The Canterbury Tales -
By Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories in a frame story, between
1387 and 1400. It is the story of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury
(England). The pilgrims, who come from all layers of society, tell stories that contained a moral or
lesson in order to entertain themselves while they travel to Canterbury.
One of the more popular tales is “The Pardoner’s Tale”. A Pardoner is someone who travels
about the countryside selling official church pardons or indulgences. These were probably actual
pieces of paper with a bishop's signature on them, entitling the bearer to forgiveness for their sins.
Although the Church sanctioned the exchange of indulgences for money during the Middle Ages, the
temptation of corruption for pardoners was great. It seems that this Pardoner also does a secondary
trade in relics, or pieces of clothing, bones, and other objects once belonging to long-departed saints.
The Pardoner claims to have Mary's veil and a piece of St. Peter's sail. After his tale, the Pardoner tries
to sell these relics to the other pilgrims, angering the Host, who questions their authenticity.
In the Pardoner's Prologue, the Host invites the Pardoner to tell the next tale; the Pardoner
delivers a sermon against greed, gluttony and gambling, previewing vices he will address in his tale.
After he tells his tale, the Pardoner invites the other pilgrims, beginning with the Host, to pay him for
pardons and to buy the relics he has, though he had already told him that they were fake.
After telling the group how he gulls people into indulging his own avarice through a sermon he
preaches on greed, the Pardoner tells of a tale that exemplifies the vice decried in his sermon.
Directions:
Read the prologue of the Pardoner from The Canterbury Tales. As you read, try to determine what type of
person the Pardoner is through the descriptions of how he looks and how he behaves. Highlight any
descriptions as you read.
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He and a gentle Pardoner rode together,
A bird from Charing Cross of the same feather,
Just back from visiting the Court of Rome.
He loudly sang “Come hither, love, come home!”
The Summoner sang deep seconds to this song,
No trumpet ever sounded half so strong.
This Pardoner had hair as yellow as wax,
Hanging down smoothly like a hank of flax.
In driblets fell his locks behind his head
Down to his shoulders which they overspread;
Thinly they fell, like rat-tails, one by one.
He wore no hood upon his head, for fun;
The hood inside his wallet had been stowed,
He aimed at riding in the latest mode;
But for a little cap his head was bare
And he had bulging eye-balls, like a hare.
He’d sewed a holy relic on his cap;
His wallet lay before him on his lap,
Brimful of pardons come from Rome, all hot.
He had the same small voice a goat has got.
His chin no beard had harbored, nor would harbor,
Smoother than ever chin was left by barber.
I judge he was a gelding, or a mare.
As to his trade, from Berwick down to Ware
There was no pardoner of equal grace,
For in his trunk he had a pillow-case
Which he asserted was Our Lady’s veil.
He said he had a gobbet of the sail
Saint Peter had the time when he made bold
To walk the waves, till Jesu Christ took hold.
He had a cross of metal set with stones
And, in a glass, a rubble of pigs’ bones.
And with these relics, any time he found
Some poor up-country parson to astound,
In one short day, in money down, he drew
More than the parson in a month or two,
And by his flatteries and prevarication
Made monkeys of the priest and congregation.
But still to do him justice first and last
In church he was a noble ecclesiast.
How well he read a lesson or told a story!
But best of all he sang an Offertory,
For well he knew that when that song was sung
He’d have to preach and tune his honey-tongue
And (well he could) win silver from the crowd.
That’s why he sang so merrily and loud.
What are some of the physical traits include his
looks and what he is wearing or is carrying?
What are some of his personality traits
including what he says or does?
Based on these details, what can you conclude about the Pardoner?