Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) wrote the “Canterbury Tales” in old English instead of Latin, because he wanted to reach a wider audience and have more influence. This famous work is a collection of stories about a group of people making a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury. It was a part of Renaissance literature and included poetry in the stories as well. 

Even though Chaucer’s tales were in English, his audience consisted mainly of the upper class. Chaucer wrote about the evil of usury and called the practice satanic. He described the Jews as evil. In one story, an innocent boy was killed by Jews. In a vision, Jesus appeared to the boy’s mother, telling her about the incident. Subsequently, she reported this crime to the magistrate, who had the Jews ripped apart by wild horses. 

During the pilgrimage, a monk spoke about the Bible, and blamed Adam and Eve for the downfall of humanity. He explained that fortune had taken down many powerful rulers, like King Nebuchadnezzar and Emperor Nero. Continuing, the friar told them to not trust earthly rulers over God. He quoted scripture, telling them to not put their trust in princes or sons of men, but to trust in God and God alone. 

Another story stated that three men made a vow that they would try to kill death itself. They met an old man who claimed that he could not die. So, they asked the man where death was and he pointed them to a nearby tree. Instead of finding what they were looking for, then men came across a large pot of gold. Although they decided to split the gold evenly, secretly they all plotted to kill each other and take it for themselves. They all had wine, but each selfish person poisoned the other’s drink, so they all died. In the end, they all found death. 

In the “Canterbury Tales”, most of the stories are told by the serious monk. The stories he tells are not believable, and so are likely metaphors or parables. The monk is not light-hearted and is very serious when he talks to the group.