The Canterbury Tales: The General Prologue

.:.Prompt.:.Medieval Estates and Orders (Course Pack); Aelfric (Course Pack)
“Imperatrix Mundi” from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (Course Pack)
Introduction to Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400) and his work (Portable Chaucer pp 1-49)
[Medieval narrative poetry]: The Canterbury Tales, “The General Prologue” (Portable Chaucer pp 51-75).
BLOG: According to Aelfric, what are the three medieval Estates? What does Chaucer say about the “estate” of the characters in the General Prologue? In the GP, Chaucer presents the “frame tale” that holds his collection of stories together. Summarize the frame tale. This is often called “Estates Satire.” Why so?   Include images of Canterbury Cathedral.

.:.Blog.:.

          According to Aelfric the three medieval estates are as followed: "the clergy see to it that the souls of all may be saved; the laborers see to it that the bodies of all may be fed and clothed; the knights see to it that the other two estates may carry out their functions in peace and with justice". In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer, describes the three estates as military, clergy, and laity. There is also a frame tale within the Canterbury Tales, that is about a religious pilgrimage to the shrine in Canterbury. Chaucer is in the Tabard Inn in  Southwark, England where he meets a group of middle class people from all over the country who are on their way to Canterbury to see the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. In this tale, Chaucer describes each person he is traveling with, telling about their condition, array, and degree. This is also considered an Estates Satire because the tale discusses the three different medieval social classes and how disarrayed they are.