Harry Bailly: Chaucer's Innkeeper

Author / Editor
Richardson, Thomas C.

Title
Harry Bailly: Chaucer's Innkeeper

Published
Laura C. Lambdin and Robert T. Lambdin, eds. Chaucer's Pilgrims: An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in the "Canterbury Tales". (Westport, Conn.; and London: Greenwood, 1996), pp. 324-39.

Description
Characterizes the Host by examining the social history of his profession as an innkeeper and its possible associations with prostitution. In his interactions with other pilgrims,the Host reveals a "desire to be entertained with merry stories" and an obsession with male sexuality.

Alternative Title
Chaucer's Pilgrims: An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in "The Canterbury Tales."

Chaucer Subjects
General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.