The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of twenty-four short stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. They were written in English and are often credited as the book that popularized the literary use of the vernacular, English, instead of using French, the language of the Court, or Latin.

The stories were written in verse, except for two written in prose. They narrate a series of stories about a group of pilgrims during a trip from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket in the cathedral of that city. The prize is a meal at the Tabard Tavern in Southwark on their return.

The stories present a structure similar to Boccaccio's Decameron, but unlike it, Chaucer's characters are more varied and represent practically all the variants of the society of the time.

The Canterbury Tales is one of the most important books of English literature, and the best work of the Middle Ages in England.