The Old Order and the "Newe World" in the General Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales"
Author(s): Elton D. Higgs
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Spring, 1982), pp. 155-173
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3817150 .
Accessed: 15/10/2012 15:33
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Huntington Library Quarterly.
http://www.jstor.org
The
in
the
Old
the
Order
General
and
the
Prologue
"Newe
World"
to
Tales
Canterbury
byEltonD. Higgs
1. Background
It is a commonobservationthat GeoffreyChaucershoweda relative
Talesfor the greatupheavalsof his time.As
unconcernin the Canterbury
NevillCoghillputsits:'Plague,schism,thePeasants'
Revolt,andtheclashes
betweenRichardIIandhisNobility,thatwereto endin depositionandregicide,have no placein his poemof England.JackStraw'smassacreof the
Flemingsin 1381 was poeticallyno moreto Chaucerthanthe flurryin a
Thoughit is truethatChaucer
farmyard
rousedby therapeof Chanticleer."1
sceneso explicitlyas didWilliamLangland,
didnotreflectthecontemporary
was veryawarethathis age was one of profoundchange.
he nevertheless
in theGeneralPrologueto theCanterbury
Tales,genialand
Eventheportraits
detachedas they seem,show a sensitivityto the tensionsin the latefourteenthcenturybetweenthe Old Order-feudalism,a staticruruleconomy,
and the united and unchallengedChurch-and the forces of plague,
andentrepreneurship
whichwerepushingtowardfragmentaurbanization,
tion of the societyand a greaterdegreeof individualism.2
AlfredDavidputshis fingeron the significance
of thesetensionsin the
GeneralProloguewhenheobservesthat"theidealrepresented
bytheKnight,
the Parson,and the Plowman[corresponding
to the Three Estatesof
medievalsociety]wasstillpotentin Chaucer's
time,"andalthough"Chaucer
himselfbelongsverymuchto an emergingneworder... he stilllovesand
believesin theidealorder"
in a timelesswayby theidealizedpilrepresented
grims.Davidoutlinessuccinctlythesocialsituationhe sees reflectedin the
GeneralPrologue:
We learnin the Prologuethatthe body is sick.Chaucercouldnot
knowthatthe diseasewas mortalandthatthe old feudalorderwas
slowlydyingthroughthe civilwars,the corruptionin Churchand
inthewaningMiddleAges,but
State,andthebeginningsof capitalism
ineverydaylife.
hewasabletoportraythesymptomsastheyappeared
155
156
HUNTINGTON LIBRARY QUARTERLY
Ideally,the Christiancommunityis structuredso that each man performs the task to which God has assigned him to assurethe physical
or spiritual welfare of the whole. The order is being gradually
eroded by the desire of most of its members to promote not the
common profit but their own welfare and status. The Church has
been infectedby the commercialismof the Commons.Both Church
and Commons try to emulate the pride and ostentation of the
Nobles. As a result, the society is in ferment and offers a rich
field for ironic observationof the gap between ideal and reality.3
Donald Howardalso underlinesthis "gapbetween ideal and reality'in the
Talesgives us a picture
GeneralPrologueby observingthat:"TheCanterbury
of a disorderedChristiansociety in a state of obsolescence, decline and
uncertainty;we do not know where it is headed."He points out that in contrast to the very currentand concreteactivitiesspawned by the ambitions
and avariceof the otherpilgrims,"Thetrueidealsof the 'ideal'pilgrims- the
Knight'scrusadingspirit,the brotherhoodof Parsonand Plowman,perhaps
the Clerk'sselfless dedication-seem obsolescent."He thus sees an element
of nostalgiain Chaucer'sestablishmentof these four pilgrimsas ideals,for
"'Nothingcan be obsolescentuntil it has been institutionalized,has enjoyed
some measureof stabilityin the life of a society."Howardis surely right in
saying thatChaucerwas not merelybeing conservativein idealizingthe Old
Order;rather,he "presentedsocial-classdistinctionsin such a way as to point
up the disparitybetweenwhat people thought and what they did-between
the obsolescent idea of social class which his society held and the more
complicatedactualityof its gradations."
Both David and Howardmentiona set of idealizedpilgrimsin the General
Prologueas being at the centerof Chaucer'sdepictionof an Old Orderthat
was dying.Howardgoes on to show how this select group- the Knight,the
Clerk(not includedby David),the Parson,and the Plowman- can be seen as
the majorpoints of referencefor the portraitsin the GeneralPrologue.After
remindingus of KempMalone'sobservationson the grouping of some of
the pilgrimsaccordingto theirnaturalor expectedrelationships(suchas the
Knight and his son and their Yeoman, or the Prioressand her retinue),5
Howardnotes another,more nearlyschematicprinciplegoverningthe order
in which the pilgrimsare presented:
The well-known"idealized"portraitsseem thrown into this orderat
random.Threeof them (Knight,Parson,and Plowman)correspondto
the Three Estates.The portraitof the Clerk is idealized too, and
perhaps he representsa style of life (that of the universities,or of
humanism) which Chaucer considered separate from the usual
three. But the Clerk comes for no apparent reason between the
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMS IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
157
Merchant and the Man of Law, the Parson and Plowman for no
apparent reason between the Wife and Miller. I should like to
offer a possible explanationfor this seemingly haphazardarrangement.If we take the descriptionof the Prioressand her followersand
that of the Guildsmen and their cook as single descriptions(which
they are),and if we count the descriptionof the Host, the portraitsof
the GeneralPrologue can then be seen arrangedsymmetricallyinto
three groups of seven, each headed by an ideal portrait:
Knight: Squire,Yeoman,Prioress,Monk, Friar,Merchant
Clerk: Man of Law,Franklin,Guildsmen,Shipman,
Physician,Wife
Parson/
Plowman: Miller,Manciple,Reeve, Summoner,Pardoner,
Host
... The kinds of order we perceive in this complex arrangement leave
some loose ends,but each detailhas a rightnessof its own.The Parson
-which
and Plowman are put together because they are "brothers"
suggests an ideal relationshipbetween clergy and commons. The
idealizedClerk representsan estate other than the traditionalthree,
but by Chaucer'stime the universitieswerea world unto themselves.6
Howard'spoint is that the order of the pilgrimsin the GeneralPrologue
is neitherconventionalnor haphazard:it has "arightnessof its own' which,
he suggests, is connectedwith a medievalhabit of mind which createdemblematicsignposts as an aid to memory and in this instanceprovides"convenientmnemonicgroupswhich correspondto actualitiesand probabilities
of fourteenth-centurylife."I would like to expandon the social implications
of Howard'stripartitedivisionof the pilgrims,and to show how eachof these
sectionspresentsa particularaspectof the strugglebetweenan idealizedOld
Order(representedby the Knight,the Clerk,the Parson,and the Plowman)
and the representativesof the "neweworld"(a phraseappliedto the Monk
in describinghis contempt for the Old Order of monasticism).7
Although many of my observationson the groupingof the pilgrimsand
the social rationalebehind it may be gleanedfromHowardand other previous interpretersof the GeneralPrologue,I have severalmajorpoints of my
own which I wish to develop as a detailed exposition of the structural
integrity of the tripartitedivision of the pilgrims introducedby Howard.
