Geoffrey Chaucer, The Friar's Tale

Daniel Kline (University of Alaska, Anchorage)

Ed. by , David Fuller, University of Durham
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sean Seeger (University of Essex), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1387

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)
Story

Resources

The Friar’s Tale (FrT) is the second of three tales in Fragment III (Group D) of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, immediately following the Wife of Bath’s Prologue (WBP) and Tale (WBT) and preceding the Summoner’s Tale (SumT). Chaucer probably wrote the FrT and SumT as a pair for this specific context, putting the date of composition at c.1392-95. As the second tale of Fragment III, the FrT serves as a pivot between the WBT and SumT while extending issues of power, textuality, and the gendered body introduced by the Wife and complicated by the Summoner. Yet like the First Fragment (GenProl, KnT, MT, RT, and CT), where the Miller ‘quits’ the Knight and insults the Reeve, and the Reeve in return overmatches the Miller, so too the Friar piques the pilgrim Summoner with his tale, and...

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2986 words

Citation: Kline, Daniel. "The Friar's Tale". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19966, accessed 14 December 2025.]

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Friar's Tale

Dates

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Genres and Modes

Resources

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