The pilgrims, who come from all layers of society, tell stories to each other to kill time while they travel to Canterbury. If we trust the Prologue, Chaucer intended that each pilgrim should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the way back. He never finished his enormous project and even the completed tales were not finally revised.
Scholars are uncertain about the order of the tales.
As the printing press had yet to be invented when Chaucer wrote his works, The Canterbury Tales has been passed down in several handwritten manuscripts. 1355 Edward, the Black Prince, captured Bordeaux which he used as a base to raid and plunder the south of France. In 1356, the English scored their second major victory at Poitiers, where they succeeded in capturing the French king, John. Afterwards, the peace of Bretigny was signed, which was generally favorable to the English. In the 1370's after the accession of King Charles V, the tide of war began to turn in favor of the French.