The Canterbury Tales
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The Canterbury Tales (Middle English: Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400.
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Structurally, the collection resembles Boccaccio’s Decameron, which Chaucer may have read during his first diplomatic mission to Italy in 1372.
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Besides Boccaccio’s Decameron, another source from which Chaucer seems to have got the inspiration is Petrus Alphonsus’s (A Spanish Jew) “Discipline Clericalis.
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The tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return.
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In the general prologue, some 30 pilgrims are introduced, he planned 4 stories for each, total 120.But completed only 24.
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The first version of the Canterbury Tales to be published in print was William Caxton’s 1476 edition.
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Although no manuscript exists in Chaucer’s own hand, 2 were copied around the time of his death by Adam Piakhurst.
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The Canterbury Tales consists of
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the General Prologue,
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The Knight’s Tale,
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The Miller’s Tale,
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The Reeve’s Tale,
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The Cook’s Tale,
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The Man of Law’s Tale,
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The Wife of Bath’s Tale,
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The Friar’s Tale,
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The Summoner’s Tale,
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The Clerk’s Tale – Peasants revolt
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The Merchant’s Tale,
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The Squire’s Tale,
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The Franklin’s Tale,
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The Second Nun’s Tale,
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The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale,
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The Physician’s Tale,
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The Pardoner’s Tale,
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The Shipman’s Tale,
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The Prioress’s Tale,
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The Tale of Sir Thopas,
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The Tale of Melibeus (in prose),
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The Monk’s Tale,
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The Nun’s Priest’s Tale – Peasants revolt
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The Manciple’s Tale, and
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The Parson’s Tale (in prose),
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and ends with “Chaucer’s Retraction.” Not all the tales are complete; several contain their own prologues or epilogues.
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