Context: Era

Era: The Middle Ages, or Medieval Era

Era: The Middle Ages, or Medieval Era

The Middle Ages, also known as the Medieval Era, describes the period in European history from 400s through the 1400s. In this time many Europeans converted to Christianity because the Christian Church had become the official church of the Roman Empire. Two church institutions (cathedral and monastery) became centers of learning in the early Middle Ages. Cathedrals, like the Canterbury Cathedral, were the churches of bishops. Monasteries were communities of men and women who gave up all their worldly possessions to serve God through prayer and work.

Church

The church was very powerful during the Middle Ages, it served many purposes:

Baptismal

Marriage

Burial

People

• Lords owned most of the land, and they were known to fight as warriors.
• Knights worked for the lords, and they wore heavy armor, rode on war horses and fought with swards or wooden lances. The fighting among men can be defined as "chivalrous" behavior: "Chivalry required that a man earn knighthood through long and difficult training. A knight would be courageous in battle, fight according to rules, keep his promise, and defend the church. Chivalry also included rules for gentlemanly conduct toward women" (Middle, p. 526).
• Women were trained to be domestic, to sew, spin, and weave and could never enter knighthood or battle. Women could not even choose her own marriage partner; it would be determined by a male in her family.
• Peasants were at the mercy of their lords, but they worked the land to farm the fields for their lord, but they had to pay taxes and rent.

Monks and clergy
They helped continue the reading and writing of Latin, preserved ancient manuscripts and dedicated their life to the church.

Literary Technique

The manuscript was written in a time where religious beliefs, monks, knightly gentleman and fair maidens were prominent. Therefore, the manuscript, which is written as a satire, is Chaucer's tool to make fun of his own era. Why would Chaucer spoof his own era? In a way, he is pointing out that there are many contradictions in the religious behavior of monks, friars, nuns, squires, knights and more. People are not always what they appear to be, regardless of what they say, or how they dress. Chaucer transforms the concept of knighthood in "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and makes the knight a villain. Instead of a knight rescuing a maiden, he rapes her. This tale is told by the wife of bath, which is her own interpretation of how men can appear to be gentlemen, but they can also be a villain. The wife's tale is told from the perspective of a woman who has married several different men, because she became a widow many times. Chaucer seems to play with different concepts of behavior, including marriage rules of his era. Women during the Middle Ages had few rights, and what happened to women when they were widowed would be determined by men. It was not proper for women to marry repeatedly. So, the idea that Chaucer's manuscript allows a woman to marry several times, is playing with the themes of his era. In addition, Chaucer is also freeing women from their roles as domestic women--if a woman has her own money, then she does not have to obey. The definition of satire is to use irony, sarcasm, ridicule to expose or denounce someone or something (Wiki).  Chaucer scrutinizes his own society (The Middle Ages) through this literary technique.