Chaucer on Preachers and Preaching

Abstract

Elsewhere I have undertaken to show that the sermons of Chaucer's Pardoner and Parson conform to the practice of the mediaeval pulpit. It remains to examine Chaucer's utterances regarding preachers and preaching, in order to determine the full extent of his knowledge of the ars praedicandi. I shall treat the passages regarding the methods of sermon making, the times and places of preaching, the conduct of the preacher in the pulpit, and finally the audience.