Geoffrey Chaucer, The Nun's Priest's Tale

Helen Cooper (University of Cambridge)

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

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The

Nuns’s Priest’s Tale

is the concluding tale of the largest fragment in the

Canterbury Tales

, fragment VII (2821-3446; B2 4011-4636 in the old “Chaucer Society” numbering still found, with no manuscript authority, in some editions). The “fragments” of the

Tales

are made up of stories connected by linking passages that can be firmly ascribed to Chaucer; later scribes or editors sometimes furnished further linking passages of their own, so making non-authentic further connections between tales. The links are normally given editorial headings as prologues to the next tale though they may well serve more as epilogues to the previous story. The

Nun’s Priest’s Tale

is unusual in that its prologue – in this case, more of an epilogue to the previous tale, the Monk’s –…

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2035 words

Citation: Cooper, Helen. "The Nun's Priest's Tale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 October 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19960, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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