They are:(1) Eachof the idealizedpilgrimsat the head of a sectionhas a particularkindof virtuewhich is set againsta correspondingtype of vice in the
pilgrimswho follow in thatsection;(2)Thereareseveralkindsof incremental
158
HUNTINGTON LIBRARY QUARTERLY
developmentof themes and charactersin the three sections;(3) Chaucer's
idealizationof the Old Orderis based not so much on a desireto preserveor
even to commenton the traditional"ThreeEstates"of medievalsociety as on
his admirationfor a degreeof dedicationto the "communeprofit,"which he
considered more vital to an ordered society than the keeping of social
distinctions.
To help in followingthe exposition,a schematicoutlineof the groupingof
the pilgrimsis given below.To Howard'slistingof the pilgrimsI have added
the particularclash of values which I believe to be the focus of each
group.
I. Knight
Squire
Yeoman FeudalFealty
VS.
Prioress
Monk
New Mobility,
Friar
Appearances
Merchant
II.Clerk
Man of Law
Franklin
Guildsmen
Cook
Shipman
Physician
Wife of Bath
Old Learning
vs.
Professions&
Craftsfor
PersonalGain
III.Parson& Plowman
Miller
Old RuralService
Manciple
Reeve
vs.
Summoner UnprincipledManipulation
Pardoner
of People
In presentingmy argument,I shall firstmake some generalobservations
by way of overview,andthenpresentan expositionof eachof the threesets of
pilgrims.
2. An Overview
There are severalkinds of developmentalmovement in the threecentral
sections of the General Prologue. The portraits of the three idealized
pilgrimswho head these units (countingthe Parsonand the Plowmanas a
coordinatedpair)are progressivelymore remotefrom the centerof society,
moving from the secular,though virtuous,Knight,to the more scholarly
Clerkof Oxford,to the ruraland sociallyobscureParsonandPlowman.Correspondingly,the portraitswhich concludethe unitspresentfigureswho are
incrementallymore frankand obvious about their being disruptiveof the
Old Order:the Merchantrepresentsthe subtleunderminingof feudalismby
increasedtrade and the accompanyingrise in the influenceof towns;8the
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMS IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
159
Wifeof Bathin herPrologueopenlychallengesthe quietauthoritarianism
themostegregiously
andtraditional
learningof theClerk;andthePardoner,
makes
self-servingof all the pilgrims,trafficsin sacrilegeand deliberately
shipwreckof the Faith.
The threesections,as a whole,show a shiftof focus:fromthe concern
withnoblebehaviorandreputation
(bothtrueandfalse)inthefirstsection,to
the uses of learningand knowledgein the secondsection,to the attitudes
towardbeinga servantinthethirdsection.Not everypilgrimfitsneatlywith
the emphasisin his or hersection,butthe overallpatternseemsclear:each
sectionof the portraitsin the GeneralPrologueis developedon a theme
whichis an appropriate
to theidealsrepresented
counterpoise
by thevirtuouspersonwhosedescription
beginsthegroup.Thepilgrimsof thefirstsecandtheirimporconcernedwiththeirappearance
tionareoverwhelmingly
the
the
secondsectionare
tance,as the Knightis not.Most of
pilgrimsof
notablefortheirdistinctive
knowledgeorskills,butunliketheClerktheysee
whattheyhavelearnedprimarily
as a meansof gainingadvantageandprecedenceoverothersandenrichingthemselves.
Theunprincipled
scoundrels
in thethirdgroupmanagebusinessesandmanipulate
people,in contrastto
the Parson,andscornsimpleruralservice,in contrastto the Plowman.
Thesesets of opposedvaluesdo not focusnarrowlyon acceptedsocial
eventhough,ashasoftenbeenpointedout,theKnight,theParson,
categories,
andthePlowmanrepresentidealizations
of the"ThreeEstates"
of medieval
the Church(priests),and the commons
society:the nobility(warriors),
(tillersof thesoil).9By addingtheClerkas a fourthidealfigureandmerging
theportraitsof theParsonandthePlowman,Chaucerchosenotto emphasizetheThreeEstates(noranyotherarbitrary
as the
systemof stratification)
core of the Old Order.The themes of the three sectionsof pilgrims
suggestthathe saw the key to the orderof societyin the willingnessof its
citizensto subordinate
individualambitionto serviceforthegood of all,acin the GeneralPrologue
cordingto one'scallingand talents.Accordingly,
Chauceremphasizesnoblesse
of
obligein the Knight,the responsibilities
learningin theClerk,thecareof soulsin theParson,andthedignityof commontoilin thePlowman;fortogethertheyrepresent
faithfulservice-with
and
soulfor
the
their
body,mind,
goodof
society.Thosewhohaveinherited secularpowermustwieldit withoutbullying;thosewho areresponsible
forthepreservation,
development,
gooduse,andtransmission
of knowledge
orpractical)
mustnotbearrogant
inthe
(whethertheoretical
orirresponsible
statusor influencetheyenjoy;thosewho havebeengivenspiritualcharges
mustservewitha humilitythatinspiresconfidence.
Althoughthereis no evidencethatChaucerreliedspecifically
on thefollowingwordsof PaulintheEpistleof FirstCorinthians,
thepassageexpresses
the viewpointimplicitin the GeneralPrologue.
i6o
HUNTINGTON LIBRARY QUARTERLY
Now therearevarietiesof gifts but the same Spirit;andtherearevarieties of service,but the same Lord;and thereare varietiesof working,
but it is the same God who inspiresthem all in every one. To each is
given the manifestationof the Spiritfor the common good.'0
The key words in this passage,"forthe common good,"areof courseechoed
several times in Chaucer'sown term, "communeprofit.""IIt is for their
dedication to this ideal that the Knight, the Clerk, the Parson, and the
Plowmanare set forthas models by Chaucer,ratherthan for theirmembership in a particularclass. Indeed,their bond of common virtue transcends
any divisive barriersof class, and the gap between them and the pilgrims
who reject the 'commune profit"is much larger than any separationof
social status.'2The conflicts which develop among the pilgrimsare based
much more on lapses in personalcharitythan on class rivalries.
JillMann holds to the contrary,arguingthatthe "senseof 'commonprofit"'
cannotbe takenas 'the social ethicimplicitin the Prologue."She says further
that "'Chaucerhas no systematicplatform for moral values, not even an
AlthoughMannis certainlycorrectin observing
implicitone, in the Prologue."
is ratherrelativisticandall-accepting,she
thatthe pointof view of the narrator
makes too littleof the moralbackdropwhich Chaucertheauthorcreatesfor
the Prologuewith the portraitsof his four idealizedpilgrims.Chauceris no
thunderingmoralistlike Langland,but he does indicatewhat kindof behavior he finds admirableand socially constructive.His genialityand his wide
sympathies- eitherin his own personor thatof his narrator- should not be
mistakenfor lack of concern with the moral order of society. Mann does
admit that Chaucer allows the Parson to present a counter-view to
the "worldlyvalues"of the General Prologue,but she does not give due
weight to Chaucer'sbias towardpresentingthe obligationof everypersonto
fulfill his calling to the best of his ability."3
It is quiteremarkablethatChaucerwas ableto createa common contextin
which to describe so diverse a group of people, and that we accept the
verisimilitudeof their being broughttogetherin this way.'4A great partof
our willingnessto give credenceto such a fictionspringsfromthe narrator's
apparent serendipity in choosing the order of the pilgrims. A detailed
look at the threegroups in the GeneralProloguedemonstratesthatChaucer
has managedto have it both ways:he has preserveda feelingof spontaneity
by avoidingany statedplanof organization;and at the same timehe has provided a subtlestructureby whichthe readercanassess eachpilgrim'sattitude
towardshis or herplacein society by comparingeach one with the othersin
the same group,and especiallywith the idealizedpilgrimof the group.This
tolerancetowardindividualpersonalities,while maintainingan inconspicuous but firmpresentationof moraland social norms,is the markof a mature
and accomplishedartist.
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMS IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
16i
3. Group One
The firstgrouppresentsseven people,all of whom, exceptthe Knight,are
very conscious of theirappearanceand reputation.The Squireis "embrouded,"remindsone of a meadow full of flowers,and hopes by his exploits "to
stonden in his lady grace;15 the Yeoman carries three weapons and is
dressed in forest green;the "lady"Prioresswishes "to ben holden digne of
reverence"(141); the Monk, with his ostentatioushorse and rich clothing
wants to be seen as a "fairprelaat"(204);the Friarwill associate only 'with
riche and selleres of vitaille"(248);and the Merchantis "Sownyngealwey
th'encreesof his wynning"(275).In contrast,the Knightwears a "gypon/al
besmotered with his habergeon"and "of his port as meeke is as a
than all the rest(75-76;69;
mayde,"even though he has more "worthynesse"
50; 67-68).
The Squire and the Yeoman are somewhat eclipsed by the Knight.
Althoughnothingopenly negativeis said abouttheircharacters,they appear
rathervain.The promisingyoung Squire,it may be hoped,will grow out of
his interestin superficial"noble"behavior-the clothes, the horsemanship,
the artisticrefinements- and acquiresome of his father'sdepth of character.
The Yeomanrepresents,as the Knight'sservant,an importantinstrumentof
the Englishmilitarysuccessesin the middleof the fourteenthcentury.Buthis
longbow is not an unambiguoussupportto the Knight'sway of life,for it is
also the weaponthatmadea shamblesof the flowerof Frenchknighthoodon
the battlefield.The Yeoman cannot be unawareof the prestigehe gains by
displayingsuch a weapon,and the rest of his attiresuggests a full military
parade.Thus,as much as they seem on the surfaceto supportthe Knightand
the Old Orderhe represents,the Squireand theYeomanshow characteristics
which arenot entirelysubordinatedto the spiritof humbleserviceembodied
in the Knight.
Of the four pilgrimsin the firstgroup who are outside the Knight'sparty,
threeare membersof the regularclergy and are flawed by an aspirationto
upper-classstatus which is destructiveto theirvows.16The fourthis a merchant who ignores any rules that will not add to his profits.All four offera
contrastto the integritywith which the Knightpursues his calling,and all
four representelementsin late medievalsociety which seriouslythreatened
that which was best in the Old Order.
The Prioressis the least offensive of the four as her major fault is her
greatestattentionto trivialthings:courtlyetiquette,lap-dogs,and elaborate
religiousjewelry.In aspiringto an unattainablecourtlyway of life, she has
sacrificedthe contributionshe mighthave madeto the "communeprofit"and
has instead adopted only the appearanceof the Knight'smode of conduct.
Although hercharmmasksthe disorderof herlife,she too contributesto the
erosion of the orderwhich it is the purposeof religioushouses to establish
162
HUNTINGTON LIBRARY QUARTERLY
and maintain.Ironically,all threerejectthe opportunityto participatein the
order to which they are called because they are intenton a more "genteel"
standardof behavior.
The high-living Monk explicitly rejects the Old Order: he "leet olde
thynges pace/Andheeld afterthe neweworldthe space"(175-76).The timeis
past,he says, foradherenceto the standardsof such ancientauthoritiesas St.
Benedictand St. Augustine.Thereis specialironyin the question,"Howshal
the world be served?"- that is, if the Monk and his fellow cloisterersdo not
contributetheirseculartalentsto the orderingof worldlyaffairs.The question ignoresthe disorderthat the Monk has broughtaboutby his pursuitof
the hounds and the hare.These "gentlemanly"
activitiesarefor him,as is the
"cheereof court"for the Prioress,the baubleswhich obscurethe essence of
noblesseoblige.
The movementof laborersfromcountryestatesto towns afterthe depopulating ravages of the Black Death proved the greatestthreatto the feudal
system upheld by the Knight.17Higherwages, due to the scarcityof labor,
tempted many people to leave an estate on which they had grown up and
searchfor a betterway of life in town. This upheaval,which was accompanied by an increasein the sale of land and a wider circulationof money,"8
providedan excellentopportunityfor those trickstersandsharpdealerswho
dependedon an unstablepopulationand an abundantflow of money for the
success of theirschemes.The Friar,the Merchant,and,laterin the Prologue,
the Sergeantof Law,the Physician,and the Pardonerareall examplesof such
scoundrels.In the first section, the Friaris the most mobile and the most
corrupt of the regular clergy. Chaucer reflects the common complaints
against Friars,in general,when he depicts the self-servingwanderingsof
Huberdin the Prologue.Although the Friar'smost destructiveblow to the
Old Orderof the churchwas his interferingwith the confessionalfunctionof
parishpriestsby giving easy penancefor money,he fits into the majortheme
of the firstsection because of his concern with appearances,especiallythe
trappingsof nobility.The Friarespeciallycultivatesthe "worthywomen of
the toun"(217) and concludes that it does not befit "swicha worthyman as
he" to mix with lepers and the poor (243-45).All of this emphasis on the
"worthylimytour"is an ironicecho of the trulyworthyKnight.Forallhis consortingwith the "right"
people,Huberdhas corruptedhis callingand grossly
violated the spiritof faithfulservice exemplifiedby the Knight.Profitalone
can motivate the Friar even to pretend to be "curteis'and "lowly of
servyse.
