What is it: The Pardoner

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written in the 1380's while Chaucer was an official in the service of Richard II, are to the Plantagenet era what Shakespeare is to the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.  This complex and impressive set of stories set in poetry are important for two other reasons.  Many words are first attested in the English language because they appeared in the Tales.  They are also an important slice of medieval life, shedding light on Medieval people and customs that would otherwise be lost. 

One of the tellers of tales is called a Pardoner.  A pardoner was a member of the clergy, usually a deacon, licensed to sale Papal indulgences.  For a sum of money donated to the Church, according to the beliefs of the time, one could spring a soul (sometimes one's own soul), out of Purgatory or get a pass straight to Heaven.  Even in the pre-Reformation era, Pardoners were looked upon much as used car salesmen are today, not very honest.  Chaucer gives us this viewpoint in his description of the pardoner, a member of the clergy who wears his hair long, has much knowledge of the world and sexual experience, and isn't above supplementing his own income through his employment despite a vow of poverty.  Some pardoners, indeed some priests, trafficked in the sale of fake relics, charged for hearing confessions or dispensing sacraments and engaged in other fleecing practices.  However, because of their role in Medieval society, they were a necessary evil.