Geoffrey Chaucer, The Friar's Tale

Daniel Kline (University of Alaska, Anchorage)

Ed. by , David Fuller, University of Durham
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1387

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)
Story

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

The

Friar’s Tale

(

FrT

) is the second of three tales in Fragment III (Group D) of Chaucer’s

Canterbury Tales

, immediately following the

Wife of Bath’s Prologue

(

WBP

) and

Tale

(

WBT

) and preceding the

Summoner’s Tale

(

SumT

). Chaucer probably wrote the

FrT

and

SumT

as a pair for this specific context, putting the date of composition at c.1392-95. As the second tale of Fragment III, the FrT serves as a pivot between the

WBT

and

SumT

while extending issues of power, textuality, and the gendered body introduced by the Wife and complicated by the Summoner. Yet like the First Fragment (

GenProl

KnT

, and

), where the Miller ‘quits’ the Knight and insults the Reeve, and the Reeve in return overmatches the Miller, so too the Friar piques the pilgrim Summoner with his tale, and…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2986 words

Citation: Kline, Daniel. "The Friar's Tale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19966, accessed 11 May 2024.]

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Friar's Tale

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback