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What did they control? 
 
It is possible that they drove many of the older inhabitants westwards into Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Celts 
began to control all the lowland areas of Britain, and were joined by new arrivals from the European mainland. They 
continued to arrive in one wave after another over the next seven hundred years. 
Why are the Celts important in British history? 
 
The Celts are important in British history because they are the ancestors of many people in Highland Scotland, Wales, 
Ireland, and Cornwall today. The Iberian people of Wales and Cornwall took on the new Celtic culture. Celtic 
languages, which have been continuously used in some areas since that time, are still spoken. The British today are 
often described as Anglo-Saxon. It would be better to call them Anglo-Celt. 
Is our knowledge of the Celts certain? 
 
Our knowledge of the Celts is slight. As with previous groups of settlers, we do not even know for certain whether 
the Celts invaded Britain or came peacefully as a result of the lively trade with Europe from about 750 BC onwards. 
At first most of the Celtic Britain seems to have developed in a generally similar way. But from about 500 BC trade 
contact with Europe declined, and regional differences between northwest and southeast Britain increased. The 
Celts were organized into different tribes, and tribal chiefs were chosen from each family or tribe, sometimes as the 
result of fighting matches between individuals, and sometimes by election. 
 
How did the Celts live? 
The Celtic tribes continued the same kind of agriculture as the Bronze Age people before them. But their use of iron 
technology and their introduction of more advanced ploughing methods made it possible for them to farm heavier 
soils. The Celts were highly successful farmers, growing enough food for a much larger population. 
What is Celtic mythology about? 
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron 
Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. Among Celts in close 
contact with Ancient Rome, such as the Gauls and Celtiberians, their mythology did not survive the Roman empire, 
their subsequent conversion to Christianity, and the loss of their Celtic languages. 
It is mostly through contemporary Roman and Christian sources that their mythology has been preserved. The Celtic 
peoples who maintained either their political or linguistic identities (such as the Gaels, Picts, and Brythonic tribes 
of Great Britain and Ireland) left vestigial remnants of their ancestral mythologies, put into written form during 
the Middle Ages. 
How are some of the gods and goddesses from Irish mythology described? 
 
 
 
 
What about the mythology of Wales? 
Less is known about the pre-Christian mythologies of Britain than those of Ireland. Important reflexes of British 
mythology appear in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, especially in the names of several characters, such 
as Rhiannon, Teyrnon, and Bendigeidfran (‘Bran [Crow] the Blessed’). 
 
Other characters, in all likelihood, derive from mythological sources, and various episodes, such as the appearance 
of Arawn, a king of the Otherworld seeking the aid of a mortal in his own feuds, and the tale of the hero who cannot 
be killed except under seemingly contradictory circunstances, can be traced throughout Indo-European myth and 
legend. The children of Llŷr (‘Sea’ = Irish Lir) in the Second and Third Branches, and the children of Dôn (Danu in Irish 
and earlier Indo-European tradition) in the Fourth Branch are major figures, but the tales themselves are not primary 
mythology. 
While further mythological names and references appear elsewhere in Welsh narrative and tradition, especially in 
the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, where we find, for example, Mabon ap Modron (‘the Divine Son of the Divine 
Mother’), and in the collected Triads of the Island of Britain, not enough is known about British mythological 
background to reconstruct either a narrative of creation or a coherent pantheon of British deities. 
 
Indeed, though there is much in common with Irish myth, there may have been no unified British mythological 
tradition per se. Whatever its ultimate origins, the surviving material has been put to good use in the service of 
literary masterpieces that address the cultural concerns of Wales in the early and later Middle Ages. 
How was the first Roman invasion? 
The first Roman invasion of the lands we now call the British Isles took place in 55 B.C. under war leader Julius 
Caesar, who returned one year later, but these probings did not lead to any significant or permanent occupation. 
 
He had some interesting, if biased comments concerning the natives: "All the Britons," he wrote, "paint themselves 
with woad, which gives their skin a bluish color and makes them look very dreadful in battle." It was not until a 
hundred years later that permanent settlement of the grain-rich eastern territories began in earnest. 
How was the Roman expedition in 43 A.D? 
The Romans invaded England again in 43 AD under Emperor Claudius. The Roman invasion force consisted of about 
20,000 legionaries and about 20,000 auxiliary soldiers from the provinces of the Roman Empire. Aulus Plautius led 
them. 
 
The Romans landed somewhere in Southeast England (the exact location is unknown) and quickly prevailed against 
the Celtic army. The Celts could not match the discipline and training of the Roman army. A battle was fought on the 
River Medway, ending in Celtic defeat and withdrawal. 
 
The Romans chased them over the River Thames into Essex and within months of landing in England the Romans had 
captured the Celtic hill fort on the site of Colchester. 
How was Imperial Rome? 
For Imperial Rome, the island of Britain was a western breadbasket. Caesar had taken armies there to punish those 
who were aiding the Gauls on the Continent in their fight to stay free of Roman influence. 
 
Claudius invaded to give himself prestige, and his subjugation of eleven British tribes gave him a splendid triumph. 
Vespasian was a legion commander in Britain before he became Emperor, but it was Agricola who gave us most 
notice of the heroic struggle of the native Britons through his biographer Tacitus. 
From him, we get the unforgettable picture of the druids, "ranged in order, with their hands uplifted, invoking the 
gods and pouring forth horrible imprecations." Agricola also won the decisive victory of Mons Graupius in present-
day Scotland in 84 A.D. over Calgacus "the swordsman," that carried Roman arms farther west and north than they 
had ever before ventured. 
 
They called their newly-conquered northern territory Caledonia. 
In 367 Scots from Northern Ireland, Picts from Scotland and Saxons joined to raid Roman Britain and loot it. They 
overran Hadrian's Wall and killed the Count of the Saxon shore. However the Romans sent a man named Theodosius 
with reinforcements to restore order. 
In 383 some Roman soldiers were withdrawn from Britain and the raiding grew worse. 
 
