Agenda In Class Essay WHEN FINISHED STUDY FOR VOCABULARY TOMORROW “The Bet” “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” “The First Seven Years”

CT Canterbury The Last Pilgrims

The Miller The miller is a stout churl, brawny and big-boned. He always wins wrestling matches, and can break down a door with his head. He has short shoulders and a thick neck, and a short, spade-shaped beard. On the end of his nose there is a wart, covered in bristly hairs like pig's hair - his nostrils are wide and black, and his mouth is like a great furnace. He loves a good laugh - as dirty as possible, the more obscene the better. He can steal corn and take the same payment three times, but he gets away with it - he has a 'golden thumb'. He wears a white coat and a blue hood, and carries a sword and small shield. He rides at the front of the procession, playing his bagpipes.

The Manciple A manciple is an official responsible for buying and transporting provisions for a college - this one works for an Inn of Court (in London). Whether he pays cash or credit, he buys so wisely that he is always in credit. Isn't that a divine gift, says Chaucer, given to the unlearned and worth more than a whole load of learning? The manciple has more than thirty masters who are expert in law in his Inn, of whom a dozen are fit to be stewards in the highest households in the land, whose masters they could keep out of debt if they had the sense to listen to them - but this lowly manciple can deceive them all!

The Reeve The reeve, who comes from Bawdeswell in Norfolk, is a skinny, choleric man, very closely shaven. His hair is cut around his head, like a priest, and he wears a long surcoat of grey, which covers his legs - they're as thin as matchsticks. This reeve can keep a granary and a bin, and no auditor can get the better of him. His lord's animals and crops have been in his keeping since his lord was twenty years of age, and he'd never been in arrears. He can tell by the weather what the crop yields will be. He lives all alone on a heath, and is richer than his lord. In fact, he can take his lord's goods and still his lord will thank him for his good service. The reeve sits on a good dapple-grey horse, called Scot, and he carries a rusty sword at his side. He rides all alone, at the back of the procession.

The Summoner The summoner's face is fiery red like a cherubim - he is pimply-faced, with swollen eyelids and diseased skin. His hair is falling out. He is hot-blooded and lecherous as a sparrow, and children are afraid of his face. No medicine in the world, nor any potion, can help his pustules and the swellings on his cheeks. He loves garlic, leeks and strong wine, and under its influence he will speak boldly as if he's gone mad. He can pour out Latin tags and sentences associated with his work, but he doesn't know what they mean, if anyone were to ask him - but he can call 'waiter' as well as any Pope. He is a gentle and a kind jester, no better anywhere. In return for a gift of lots of wine he'd lend anyone his concubine for a year - he was a great finch-plucker! If he finds a good companion, he'll teach him not to fear the archdeacon's curse (the judgement of his court), and many a man's soul is in his control - he holds the keys to freedom or imprisonment, and his curse is to be feared. He has the young girls of the diocese in his control (he knows all their secrets). He wears a garland on his head, like the ones you see outside alehouses, and has made a small shield out of a cake. He sings love-songs to the pardoner as they ride - just in front of the reeve - at the back of the procession.

The Pardoner The pardoner comes from the priory of Roncesvalles, although he has been at the papal curia - he rides with the summoner, with whom he flirts shamelessly. His hair is long and yellow, with crisp curls, and hangs down over his shoulders. His hood is deliberately kept in his wallet, so as to reveal his hair - he likes to think this makes him young and fashionable. His eyes stare like a hare - he has a small, high voice like a goat, and is very clean-shaven. Geoffrey wonders whether he is a gelding or a mare. He wears a vernicle (an image of Christ's face) sewn onto his cap, and his wallet is full of pardons and indulgences. He is the very best of pardoners. He has a pillowcase he says is the Virgin's veil, a piece of sail from St Peter's fishing boat, a brass cross full of stones and some pigs' bones in a glass. Using these, he can wring more money from a poor man than he earns in two months. He can make monkeys of both priest and congregation. In church, he is a 'noble ecclesiaste'. He can sing and preach a tell a good story - all to win silver.