The Summoner's Tale (Christine)

This is what I used for my presentation today... if there are any questions, let me know.

• General Prologue
• Summoner: issues summons for people to appear in front of the Church court, summoned people to attend and worked in a similar way to usher
• “black and scabby brows and scanty beard, he had a face that little children feared”
• hideous appearance, fits his job well (summoning those to appear in front of the church court)
• “some phrases had he learned, say two or three” “just ‘questio quid juris’ would he cry”
  searching/seeking/investigating//how much/how many//trial/judgement
• would recite a few lines of Latin to impress others (or when he was just drunk)
• “He was a noble rascal, and a kind; a better comrade ‘twould be hard to find. Why, he would suffer, for a quart of wine”
• the summoner would let sinners go in exchange for a bottle of wine (corruption in the church)

The Summoner’s Prologue
-insulted and angered by the friar’s tale of a corrupt summoner (not a personal attack but an insult to his profession)... he will tell a tale in return of a friar
-says that it is no surprise that the friar told a tale of corruption since he and the Devil/Hell have such close connections
-“The friar he boasts he knows somewhat of Hell, and God He knows that it is little wonder;
Friars and fiends are never far asunder”
-tells a short tale of a friar who had a vision of hell and was searching for all the other friars... the angel guiding him tells him that all “twenty thousand” remain in the Devil’s “arse-hole”...
indication of the tale to come

The Summoner’s Tale
· Friar gives sermons to encourage donations to the Friars
· Also goes door to door seeking donations by promising prayers
· Went to Thomas (old man), who is ill in bed
· Friar says he has not visited in a while because he has “been praying for him continuously”
· Thomas’ wife enters, Friar kisses her inappropriately
· Wife requests that the Friar give Thomas a sermon on anger (because he has been in such a foul mood, which is understandable because he's been so ill)... Friar begins his sermon on how anger is the devil's work
· Wife offers Friar something quick to eat
-Friar requests a chicken, soft white bread, and pig
-Requests the food as if it is nothing “Then had I with you plain sufficiency. I am a man of little gluttony”
-Explains that his nourishment comes from the Bible and the church
· Friar also tells Thomas he remains so ill because he has not given much to the church
· Friar goes back to his sermon on anger, hate, and foolish decisions
- gives three examples of this: 1. He tells the tale of an angry king who sentenced a knight to death because he returned without his partner and automatically assumed that he had murdered him. When a third knight lead the condemned knight to his death, they found the knight that he had supposedly murdered. When the third knight returned to the king to have the sentenced reversed, the king sentenced all three to death: the first because he had originally declared it so, the second because he was the cause of the first's death, and the third because he did not obey the king. 2 Another ireful king, Cambyses, was a drunk. When one of his knights claimed that drunkenness caused people to lose their coordination, Cambyses drew his bow and arrow and shot the knight's son to prove that he still had control of his reflexes. 3
The friar then tells of Cyrus, the Persian king who had the river Gyndes destroyed because one of his horses' drowned in it.
· Thomas is angered by the Friar’s hypocritical sermon
· Friar requests a gift for his visit, something he can divide amongst the other Friars
· Thomas says that he is sitting on the gift... Friar reaches under him... Thomas farts on his
hand
· Thomas’ servants chased out the furious Friar
· Friar found the lord of the manor and told him of the embarrassment he suffered, claiming that Thomas promised to divide his riches equally, but only gave the friar a fart. The squire of the lord of the manor said that all will be corrected: the lord of the manor will make sure that the fart will be divided among all deserving friars

Analysis: The Friar/The Summoner
· Describes faults in human nature and corruption in church
-Friar gives a sermon on anger... in the end, he is more furious than any other character in the tale
-Sermon on gluttony... requests an elaborate meal from Thomas’ wife
-Sermon on poverty and worldly possessions... more focused on gifts and goods than Thomas and his wife, corruption, deceit
· Manner in which he kisses Thomas’ wife is inappropriate (not only for a friar but for anyone)
· Never disagrees with the insults provided by the friar, only tries to make his tale of the friars more elaborate à results in both individuals and careers looking dishonorable
· Clever in feigning concern for others well being
-The tales of men of ire are exaggerated instances of men driven to homicidal madness having nothing to do with the legitimate distress that Thomas and his wife feel

Other Versions/References

• Based on ‘The Tale of the Preist’s Bladder’ (French, 13th century, fabliau)
• Fabliau - a short metrical tale, usually ribald and humorous, popular in medieval France
• 'A pious preist, when on his deathbed, is urged by two Jacobin friars to revoke some of the charitable bequests he has already made, so that he may give something to their order. The priest promises to give them a precious jewel, which turns out to be his bladder.'
• Prologue: Inversion of Caesarius of Heisterbach’s ‘Dialogus miraculorum’
• Caesarius ascends to heaven and finds his fellow Cistercians (monks) living under the cloak of the Virgin Mary

Works Cited
http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/canterbury/section11.html
http://www.geocities.com/salferrat/chaucrand.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summoner%27s_Tale
http://web.english.ufl.edu/exemplaria/Cohen2003/pt.pdf