The last Roman troops left Britain in 407. In 410 the leaders of the Romano-Celts sent a letter to the Roman Emperor 
Honorius, appealing for help. However he had no troops to spare and he told the Britons they must defend 
themselves. 
Roman Britain split into separate kingdoms but the Romano-Celts continued to fight the Saxon raiders. 
Roman civilization slowly broke down. In the towns people stopped using coins and returned to barter. The 
populations of towns were already falling and this continued. Rich people left to be self-sufficient on their estates. 
Craftsmen went to live in the countryside. More and more space within the walls of towns was giving over to 
growing crops. 
 
Roman towns continued to be inhabited until the mid-5th century. Then most were abandoned.Some may not have 
been deserted completely. A small number may have still had a very small population who lived by farming land 
inside and outside the walls. However town life as such came to an end. 
 
In the 5th century Roman civilization in the countryside faded away. 
What did the Anglo-Saxon invasion help to create a strong English State? 
aula01_t14 
The Children of Lir- A Celtic legend 
The Children of Lir is an Irish legend. The original Irish title is Clann Lir orLeannaí Lir, but Lir is the genitive case of 
Lear. Lir is more often used as the name of the character in English. The legend is part of the Irish Mythological Cycle, 
which consists of numerous prose tales and poems found in medieval manuscripts. 
 
“Out with you upon the wild waves, Children of the King! 
Henceforth your cries shall be with the flocks of birds.” 
Summary 
 
Bodb Derg was elected king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, much to the annoyance of Lir. In order to appease Lir, Bodb 
gave one of his daughters, Aoibh, to him in marriage. Aoibh bore Lir four children: one girl, Fionnuala, and three 
sons, Aodhand twins, Fiachra and Conn. 
 
Aoibh died, and her children missed her terribly. Wanting to keep Lir happy, Bodb sent another of his daughters, 
Aoife, to marry Lir. 
 
Jealous of the children's love for each other and for their father, Aoife plotted to get rid of the children. On a journey 
with the children to Bodb's house, she ordered her servant to kill them, but the servant refused. In anger, she tried 
to kill them herself, but did not have the courage. Instead, she used her magic to turn the children into swans. When 
Bodb heard of this, he transformed Aoife into an air demon for eternity. 
 
As swans, the children had to spend 300 years on Lough Derravaragh (a lake near their father's castle), 300 years in 
the Sea of Moyle, and 300 years on the waters of Irrus Domnann Erris near to Inishglora Island (Inis Gluaire). To end 
the spell, they would have to be blessed by a monk. While the children were swans, Saint 
Patrick converted Ireland to Christianity. 
Endings 
 
After the children, as swans, spent their long periods in each region, they received sanctuary from MacCaomhog (or 
Mochua), a monk in Inis Gluaire. 
 
Each child was tied to the other with iron chains to ensure that they would stay together forever. However Deoch, 
the wife of the King of Leinster and daughter of the King of Munster, wanted the swans for her own, so she ordered 
her husband Lairgean to attack the monastery and seize the swans. In this attack, the silver chains were broken and 
the swans transformed into old, withered people. 
 
Another version of the legend tells that as the king was leaving the sanctuary with the swans, the bell of the church 
tolled, releasing them from the spell. Before they died, each was baptized and then later buried in one grave, 
standing, with Fionnuala, the daughter, in the middle, Fiacre and Conn, the twins, on either side of her, and Aodh in 
front of her. 
 
In an alternate ending, the three suffered on the three lakes for 900 years, and then heard the bell. When they came 
back to the land a priest found them. The swans asked the priest to turn them back into humans, and he did, but 
since they were over 900 years old, they died and lived happily in heaven with their mother and father. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WHAT is the plot of Beowulf? 
LI1 a02_t03 
 WHAT´S Beowulf´s context? 
Though it is often viewed both as the archetypal Anglo-Saxon literary work and as a cornerstone of modern 
literature, Beowulf has a peculiar history that complicates both its historical and its canonical position in English 
literature. By the time the story of Beowulf was composed by an unknown Anglo-Saxon poet around 700 a.d., much 
of its material had been in circulation in oral narrative for many years. 
 
The Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian peoples had invaded the island of Britain and settled there several hundred years 
earlier, bringing with them several closely related Germanic languages that would evolve into Old English. Elements 
of the Beowulf story—including its setting and characters—date back to the period before the migration. 
 
The action of the poem takes place around 500 a.d. Many of the characters in the poem—the Swedish and Danish 
royal family members, for example—correspond to actual historical figures. 
WAS “Beowulf” told by a Christian poet? 
Originally pagan warriors, the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian invaders experienced a large-scale conversion to 
Christianity at the end of the sixth century. Though still an old pagan story, Beowulf thus came to be told by a 
Christian poet. 
 
The Beowulf poet is often at pains to attribute Christian thoughts and motives to his characters, who frequently 
behave in distinctly un-Christian ways. 
The Beowulf that we read today is therefore probably quite unlike the Beowulf with which the first Anglo-Saxon 
audiences were familiar. 
 
The element of religious tension is quite common in Christian Anglo-Saxon writings (The Dream of the Rood, for 
example), but the combination of a pagan story with a Christian narrator is fairly unusual. 
 
The plot of the poem concerns Scandinavian culture, but much of the poem’s narrative intervention reveals that the 
poet’s culture was somewhat different from that of his ancestors, and that of his characters as well. 
WHAT Did Kings Demand From Their Warriors? 
The world that Beowulf depicts and the heroic code of honor that defines much of the story is a relic of pre–Anglo-
Saxon culture. The story is set in Scandinavia, before the migration. 
 
Though it is a traditional story—part of a Germanic oral tradition—the poem as we have it is thought to be the work 
of a single poet. 
 
It was composed in England (not in Scandinavia) and is historical in its perspective, recording the values and culture 
of a bygone era. 
Many of those values, including the heroic code, were still operative to some degree when the poem was written. 
These values had evolved to some extent in the intervening centuries and were continuing to change. In the 
Scandinavian world of the story, tiny tribes of people rally around strong kings, who protect their people from 
danger—especially from confrontations with other tribes. 
 
The warrior culture that results from this early feudal arrangement is extremely important, both to the story and to 
our understanding of Saxon civilization. Strong kings demand bravery and loyalty from their warriors, whom they 
repay with treasures won in war. 
Mead-halls such as Heorot in Beowulf were places where warriors would gather in the presence of their lord to drink, 
boast, tell stories, and receive gifts. 
 
