I really liked this tale. I thought it was interesting. Basically, the pardoner is a drunk who preeches to people about sins that he has done. Though, he doesn’t reveal to the people that he has done those sins, he keeps it a secret and makes himself seem to be holyer than thou. He uses bibilical refrences to make his teachings more effective and believable. He preeches that people who lobe money and base their life around money, are the root of all evil. Little do the people know, that he bases his life around money, liquor, and gambling. He contradicts himself multiple times through the tale. The tale is a moral story, but its hard for the reader to believe it. I think that we got a lot of information about the Chaucterian style and time period.

There were many changes in the 14th century in Europe. Multiple changes in Medicine and disease break outs led to social changes. The social changes led to the changes in the military and the Church. The famine crisis of 1315 affected social changes and ultimately turned their classes upside down.

As the Plague infected Europe, it killed of 20 million people. This disease had a massive impact on Medicine at that time. Failure to cure the victims led to distraught and loss of hope of many people. Preventing the disease to spread was a top priority of the time. In the upper classes, they would put all the people who infected by it in house, and lock them in there inside out. This way, no one could leave, but others could enter if they were infected. In lower classes, the victims were exposed to everyone. They had no where to go and had to ride out the sickness. Sometimes the corpse would just rot away in the houses, until someone would come by and pick up all the bodies. Mass burials were in order at this point. Farmers were beginning to lose money due to the death of their workers. They began to rent out their land to the government, in order to get money, and they used the land to dig trenches to burry hundred of bodies at a time. This was when the change in social class took place. Doctors at that time used a technique to see if someone was infected by it. The treatment checked the black bile, yellow bile, Phelgem, and blood; if all were balanced, then you were healthy. Natural herbs were also a popular remedy and believed to help. Also used leeches to drain the blood, and remove the bacteria from the blood stream seemed to be popular as well. Surgery was a last resort for the illness. The Church began to interfere, saying that it was sinful to do such a thing. This was a major movement in Medicine.

Warfare in the 14th century changed and regulations changed as well. The military changes caused social changes. They thought that all men were equal as long as you had a weapon. If you had a weapon, then you could fight in battle. Recruiting soldiers was a simple task. If you owned land that belonged to the king, in order to pay him back, you would repay him with service and fight. If you had done something wrong, by breaking the law or committing a crime, the King would order one to fight as well, but you had to enroll another male as well. They would fight defensive. They used dismounted men that would protect the men on horses. They would then use wolf pits and sharpened stakes as blockage or a barrier. 

Changes in the Church were quite important. The power shifted from commonwealth to spiritual rulers. Ultimately pushing the followers away, and making the classes more defined. The conflict with the Church lowered their confidence in authority, making it harder for them to stop this change. The violence caused the pope to move, all hope was lost. 

The Famine of 1315 impacted Europe almost as bad as the Plague. The famine was caused by the massive growth of the population and the radical climate change. The land couldn’t support the climate and the crops couldn’t survive. The peasants who watched over the crops became weak, due to the shortage of food. People began to secretly eat their children. The Famine lasted from 1315-1316.