The Friar's Tale



"The Friar's Tale" is a story in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, told by Huberd the Friar.

Plot summary
A summoner who meets a yeoman one day who asks him what he does, but rather than admit he is a summoner, an odious profession, he says he is a bailiff. The yeoman says he is also a bailiff and when the summoner asks how he makes money the yeoman admits in any underhand way he can. The summoner agrees this is also how he works and then, in the spirit of confession, the yeoman says that he is actually a daemon from hell. This does not seem to overtly concern the summoner and he simply asks how he is able to take human form. They come upon a carter damning his stubborn horses to hell; when they do move he praises God. The summoner criticizes the daemon for not capitalizing on this situation and taking the horses, but the daemon explains that since the man was not sincere in cursing the horses he couldn't take them. The summoner then says that he will show the daemon how it is done, by extorting money from an old widow woman even though he admits there is nothing legitimate to summon her for. They go to her house and the summoner demands a bribe from her or he will summon her to court on a spurious charge. He also demands she give him her new pan in payment for an old debt, falsely claiming he paid a fine to get her off a charge of adultery. The old woman is so incensed she damns the summoner unless the summoner repents his false charges; the summoner refuses to repent and the daemon, obligingly, takes his body and soul—along with the old woman's frying pan—to hell.

Summoner vs. Friar
The tale is a satirical and somewhat bitter attack on the profession of summoner—an official in ecclesiastical courts who summons people to attend—and in particular The Summoner one of the other people on the pilgrimage. Unlike the Miller and the Reeve who tell tales that irritate the other and do not get on for that reason, the Friar and the Summoner seem to have a longstanding hatred between them.

The Friar is of one of the mendicant orders which traveled about preaching and making their livings by begging. Part of the animosity between the two characters may be due to these orders of friars, which had been formed relatively recently, interfering with the work of the summoners. Once a friar had taken confession and given absolution to someone they could not be charged in an ecclesiastical court with the same sin. The Friar's tale has no clear original source like many of Chaucer's tales but it is of a type which is common and always seems popular: "the corrupt official gets their comeuppance". Even in the prologue the friar begins by making some pointedly rude remarks about the summoner in general. The host reprimands him, saying he should be mindful of his social standing and that he should get straight on with his tale. The Summoner merely replies that he should say what he wants to say but that he will pay him back in skin.

The tale itself continues in the denigration of summoners with its vivid description of the work of a summoner. This includes bribery, corruption, extortion and a network of pimps and wenches acting as informants making this important clerical office seem more like a 14th century protection racket. The Friar then says that luckily friars are not under summoners' jurisdiction but the Summoner snaps back that neither are women in styves, meaning brothels; which were licensed to operate by archdeacons.