Geoffrey Chaucer lived in the late 14th century in London and worked in royal households which exposed him to stories from different social classes. He wrote The Canterbury Tales in Middle English instead of Latin to make it accessible to more people. The stories are framed around a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral, as pilgrimages to holy sites were common at the time and provided opportunities for people to share stories along the journey.

1. Geoffrey Chaucer and the Pilgrimage

2. Chaucer’s Life Born 1340-45 to prosperous London wine-merchant family Works in households of nobility, eventually the king’s Fights in France Travels on diplomatic missions to Spain and Italy Series of civil service jobs Moves to Kent ca. 1385, serves as Justice of the Peace and Member of Parliament Dies 1400 Buried in Westminster Abbey

3. Chaucer’s Life Continued Remember the video explained that Chaucer received much of his material for The Canterbury Tales from his experiences working with nobility

4. Chaucer and the Vernacular What is the vernacular? The language of the common people Wanted anyone to be able to read it Not many people in this time can read Influence by Dante The Divine Comedy Written in Italian not Latin Thus The Canterbury Tales were written in Middle English, not French or Latin Also important to note that the printing press does not exist yet!

5. So What is a Pilgrimage? “A Pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place or shrine undertaken as a spiritual quest to obtain supernatural help or as a form of penance for sins.” This is the theme for The Canterbury Tales In the story, the characters travel to Canterbury Cathedral on a pilgrimage

7. Pilgrimage Cont. Pilgrimages were usually for seeing holy relics or places of significant, religious miracles or tragedy Examples? Sometimes they were fake relics! Pilgrimages would also include things like the Crusades A war pilgrimage

9. On the Pilgrimage Along the pilgrimage often times the people would stop for the night to rest This became a way for them to unwind Basically EAT, DRINK, and BE MERRY! This doesn’t mean that the whole thing was a 24/7 party! This idea becomes the basis for CT stories

11. Why Canterbury?! Canterbury was the site of St. Thomas a’ Becket’s murder in 1170 Considered a place of spiritual importance Many people could never make a pilgrimage all the way to the Holy Land