The Merchantseems an unlikely choice with which to end this section
since his mainconcernappearsto be earningmoney.His braggingabout his
abilityto makemoney could be takenas a willingnessto admitthathe did not
inherit wealth and is not a nobleman.But once again we have the ironic
emphasis on the word "worthy":
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMS IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
163
Wel koudehe in eschaungesheeldesselle.
Thisworthymanful wel his wit bisetteTherwisteno wightthathe was in dette,
So estatlywas he of his governaunce
Withhis bargaynesand withhis chevyssaunce.
Forsooth he was a worthymanwithalle.(279-83)
is notintent,as aretheotherpilgrimsinthefirstsection,on imTheMerchant
itatingthestyleof thenobility,forhe hasbegunto establishhis ownorder,
one wheremoneyis the basisof socialstandingratherthanvice versa.19
Heachievesstatusthroughunscrupulous
international
trade,andthepomp
withwhichheconductshisaffairsconcealstheuncertainty
of hisenterprises.
Heis,then,verymuchconcernedwithappearances,
notinordertobeseenas
oneof thenobility,buttojustifytheacquisition
of wealththroughlarge-scale
trade-tradethatwasto developintocapitalism.20
Thecomentrepreneurial
petitiveand unprincipled
and chevyssaunce"
"bargaynes
of the Merchant
bringus a worldand an age awayfromthe Knight'sOld Orderof feudal
honorandstability,fortheMerchant's
dealingsrepresentthe fluidtransactionsof a moneyeconomy,in contrastto thesimpler,narrower
economyof
WesenseChaucer's
goodsin theolder,agrarian
society.21
hopethatthebest
of the Old Order will be able to curb the unbridledexploitationof
the New.
4. Group Two
Thereis somedebateas to whetherthesingle-minded
Clerkis idealized,
or
mildly satirized.His unworldlinessand intense concentrationon his
studiesinvitethesuspicionthatChaucerintendsus to seehimas rathernarrow andingenuous,althoughhe is a dedicatedstudent.Certainlythe lean
horseandthreadbare
overcoatevoketheconventional
imageof a learnedbut
dullscholar,preoccupied
withbooksandcontentwithan obscureandimlife.Thereis morethanthatto theClerk,however.Weinferthathe
pecuniary
couldhavegottena benefice,ifhehadwantedit;thathe hasfriendswhowill
supporthim,evenafterhe hasspenta numberof yearsinschool;andthathe
is willingto sharehislearningunostentatiously,
whichimpliesthatthereare
thosewho arewillingto listento him.In short,he is highlyrespected,and
inmoralvertu")
hisspeech("Sownynge
markshimas onewhohonestlyand
gracefully
makeshiscontribution
to societyby usinghisparticular
giftof intellect:"Gladlywoldehe lerneandgladlyteche"(308).
ChaucerchosetheClerk,a devoutandhumbleOxfordscholar,to be the
exemplarof thisgroupof pilgrimsbecausethesocialorderthathe upholds
fallsbetweenthoserepresented
by theKnightandtheParson.TheKnight's
domainis thephysicalworld,wherehe defendsearthlypoliticalpowersand
164
HUNTINGTON LIBRARY QUARTERLY
the economy that supportsthem;the Parsonministersto the spiritualorder,
seeing firstof all to the welfareof people'ssouls and also showing compassion for their materialproblems;the Clerk'sdomain is the intellect,which
enablesmankindto applythe divinegift of reasonto earthlyexperiencein order to organize this experience toward the most constructive ends. All
but one of the pilgrimsin the second section have some specializedknowledge used in a craftor profession.The themeof the sectionis thusthe misuse
of intellect and learningfor personal aggrandizement,ratherthan for the
'tcommuneprofit."
The Sergeantof the Law (calledthe Man of Law later)is a very effective
of land was
practitionerof his profession,largelybecause his "purchasyng"f
reinforcedby his abilityto recitefrommemory"everystatut"thatboreon the
plot in question,so that "Therekoude no wight pynche at his writing'(326).
The break-upof many great estates because of the shortageof labor was a
boon for such cleverdealersas the Man of Law,who must have made a fine
profit from his ability to obtain propertyand free it from the complicated
entailmentsof feudallandholding("Offees and robes hadde he many oon"
[317]).He cares nothing for either the honorable stability upheld by the
Knightor the unselfishuse of learningexemplifiedby the Clerk;though he
seems to be a sterlingmemberof society,he is contributingto the dissolution
of the Old Order,entirelyto his own advantage.
The Franklinhas also probably profited from the recent availabilityof
land,and now he wants repectabilityto go with his newly acquiredproperty.
The theme of misused knowledgeappliesless obviously to him than to the
others in the group, but he ostentatiously uses his expertise in haute
cuisineto impress people with his wealth and taste. Like those in the first
group,he has a superficialgraspof gentility,and (as is disclosedlater,in the
prologue to his tale) he does not realize that mere association with the
crowd cannot endow him or his son with the auraof nobility.He
"proper"
is one of the nouveauxricheswho will displace many of the upper-class
notablesin the Old Order.Although he presidesat local courtsessions and
servesas sheriffand memberof parliamentfromtimeto time,his preoccupation with the surfaceof life cannot impartan ethicalsense to his serviceto
match that of the Clerk or the Knight.
The five Guildsmen,accompaniedby theirown Cook, are also self-conscious about their newly attained status. Since they are all of different
and thatthe specrafts,it is obvious that theirGuildis a social 'fraternitee,"22
cializedknowledgethey have of theirindividualtradeshas been subordinat(371)
ed to the social aspirationscultivatedby the Guild.Their "'wisdowm"
is not directed primarily-or perhaps even at all-toward the "commune
profit,"but rathertowardpoliticalinfluenceand personalgain.It is not good
character,nor good craftsmanship,nor a spiritof publicservicethat will advance them "to been an alderman'(372), but the possession of ucatel...
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMSIN THE CANTERBURYTALES
165
ynough and rente"(373). As if to make clear that the desire 'to sitten in a
yeldehalle on a deys"(370) is to satisfy vanity ratherthan a sense of duty,
Chaucerhas the wives of the Guildsmenrevel in the pomp of being called
"madam"and in leading the processions to Guild affairs(374-78). Once
again,these risingmembersof a new middle class are using theirmoney to
establisha semblanceof order,but one which is shallow and lackingin the
moral foundation. In particular,they have forsaken the whole-hearted
pursuitof their'mysteries,"or crafts.It is throughthese craftsthatthey might
have sharedwith the Clerkthe importanttask of acquiringand transmitting
the knowledge by which a society may prosper.
