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The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a group of pilgrims on their way from Southwark to Canterbury to visit Saint Thomas à Becket's shrine at Canterbury Cathedral. The shrine was later destroyed by Henry VIII; a tourist attraction entitled The Canterbury Tales may nowadays be viewed in Canterbury. The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery and avarice. The genres also vary, and include romance, Breton lai, sermon, and fabliau. The characters, introduced in the Prologue of the book, tell tales of extreme cultural relevance.
The Tales include:
- The Knight's Tale
- The Miller's Prologue and TaleThe Miller's Prologue and Tale is the second of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, told by a drunken miller to 'quite' The Knight's Tale. It is a vulgar, ribald, and satirical fabliau. The Miller's Prologue is the first 'quite' that occurs in the tales
- The Reeve's Prologue and TaleThe Reeve's Prologue and Tale is the third story to be told in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales''. The reeve, named Osewold in the text, is the manager of a large estate who reaped incredible profits for his master and himself. He is described in t
- The Cook's Prologue and TaleThis is a tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Chaucer presumably never finished the Cook's Tale and it breaks off after 58 lines. The story starts telling of an apprentice named Perkyn (aka Perkin) who is fond of drinking and dancing. Perkyn is
- The Man of Law's Prologue and TaleThe Man of Law's Tale is the fifth of the Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer ( 1387). The man of law tells a Romance tale of a Christian princess named Constance who is betrothed to the Sultan on condition that he convert to Christianity. The Sultan's
- The Wife of Bath's Prologue and TaleThe Wife of Bath's Tale is a tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Prologue The Wife of Bath believes herself to be an expert on the relations between men and women, having had five husbands herself, beginning with her first marriage at age 12.
- The Friar's Prologue and Tale
- The Summoner's Prologue and Tale
- The Clerk's Prologue and Tale
- The Merchant's Prologue and Tale
- The Squire's Prologue and Tale
- The Franklin's Prologue and TaleThe Franklin's Tale is one of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The story tells of a young knight named Arveragus and a young woman named Dorigen, who fall in love. Arveragus then leaves for Britain to improve his martial skill. While he is gone,
- The Physician's Tale
- The Pardoner's Prologue and TaleThe Pardoner's Tale is one of The Canterbury Tales. It is regarded by many as one of the finest of Chaucer's works and indeed one of the finest short stories in literature. In the Introduction, the host invites the Pardoner to tell the next tale. The Pard
- The Shipman's Tale
- The Prioress' Prologue and Tale
- Chaucer's Tale of Sir Topas
- The Tale of Melibee
- The Monk's Tale
- The Nun's Priest's Tale
- The Second Nun's Prologue and Tale
- The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale
- The Manciple's Prologue and Tale
- The Parson's Prologue and Tale
- Chaucer's Retraction
Some of the tales are serious and others are humorous; however, all are very precise in describing the traits and faults of human nature. Religious malpractice is a major theme. Another important element of the tales is their focus on the division of the three estates. The work is incomplete, as it was originally intended that each character would tell four tales, two on the way to Canterbury and two on the return journey.
It is sometimes argued that the greatest contribution that this work made to English literature was in popularising the use of vulgar (i.e. 'of the people') English (rather than French or Latin) as a literary language. However, several of Chaucer's contemporaries - John Gower, William Langland, and the Pearl Poet - also wrote major literary works in English, making it unclear how much Chaucer was responsible for starting a trend rather than simply being part of it.
The structure of Canterbury Tales is also easy to find in other contemporary works, such as Boccaccio's Decameron, which may have been one of Chaucer's main sources of inspiration.
Two early manuscripts of the tale are the Hengwrt manuscript and the Ellesmere manuscript.
In 2004, Professer Linne Mooney was able to identify the scrivener who worked for Chaucer as an Adam Pinkhurst . Professor Mooney, working at Cambridge University, was able to match Pinkhurst's signature on an oath he signed to his lettering on a copy of Canterbury Tales that was transcribed from Chaucer's working copy.
The title of the work has become an everyday phrase in the language and has been variously adapted and adopted, eg. in the title of the British film, A Canterbury Tale. Recently an animated version of some of the tales has been produced for British television. As well as a version with Modern English dialogue, there were versions in Middle English and Welsh.
