Robert W. Ackerman, "Chaucer, the Church, and Religion"

Ackerman gives a broad overview of some of the research that has been done regarding the structure of the church, what Chaucer expected his audience to be familiar with, and to what extent references to the Church show up in his writings. He explains that most of the references to any kind of religious official have to do with the lower offices (such as monks, friars, and nuns), which would have been very common across England, even after the Black Death, and thus would have been very familiar to Chaucer's audience. There was also a general awareness of conflict between secular priests and friars. Ackerman touches on a number of different aspects of religious life that Chaucer assumed his audience was familiar with. References to the bible are numerous, however, there are relatively few references to actual theologians or philosophers, and the only work of this kind which seems to make a significant influence on his works is Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy. Ackerman concludes that regardless of how critics interpret the various religious references in Chaucer, it is at least apparent that they were meant to be references well known to the audience at the time.

Available in Companion to Chaucer Studies. ed Beryl Rowland. 1979.