The Guildsmen'sCook also knows his craftwell,but the runningsore on
his shin puts into questionthe valueof thatskill.Both the sore and his drunkenness, seen later,may be indicationsof a dissolute life. In a similarway,
his accompanimentof the Guildsmen may be a symbolic undercutting
of theirpose of civildignity;Roger(ashe is calledby the Hostlater)represents
the open sore of theirambition,which they have money enough to indulge,
but not sophisticationenough to try to hide.
The last threepilgrimsof the second grouparemoredemonstrablyflawed
thanthe others.Althoughit is the Shipmanwho is said not to be botheredby
"nyceconscience,"the statementmight be appliedin differentdegreesto the
Doctor of Physic and the Wife of Bath.All threehave used theirknowledge
to takeadvantageof others,and none manifestany tendencyto workfor the
d"communeprofit."Laterin the Canterbury
Talesthe Wife of Bathopenly challenges the Clerkby using Scriptureand learnedtreatisesto supportherheresies of sexual hedonismand femalesovereigntyin marriage.She is thus the
most fitting characterto conclude the section.
The Shipmanis the firstcharacterin Chaucer'sProloguewho does not pretend to some refinementor aspire to be "gentil,"and in this respect he
anticipatesthe group of five rascalsin the last section.The Shipmanand the
Cook arethe firstof the pilgrims(exceptthe Knightand the Clerk)who seem
not to carehow they look.Butif anyoneweredisposedto laughat the sightof
the Shipmanridinga horse "ashe kouthe,"the sight of the daggerhanging
around his weatheredneck would no doubt serve to keep that mirth concealed.Fromwhat Chaucertells us, he recognizesno law and takes without
compunctionwhateverhe can get by his clevernessand strength.He makes
no pretenseto uphold any social orderor strivefor any kindof social approval.His one skillwhich mightbe a socialasset is his proficiencyin navigating
the EnglishChanneland its coastline;but he uses that skillonly to be a more
effectivepirateand smuggler.He apparentlylacks all conscience,let alone a
"nyce-one.
The same mightbe said of the Physician,althoughhe is a learnedandpractical man,and appearsrespectable.But with all his learning,"Hisstudie was
but litel on the Bible"(438)-nor, we can surmise,on moraltreatisesof any
166
HUNTINGTON LIBRARY QUARTERLYl
kind. He has no scruples against conspiring with the apothecary at the
expense of his patients,nor against enrichinghimself through the unfortunate victims of the Plague.His skill,like the skills of others in this section,is
turned to the acquisition of gold, which "he lovede . . . in special'
(444).In spite of his reputationof being a "verray,parfitpraktisour"(422) of
medicine,healing is not a great service to him, but only a way of gain.
Although thereis much personalrebellionand disorderlinessin the Wife
of Bath,we tend,as with Shakespeare'sFalstaff,to takeherliveliness,wit,and
energyas self-validatingcharacteristics,especiallyas Chaucerrevealsthem
in hergreatconfessionalprologueto hertale.Dame Alice'sunabashedboast
of havinghad five husbands,and heradmissionthatshe would welcome the
sixth, however, are quite enough to elicit a response from the sober and
conservativeClerk.By sharingher knowledgeof the practiceof sexual love
("Forshe koude of that art the olde daunce"[476])and usurpingthe traditionalplaceof men (not only in domesticmatters,but in teachingas well),she
throws into question the basic assumptionof the Clerk'slife:that learning
and skills are most appropriatelyexercisedwith modesty and humility,in
service to both God and man. The Wife of Bath is not loath to use her
skills,nor to learnand to teach;but the ordershe supportswill serveherown
purposes in both affairs of the purse and affairs of the body. Delightful
though she may be in some ways, she has not learnedto be subordinateto
anyone, not even, one suspects, to God.
The pilgrimswho end the three sections of characterdescriptionsin the
GeneralPrologueare,taken together,the most "confessional"of all the pilgrims,as the prologuesto theirtales show.23The Merchanttells of his woes
with his new wife; the Wife of Bath details her experienceswith five husbands; and the Pardonerdescribes his techniques for deceiving gullible
people into giving him theirmoney.The circumstancesconfessedare(in the
order of the confessors' appearances in the General Prologue) each
progressivelymore threateningto social order,culminatingin the predatory
coldness of the Pardoner'sexploits.
5. Group Three
At a timewhen many countrypriestshad takenadvantageof the "market"
for chantry appointmentsin London, brought about by deaths from the
Plague, the poor Parson stayed with his parishioners,even though his
learningand conscientiousnesswould no doubt have qualifiedhim for a
more distinguishedposition.It is hardto imaginea more humbleand truly
serviceableman than this ruralpriest.He is keenly awarethat the welfareof
his parishionersdepends on his instruction,but he does not become "dispitous, / Ne of his speche daungerousne digne"(516-17).On the otherhand,if
any personis deservingof rebuke,"Whatso he were,of heigh or lough estat,I
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMS IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
167
Hym wolde he snybben sharplyfor the nonys' (522-23).The Parsonis not
only socially and economicallyunambitious,but he is also freeof class-consciousness.He thus avoids the sourceof most of the moralweaknessesof the
other pilgrims:that is, a willingnessto prostituteoneself for social and economic gain,and to settle for surfaceglitterratherthan truenobility.Quite to
the contrary,the Parsonis willingto acceptthe realdisadvantagesof a post in
a poor parish,wherethe economy of the Old Orderwas breakingup, for he
"wasa shepherdeand noght a mercenarie"(514). Similarly,his brotherthe
Plowmanrepresentsthe willingnessto do his best whereverGod has placed
him,a qualityas necessaryto a new orderas to an old one.The two brothers,
in theirpiety and theirconcernfor the 'communeprofit,"stand in starkcontrastto the five self-servingrascalswhose portraitsfillthe restof the thirdsection, and who are, as a group, the worst of all the pilgrims.
The exaggeratedanimalityof the Miller,his needto be loud andphysically
intimidating,and his unvarnishedcheatingat his mill indicatethe extreme
distancewhich separatesthese last five pilgrimsfrom the spiritualcenterof
orderembodiedin the Parsonand the Plowman.It is ironicthat the supposedly religiousprocessionleaving the TabardInn should be led by the loudmouthed Miller playing his bagpipes.Perhapsit is Chaucer'sway of acknowledgingthatherein the song and dance,ratherthanin the idealizedpilgrims- or even those who pretendto respectability-lies the fundamental
motivationof this (or any)group of people.Most of the pilgrimshave a kinship,admittedor not, with the spiritof Saturnalianholidayin which the Millerleaves behindthe restrictionsof ordinary,everydaylife.It should come as
no surprisethathe is the firstto disruptthe orderlinessof HarryBailly'sgam,e
of tale-telling,for his drunkennessmerelymakesmorepalpablethe inherent
disorderlinessof his personality.
