The Nun in the Canterbury Tales

“She certainly was very entertaining Pleasant and friendly in her ways, and straining... And she had little dogs she would be feeding With roasted flesh, or milk, or fine white bread... Her forehead, certainly, was fair of spread Almost a span across the brows, I own;... A set of beads, the gaudies tricked in green, Whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen On which there first was graven a crowned A, And lower, Amor …

…and friars of the thirteenth century were taught not to emphasize their appearance in any way. They wore simple clothing meant to diminish or conceal their semblance. Nuns’ cloaks covered their whole body and their habits hid their foreheads and all but their face. All in all, the clergy of Chaucer’s time were intended to live lives free of extravagance and frills and to dedicate their entire being to the work of the Lord