ENGL 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Icicle, English Civil War, Geoffrey Chaucer
Document Summary
The pardoner: (footnotes on summoner and pardoner that give job descriptions!) He pardons, just like the friar who pardons if he receives a good bribe. The very profession to sells pardons is awful; writs authorized by the church for a charitable cost -- however chaucer"s pardoner seems to not follow that. Indulgences were often abused; this profession thus highly criticized. He seems like all the clerical pilgrims described -- aside from parson. Sold pig bones and passed them off as saint"s bones. E. g. he sold to parsons in the countryside (na ve/gullible) Relics were said to have miraculous healing powers -- during the time the plague was happening/black death. Pardoners themselves, even if what they were doing was well, was called into question. Abuse of how they were living in case of friar and monk for example; but still, even if the pardoner lived as he were to, it was still questionable and frowned upon.
