chaucer1
The Medieval Church and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales In discussing Chaucer's collection of stories called The Canterbury Tales, an interesting illustration of the Medieval Christian Church is presented. I think that the Medieval Church was full of corruption, and Chaucer depicts this corruption through The Pardoners Tale. At the same time as the corruption, there can also be an argument for the opposing side stating that the church is not corrupted. This can be shown with the character of the monk from The Monk's Tale. While people demanded more voice in the affairs of government, the church became more corrupt and this corruption also led to a more crooked society. In history then, there is a two way process where the church has an influence on the rest of society and of course, society influences the church. This is naturally because it is the people from a society who make up the church....and those same people became the personalities that created these tales of a pilgrimage to Canterbury. The Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England was to take place in a relatively short period of time, but this was not because of the success of the Augustinian effort. Indeed, the early years of this mission had a discrepancy
The question then becomes, Why would people change from a long-lasting, Old-Testament God to a mother-like goddess? The answer is simply because they thought their new found Goddess would never be as harsh on people as the often criticized male like aspect of God. He embodied what became known as the 'papal monarchy' - a situation where the popes literally were kings in their own world. The two ways of the world were not quite so separate then, and matters of the concealed were not yet labeled as evil. The power of the church is hard to exaggerate: its economic and political influence was huge, as its wealth, movements like the crusades, and even the number of churches that exist from this period truly show its greatness. A twisted and ironic mind has basically defined himself through his work for a similarly corrupt church. Examples of a fascination with magic, worshipping more than one god-like figure, and a continuing love for worshipping goddesses, exist in many texts written in this period. The Plowman has the faith of a poor farmer, uncomplicated by the bureaucracy of the church. which shows in the number of people who hedged their bets by practicing both Christian and Pagan rites at the same time, and in the number of people who directly didn't want to believe at all when a Christian king died. If these new ways bring more certain knowledge, it only seems right to follow it(English Church 127). Leading a life pleasing to God was the uppermost concern. The specific powers or emphasis given to each saint carries on even into today's Catholic tradition. But beneath this "curtain of Christianity" many legends were being formed and passed down, as old pagan traditions became assimilated into a newly Christian society. which lead him to enjoy hunting, fine foods, and owning several horses.
Common topics in this essay:
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