THE MANCIPLE From Chaucers The Canterbury Tales Ryan

THE MANCIPLE From Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales Ryan Parimi

WHAT IS A MANCIPLE? • A manciple is in charge of purchasing food and supplies for an institution • Kind of like a caterer today • Title still exists today – Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Freemasons, London Charterhouse

CHAUCER’S MANCIPLE • worked for an inn of court, “the temple, ” which was a place where lawyers would live or gather • Unlearned – illiterate • Quick to point out the flaws in others. Very proud • Questionable ethics – always made money every time he purchased food for the lawyers • Chaucer is kind of sarcastic in the way he describes the manciple. • It seems as if an unethical nature is the only way to have financial success.

THE MANCIPLE’S TALE • Asks the cook to tell a story, but the cook is way too drunk to tell one • Makes fun of the cook. The cook threatens to find flaws in the manciple’s financial accounts. The manciple responds by giving him even more wine • The manciple then tells a story because the cook can’t

THE MANCIPLE’S TALE • Phoebus - ideal man, main character of the story, loves his wife very much • Owns a white crow that can talk and sing • Phoebus’s wife cheats on him while he is gone, and the crow tells him about it when he returns • Phoebus kills his wife in his rage and later regrets it when he finally calms down. He then plucks the crow’s feathers and takes away its ability to talk • Moral of the manciple’s tale: Restrain your tongue