Going by foot, and in his hand, a stave.
• This fine example to his flock he gave,
• That first he wrought and afterwards he taught
• Out of the gospel then that text he caught,
• And this metaphor he added thereunto -
• That, if gold would rust, what shall iron do?
• For if the priest be foul, in whom we trust,
• No wonder that a layman thinks of lust?
• And shame it is, if priest take thought for keep,
• A shitty shepherd, looking after clean sheep.

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The Parson
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The Parson

• A trully good example a priest should give,
• Is his own chastity, how his flock should live.
• He never let his benefice for hire,
• And leave his sheep encumbered in the mire,
• And ran to London, up to old Saint Paul's
• To get himself a chantry there for souls,
• Nor in some fraternity did he withhold
• But dwelt at home and kept so well the fold
• That never wolf could make his plans miscarry
• He was a shepherd and not mercenary.
• And holy though he was, and virtuous,
• To sinners he was not impiteous,
• Nor haughty in his speech, nor too divine,
• But in all teaching courteous and benign.
•  

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The Parson

• To lead folk into Heaven by means of gentleness
• By good example was his business.
• But if some sinful one proved obstinate,
• Whoever, of high or low financial state,
• He put to sharp rebuke, to say the least.
• I think there never was a better priest.
• He had no thirst for pomp or ceremony,
• Nor spiced his conscience and morality,
• But Christ's own law, and His apostles' twelve
• He taught, but first he followed it himselve.
•  

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Is there a portrait of John Wicleff or a
Lollard priest in the Canterbury Tales?

• Sometimes, the Oxford Cleric is said to bear
  certain resemblance to John Wicleff, the Morning
  Star of the Reformation, who died in 1384.
  Wycleff was an Oxford schoolman, a patriot, a
  champion of theological and practical reforms and
  the translator of the Scriptures into English.
• The Parson, when asked to tell his story, is
  addressed directly as a Lollard I smell a
  Lollard in the wind," said he."Now! good men,"
  said our Host, "listen to me Wait, for God's
  worthy passion, For we shall have a
  sermon This Lollard here will preach us
  something

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John Wicleff gives the Lollards his translation
of the Bible
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Bibliography

• Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales Provides
  original text of the Canterbury Tales,
  hyperlinked glossary, and side-by-side
  translations of most of the tales.www.librarius.c
  om/cantales.htm