The Summoner's Prologue: An Iconographic Adjustment.

Author / Editor
Fleming, John V.

Title
The Summoner's Prologue: An Iconographic Adjustment.

Published
Chaucer Review 2.2 (1967): 95-107.

Description
Traces the iconographical motif of "Maria Misericordia" as it developed from its early roots into the satire of friars found in SumP. Originally found in treatise by Caesarius of Heisterbach, the motif was adapted by Dominican and Franciscan friars and generalized in the "burgeoning institution of the lay confraternities." In using the motif, Chaucer capitalized on its associations with mercy, justice, anger, and penance, enriching thematically his satire of both the Friar and the Summoner.

Chaucer Subjects
Summoner and His Tale
Friar and His Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations