The present essay is an attempt to demonstrate the institutional nature of Chaucer's satire of the pardoner—to indicate that Chaucer's satire is not directed against false pardoners or against pardoners of any particular establishment, but against the state of institutional decay which made the existence of the pardoner possible. To this end the background of the pardoner will be discussed: his function in the Church, abuses of that function, and legal action to restrain those abuses. Following this, an examination of English collection systems will be made, and finally an application of the foregoing material to the noble ecclesiast of the Canterbury Tales.

The following etymological comments are offered for the purpose of clarifying the sense of certain Old Norse names and words as well as (in certain cases) the interpretation of the passages in which they occur.