Chaucer's People: everyday lives in Medieval England

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the most famous books in English literature. Liza Picard has written the book, Chaucer's People: everyday lives in medieval England, to provide additional information about the characters and their lives as portrayed in Chaucer's work. The description of the chararacters are divided into  four sections - Country Life, City Life, Religious Life and the Armed Services.

The first chapter deals, not surprisingly, with the Wife of Bath with sections on her appearance providing additional information on clothes worn by women in the fourteenth century; the wool trade as the Wife of Bath was a weaver; matrimony as the Wife of Bath had been married five times; pilgrimages describing some of the many pilgrimage locations visited by the Wife of Bath plus general information about going on a pilgrimage. The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks is a novel based on the character of the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

The chapter on the Ploughman also begins with his appearance then discusses agricultural methods of the period; the Great Pestilence of 1348-9 and its effect on agricultural workers; the Poll Tax to help cover expenses for the war with France; the Rebellion of 1381 or 'Peasant's Revolt'. Appendix A, at the end of the book, provides additional information about the unrest.

Consequently the 23 chapters and the epilogue help the reader gain a greater understanding of the people who went on the pilgrimage in Chaucer's tale but also provides a very readable account of the everyday life of ordinary people in fourteen century England. A must read for anyone interested in this period of English history.