The last four pilgrims-the Manciple,the Reeve,the Summoner,and the
Pardoner- are categorized together by Ruth Nevo as having "gravitated
from the ranks of the labourersto those of salariedofficials,or upper serBoth Nevo and Reidy characterizethem
vants,of an estate or institution."24
as "parasites";
one could say "bureaucratic
parasites"or "managerialparasites."They produce nothing and they use theirpositions of responsibility
not to make the machineryof society run more smoothly, but to line their
purses.The enormityof theirviolationof the "communeprofit"lies in their
abuse of trust;25
they claimto servetheirmasterswhile in the very processof
deceiving them. The opportunitiesfor such manipulationsand betrayals
arose in the fourteenthcenturyfrom the mobilityof the populationand the
growth of a money economy.26The lawyersfor whom the Mancipleworks
areperhapstoo busy land-grabbinglikethe Sergeantof Law,to keeptabson
him; the Reeve'smasterevidently found the managementof his estate too
complicatedunderthe new conditions;the Summonerand the Pardonerno
doubt found a mobile populationeasierto deceive than a stableone, and in
i68
HUNTINGTON LIBRARY QUARTERLY
any case theirsuccess dependedon the easy flow of money. It should also
be noted that all four of these pilgrimsare associatedwith towns and that
they maketheirmoney dealingin falsifiedcommoditiesor documents.Their
cool clevernessonly makes theircrimesseem the more perverse.Theirportraits are a fitting climax to the increasingalienationfrom the Old Order
which has been building throughoutthe GeneralPrologue.
Thereis richironyin the Manciple'sbeing able to "settlehirallercappe"in
workingas food buyerfor the lawyers;with a chuckle,ChaucertheNarrator
considersit 'a fairful graceI That swich a lewed manneswit shal pace I The
wisdom of an heep of lernedmen"(573-75).The chicaneryof the Manciple
and the other scoundrelsat the end of the Prologuecould not be carriedon
without some culpablelaxness on the partof theirmasters.The breakdown
in order is thus traceableto all levels of society, and often those at the
higherlevels,Chaucerimplies,are underminedbeforethey realizethe direct
results of their own disorderlyactions.
The Reeve,like the Manciple,has foundit too easy to defraudhis lord,and
has builta power base that the otherservantsof the estateareafraidto challenge.The Reevehas turnedthe properorderupsidedown,so that"Hekoude
bettre than his lord purchase"(608); he is able even to lend the lord's
own money to him. Clearly, neither servant nor master has adhered
to the concept of being faithfulto one's calling.
The Summoner and the Pardonerobviously reinforceone another in
their evil-doing.Both are physically deformedand morally depraved,and
both make theirliving from the sins and guilt of others.The song they sing
togetheras they ridealong betokensthe most tragicsubstitutionyet of superficialsatisfactionfor the substanceof order;"Comhider,love to me,"whatever it means precisely to them, is at the farthest extreme from the love
of God and man thatbringsorderto the lives of the Parsonandthe Plowman.
The Summonerwould seem to be an ordinaryman gone wrong.None of
his exploits markhim as exceptionallyintelligentor talented.The comparison of his pseudo-learnedsnatchesof Latinto the emptywords of a trained
jay-bird indicate that even his villainy is not particularlysubtle. But
even if the Summonerlacks complexityand depth,his surfaceis terrifying
enough. He is a formidablefoe when aroused,as the Friarfinds out, and he
thrives on the fear he inspires.His chief sacrilegelies in his evoking fearof
himself ratherthan of the "ercedekenescurs"and the judgmentof God. In
thus corruptingthe process of church discipline,the Summonercommits,
with the Pardoner,the grievous sin of bringingdisorderto the careof souls,
thereby compounding their own damnationwith that of others.
The Pardoner,like that other sharerof secrets,the Wife of Bath,is one of
Chaucer'sperpetualpuzzles.As the Summoner'scompanion,he appearsfirst
as merelyanotherbizarre,degeneratecon-man;butas detailsareaddedto his
portrait(both here and in the prologue to his tale),a complex personality
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMS IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
169
emerges. The Pardoner'sdeceits are so egregious and his conscience so
searedthat we are awestruckat his wickedness.His alienationfromthe Old
Order,and from all order,is furtherintensifiedby his being a eunuch.Some
modernreadersquestionwhetherthe Pardoneris to be held entirelyresponsible for his villainy,since from birth(accordingto WalterC. Curry)he was
defectiveand was excludedfroma normallife.Butif Curry'sanalysisis right,
this kindof eunuchwould,in Chaucer'sday,have been assumedto be an evil
monster, "an outcast from human society, isolated both physically and
morally, [one who] satisfies his depraved instincts by preying upon
it."27
Evenif a more sympatheticattitudeis takentowardthe Pardoner(as in
the recentarticleby MonicaE.McAlpine28),
his pursuitof his way of life is so
wholeheartedthat he has lost all innermoralcontrols,and can find satisfaction only in his abilityto overcomeothersby his rhetoricand to enrichhimself at theirexpense.It can be inferredthat he has such contemptfor himself
as a man that he perceivesno possibilityof his functioningas a part of an
orderedsociety.
Thus,the Pardoneris a negativesummationof the themeof disorderin the
General Prologue.More than any other pilgrim he manifests detachment
from the Old Order.He is committedsolely to himself,and,having no hope
of being integratedinto the normal activities of mankind,he takes joy in
being slyly disruptive.He admitsno orderin the worldexceptthatof his own
clevernessand exults in the irony of preachingagainstavaricewhile at the
same time making more money in a day "Thanthat the person gat in
monthestweye' (704).This statementof his financialsuccessunderscoresthe
contrast between him and the poor, virtuous Parson with whom Chaucer
began the thirdsectionof pilgrims,but he contrastsequallyas muchwith the
strong quiet Knightand the noble and learnedClerk His greatestspiritual
disabilityis the bitterpridewhich will not let him submitto beinga servant:'I
wol do no labourwith myne handes"he says in the prologueto his tale (VI,
444). The Pardonerhas become almost a symbol of the Princeof Disorder
himself,refusingto serve God and substitutinghis own gospel for the true
one.
6. Conclusion
With the Pardoner'soffertorysong ringingin our ears,we might feel that
Chaucer has stacked the deck in the General Prologue in favor of
the Rogues of Disorder.The noble representativesof the Old Orderare severelyoutnumbered,and the prognosisforan orderlypilgrimageis not made
any morefavorableby HarryBailly'scustodianshipof the tripto Canterbury.
