The Prioress, called 'Madame Eglantine' (or Mrs. The narrator then moves on to the clergy. He carries arrows made of peacock feathers, a bracer (an arm guard), a sword, a buckler, and a dagger as sharp as a spear.

The Yeoman (a freeborn servant) also travels with the Knight, clad in a coat and a hood of green. He constantly sings or plays the flute and is the only pilgrim, other than Chaucer himself, who explicitly has literary ambitions. At twenty years old, the Squire is a lover and a lusty bachelor, wearing clothes embroidered with red and white flowers. The Knight’s son, the Squire, accompanies him. The Knight’s 'Fustian' tunic, made of coarse cloth, has rust stains from his coat of chainmail. The Knight is a chivalrous nobleman who has fought in the Crusades in numerous countries in defense of Christendom he is honored for his worthiness and courtesy. The narrator then introduces the pilgrims, starting with the Knight who has the highest status and drew the shortest lot for the right to tell the first tale. The host will accompany them so he can judge the best story and the other pilgrims will pay for the winner’s supper upon their return. The inn’s owner and host, Harry Bailly, sets up a challenge: each pilgrim should tell four tales on their journey-two on the way to the shrine of martyr Saint Thomas à Becket at Canterbury Cathedral, and two on their way back to London. The Canterbury Tales begins with the famous words, 'When April comes with his sweet, fragrant showers, which pierce the dry ground of March, and bathe every root of every plant in sweet liquid.Then people desire to go on pilgrimages.' The narrator, who is meant to be a version of Chaucer himself, is staying at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, just outside the gates of London, when the company of twenty-nine pilgrims descend.

Chaucer unveils the vast spectacle of human failings by exposing the pilgrims’ preoccupation with worldly endeavors while on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. He critiques members of the nobility, clergy, and peasantry, who were often in conflict with each other, and uses satire to call attention to the pilgrims’ hypocrisy. Chaucer’s work addresses gender relations, religion, and sexual immorality within English society. The poem is a collection of 24 stories built around a frame narrative about a group of pilgrims making their journey to Canterbury. Chaucer was one of the first English poets to write in the vernacular of Middle English, popularizing the language of his day. The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, was written in the late 1300s, soon after the bubonic plague killed millions of people in England and throughout Europe.

The prologue from the canterbury tales