Studies in the Age of Chaucer

Chaucer's Parson and Other Priests Robert N. Swanson University ofBirmingham COMPARED TO the Wifr ofBath, the Monk, the foa,, or many of the other characters depicted on their pilgrimage to Canterbury, the Parson in The Canterbury Tales is a somewhat shadowy figure. Chaucer gives few clues about him: there is no physical description, little to give an insight into his character. He is said to be southerner, whose literary tastes do not extend to the Alliterative Revival (ParsP 42-43), but he is very difficult to place. 1 It is virtually impossible to bring him to mind as a person­ although he comes across as a "good priest," any attempt to conjure up a physical presence falls completely flat. Quite possibly because he lacks a physical presence, the Parson is not someone who immediately attracts attention. We can read the description ofhim in The GeneralPrologue (lines 477-528), decide that he is a decent enough fellow, and then largely forget about him until his altercation with HarryBailly in the Epilogue to The Man ofLaw's Tale, where the suggestion that the Parson's contribution should follow is rudely thrust aside by the Shipman (MLE 1166-90). Thereafter the Parson retires to oblivion until the end ofthe collection and the offering ofhis own Prologue and Tale. For most readers the appearances in The General Prologue, The Man ofLaw's Epilogue, and The Parson's Prologue are probably the limit ofthe acquain­ tance, given that the full Parson's Tale is (perhaps rightly)omitted from the translation most generally accessible in Britain. 2 The Parson's Tale, a prolix call to repentance with a punctilious cata1 Quotations from CTare taken from Larry D. Benson, gen. ed., The Riverside Chaucer, 3d ed. (Boston: Houghton Miffiin, 1987; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). For the abstractions of the Parson's portrait, see Traugott Lawler, The One and the Many: The Canterbury Tales(Hamden, Conn.: Archon, 1980), pp. 56-57. For the characterization ofthe Parson, see also Eamon Grennan, "Dual Characterization: A Note on Chaucer's Use of'But' in the Portrait ofthe Parson," ChauR 16 (1981-82): 195-200. 2 Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, trans. Nevill Coghill (Harmondsworth: Pen­ guin, 1951). ParsTis merely summarized on two pages (pp. 511-12). 41 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER loguing of the various forms of sin and their dangers, seems to the modem mind exceedingly tedious (it may have seemed so to the pilgrims as well). Literary scholarsseem to find it perplexing and appear unsure how seriously it should be taken, or precisely how to classify it, or even whether to accept Chaucer as its author.3 Although it is often referred to as a sermon, whether that label is applicable in medieval terms is questionable; there have been suggestions that The Parsons Tale should rather be treated as a manual for penance or as a "meditation."4 Some have even categorized The Parsons Tale as "not literature,"5 which does rather curtail the need to subject it to literary criticism. Some current criticism, in the search to "literize," tries to fit The Parsons Tale into full-scale interpretationsofChaucer which seem in great danger of imposing twentieth-century post-Christianism on him, to make him a champion of those who would wish to demolish the whole structure.6 Whatever the treatment, it is worth recalling that The Parsons Tale is the longest contribution to the whole collection. Despite the Parson's lack of presence, despite the problems presented by approaches to his tale, the Parson does merit detailed attention for the picture Chaucer gives of the priesthood and for the portrayal of the Parson himself. Although little information is provided, there is enough to tease out a context. It is also worth testing Chaucer's comments on the Parson against other information on England's clergy in the later Middle Ages to set him in an appropriate perspective. It is necessary to begin with an assumption: that the Parson is on thatside of the dividing line in the clerical population which would make him a secular 3 David Lawton, "Chaucer's Two Ways: The Pilgrimage Frame of The Canterbury Tales," SAC 9 (1987): 3-40...