In fact,his lackof success in controllingthe disorderlypilgrimsindicatesthe
need for the positive influenceof such servantsof the 'commune profit"as
the Knight,the Clerk,the Parson,and the Plowman.They will never be the
170
HUNTINGTON
LIBRARY
QUARTERLY
majorityin any society,and Chaucerrealizedthat they could not-and perhaps should not- stem all of the tide of change that was flowing around
him.29But his settingthem at key spots in his descriptionsof the pilgrimsindicates that they are to remind people of the touchstones of good
order,even in the midst of those sometimes fascinatingrogues who were
willing to take advantageof change for their own profit.
Thus,withina seeminglyarbitrarysequenceof portraits,Chaucerhas provided in the GeneralProloguea subtle principlefor groupingthe pilgrims.
The worthy Knight, the dedicated, scholarly Clerk, and the truly pious
Parsonand his brother(whose positions in the sequence of the Prologue
divide the portraitsapproximatelyinto thirds)bringus by degreesfrom the
virtuesof the body, to the virtuesof the mind,to the virtuesof the soul.Their
disruptivecounterpartsat the endof eachsection- theMerchant,theWifeof
Bath,and the Pardoner-constitute the majorgradationsin a concomitant
crescendoof vice in the GeneralPrologue.The representativesof disorderare
given progressivelymore attentionin each of the threesections,until,in the
last, we are presentedwith five unprincipledand consummate rascals,in
sharpcontrastto those virtuousand community-servingbrethren,the Parson and the Plowman.Throughoutthe Prologue,the measureof eachpilgrim
can be taken by contrasting him or her to the standard set by the
model pilgrimof the respectivegroups.
These patternsreflectChaucer'sconcernwith the possible consequences
of the emergingeconomic and social individualismof his day. He was too
much a Boethian to think anything in this world immutable,and he
took great pleasurein painting the great variety of human beings around
him;but he also keenlysensed the need we have for normsthat let us know
how far we have strayed.One of his veritiesis that no social ordercan be
maintainedwithouta moralcommitmentfrommost of its members.No system is perfect,and the Old Order in his day was on shaky ground;but, he
seems to say, whatevertakes its place will have to manifestthe strengthof
characterseen in the Knight,the Clerk,the Parson,and the Plowman in
order to subordinatepersonalambitionto the "communeprofit."
-
Universityof Michigan,Dearborn
NOTES
1. Nevill Coghill, ThePoetChaucer(London, 1949), 124.
2. See Carlo M. Cipolla,BeforetheIndustrialRevolution
(New York, 1976), 190-204; Rodney
H. Hilton,BondMen Made Free(London,1973), 152-77; RobertE.Lerner,TheAge ofAdversity: the 14thCentury(Ithaca,N.Y., 1968), 1-29; May McKisak, TheFourteenth
Century;The
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMS IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
171
OxfordHistoryofEngland5 (Oxford, 1959),312-423; WalterUllmann, TheIndividualandSocietyin theMiddle Ages (Baltimore,1966), 49-58, 122-49.
3. Alfred David, The StrumpetMuse (Bloomington & London, 1976), 62, 56.
Tales(Berkeley& London, 1978), 115, 113,
4. Donald R. Howard, TheIdeaof theCanterbury
91, 94.
5. KempMalone, Chapterson Chaucer(Baltimore,1951), 149-50. Malone's is the earliestof
several explanations for the order and grouping of the pilgrims offered by critics
over the last thirty years. Most of these critics have divided the pilgrims into anywhere
from four to seven groups, and most have agreed on the Knight/Squire/Yeomanand the
Prioress/Monk/Friaras the first two groups and the five rascals at the end as the last
group, with those in between constituting some sort of middle class. J. Swart, "TheCon38 (1954): 127-36, sees two major
struction of Chaucer'sGeneral Prologue,"Neophilogica
divisions and seven subdivisions of the pilgrims,the dividing point of the two majorunits
being the Parson and the Plowman.John Reidy,"Groupingof Pilgrimsin the GeneralPrologue to the Canterbury
Tales,"PMASAL 47 (1962):595-603, believes that the Guildsmen
provide the majorbreakingpoint in the portraits,forminga bridgebetween the socially important pilgrims and the others who follow. Harold F. Brooks, Chaucer'sPilgrims:The
ArtisticOrderof thePortraitsin thePrologue(London, 1962), sees five groups (the Knight's
party, the regular clergy, the middle class [Merchant through Wife of Bath], the
Parson/Plowmanpair,and the concluding five churls and rascals)and notes that the satire
grows generally harsher as the Prologue progresses. Ruth Nevo, "Chaucer:Motive and
Mask in the 'General Prologue,'"MLR 58 (1963): 1-9, has the most provocative of the
articleson the General Prologue. She sees in the arrangementof the pilgrims "afusion of
two things: an acutely original analysis of a society in which commerce is just
emerging from feudalism, and the disciplined version of a tolerantbut uncompromising
moral sensibility' (4). She sees the pilgrims'source of income and their attitudes toward
money as the principlesaccording to which they are grouped.Phyllis Hodgson has a perceptive introductionto her edition of the GeneralPrologue:TheCanterburyTales(London,
1969). Her grouping of the pilgrims is exactly like that of Brooks,but she stresses the "four
ideal figurescarefullyplaced, the Knight,the Clerk,the Parson,the Plowman,[who] in turn
fix a standard by which numerous relative judgements are sparked off" (35). R.
T. Lenaghan,'Chaucer'sGeneral Prologue as History and Literature,"
Comparative
Studies
in Society and History 12 (1970): 73-82, sees Chaucer presenting his pilgrims "by
occupational labels"(74), and thereforedivides them into three groups according to their
sources of livelihood: land, the church,and trade.Finally,Gerald Morgan, "TheDesign of
the GeneralPrologueto the CanterburyTales,"ES 59 (1978): 481-98, believes that Chaucer
presents us with "a coherent sequence of portraits ordered in accordance with the
gradations of a fourteenth-centurysociety"(486).There are two main classes, "gentils"and
commons, with "agreat gulf fixed"(491) between the Franklin(the lowest of the "gentils")
and the Guildsmen (the first of the commons to be described).
6. Howard, TheIdea of the CanterburyTales, 150-52.
7. Ibid.,151-54.
8. See HarryA. Miskimin, Money,Prices,andForeignExchangein 14thCenturyFrance(New
Haven & London, 1963), 48-50; Henri Pirenne, Economicand SocialHistory of Medieval
Europe,trans.I. E. Clegg (1936, rpt.New York, n.d.),39-188; Sylvia Thrupp, TheMerchant
Class of MedievalLondon(1948, rpt. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1962), 14 et passim.
9. See Hilton, BondMen Made Free,53; Reidy, "Groupingof Pilgrims.. .,' 603; JillMann,
Chaucerand MedievalEstatesSatire(Cambridge,1973), 55.
