Culture University Puts Trigger Warning on Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ Over ‘Expressions of Christian Faith’ - Notably, the university’s warning does not mention the anti-Semitic or sexually explicit elements in the work.

Circa 1390, the author of 'The Canterbury Tales,' Geoffrey Chaucer. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Nottingham University in England has ignited a debate after issuing a trigger warning on Geoffrey Chaucer’s renowned work, “The Canterbury Tales.”

The warning informs students of the religious content within the text, highlighting expressions of Christian faith, which has led to accusations of “demeaning education,” the Daily Mail reports.

Critics argue that students studying such a pivotal piece of English literature should expect Christian themes, given the medieval context. The warning, detailed in a notice obtained under Freedom of Information laws, also points out instances of violence and mental illness in the works of Chaucer and his contemporaries, including William Langland, John Gower, and Thomas Hoccleve.

Composed between 1387 and 1400, “The Canterbury Tales” narrates the adventures of various characters on a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral from London, with tales featuring figures such as the Wife of Bath, the miller, and the reeve, all of whom share stories that touch on sensitive topics such as rape, lust, and anti-Semitism.

Notably, the university’s warning does not mention the anti-Semitic or sexually explicit elements.

An emeritus sociology professor at the University of Kent, Frank Furedi, criticized the warning, stating, “Warning students of Chaucer about Christian expressions of faith is weird. Since all characters in the stories are immersed in a Christian experience there is bound to be a lot of expressions of faith. The problem is not would-be student readers of Chaucer but virtue-signalling, ignorant academics,” the Mail reported.

Historian Jeremy Black described the warning as such: “Presumably, this Nottingham nonsense is a product of the need to validate courses in accordance with tick-box criteria. It is simultaneously sad, funny and a demeaning of education.”

A representative of the university defended the decision, emphasizing its commitment to diversity and noting that even practicing Christians might find certain aspects of the medieval worldview “alienating and strange.”

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[Return of the Freaker]

I honestly find it bizzare that it's just "expression of Christianity" when the Prioress's Tale is straight up "boy gets ritually murdered by Jews, becomes a saint" and references Little St. Hugh of Lincoln

 

[Overly Serious]

Not about the hot poker up the ass or whatever it was?

"He smoot him betwixt the arse with pooker hotte" is it from memory. Probably got a word wrong here or there but the image stayed with me. As did a preceding scene leading up to this in which in the dark, seeking a kiss, same character who later returns with a poker seeks a kiss from his beloved but she presents to him her vagina leading him to a line something like "since when doth woman have a berd?" (and that line I have definitely garbled..

I tried to find a copy of The Canterbury Tales years back and the only one the shop had (Waterstones for the bongs here) had it but it had been edited and it didn't have the original text. I don't just mean it had modern translation next to the Chaucer's original, the original itself was changed. I remember specifically looking for parts of the Miller's tale where he meets Alyson. The lines are something like:

"faire was this yonge wife,
and there withal,
as any wesele,
her body gent and smal."

//Fair was this young wife and her body soft and small as a weasel.

Chaucer was a fucking legend. One of the notable things about him was that he wrote in English rather than Old French which was the language of the court at the time, following the Normal invasion. That's where a lot of our vulgarities come from like "fuck" and "cunt". They were more or less regular words but it was frowned on to use the Anglosaxon terms. You would sound "common". That's what vulgar means - it's Latin for "common".

 

[Mao Hao Hao]

England is a Christian country (has been since the pagans ended and the vikings left or were converted over). I'm not religious myself, but its annoying how so much is being catered to religions that aren't the major one here, and Christianity is viewed as the creepy uncle at the party or something. Christians have never bothered me personally, nor caused me ill will and a church has never made me nervous to be passing it. Muslims and Mosques on the other hand...

And sometimes it's a spoiler. Looking at you, Reservation Dogs.

Recent episode of The Penguin did the same thing, like, am I not allowed to be surprised anymore by anything?

 

[Overly Serious]

Recent episode of The Penguin did the same thing, like, am I not allowed to be surprised anymore by anything?

I've been watching that but never saw a trigger warning due to source I was watching it from. I'm all caught up so in spoiler tags can you tell me what the trigger warning was? Just curious.

 

[Mao Hao Hao]

I've been watching that but never saw a trigger warning due to source I was watching it from. I'm all caught up so in spoiler tags can you tell me what the trigger warning was? Just curious.

I was watching it on Sky (I usually download all my shows as theres often no option to watch in the UK at the same release date, or you have to wait months, but this one is same day I think) which has warnings for everything really, and it had the usual spiel of 'this show contains violent scenes and language' but then added 'this episode deals with themes of suicide'.

 

[Picnic_Boy]

You must understand that England, much like a Soviet vassal state in the 80's, is an unhappy and volatile mixture of state atheism and insurgent Islam. The atheists in power believe they can make concessions on behalf of nonexistent Christians and it will assuage those rowdy brown peasants, but it won't.

Christians who live in England's urban areas should think about relocation. They are a hated minority and as the culture gets more desperate for a scapegoat, things will only get worse.