Showing posts with label clergy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clergy. Show all posts

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Did Chaucer Anticipate Luther?

Hwaet! I would like to pose an outrageous question that focuses on the clergy in The Canterbury Tales. With his sateric characterization of the prioress, the monk, the friar and the pardoner, did Chaucer anticipate the Reformation? The prioress is anything but a sister of charity. She is quite worldly, actually. She has impeccable manners, cares more for puppies than for the poor, and she has some great jewelry! The monk would rather be out riding his horse than be in his cell praying. The friar loves the women of the town and loves to trade cash for penance. The pardoner is the worst of all, selling indulgences- false trinkets-- as if they were sacred treasures belonging to St. Peter or even Jesus himself. In contrast stands the poor parson-- a model of what clegy should be. This contrast hints that Chaucer does not condem all clergy. It was for such sacrilegious crimes as the selling of penance and indulgences that Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses on Wittenberg's door in 1519, 120 years after Chaucer's death. It seems as though Chaucer and Luther had similar concerns. Did Chaucer anticipate the Reformation?