Check out these links, where you can see short film clips, as well as read about life during Chaucer's time (approx. 1340-1400) and the Middle Ages (approx. 476-1492).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/history/middle_ages/everyday_life_middle_ages/revision/4/
https://creativeenglishteacher.com/pages/everyday-life-middle-ages
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Canterbury-Tales
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/in-pictures-medieval-life/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Geoffrey-Chaucer
http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl430/estates.html
Order of Pilgrim Portraits in The Canterbury Tales
The Nobility
Knight, Squire (a young nobleman who is an attendant to a Knight before he becomes a knight), Yeoman (a servant in a royal or noble household)
The Clergy
Prioress (a woman who is the head of an order of nuns), Nun and 3 Priests, Monk, Friar (both the monk and the friar are members of a religious order)
The Professions of City and Town
Merchant, Clerk (a man of book learning, a scholar), Franklin (a landowner of free but not noble birth), Haberdasher (a dealer in goods for dressmaking or sewing), Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Rug Weaver, Cook, Shipman, Doctor
The Widow
Wife of Bath
Spiritual Brothers
Parson (a pastor of a parish), Plowman (a farm laborer who plows)
Agricultural People
Miller (a person who grinds grain to make flour), Manciple (an officer who buys provisions/food for a college, a monastery, or other institution), Reeve (a manager of someone's farm or estate)
The Unsightly or the Unnatural
Summoner (an individual who summons a person to appear in court), Pardoner (a preacher who offers pardons or indulgences; an indulgence is a grant for a remission of sins to avoid time in purgatory)
Other Characters
Narrator, Host
Chaucer's Writing Qualities in The Canterbury Tales
- ironic
- satirical
- hyperbolic
- comic
- ambiguous
How Society Was Organized in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, society was traditionally divided into three estates (social classes). The First Estate was the church (clergy--those who prayed). The Second Estate was the Nobility (aristocrats/the rich and privileged and those who fought--knights). The Third Estate was the peasantry (those who produced the food which supported those who prayed and those who fought, the First and Second Estates). It was common for the upper class/Nobility to enter the Church in order to move from the Second to the First Estate. The Third Estate was comprised of approximately 98 percent of the nation.