Geoffrey Chaucer expresses his disillusionment with the Catholic Church, during
the Medieval Era, through satire when he wrote, The Canterbury Tales. The Medieval
Era was a time when the Catholic Church governed England and was extremely wealthy.
Expensive Cathedrals and shrines to saints' relics were built at a time when the country
was suffering from famine, scarce labor, disease and the Bubonic Plague, which was the
cause of death to a third of Europe's population and contributed to the rise of the middle
class. It seemed hypocritical to the people when the church preached against the sin of
greed when the church was built and dressed so lavishly. There were rumors of corrupt
Popes, church clerical and priest ignoring their vows of poverty and celibacy. They
ignored the Canon law, which is an ecclesiastical law that governs the Roman Catholic
Church. This triggered Chaucer to satirize the corruption through his use of comedic,
pleasant ridicule of human vices with his characters, the Pardoner, the Monk, the
Prioress, the Summoner and the Friar. He incorporates the seven deadly sins in his
stories, which are pride, envy, sloth, gluttony, avarice, lechery and wrath to explain the
fall of man with his religion.
The Canterbury Tales is recognized as the first book written in English and this
paved the way for other writers such as Shakespeare. With his collection of stories
written in English it gave the non wealthy an opportunity to enjoy his literature, because
before Chaucer only the wealthy had the education to read stories that were written in
other languages, such as French. The Canterbury Tales is written about a group of
pilgrims wh...
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preached what God would desire of man and that there are many ways to heaven as part
of his tale to the other pilgrims. The second part of the tale is about asking for
forgiveness for one?s sins. He went on explaining the seven deadly sins to the other
pilgrims. Chaucer sent an intelligent, virtuous churchman on the journey to Canterbury
as an example to the other pilgrims and an opportunity for them to seek redemption.
Geoffrey Chaucer created ironies between the church clergy's characterizations
and their duties to express the corruption and the decline of the Catholic Church in
England. Most of the English clergy did not live up to the expectations of the
congregation. The Church was so full of hypocrisy that this left the congregation feeling
disillusioned with their church leaders and paved the rise of Protestantism.
The Middle Ages was a dark time for the people of Europe. As the Black Death reigned during the mid-14nth century, dead bodies littered the streets, social order was abandoned, and human pretenses were forgotten. This deadly disease resulted in a complete alteration in the foundations of Europe itself. Unique practices, myths, and beliefs manifested themselves in the people?causing them to doubt the very church and government which had once captured their undoubting faith. Despite the scrambling of both doctors and church officials, there seemed no end to the enormous death tolls. The plague, feared and dreaded by all, changed the behavior of an entire continent and resulted, ultimately, in the death of a third of its population.
Lambdin, Laura C. and Robert T. Lambdin, ed. Chaucer's Pilgrims: An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales. London: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Abuses such as the sale of indulgences (or spiritual privileges) by the clergy and other charges of corruption undermined the church’s
From the Middle ages, the church faced many problems such as the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism that hurt the prestige of the church. Most of the clergy lived in great luxury while most people were poor and they set an immoral example. The clergy had low education and many of them didn’t attend their offices. Martin Luther had witnessed this himself, “In 1510 he visited Rome and was shocked to find corruption on high ecclesiastical places”
The Pilgrims found themselves in a harsh new environment. In the middle of winter, they slowly built a settlement at the site of an abandoned Pawtuxet Indian village. Not used to hunting or fishing, they struggled to find food. Many were starving. The future looked bleak.
wealthiest and most powerful landlords in all of Europe. The people felt that the church
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
The Great Pestilence that haunted Europe in Medieval times took out more than a third of its population. After diseased rats and fleas made their way to the ports of Messina, Sicily by ships the plague spread across Europe ever so quickly. People were falling ill and dying within days, and there was nothing anyone could do. Close friends became sick and delusional, and Europe’s people began to lose hope. Church goers lost faith in god, and others punished their selves for forgiveness. The Black Death also caused the fall of feudalism. With all of the serfs and peasants dying off, there were only few left to work fields and harvest crops. This meant higher payouts. Finally in the year 1350, the plague died off, but reappeared every few generations.
spirit of rivalry to have a more glorious church than the others. It was as if
Before the 16th century Protestant Reformation, Christianity it Europe was in a questionable and somewhat corrupt state. During the mid 15th century central and western Europe was set up in the form of a hierarchy, which was headed by the pope. At this period in time the pope claimed all spiritual authority over Christians, as well as political authority over all inhabitants of the Papal States. In addition to the claims the pope made, the church also owned close to one-fourth of the land in Europe that lead to a strong centralization of papal authority. Close to all of the Europeans at this time were Christian and would pay taxes directly to the church as a result of this ownership. European Christians were taught in their upbringing that without the guidance and rituals of the priests and the church, there would be no path for them to salvation. Despite the church attempting to teach morality among members, the clergy started to become greedy and full of corruption that fueled their desire for ...
To make matters worse, over the course of just six years, seventy-five million people have died. There were about fifteen million in Southwest Asia. Even more about thirty-five million dead in China. Finally, there were about twenty-five million dead in Western Europe. The Middle Ages became so depopulated that the economy changed. In the economy laborers demanded more pay, meanwhile changing their work status. All over was widespread poverty because of the merchants raising their prices heavily.
The Catholic Church has long been a fixture in society. Throughout the ages, it has withstood wars and gone through many changes. It moved through a period of extreme popularity to a time when people regarded the Church with distrust and suspicion. The corrupt people within the church ruined the ideals Catholicism once stood for and the church lost much of its power. In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer primarily satirizes the corruptness of the clergy members to show how the Catholic Church was beginning its decline during the Middle Ages.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, (written c. 1387), is a richly varied compilation of fictional stories as told by a group of twenty-nine persons involved in a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury, England during the fourteenth century. This journey is to take those travelers who desire religious catharsis to the shrine of the holy martyr St. Thomas a Becket of Canterbury. The device of a springtime pilgrimage provided Chaucer with a diverse range of characters and experiences, with him being both a narrator and an observer. Written in Middle English, each tale depicts parables from each traveler.
To speak of the development of the Roman Catholic Church, is as if to retell the entire story of creation, all the way from Genesis to present day, and even into the future; because “Ecclesia semper reformanda est” or “the Church is always reforming itself” and, “Every valley must be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.” Therefore, it is best to look at a certain point in the life of this particular religion, which, since “the Church is always reforming itself”, is not yet complete. The life of the Church is not a dull, repetitive life; but a fascinating, sustained life; one that is similar to the history of a rightful country which is in eternal war with an undying, persistent enemy who delights in masking its abhorrent profile with anything that might block its path. And yet, the battle is not direct in any manner, rather it is in indirect dueling where the greater success lies.
they were given the job, to lead the way to God. This was a big