Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1340–1400), The Canterbury Tales England, ca. 1440–1450 MS 1084/2

Written between 1387 and 1400 by Geoffrey Chaucer, an English royal court poet, The Canterbury Tales legitimized the literary use of Middle English, since most texts at the time were written in Latin. Chaucer is considered the father of English literature. The Canterbury Tales describes the journeys of a group of pilgrims from all levels of medieval society who are traveling to St. Thomas Becket’s shrine in Canterbury. Although there are 24 tales in total, Chaucer never completed The Canterbury Tales and never noted an overall order for the tales. The page displayed here is one of just eleven leaves in the collection of the Rosenbach, which are almost all that remain of the Oxford manuscript. The tales that remain are the Cook’s Tale, the Reeve’s Tale, and the Man of Law’s Tale.