The Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer between approximately 1387 and 1400. It is considered one of the greatest works of English literature and a foundational text in the development of the English vernacular as a literary language, shifting away from the dominance of Latin and French in medieval writing. The work is structured as a frame narrative, where a diverse group of 29 pilgrims traveling from London to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, England, agree to participate in a storytelling contest to pass the time. The host of the Tabard Inn, Harry Bailly, proposes that each pilgrim tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two on the return journey, with the winner receiving a free meal upon their return. However, the work remains unfinished, with only 24 tales completed and no return journey depicted.
Chaucer composed The Canterbury Tales during the late 14th century, a period of significant social, political, and religious upheaval in England. This era followed the Black Death (1348–1350), which killed up to half the population and led to labor shortages, social mobility, and critiques of the feudal system and the Church. England was also engaged in the Hundred Years' War with France, influencing national identity and language, as English began to supplant Norman French among the nobility. Chaucer's own life provided context: born around 1343, he served in royal courts under Edward III and Richard II, worked as a customs official, and traveled to Italy, where he encountered works by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio, influencing the frame-story structure reminiscent of Boccaccio's Decameron.
The pilgrimage motif draws from real medieval practices, as Canterbury was a major destination for pilgrims seeking spiritual merit at Becket's tomb, following his murder in 1170. The tales were first publicly read at the court of Richard II on April 17, 1397. Chaucer died in 1400, and the work circulated in manuscripts, with the earliest complete version from around 1410. No authorized edition existed during his lifetime; instead, scribes copied fragments, leading to variations across the 80+ surviving manuscripts.
The work begins with the General Prologue, a vivid portrait gallery of the pilgrims representing the three medieval estates: those who pray (clergy), those who fight (nobility), and those who work (commoners). Characters include the Knight, a chivalric warrior; the Wife of Bath, a outspoken cloth-maker with five husbands; the Pardoner, a corrupt seller of indulgences; and the Parson, a model of piety. The tales themselves span genres: romance (e.g., the Knight's Tale), fabliau (e.g., the Miller's Tale), beast fable (e.g., the Nun's Priest's Tale), and sermon (e.g., the Pardoner's Tale). Themes include love, marriage, corruption, social hierarchy, and morality, often laced with satire critiquing hypocrisy in the Church and society.
The order of tales varies in manuscripts, but a common sequence links them through the Host's interruptions and pilgrim interactions. Chaucer's use of iambic pentameter couplets in Middle English, with dialects reflecting regional speech, adds realism and humor. The work explores human folly and virtue, portraying a microcosm of 14th-century English society amid the rise of individualism and skepticism toward institutions.
The Canterbury Tales popularized English as a literary medium, influencing later writers like William Shakespeare and John Dryden, who produced modernizations. It survives in over 50 complete manuscripts and fragments, with the Hengwrt and Ellesmere being the most famous. Scholarly editions, such as the Riverside Chaucer (1987), standardize the text. The tales reflect Chaucer's humanism, blending classical, biblical, and folk elements. Key facts include: originally planned for 120 tales but only 24 completed; written in the London dialect of Middle English; first printed by William Caxton in 1476 (incomplete) and fully in 1483 by his successor Wynkyn de Worde. Modern translations and adaptations, including films and stage productions, continue its relevance.
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