The
Pardoner's Tale
1. In Middle English
The Introduction
to the Pardoner's Tale, the Pardoner's
Prologue, and the Pardoner's
Tale at the UVa Electronic Text Center.
Read the
Pardoner's Introduction, Prologue, and Tale in the context of Fragment
VI - Group C.
Read the Pardoner's
Introduction, Prologue, and Tale according to the Hengwrt ms (Hg), one of the two most
important early manuscripts, at the University of Toronto's Representative Poetry On-line
site. The Ellesmere ms (El) is the other important early edition.
2. In Modern English Translation
Scott
Gettman's edition of the Canterbury
Tales (Electronic Literature Foundation) is accessible by individual tale &
available in a variety of formats: Middle English, Modern English, Facing Page,
& Interpolated - Glossed (frames; from unknown base text).
- Although unsuitable for formal research or college work, the
ELF is the best online version for younger readers and those unfamiliar with Middle
English. Easily navigable, and the Middle English glosses are very helpful.
The Litrix Reading Room translation
of the Canterbury Tales features rhyming couplets.
Sinan Kökbugur's helpfully glossed hypertext Middle English rendition of the complete Canterbury Tales is available at the Librarius page. Use the Table of
Contents in the left frame to click on a specific Tale, and difficult terms and phrases
are glossed in the lower frame.
3. Historical & Cultural Backgrounds
The Pardoner's Prologue is rife with talk of relics, or the remains of
holy persons and things which are supposed to have special spiritual meaning. What is the
Pardoner talking about? See the Catholic Encyclopedia: Relics;
Thomas Aquinas's views on relics from the Summa Theologica; and a modern relic
certificate.
Thomas Head (Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY) has made
available online his formidable research into saints and sanctity in the
Middle Ages. See his Hagiography
page on the ORB: Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies.
Head has also edited and put online An Anthology of Translated Texts
Illustrative of the History of the Cult of the Saints, which contains
the following primary sources on saints, their relics, and devotion to
them both:
Although more than a century after Chaucer, Martin Luther's 95 Theses,
nailed to the chapel door at the University of Wittenberg on October 31,
1517, signaled the start of the Reformation. Luther's 95 Theses,
formally entitled Disputation
on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, directly address the use and
abuse of indulgences as monetary instruments, the Pardoner's professed
specialty.
4. Sources, Analogues, & Related Texts
D.L.
Ashliman's Folklore and Mythology
Electronic Texts site houses several tales about Treasure Finders Murder One Another
(UPittsburg).
5. Online Notes & Commentary
Discussion and links concerning the Pardoner's Introduction,
Prologue, and Tale on Larry D. Benson's superlative Geoffrey Chaucer Page (Harvard). Includes
e-texts of scholarly essays, sources and ancillary texts, and capsule discussions of key
issues. Some of the items related to the Pardoner's Tale include:
Dene
Scoggins' English 316 site
(UT Austin) explores "culture, ideology, and issues of canonicity" in the
Canterbury Tales, including a student developed page devoted to the Pardoner's Tale.
6. Online Articles & Books
Chaucer Sourcebook, from the
Harvard Chaucer Page, offers a number of classic and professional essays from noted
Chaucerians, including:
- George Lyman Kittredge, "Chaucer's
Pardoner," The Atlantic Monthly 72 (1893): 829-33. Another of
Kittredge's classic articles.
- David Benson, "Chaucer's
Pardoner: His Sexuality and Modern Critics," Medievalia 8 (1985 [for
1982]): 337-46.
- Richard F. Green, "The Sexual
Normality of Chaucer's Pardoner,"
Medievalia 8 (1985 [for 1982]): 351-57.
- Monica McAlpine, "The Pardoner's
Homosexuality and How It Matters," PMLA 95 (1980): 8-22.
- Lee Patterson, "Chaucerian
Confession: Penitential Literature and the Pardoner," Medievalia et
Humanistica 7 (1976).
- Derek Pearsall, "Chaucer's
Pardoner: Death of a Salesman," Chaucer Review 17 (1983).
- All articles on the Harvard Chaucer Page reprinted by
permission.
The articles from Cultural
Frictions: Medieval Cultural Studies in Post-Modern Contexts Conference Proceedings
(27-28 October 1995) are online, including:
R.A.
Shoaf's online postprint Dante, Chaucer, and
the Currency of the Word devotes Chapter 13 to "The Pardoner and
the Word of Death"
Chaucer's
Pardoner, the Bishop of Pamplona, and the Great Western Schism
(Frederick Martin, Tulane U), from an ongoing e-project melding critical and
cultural theory & medieval studies. See Martin's e-dissertation in
progress, Pilgrimage
in the Age of Schism: Chaucer, Sociological Poetics, and the Canterbury
Tales.
Essays in
Medieval Studies, full-text articles from the proceedings of the Illinois Medieval
Association, edited by Allen J. Frantzen (Loyola - Chicago).
7. Student Projects & Essays
Anniina Jokkinen's Essays and Articles on Chaucer
includes a number of sample student essays, of varying quality. Like any other
source, student essays must be evaluated rigorously, cited correctly, and used
responsibly. Jokkinen also compiles a number of resources by Canterbury
Tale: The
Pardoner's Tale
8. Online Bibliography
9. Syllabi & Course
Descriptions
10. Images & Multimedia
11. Language Helps & Audio Files
Sample
audio files (.wav, .au, .aiff) from the Pardoner's
Tale, read by Joseph Gallaher and recorded at Simon Fraser University in 1994, are
available from the Chaucer Studio (Paul Thomas, Brigham Young).
12. Potpourri
13. The
Next Step
How to Document
Print & Electronic Sources:
The Chaucer Pedagogy
Documentation Primer
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