What Is The Imperfection Of The Catholic Church In The 14th Century

Authors often have an agenda when creating their works. These authors create their work with a specific agenda in mind to serve the purpose of making their own personal views apparent to readers. The Canterbury Tales--a collection of tales told by various people throughout a pilgrimage to Canterbury--serves as Geoffrey Chaucer’s own lament about the corruption of the Catholic Church in 14th century Europe.The pilgrims taking part in this pilgrimage are not necessarily the most pious pilgrims in the world: for many of the travelers, this pilgrimage is a tourist expedition rather than a devout religious quest.Chaucer utilizes this anthology of works to develop his ideas about the imperfections of the Catholic Church and how many people viewed
Rapidly increasing in mathematical and intellectual sophistications, Europe was well on it’s way to rapid expansion. The 14th Century was a time of turmoil, diminished expectations, loss of confidence in institutions, and feelings of helplessness at forces beyond the people’s own control. In historian Barbara Tuchman’s novel, A Distant Mirror, she discusses how many of our modern problems had counterparts in the 14th Century. In the midst of turmoil between the French Catholics and Italian Catholics, the Church was scarcely in a position to offer comfort. Since 1309, the Pope had resided at Avignon in southern France due to these secular issues, rather than Rome. Consequently, Avignon was governed by one simple rule: absolutely everything in the Church was for sale, ecclesiastical offices, pardons for sins, and even the most sacred holy relics. Eventually in 1377, Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in an effort to maintain the
The summoner in the story would “summons some illiterate/Without a written warrant, on the threat/Of excommunication and Christ’s curse;/And they were glad enough to fill his purse”(184). The summoner did not act on the summons the church gave him; he instead created fake ones to take money from innocent people for his own personal gain. When the summoner meets a yeoman while travelling through the woods, they begin to discuss how to make the most money from their job. The summoner confesses “As God knows, I’ll take anything like a shot/Unless it be too heavy or too hot”(186) and justifies this by saying “I’d starve if I didn’t put the screws on(186). The summoner feels no guilt in his actions; he believes what he does is necessary for his survival and outweighs his duty to the church. When the summoner tries to take money from an old widow, she curses him unless he repents. The summoner responds “‘Not likely, not a hope there, you old cow,/ I’ve no mind to repent’”(191). Here, the summoner shows pride and greed in his refusal to renounce his evil ways. The descriptions and stories of these members of the church all focus around greed. Each of these pilgrims gained in some personal way from their positions in the church. Chaucer did this intentionally to reflect the widespread corruption in the Catholic Church during the 14th