 Although these mead-halls offered sanctuary, the early Middle Ages were a dangerous time, and the paranoid sense 
of foreboding and doom that runs throughout Beowulf evidences the constant fear of invasion that plagued 
Scandinavian society. 
 
WHAT is the importance of “Beowulf” to the English literature? 
Only a single manuscript of Beowulf survived the Anglo-Saxon era. For many centuries, the manuscript was all but 
forgotten, and, in the 1700s, it was nearly destroyed in a fire. It was not until the nineteenth century that widespread 
interest in the document emerged among scholars and translators of Old English. 
 
For the first hundred years of Beowulf’s prominence, interest in the poem was primarily historical—the text was 
viewed as a source of information about the Anglo-Saxon era. 
 
It was not until 1936, when the Oxford scholar J. R. R. Tolkien (who later wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the 
Rings, works heavily influenced by Beowulf) published a groundbreaking paper entitled “Beowulf: The Monsters and 
the Critics” that the manuscript gained recognition as a serious work of art. 
Beowulf is now widely taught and is often presented as the first important work of Englishliterature, creating the 
impression that Beowulf is in some way the source of the English canon. 
 
But because it was not widely read until the 1800s and not widely regarded as an important artwork until the 
1900s,Beowulf has had little direct impact on the development of English poetry. In fact, Chaucer, Shakespeare, 
Marlowe, Pope, Shelley, Keats, and most other important English writers before the 1930s had little or no knowledge 
of the epic. 
 
It was not until the mid-to-late twentieth century that Beowulf began to influence writers, and, since then, it has had 
a marked impact on the work of many important novelists and poets, including W. H. Auden, Geoffrey Hill, Ted 
Hughes, and Seamus Heaney, the 1995 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. 
HOW can we define old English poetry? 
Beowulf is often referred to as the first important work of literature in English, even though it was written in Old 
English, an ancient form of the language that slowly evolved into the English now spoken. Compared to modern 
English, Old English is heavily Germanic, with little influence from Latin or French. 
 
 As English history developed, after the French Normans conquered the Anglo-Saxons in 1066, Old English was 
gradually broadened by offerings from those languages. Thus modern English is derived from a number of sources. 
As a result, its vocabulary is rich with synonyms. 
 
The word kingly, for instance, descends from the Anglo-Saxon word cyning, meaning “king,” while the 
synonym royal comes from a French word and the synonym regal from a Latin word. 
Fortunately, most students encountering Beowulf read it in a form translated into modern English. Still, a familiarity 
with the rudiments of Anglo-Saxon poetry enables a deeper understanding of the Beowulf text. 
 
Old English poetry is highly formal, but its form is quite unlike anything in modern English. Each line of Old English 
poetry is divided into two halves, separated by a caesura, or pause, and is often represented by a gap on the page, as 
the following example demonstrates: 
Setton him to heafdon hilde-randas. . . . 
WHICH rules from the old English can be found in the poem? 
 
In addition to these rules, Old English poetry often features a distinctive set of rhetorical devices. The most common 
of these is the kenning, used throughout Beowulf. 
 
A kenning is a short metaphorical description of a thing used in place of the thing’s name; thus a ship might be called 
a “sea-rider,” or a king a “ring-giver.” Some translations employ kennings almost as frequently as they appear in the 
original. 
 
Others moderate the use of kennings in deference to a modern sensibility. But the Old English version of the epic is 
full of them, and they are perhaps the most important rhetorical device present in Old English poetry. 
IS Beowulf the perfect hero? 
Beowulf exemplifies the traits of the perfect hero. The poem explores his heroism in two separate phases—youth 
and age—and through three separate and increasingly difficult conflicts—with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the 
dragon. 
 
Although we can view these three encounters as expressions of the heroic code, there is perhaps a clearer division 
between Beowulf’s youthful heroism as an unfettered warrior and his mature heroism as a reliable king. 
 
These two phases of his life, separated by fifty years, correspond to two different models of virtue, and much of the 
moral reflection in the story centers on differentiating these two models and on showing how Beowulf makes the 
transition from one to the other. 
Analysis of the lines in which Grendel´s mother come for revenge? 
 
 
Analysis 
The intensity of the epic increases in these lines, as its second part begins with the arrival of Grendel’s mother at the 
hall. The idea of the blood feud, which has been brought up earlier in the scop’s stories and in Hrothgar’s memory of 
the Wulfings’ grudge against Ecgtheow, now enters the main plot. 
 
Just as Grendel’s slaughter of Hrothgar’s men requires avenging, so does Beowulf’s slaying of Grendel. 
 
As Beowulf tells Hrothgar, in a speech with central importance to his conception of the heroic code of honor, “It is 
always better / to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning / . . . / When a warrior is gone, [glory] will be his 
best and only bulwark” (1384–1389). 
In this speech, Beowulf explicitly characterizes revenge as a means to fame and glory, which make reputations 
immortal. As this speech demonstrates, an awareness of death pervades Beowulf. 
 
That some aspect or memory of a person remains is therefore of great importance to the warriors. The world of the 
poem is harsh, dangerous, and unforgiving, and innumerable threats—foreign enemies, monsters, and natural 
perils—loom over every life. 
 
One of the most interesting aspects of Grendel’s mother’s adherence to the same vengeance-demanding code as the 
warriors is that she is depicted as not wholly alien. Her behavior is not only comprehensible but also justified. In 
other ways, however, Grendel and his mother are indeed portrayed as creatures from another world. 
One aspect of their difference from the humans portrayed in the poem is that Grendel’s strong parent figure is 
his mother rather than his father—his family structure that is out of keeping with the vigorously patriarchal society of 
the Danes and the Geats. As Hrothgar explains it, “They are fatherless creatures, / and their whole ancestry is 
hidden” (1355–1356). 
 
The idea of a hidden ancestry is obviously suspect and sinister in this society that places such a high priority—a 
sacredness, even—on publicizing and committing to memory one’s lineage. 
 
Grendel’s relation to Cain has been mentioned at several points in the story and is revisited here. Having Cain for an 
ancestor is obviously a liability from the perspective of a culture obsessed with family loyalty. Grendel’s lineage is 
therefore in many ways an unnatural one, demonic and accursed, since Cain brought murder, specifically murder of 
kin, into the world. 
As discussed earlier, it is possible to interpret Grendel and his mother, considering the unnaturalness of their 
existence, as the manifestation of some sort of psychological tension about the conquering and killing that dominate 
the Danish and the Geatish societies. Certainly, the humans’ feud with the monsters seems to stand outside the 
normal culture of warfare and seems to carry a suggestion of moral and spiritual importance. 
 
The question of Grendel’s lineage is one of many examples of the Beowulfpoet’s struggle to resolve the tension 
between his own Christian worldview and the obviously pagan origins of his narrative. The narrative’s origins lie in a 
pagan past, but by the time the poem was written down (sometime around 700 a.d.), almost all of the Anglo-Saxons 
had been converted to Christianity. 
The Scandinavian settings and characters thus would have been distant ancestral memories for the inhabitants of 
England, as the migrations from Scandinavia and Germany had taken place centuries earlier. Throughout the epic, 
the poet makes references to this point and tries to reconcile the behavior of his characters with a Christian system 
of belief that often seems alien to the action of the poem. Early on, for example, he condemns the Danes’ journeys 
to pagan shrines, where they make offerings, hoping to rid themselves of Grendel. 
 
Additionally, Beowulf’s heroic exploits are constantly framed in terms of God’s role in them, as though Beowulf owes 
all of his abilities to providence—an idea that hardly seems compatible with the earthly boasting and reputation-
building with which he occupies himself throughout the poem. The conflict between the Anglo-Saxon idea of fate 
(wyrd) and the Christian God was probably a widespread moral tension in the poet’s time, and it 
animates Beowulf from beginning to end. 
Analysisof Major Characters 
 
Beowulf 
 
Beowulf exemplifies the traits of the perfect hero. The poem explores his heroism in two separate phases—youth 
and age—and through three separate and increasingly difficult conflicts—with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the 
dragon. Although we can view these three encounters as expressions of the heroic code, there is perhaps a clearer 
division between Beowulf’s youthful heroism as an unfettered warrior and his mature heroism as a reliable king. 
These two phases of his life, separated by fifty years, correspond to two different models of virtue, and much of the 
moral reflection in the story centers on differentiating these two models and on showing how Beowulf makes the 
transition from one to the other. 
 
In his youth, Beowulf is a great warrior, characterized predominantly by his feats of strength and courage, including 
his fabled swimming match against Breca. He also perfectly embodies the manners and values dictated by the 
Germanic heroic code, including loyalty, courtesy, and pride. His defeat of Grendel and Grendel’s mother validates 
his reputation for bravery and establishes him fully as a hero. In first part of the poem, Beowulf matures little, as he 
possesses heroic qualities in abundance from the start. Having purged Denmark of its plagues and established 
himself as a hero, however, he is ready to enter into a new phase of his life. Hrothgar, who becomes a mentor and 
father figure to the young warrior, begins to deliver advice about how to act as a wise ruler. Though Beowulf does 
not become king for many years, his exemplary career as a warrior has served in part to prepare him for his 
ascension to the throne. 
 
The second part of the story, set in Geatland, skips over the middle of Beowulf’s career and focuses on the very end 
of his life. Through a series of retrospectives, however, we recover much of what happens during this gap and 
therefore are able to see how Beowulf comports himself as both a warrior and a king. The period following Hygelac’s 
death is an important transitional moment for Beowulf. Instead of rushing for the throne himself, as Hrothulf does in 
Denmark, he supports Hygelac’s son, the rightful heir. With this gesture of loyalty and respect for the throne, he 
proves himself worthy of kingship. 
 
In the final episode—the encounter with the dragon—the poet reflects further on how the responsibilities of a king, 
who must act for the good of the people and not just for his own glory, differ from those of the heroic warrior. In 
light of these meditations, Beowulf’s moral status becomes somewhat ambiguous at the poem’s end. Though he is 
deservedly celebrated as a great hero and leader, his last courageous fight is also somewhat rash. The poem suggests 
that, by sacrificing himself, Beowulf unnecessarily leaves his people without a king, exposing them to danger from 
other tribes. Understanding Beowulf’s death strictly as a personal failure, however, is to neglect the overwhelming 
emphasis given to fate in this last portion of the poem. The conflict with the dragon has an aura of inevitability about 
it. Rather than a conscious choice, the battle can also be interpreted as a matter in which Beowulf has very little 
choice or free will at all. Additionally, it is hard to blame him for acting according to the dictates of his warrior 
culture. 
Hrothgar 
 
Hrothgar, the aged ruler of the Danes who accepts Beowulf’s help in the first part of the story, aids Beowulf’s 
development into maturity. Hrothgar is a relatively static character, a force of stability in the social realm. Although 
he is as solidly rooted in the heroic code as Beowulf is, his old age and his experience with both good and ill fortune 
have caused him to develop a more reflective attitude toward heroism than Beowulf possesses. He is aware of both 
the privileges and the dangers of power, and he warns his young protégé not to give in to pride and always to 
remember that blessings may turn to grief. 
 
Hrothgar’s meditations on heroism and leadership, which take into account a hero’s entire life span rather than just 
his valiant youth, reveal the contrast between youth and old age that forms the turning point in Beowulf’s own 
development. 
Grendel 
 
Likely the poem’s most memorable creation, Grendel is one of the three monsters that Beowulf battles. His nature is 
ambiguous. Though he has many animal attributes and a grotesque, monstrous appearance, he seems to be guided 
by vaguely human emotions and impulses, and he shows more of an interior life than one might expect. Exiled to the 
swamplands outside the boundaries of human society, Grendel is an outcast who seems to long to be reinstated. The 
poet hints that behind Grendel’s aggression against the Danes lies loneliness and jealousy. 
 
By lineage, Grendel is a member of “Cain’s clan, whom the creator had outlawed / and condemned as outcasts.” 
(106–107). He is thus descended from a figure who epitomizes resentment and malice. While the poet somewhat 
sympathetically suggests that Grendel’s deep bitterness about being excluded from the revelry in the mead-hall 
owes, in part, to his accursed status, he also points out that Grendel is “[m]alignant by nature” and that he has 
“never show[n] remorse” (137). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WHAT is the overview of the general prologue? 
At the Tabard Inn, a tavern in Southwark, near London, the narrator joins a company of twenty-nine pilgrims. The 
pilgrims, like the narrator, are traveling to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The narrator 
gives a descriptive account of twenty-seven of these pilgrims, including a Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Prioress, Monk, 
Friar, Merchant, Clerk, Man of Law, Franklin, Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry-Weaver, Cook, 
Shipman, Physician, Wife, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Manciple, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner, and Host. (He does not 
describe the Second Nun or the Nun’s Priest, although both characters appear later in the book.) 
 
The Host, whose name, we find out in the Prologue to the Cook’s Tale, is Harry Bailey, suggests that the group ride 
together and entertain one another with stories. He decides that each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to 
Canterbury and two on the way back. Whomever he judges to be the best storyteller will receive a meal at Bailey’s 
tavern, courtesy of the other pilgrims. The pilgrims draw lots and determine that the Knight will tell the first tale. 
WHAT is the Knight's Tale about? 
Theseus, duke of Athens, imprisons Arcite and Palamon, two knights from Thebes (another city in ancient Greece). 
From their prison, the knights see and fall in love with Theseus’s sister-in-law, Emelye. Through the intervention of a 
friend, Arcite is freed, but he is banished from Athens. 
 
He returns in disguise and becomes a page in Emelye’s chamber. Palamon escapes from prison, and both meet and 
fight over Emelye. Theseus apprehends them and arranges a tournament between the two knights and their allies, 
with Emelye as the prize. Arcite wins, but he is accidentally thrown from his horse and dies. Palamon then marries 
Emelye. 
WHAT about the Miller's, the Reeve's and the Cook's Prologue and Tale? 
The Host asks the Monk to tell the next tale, but the drunken Miller interrupts and insists that his tale should be the 
next. He tells the story of an impoverished student named Nicholas, who persuades his landlord’s sexy young wife, 
Alisoun, to spend the night with him. He convinces his landlord, a carpenter named John, that the second flood is 
coming, and tricks him into spending the night in a tub hanging from the ceiling of his barn. 
 
Absolon, a young parish clerk who is also in love with Alisoun, appears outside the window of the room where 
Nicholas and Alisoun lie together. When Absolon begs Alisoun for a kiss, she sticks her rear end out thewindow in 
the dark and lets him kiss it. Absolon runs and gets a red-hot poker, returns to the window, and asks for another kiss; 
when Nicholas sticks his bottom out the window and farts, Absolon brands him on the buttocks. Nicholas’s cries for 
water make the carpenter think that the flood has come, so the carpenter cuts the rope connecting his tub to the 
ceiling, falls down, and breaks his arm. 
Because he also does carpentry, the Reeve takes offense at the Miller’s tale of a stupid carpenter, and counters with 
his own tale of a dishonest miller. The Reeve tells the story of two students, John and Alayn, who go to the mill to 
watch the miller grind their corn, so that he won’t have a chance to steal any. 
 
But the miller unties their horse, and while they chase it, he steals some of the flour he has just ground for them. By 
the time the students catch the horse, it is dark, so they spend the night in the miller’s house. That night, Alayn 
seduces the miller’s daughter, and John seduces his wife. When the miller wakes up and finds out what has 
happened, he tries to beat the students. His wife, thinking that her husband is actually one of the students, hits the 
miller over the head with a staff. The students take back their stolen goods and leave. 
The Cook particularly enjoys the Reeve’s Tale, and offers to tell another funny tale. The tale concerns an apprentice 
named Perkyn who drinks and dances so much that he is called “Perkyn Reveler.” Finally, Perkyn’s master decides 
that he would rather his apprentice leave to revel than stay home and corrupt the other servants. 
 
Perkyn arranges to stay with a friend who loves drinking and gambling, and who has a wife who is a prostitute. The 
tale breaks off, unfinished, after fifty-eight lines. 
HOW is the Man of Law's Introduction, Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue? 
The Host reminds his fellow pilgrims to waste no time, because lost time cannot be regained. He asks the Man of Law 
to tell the next tale. The Man of Law agrees, apologizing that he cannot tell any suitable tale that Chaucer has not 
already told—Chaucer may be unskilled as a poet, says the Man of Law, but he has told more stories of lovers than 
Ovid, and he doesn’t print tales of incest as John Gower does (Gower was a contemporary of Chaucer). 
 
In the Prologue to his tale, the Man of Law laments the miseries of poverty. He then remarks how fortunate 
merchants are, and says that his tale is one told to him by a merchant. 
In the tale, the Muslim sultan of Syria converts his entire sultanate (including himself) to Christianity in order to 
persuade the emperor of Rome to give him his daughter, Custance, in marriage. The sultan’s mother and her 
attendants remain secretly faithful to Islam. The mother tells her son she wishes to hold a banquet for him and all 
the Christians. 
 
At the banquet, she massacres her son and all the Christians except for Custance, whom she sets adrift in a 
rudderless ship. After years of floating, Custance runs ashore in Northumberland, where a constable and his wife, 
Hermengyld, offer her shelter. She converts them to Christianity. 
One night, Satan makes a young knight sneak into Hermengyld’s chamber and murder Hermengyld. He places the 
bloody knife next to Custance, who sleeps in the same chamber. When the constable returns home, accompanied by 
Alla, the king of Northumberland, he finds his slain wife. He tells Alla the story of how Custance was found, and Alla 
begins to pity the girl. He decides to look more deeply into the murder. 
 
Just as the knight who murdered Hermengyld is swearing that Custance is the true murderer, he is struck down and 
his eyes burst out of his face, proving his guilt to Alla and the crowd. The knight is executed, Alla and many others 
convert to Christianity, and Custance and Alla marry. 
 
While Alla is away in Scotland, Custance gives birth to a boy named Mauricius. Alla’s mother, Donegild, intercepts a 
letter from Custance to Alla and substitutes a counterfeit one that claims that the child is disfigured and bewitched. 
She then intercepts Alla’s reply, which claims that the child should be kept and loved no matter how malformed. 
Donegild substitutes a letter saying that Custance and her son are banished and should be sent away on the same 
ship on which Custance arrived. Alla returns home, finds out what has happened, and kills Donegild. 
After many adventures at sea, including an attempted rape, Custance ends up back in Rome, where she reunites with 
Alla, who has made a pilgrimage there to atone for killing his mother. She also reunites with her father, the emperor. 
Alla and Custance return to England, but Alla dies after a year, so Custance returns, once more, to Rome. Mauricius 
becomes the next Roman emperor. 
 
Following the Man of Law’s Tale, the Host asks the Parson to tell the next tale, but the Parson reproaches him for 
swearing, and they fall to bickering. 
WHAT about the Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale? 
The Wife of Bath gives a lengthy account of her feelings about marriage. Quoting from the Bible, the Wife argues 
against those who believe it is wrong to marry more than once, and she explains how she dominated and controlled 
each of her five husbands. She married her fifth husband, Jankyn, for love instead of money. 
 
After the Wife has rambled on for a while, the Friar butts in to complain that she is taking too long, and the 
Summoner retorts that friars are like flies, always meddling. The Friar promises to tell a tale about a summoner, and 
the Summoner promises to tell a tale about a friar. The Host cries for everyone to quiet down and allow the Wife to 
commence her tale. 
In her tale, a young knight of King Arthur’s court rapes a maiden; to atone for his crime, Arthur’s queen sends him on 
a quest to discover what women want most. An ugly old woman promises the knight that she will tell him the secret 
if he promises to do whatever she wants for saving his life. He agrees, and she tells him that women want the control 
of their husbands and their own lives. They go together to Arthur’s queen, and the old woman’s answer turns out to 
be correct. 
 
The old woman then tells the knight that he must marry her. When the knight confesses later that he is repulsed by 
her appearance, she gives him a choice: she can either be ugly and faithful, or beautiful and unfaithful. The knight 
tells her to make the choice herself, and she rewards him for giving her control of the marriage by rendering herself 
both beautiful and faithful. 
WHAT about the other stories? 
The Friar’s Prologue and Tale 
 
The Friar speaks approvingly of the Wife of Bath’s Tale, and offers to lighten things up for the company by telling a 
funny story about a lecherous summoner. The Summoner does not object, but he promises to pay the Friar back in 
his own tale. 
 
The Friar tells of an archdeacon who carries out the law without mercy, especially to lechers. The archdeacon has a 
summoner who has a network of spies working for him, to let him know who has been lecherous. The summoner 
extorts money from those he’s sent to summon, charging them more money than he should for penance. He tries to 
serve a summons on a yeoman who is actually a devil in disguise. 
 
After comparing notes on their treachery and extortion, the devil vanishes, but when the summoner tries to 
prosecute an old wealthy widow unfairly, the widow cries out that the summoner should be taken to hell. The devil 
follows the woman’s instructions and drags the summoner off to hell. 
The Summoner’s Prologue and Tale 
 
The Summoner, furious at the Friar’s Tale, asks the company to let him tell the next tale. First, he tells the company 
that there is little difference between friars and fiends, and that when an angel took a friar down to hell to show him 
the torments there, the friar asked why there were no friars in hell; the angel then pulled up Satan’stail and 20,000 
friars came out of his ass. 
 
In the Summoner’s Tale, a friar begs for money from a dying man named Thomas and his wife, who have recently 
lost their child. The friar shamelessly exploits the couple’s misfortunes to extract money from them, so Thomas tells 
the friar that he is sitting on something that he will bequeath to the friars. The friar reaches for his bequest, and 
Thomas lets out an enormous fart. The friar complains to the lord of the manor, whose squire promises to divide the 
fart evenly among all the friars. 
The Clerk’s Prologue and Tale 
 
The Host asks the Clerk to cheer up and tell a merry tale, and the Clerk agrees to tell a tale by the Italian poet 
Petrarch. Griselde is a hardworking peasant who marries into the aristocracy. Her husband tests her fortitude in 
several ways, including pretending to kill her children and divorcing her. 
 
He punishes her one final time by forcing her to prepare for his wedding to a new wife. She does all this dutifully, her 
husband tells her that she has always been and will always be his wife (the divorce was a fraud), and they live happily 
ever after. 
The Merchant’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue 
 
The Merchant reflects on the great difference between the patient Griselde of the Clerk’s Tale and the horrible 
shrew he has been married to for the past two months. The Host asks him to tell a story of the evils of marriage, and 
he complies. Against the advice of his friends, an old knight named January marries May, a beautiful young woman. 
She is less than impressed by his enthusiastic sexual efforts, and conspires to cheat on him with his squire, Damien. 
 
When blind January takes May into his garden to copulate with her, she tells him she wants to eat a pear, and he 
helps her up into the pear tree, where she has sex with Damien. Pluto, the king of the faeries, restores January’s 
sight, but May, caught in the act, assures him that he must still be blind. The Host prays to God to keep him from 
marrying a wife like the one the Merchant describes. 
The Squire’s Introduction and Tale 
 
The Host calls upon the Squire to say something about his favorite subject, love, and the Squire willingly complies. 
King Cambyuskan of the Mongol Empire is visited on his birthday by a knight bearing gifts from the king of Arabia and 
India. He gives Cambyuskan and his daughter Canacee a magic brass horse, a magic mirror, a magic ring that gives 
Canacee the ability to understand the language of birds, and a sword with the power to cure any wound it creates. 
 
She rescues a dying female falcon that narrates how her consort abandoned her for the love of another. The Squire’s 
Tale is either unfinished by Chaucer or is meant to be interrupted by the Franklin, who interjects that he wishes his 
own son were as eloquent as the Squire. The Host expresses annoyance at the Franklin’s interruption, and orders 
him to begin the next tale. 
The Franklin’s Prologue and Tale 
 
The Franklin says that his tale is a familiar Breton lay, a folk ballad of ancient Brittany. Dorigen, the heroine, awaits 
the return of her husband, Arveragus, who has gone to England to win honor in feats of arms. She worries that the 
ship bringing her husband home will wreck itself on the coastal rocks, and she promises Aurelius, a young man who 
falls in love with her, that she will give her body to him if he clears the rocks from the coast. 
 
Aurelius hires a student learned in magic to create the illusion that the rocks have disappeared. Arveragus returns 
home and tells his wife that she must keep her promise to Aurelius. Aurelius is so impressed by Arveragus’s 
honorable act that he generously absolves her of the promise, and the magician, in turn, generously absolves 
Aurelius of the money he owes. 
The Physician’s Tale 
 
Appius the judge lusts after Virginia, the beautiful daughter of Virginius. Appius persuades a churl named Claudius to 
declare her his slave, stolen from him by Virginius. Appius declares that Virginius must hand over his daughter to 
Claudius. Virginius tells his daughter that she must die rather than suffer dishonor, and she virtuously consents to her 
father’s cutting her head off. 
 
Appius sentences Virginius to death, but the Roman people, aware of Appius’s hijinks, throw him into prison, where 
he kills himself. 
The Monk’s Prologue and Tale 
 
The Host wishes that his own wife were as patient as Melibee’s, and calls upon the Monk to tell the next tale. First he 
teases the Monk, pointing out that the Monk is clearly no poor cloisterer. The Monk takes it all in stride and tells a 
series of tragic falls, in which noble figures are brought low: Lucifer, Adam, Sampson, Hercules, Nebuchadnezzar, 
Belshazzar, Zenobia, Pedro of Castile, and down through the ages. 
The Pardoner’s Introduction, Prologue, and Tale 
 
The Host is dismayed by the tragic injustice of the Physician’s Tale, and asks the Pardoner to tell something merry. 
The other pilgrims contradict the Host, demanding a moral tale, which the Pardoner agrees to tell after he eats and 
drinks. The Pardoner tells the company how he cheats people out of their money by preaching that money is the 
root of all evil. His tale describes three riotous youths who go looking for Death, thinking that they can kill him. 
An old man tells them that they will find Death under a tree. Instead, they find eight bushels of gold, which they plot 
to sneak into town under cover of darkness. The youngest goes into town to fetch food and drink, but brings back 
poison, hoping to have the gold all to himself. His companions kill him to enrich their own shares, then drink the 
poison and die under the tree. His tale complete, the Pardoner offers to sell the pilgrims pardons, and singles out the 
Host to come kiss his relics. The Host infuriates the Pardoner by accusing him of fraud, but the Knight persuades both 
to kiss and bury their differences. 
The Shipman’s Tale 
 
The Shipman’s Tale features a monk who tricks a merchant’s wife into having sex with him by borrowing money from 
the merchant, then giving it to the wife so she can repay her own debt to her husband, in exchange for sexual favors. 
When the monk sees the merchant next, he tells him that he returned the merchant’s money to his wife. 
 
The wife realizes she has been duped, but she boldly tells her husband to forgive her debt: she will repay it in bed. 
The Host praises the Shipman’s story, and asks the Prioress for a tale. 
The Prioress’s Prologue and Tale 
 
The Prioress calls on the Virgin Mary to guide her tale. In an Asian city, a Christian school is located at the edge of a 
Jewish ghetto. An angelic seven-year-old boy, a widow’s son, attends the school. He is a devout Christian, and loves 
to sing Alma Redemptoris (Gracious Mother of the Redeemer). Singing the song on his way through the ghetto, some 
Jews hire a murderer to slit his throat and throw him into a latrine. The Jews refuse to tell the widow where her son 
is, but he miraculously begins to sing Alma Redemptoris, so the Christian people recover his body, and the magistrate 
orders the murdering Jews to be drawn apart by wild horses and then hanged. 
The Prologue and Tale of Sir Thopas 
 
The Host, after teasing Chaucer the narrator about his appearance, asks him to tell a tale. Chaucer says that he only 
knows one tale, then launches into a parody of bad poetry — the Tale of Sir Thopas. Sir Thopas rides about looking 
for an elf-queen to marry until he is confronted by a giant. 
 
The narrator’s doggerel continues in this vein until the Host can bear no more and interrupts him. Chaucer asks him 
why he can’t tell his tale, since it is the best he knows, and the Host explains that his rhyme isn’t worth a turd. He 
encourages Chaucer to tell a prose tale. 
The Tale of Melibee 
 
Chaucer’s second tale is the long, moral prose story of Melibee. Melibee’s house israided by his foes, who beat his 
wife, Prudence, and severely wound his daughter, Sophie, in her feet, hands, ears, nose, and mouth. 
 
Prudence advises him not to rashly pursue vengeance on his enemies, and he follows her advice, putting his foes’ 
punishment in her hands. She forgives them for the outrages done to her, in a model of Christian forbearance and 
forgiveness. 
The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue 
 
After seventeen noble “falls” narrated by the Monk, the Knight interrupts, and the Host calls upon the Nun’s Priest to 
deliver something more lively. The Nun’s Priest tells of Chanticleer the Rooster, who is carried off by a flattering fox 
who tricks him into closing his eyes and displaying his crowing abilities. 
 
Chanticleer turns the tables on the fox by persuading him to open his mouth and brag to the barnyard about his feat, 
upon which Chanticleer falls out of the fox’s mouth and escapes. The Host praises the Nun’s Priest’s Tale, adding that 
if the Nun’s Priest were not in holy orders, he would be as sexually potent as Chanticleer. 
The Second Nun’s Prologue and Tale 
 
In her Prologue, the Second Nun explains that she will tell a saint’s life, that of Saint Cecilia, for this saint set an 
excellent example through her good works and wise teachings. She focuses particularly on the story of Saint Cecilia’s 
martyrdom. Before Cecilia’s new husband, Valerian, can take her virginity, she sends him on a pilgrimage to Pope 
Urban, who converts him to Christianity. An angel visits Valerian, who asks that his brother Tiburce be granted the 
grace of Christian conversion as well. All three—Cecilia, Tiburce, and Valerian—are put to death by the Romans. 
IN what context was 
“The Canterbury Tales” written? 
a03_t09 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What Can We Say about Malory? 
Although Malory's exact date of birth is unknown (probably around the year 1410), he succeeded to his father's 
estates in 1434. He served at the siege of Calais in the retinue of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in 1436, and 
he was elected as knight of the shire for Warwickshire in 1445. Most of the other records show that he was 
frequently in conflict with the law, spending much of his last 20 years in and out of prison. In 1443 he and another 
man were charged with assault and robbery. 
 
Over the years he was accused of many offenses, including rape, armed assault, conspiracy to commit murder, horse 
stealing, and extortion. On at least two occasions he dramatically escaped from prison, and he was excluded from 
two general pardons in 1468. He was committed to Newgate Prison in 1460, but he was apparently freed to fight 
with the forces of the Earl of Warwick in Northumberland in 1462. Although he had pleaded not guilty to all charges, 
he probably was in prison at the time of his death on March 14, 1471. 
However, a recent study by William Matthews presents a rather convincing argument for yet another candidate, 
about whose life unfortunately very little is known, one Thomas Malory of Studley and Hutton, Yorkshire. 
Emphasizing a linguistic approach, Matthews analyzes the backgrounds and careers of four possible candidates, 
stating that the criteria by which they must be judged are certain facts concerning Le Morte Darthur. 
 
These facts are that the work was written by one Sir Thomas Malory and completed by 1470; that it exemplifies the 
religious and secular aspects of medieval chivalry; that its major source is a French book of several prose romances; 
that it draws heavily from Yorkshire and other northern romances; that its language is mainly standard English with 
frequent scattering of northern dialect words and forms; that the author was familiar with places, institutions, and 
legends of northern England; that he was a knight-prisoner while he wrote the book; and that he seems to have had 
Lancastrian sympathies. 
Matthews responds to the possible weaknesses in the case of the Yorkshire Malory (he is not actually described as a 
knight, and there is no record of his having been a prisoner) by pointing out that, although this Malory's family was 
an eminent one, in the 15th century titles were used rather loosely and often not used even when appropriate, and 
that it was not the custom in the 15th century to keep records of prisoners of war, as Malory may have been as a 
result of an ill-fated expedition to France in 1469. 
 
Matthews concludes that since the author of Le Morte d’Arthur "was so remarkably familiar with northern dialect, 
northern literature, and northern affairs… he must have been a northerner himsel… probably a Yorkshireman [and 
that] Thomas Malory of Studley and Hutton is the only Yorkshireman of appropriate name and age who has been 
found in documents at the appropriate time." 
In any case, Malory related in vigorous prose the familiar stories of the Arthurian legend. The work was first 
published in 1485 by William Caxton. In this edition it is divided into books and chapters, thus making it appear to 
have continuity, while the version in the Winchester manuscript (see the bibliography below) is divided into a series 
of individually entitled tales, indicating to some scholars a lack of artistic unity. The sources for Malory's work are 
mainly 13th-century French prose romances, with the exception of book V, which is a prose adaptation of the 
alliterative Morte Arthur, a 14th-century English poem. 
 
 
 
 
What is Le Morte d'Arthur’s Summary? 
What is the Power of the Myth? 
 
Le Morte d'Arthur, completed in 1469 or 1470 and printed by Caxton in abridged form in 1485, is the first major work 
of prose fiction in English and remains today one of the greatest. It is the carefully constructed myth of the rise and 
fall of a powerful kingdom — a legendary kingdom, but perhaps also, obliquely, the real English kingdom which in 
Malory's day seemed as surely doomed by its own corruption as the ancient realm of King Arthur. Malory's myth 
explores the forces which bring kingdoms into being and the forces, internal and external, which destroy them. The 
power of the myth goes beyond whatever political implications it had in its day-set tip in, for instance, the parallels 
Malory introduced between Arthur's reign and the reign of Henry V . Malory's grim vision has relevance for any 
kingdom or civilization: the very forces which make civilization necessary must, in the end, if Malory is right, bring it 
to ruin. 
What is the Influence of the Celtic Tales? 
 
What holds the myth together is not only its undeviating philosophy of doom. In Le Morte d'Arthur, Malory created, 
or gave new personality to, some of the most striking characters to be found in all English literature: King Arthur 
himself, the tragic hero; Launcelot, the noblest knight in the world, torn by a conflict of loyalties which must result in 
his destruction of all he loves best; Sir Gawain, vengeful and treacherous but steadfast in loyalty to his king; Queen 
Guinevere, emblem of courtly courtesy, generous but also fierce in jealousy; and many more. Another force binding 
the legend together is Malory's fascination with deadly paradox — events which simultaneously support and 
undermine the kingdom. 
 
For instance, the murder of all children born on May Day, which Merlin arranges to help Arthur escape his 
predestined death at Mordred's hands, fails to kill Mordred but turns many powerful lords against Arthur — above 
all, King Lot and a part of his house, doomed themselves but established from the outset as the focus and central 
cause of Arthur's doom. The legend is also held together by atmosphere. Arthur's realm draws together the ancient 
days of Celtic magic and irrationality, the by- 
-gone age of Christian miracles, and the fifteenth-century England Malory's readers knew — an England which, 
Malory suggests, is not as rational or divinely protected as it foolishlyimagines. 
Is Malory´s Vision wholly Black? 
 
Not that Malory's vision is wholly black. His legend has moments of great tenderness as well as comedy, and his 
characters' values are real and noble values; but they are values which mutually conflict and must in the end prove 
destructive. When the world collapses under Malory's heroes, they are robbed even the "existential" satisfaction of 
such characters as Gide's Theseus, who says at the end of it all, "I have lived!" For Malory there is knowledge, but no 
satisfaction. 
 
Then sir Bedwere cryed and said, 
 
"A, my lorde Arthur, what shall becom of me, now ye go frome me and leve me here alone amonge myne enemyes?" 
"Comforte thyselff," seyde the kynge, "and do as well as thou mayste, for in me ys no truste for to truste in.” 
Character List 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Tale of King Arthur: Merlin. Click the PDF icon. 
a04_t07 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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