Geoffrey Chaucer

By Geoffrey Chaucer

Feudalism: A System of Allegiance

• Powerful and independent aristocrats ruled local areas by a system called feudalism.

• Feudalism was an economic, social and military system in which vassals, or tenants, pledged their loyalty to a lord, exchanging work on his land, or service in his military in return for his protection.

The Late Middle Ages

• The late Middle ages, from 1300 to 1500, was a time of upheaval that dealt severe blows to the feudal system and the Church.

• The Crusades (1096-1270) were attempts to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims had cost many European lives, but had also opened trade routes to the East.

• These routes allowed an influx of new goods and ideas that enhanced the financial status or the merchant class and accelerated the development of towns and cities.

The Late Middle Ages• Some cities founded

universities that were opened for the new middle class.

• A dramatic climate change in the 1300’s and the Black Death (bubonic plague) wiped out entire European villages. The few remaining serfs demanded more freedoms.

• The demanding serfs and the advent of gunpowder led to the collapse of feudalism.

The Late Middle Ages• The power of the Church was also being

challenged by charges of corruption and internal arguments, or schisms.

• As more people learned to read, the Church’s role as biblical interpreter was undermined.

• As more people could read, literature appeared in the vernacular and was therefore more accessible by the population.

• The advent of the printing press contributed to mass increases in literate populations.

The Late Middle Ages

• The use of vernacular in works such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales established vernacular as acceptable.

Dante’s Inferno

Monarch of Importance: Henry II

• Comes to power in 1154• Church is quite powerful at this

time and Henry doesn’t like it!• Appoints his “friend” Thomas

Becket as the Archbishop of Canterbury Cathedral expecting him to follow royal policy rather than Church policy.

Thomas Becket--Murder Most Foul!

• Thomas Becket goes against Henry II’s wishes and states that he will only answer to the Pope!

• In a fit of rage, Henry openly states that he wished someone would rid him of the annoying priest!

• Four Knights, wishing to impress the king ride out to Canterbury Cathedral and murder Thomas Becket on the steps of the cathedral!

The Effects of the Murder

• Henry II looks pretty bad right now.• Begins to make up for this deed by

making a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral where he fasts and prays at a shrine to Thomas Becket

• Thomas Becket becomes a martyr for the church and a saint as well.

Canterbury Cathedral

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More Important Monarchs: The Plantagenets

• Execution of people was rampant disemboweling and decapitation the favorite types.

• The spread of Bubonic plague 1347-1351 resulted in the Black Death causing a loss of over a 3rd of England's population.

• 100 years war between England and France.

• Peasants revolt due to poll tax in 1381

• Edward I-helped to spread the influence and power of the Model Parliament

• Edward II- was deposed and executed by his wife and Roger Mortimer

• Edward III- 100 yrs war with France which led to the War of the Roses. Feuding over the crown by two families Lancastrian and the Yorkist.

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Geoffrey Chaucer

• Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400)• Chaucer’s various experiences throughout his life helped to pave

the way for the writing of The Canterbury Tale• began writing as a poet in his twenties, his earliest works being

translations of other European poets.•  The Canterbury Tales, arguably his most famous work, was

believed to be written as an inspiration from his pilgrimage to Canterbury, as he was able to observe a diverse group of people, including

• Only 24 out of 120 stories were told, all composed of various genres of medieval literature: ballads, romances, allegories, and moral tales.

• deemed “The Father of English Poetry” as he was recognized as the greatest English poet of his time

• His cause of death is not quite known, as his tomb was built over one-hundred years following his death and there is little historical record to affirm any distinct cause. He was the first of many authors to be buried in the Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey.

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Chaucer’s Style

• Imagery and Figurative Language: uses sparse but vivid imagery and figurative language to describe his characters’ physical appearance.

• Irony: Chaucer, an ironist, writes with tongue in cheek, emphasizing his characters’ faults but also calling attention to their essential humanity.

• Characterization: Chaucer develops his characters by describing their physical appearance, making direct statements about them, and allowing them to express their personalities through the stories they tell.

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The Frame Tale• The Canterbury Tales

is one of the most famous examples of the frame story.

• The plot of the frame involves pilgrims on a pilgrimage who are challenged to compete in telling the best tale.

• Chaucer reveals the pilgrim’s personality through their interactions between the tales and through the tales they tell.

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The Pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury

• 59.4 miles away.• It would have taken at least 4 days to travel this distance back for

most people, but Chaucer has his pilgrims do it in 1 day.• Riding on horseback, they left Southwark in the morning and arrived

in Canterbury as the sun was setting.• For Medieval men, a pilgrimage was a symbolic journey that

represented the course of human life, from one's home on earth to one's true home.

The Tabard Inn• The Tabard was an inn

established in 1307 by abbot of Hyde, the head of a Benedictine Monastery just outside of England.

• It was established to provide a hostile for him when he traveled to England and to accommodate all of the pilgrims heading to England.

• These pilgrims traveled to England to see the Shrine of Thomas Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral.

• The Tabard was located on the East Side of Borough High street in Southwark, an area on the east- side of London.

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Chaucer’s England• Chaucer’s pilgrims would have

gratefully welcomed spring and traveled to thank St. Thomas a Beckett for rescuing them from sickness.Winter in the 14th-century was dark, cold, and brutal.

• The earth’s climate was going through a long, cold period known as “the Little Ice Age.”

• The Black Death was a recent memory and a constant worry.

• Misery=food shortages, primitive medicine, Hundred Year’s War with France, and the Peasant’s Revolt.

• The pilgrims had good cause to hope that their prayers to St. Thomas would be heard and answered.

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The Prologue• In “The Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer

introduces the 29 “sundry folk” who will spend the night at The Tabard Inn telling their tales ---24 in all.

• The pilgrims are made up of all 3 divisions of class in medieval society:-Feudal class-The Church-Merchant class

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A Brief Chronology of the Catholic Church/The Church of England/Canterbury

Cathedral

• Christ’s Apostles led by Paul create a Reform Movement known as Christianity.• 70 A.D. – Fall of Jerusalem – Rise of Christianity as the dominant religion• 313 – Roman Empire recognized Pauline Christianity as a valid religion and for the next 1,000 years, Roman Catholics were the only people

recognized as Christians.• 1054 – Formal split between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churchs• 597 – Pope Gregory, the Great sent Augustine to England to convert the English to Christianity. – Established Canterbury Cathedral, the seat

of English Christianity and oldest surviving Cathedral today; though it now falls under the auspices of the Church of England.• 1517 – Martin Luther – 95 Theses – Protests against corruption of Roman Catholic Church (e.g. indulgences) – Established the Lutheran

denomination of Christianity• 1530 – John Calvin – Broke with the Catholic Church and established Calvinism.• 1534 – Henry VIII – Breaks with papal power and declared himself supreme head of the Church of England.

The Narrator of The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

• The Narrator -  The narrator makes it quite clear that he is also a character in his book. Although he is called Chaucer, we should be wary of accepting his words and opinions as Chaucer’s own.

• He is an invention known as Chaucer, the pilgrim• He is a first-person narrator who appears to be taken in by the deceptive characters,

yet he offers insights a limited narrator would not have. His point of view limits readers’ knowledge while providing insights that the characters themselves would not want known.

Satire

• Satire is primarily a literary genre or form.• In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule,

ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.

• A common feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm.