Havely, N.R., ed., The Friar's Summoner's and Pardoner's Tales from the Canterbury Tales (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1975). ISBN: 841902208
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Text name(s): The Canterbury Tales; The Friar's Tale; The Summoner's Tale; The Pardoner's Tale

Number of pages of primary source text: 75

Medieval Author(s): Chaucer, Geoffrey

Dates: 1380 - 1400

Archival Reference:

Original Language(s): English - Middle English;

Translation: Original language included.

Translation Comments:

Geopolitical Region(s): England;

County/Region:

Apparatus: Appendices Bibliography Introduction

Comments:

Chaucer’s fictional Friar, Pardoner, and Summoner all worked for the Catholic Church, but in different capacities. The Friar was a member of a mendicant or begging order. A summoner was an official who summoned people to appear in the ecclesiastical or church court. A pardoner was able to grant pardons for sins and to sell relics. Chaucer’s Pardoner and Summoner are satirical characters who abuse their positions for their own profit, and they and the Friar do not get along because of it. This edition of tales from Canterbury Tales is a good introduction for students beginning to study Chaucer or Middle English. The text has footnotes and explanatory endnotes. Each man’s portrait from the General Prologue is also included. There are two appendices: How to Read Chaucer’s Verse, and Textual Notes. Considered by many to be one of the greatest poets of the English language, Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in the 1340s. He was a page in the household of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, who was married to Prince Lionel, one of King Edward III’s sons, and fought in France in 1359. After that he served Edward as a messenger and diplomat, customs agent, clerk of the king’s works (where he oversaw construction and renovation of the king’s houses and properties), and Justice of the Peace. His literary career began in translating works such as the Romance of the Rose and Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy into English, and his first original work, the Book of the Duchess, was written in 1369-70. He died in or around 1400; the date on his 16th-century tomb in Westminster Abbey is October 25, 1400.

Introduction Summary:

Cataloger: RLL