The increase in wealth by some prosperous members of the common professions is evident in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Chaucer (1343-1400) himself was the product of the breakdown of the estates. Although he was born a member of the third estate, the son of a wine merchant, Chaucer was able to obtain a thorough education and rise to hold high positions in the government such as Clerk of the King's Work and Member of Parliament for Kent (229).
In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer depicts an inn full of pilgrims telling their stories. Many of the twenty-nine pilgrims are drawn from the successful professional classes of the third estate, but there are members of the first and second estates as well. Included in the medley of pilgrims are: the Knight, the Miller, the Monk, …show more content…
But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet had he but litel gold… (241). The Clerk, who was privileged to be literate in a time when few could write their name, is described as being poor despite the status of his education. One might assume his specialized skill would guarantee him well paid employment, but instead it is evident that even uneducated commoners such as the Miller and Yeoman are better off. Again one can see that the social order of the past has been disorganized by the rise of labor prices.
Another character drawn from the burgeoning prosperous tier of the third estate is the wife of bath, a seamstress. The wealth of the Wife of Bath is evident in Chaucer's description of her apparel. “Hir coverchiefs ful fyne were of (texture) - I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound- That on a Sonday weren upon hir heed. Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed” (244). The extravagance of clothing depicted here by Chaucer clearly exemplifies the economic mobility available to successful business woman such as the wife of
In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer depicts an inn full of pilgrims telling their stories. Many of the twenty-nine pilgrims are drawn from the successful professional classes of the third estate, but there are members of the first and second estates as well. Included in the medley of pilgrims are: the Knight, the Miller, the Monk, …show more content…
But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet had he but litel gold… (241). The Clerk, who was privileged to be literate in a time when few could write their name, is described as being poor despite the status of his education. One might assume his specialized skill would guarantee him well paid employment, but instead it is evident that even uneducated commoners such as the Miller and Yeoman are better off. Again one can see that the social order of the past has been disorganized by the rise of labor prices.
Another character drawn from the burgeoning prosperous tier of the third estate is the wife of bath, a seamstress. The wealth of the Wife of Bath is evident in Chaucer's description of her apparel. “Hir coverchiefs ful fyne were of (texture) - I dorste swere they weyeden ten pound- That on a Sonday weren upon hir heed. Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed” (244). The extravagance of clothing depicted here by Chaucer clearly exemplifies the economic mobility available to successful business woman such as the wife of