John Lydgate and pilgrims on the road to Canterbury, from The Prologue to John Lydgate, Siege of Thebes

London, British Library, Royal 18 D II f.148r, 1525X1530.

This image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pilgrims_from_Canterbury.jpg

The Knight and the Franklin, the Pardoner and the Summoner, the Miller and the Wife of Bath ... who can forget these characters? Their real-life counterparts all had their role within society, and Chaucer cast a satirical eye upon each of them, thereby giving us a rich (and indeed rumbunctious!) window into the society of fourteenth-century England. 

Inspired by his cast of story-telling characters and the characters which populate their tales, we shall explore late medieval England. The pilgrims offer us an entry-point into various aspect of daily life – secular and ecclesiastical, rural and urban, sacred and profane. This was a time in which the great monasteries were still at their height; town and city life was flourishing; and a vibrant corpus of English literature was coming into being. 

Join us for a rich tapestry of mendicant monastics, corrupt clerics, randy millers, and at least one “perfect gentle knight”.

RJW F2629 Online course (via Zoom)

10 weeks, Tuesday 22 September - Tuesday 1 December (incl., with a half-term break on 27 October).

£120 (individual registration); £216 (for two people sharing one screen).