page_title: The Prioress's Tale
hierarchical_section_title: The Prioress's Tale
caption_attribution_description: English: The medieval setting and English origin of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales—a series of stories told by pilgrims as they travel from London to Canterbury Cathedral—made this text a particular favorite within the Pre-Raphaelite circle. “The Prioress’ Tale” recounts the gruesome murder of a young boy. His throat was slit while singing the Virgin Mary’s praises. His voice was miraculously restored when the Virgin placed a grain of corn on his tongue. Burne-Jones places what critic John Ruskin referred to as the “beautiful circumstance” of the story in the immediate foreground, while relegating the more distasteful element of the boy’s capture to the background. (see references)
context_page_description: The Prioress's Tale follows The Shipman's Tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Because of fragmentation of the manuscripts, it is impossible to tell where it comes in ordinal sequence, but it is second in group B2, followed by Chaucer's Tale of Sir Topas. The General Prologue names the prioress as Madame Eglantine, and describes her impeccable table manners and soft-hearted ways. Her portrait suggests she is likely in religious life as a means of social advancement, given her aristocratic manners and mispronounced French. She maintains a secular lifestyle, including keeping lap dogs that she privileges over people, a fancy rosary and brooch inscribed with "Amor vincit omnia".
  Her story is of a child martyr killed by Jews, a common theme in Medieval Christianity, and much later criticism focuses on the tale's antisemitism.
context_section_description: The Prioress's Tale (Middle English: The Prioresses Tale) follows The Shipman's Tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Because of fragmentation of the manuscripts, it is impossible to tell where it comes in ordinal sequence, but it is second in group B2, followed by Chaucer's Tale of Sir Topas. The General Prologue names the prioress as Madame Eglantine, and describes her impeccable table manners and soft-hearted ways. Her portrait suggests she is likely in religious life as a means of social advancement, given her aristocratic manners and mispronounced French. She maintains a secular lifestyle, including keeping lap dogs that she privileges over people, a fancy rosary and brooch inscribed with "Amor vincit omnia" ('Love Conquers All').
  Her story is of a child martyr killed by Jews, a common theme in Medieval Christianity, and much later criticism focuses on the tale's antisemitism.
caption: The Prioress's Tale, a painting by Edward Coley Burne-Jones
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