172
HUNTINGTON LIBRARY QUARTERLE"
10. Revised StandardVersion, I Cor. 12: 4-7. In a similarpassage in Romans 12: 3-8, Paul
says, "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them."Both
passages accord with the medieval social ideal of each person'sworkingwithin the circumstances into which he had been placed by birthand by chance.However,as Sylvia Thrupp
says: "Theemphasis of social philosophy on the structuralorderof medieval society, on its
rankedestates,give no ground for inferringdisapprovalof the existing institutionalmeans
to a social mobility, in the towns, in the service of nobles and monarchs, and within the
hierarchy of the Church. Although organic social theory, stressing the value of every
function in society, from the humblest to the highest, carriedovertones of the lesson of
contentment with a given task or lot in life, it never implied that a man should not avail
himself of legitimatemeans of improvinghis lot or of securinga betterlot than his father's."
Raymond Grew and N. Steneck, eds., SocietyandHistory:Essays by Sylvia Thrupp,(Ann
Arbor, 1977), 26. Since Chaucer himself profited by such opportunitiesfor mobility, we
can assume that he accepted the principle of special rewards for individual talent and
initiative,within the limits of propriety.
11. See, for example, the Parliamentof Fowls,11, 47, and 75; Clerk'sTale, lines 431, 1194;
Parson's Tale, line 773.
12. Morgan places too much emphasis on social status in the Prologuewhen he insists that
the pilgrimsare strictlyorderedby Chaucer"inaccordancewith social rank."He explicitly
excludes the "moralnature"of the pilgrims as a significantorganizing principle.Morgan,
"TheDesign of the General Prologue . . .," 484, 485.
13. Mann, Chaucerand MedieoalEstateSatire,55, 192, 201.
14. Loy D. Martin,in "Historyand Formin the GeneralPrologue to the Canterbury
Tales,"
ELH45 (1978): 11, notes that 'the relativeaccessibilityof differentsocial groups to one another was changing in fourteenth-centuryEngland,and the Canterburypilgrimageposits
an access which was, as yet, outside the realm of ordinaryexperiencebut which reflected
some of the currents of contemporary change."
Talesare from TheCom15. General Prologue,line 88. All quotations from the Canterbury
pletePoetryand Proseof GeoffreyChaucer,ed. John H. Fisher(New York, et al, 1977). Line
numbersof quotations will be given in parenthesesin the text and referto the GeneralPrologue (FragmentI) unless otherwise noted.
16. Howard,in the context of his assertion that even the virtuesof the Knightare obsolescent, says of the Prioress, the Monk, and the Friar: "They exemplify obsolescent
styles of life based on obsolescent ideas and practices.All three reveal what was throughout the Middle Ages the fundamentalflaw in the practiceof the religiouslife,that its values
and ideals were contaminated by secular- and chiefly aristocratic-ones." Howard, The
Idea of the CanterburyTales,98.
17. See Christopher Brooke, The Structureof Medieval Society(New York, 1971), 82ff.;
Cipolla, BeforetheIndustrialRevolution,190-204.
18. See HIlton,BondMen Made Free,94; M. M. Postan, EssaysonMedievalAgricultureand
GeneralProblemsof theMedievalEconomy(Cambridge,1973), 3-40.
19. See Thrupp, Merchant Class of Medieval London, 14-27; 103ff.; also David, The
StrumpetMuse, 62-63.
20. See Lerner,TheAge of Adversity,23.
21. See Miskimin, Money, Price,and ForeignExchangein 14thCenturyFrance,10-21.
22. This is the conclusion of Thomas Garbaty, "Chaucer'sGuildsmen and their Fraternity,"JEGP 59 (1960): 691-709.
THE ORDER OF THE PILGRIMS IN THE CANTERBURY TALES
173
23. AlthoughonecannotprovewhetherChaucerhadplannedtheprologuestothetalesof
thesethreewhenhe wrotetheGeneralPrologue,it mustbe admittedthattheprologuesof
atleast,areconsistentextensionsof theirportraits
theWifeof BathandthePardoner,
inthe
GeneralPrologue.Thereis thereforesome justificationfor referringto the links and
individualprologueswhenone is analyzingthe initialportraits.
24. RuthNevo, "Motiveand Maskin the 'GeneralPrologue,'6.
25. Brooks,Chaucer's
49.
Pilgrims,
26. "Inthe backgroundaresocialand culturalchangessubtlytakingplacein Chaucer's
time-the shiftfroman agrarianto a mercantilesociety,froma simplebarterandmoney
economyto a complexcommercialcrediteconomy,froma feudaland baronialgovernmentto a centralizedmonarchy"
Howard,TheIdeaof theCanterbury
Tales,103.See also
Martin,"Historyand Form. . ., 11-12.
27. WalterClydeCurry,Chaucer
andtheMedievalSciences,
rev.ed.(NewYork,1960),59-70.
28. McAlpinestresseswhatshe sees as the ambiguityof Chaucer'streatmentof thePardoner.I agreewithherthathisbeinga eunuchis morallyneutralwithinitself,andperhaps
theultra-tolerant
Chaucercouldhavebroughthimselfto tryto understand
thePardoner's
ButI do not agreewithMcAlpine'sassessmentthatthe Pardonerabuses
homosexuality.
thesacraments
becausehe longsto beforgiven,andthatthevernicleon hiscap"reminds
us
thatthroughhis sexualsufferingsthePardonerparticipates
in the crucifixion."
Although
thePardoneris intelligentandsensitive,he is too proudto bowto eitherthelawsof manor
thelawsof God,andif he is to be damned,it willbe becausehe hascompoundedphysical
withwillfuldisorderliness.
disabilityandsocialopprobrium
"ThePardoner's
Homosexuality and How It Matters,"
PMLA,95 (1980):8-22,especially19.
29. Martin,"History
andForm.. ., 15-16,statesChaucer'sambivalenceas follows:"The
lineartimeof historicalchangesuggeststhatno socialinstitutionis permanent,
whilethe
hierarchicstructureof feudal society claims, through its analogicalrelationto the
structure
of thechurch,aneternaldispensation.
To challengeeitheroneof theseconflicting
ordersin thetermsprovidedby theotherwouldnot,forChaucer,havebeena possibility;
theonewastooimmediateto experience,
whiletheotherwasstilltoopowerfullyauthoritative.Whathe coulddo wasto accepttheantithesisandto resolveit dialectically
ratherthan
He is not,in this sense,displayingeitherconservatismor liberalismin his
preferentially.
poeticstatementHe createsan institutionin whichboththechallengesandthechanging
takeon newsignificancein relationto one anotherthroughthetwinperspectiveof cyclic
timeand the possibilitiesof game in an unfamiliarsocialcontext."