The Impossible Division

I couldn't help by draw a parallel between the events of "The Summoner's Tale" with the issues going on in the Catholic Church at the time. There had been conflict in the early 14th century regarding control of Northern Italy. The Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Boniface VIII were both trying to gain political control of the area. By this time, the Catholic Church had been guilty of things such as simony, and the pope was guilty of trying to gain power and riches for personal gain. Dante was quite familiar with this entire conflict, and it is a major theme of The Divine Comedy. Chaucer was, no doubt, familiar with all of the issues surrounding the corruption of the Church. "The Summoner's Tale" appears to touch on a few of those issues.

First, the friar's behavior could represent the corruption of the Church having filtered down from the leaders of the Church to the lower echelon. The Jubilee of 1300 was a pilgrimage meant for individuals to "buy" time off their stay in Purgatory. Money was pouring in faster than the priests could gather it together. The friar's taking of goods without providing his end of the bargain brought to mind the fact that some of these same issues surrounded the Jubilee.

The issues addressed in the conversation between the friar and the sick man all dealt with the idea that payment was made and services were not rendered, so to speak. So, the old man tricks the friar into thinking the friar will get some kind of payment. Instead, the fart that is to be distributed thirteen ways presents the friar with an unusual problem. Like Jonathan pointed out in class, the friar is unable to see the problem. Could it be the friar's problem is that the corruption has gone so deep that he has literally tricked himself into thinking that he got tricked? Or, is he simply over thinking the situation?

The solution proposed by the squire is, as we discussed, funny and still leaves the friar and his company empty handed. I see this as Chaucer's dig: if the friar gives nothing, then he will get nothing. They then have to divide nothing among the thirteen. Does this mean something more as far as commentary on the current affairs of the Church? Is Chaucer trying to say something larger: the Church is not doing its job as it should (it's too involved in temporal affairs), so the Church needs a taste of its own medicine?

I may be off base here, but I just couldn't get this out of my mind when reading the tale.

The Wife of Bath: A Symbol of Corruption?

The Wife of Bath is not the traditional bride or wife, but is one of the more engaging characters of the Canterbury Tales. It is the controversy of her speech that makes her an interesting female character as evident in her habit of using the Bible to justify her marital beliefs and practices.  Early on she mentions that "God bad us for to wexe and multiplye," therefore she is in line with God's command, for marriage leads to reproduction; therefore, multiple marriages might equate many children (28). The Wife also goes on to say that a man as holy as Abraham could not be in the wrong by having multiple wives; therefore, she is not (55). In Genesis, Abraham is said to have children with Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah and possibly more. There is some debate as to whether or not he was married to Hagar, but did have multiple wives.

An interesting connection to this comical justification of her lifestyle is church corruption of the Middle Ages. The Wife uses biblical knowledge while the Church used biblical authority to justify actions that are or may not have been in line with biblical principles. From the presentation on politics we learned of the opportunities for people to rise in the social structure of the Middle Ages due to the Plague. Many clergy were also lost to the Plague meaning that those less able or deserving rose in the ranks of the churches. One example of the corruption that arose from this shift in clergy was the practice of pilgrimages. The Church promised people forgiveness of sins through participation in a pilgrimage to a holy site, such as the pilgrimage the characters of the Canterbury Tales are on. 

Click here to learn a bit about the corruption of the Church.