In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer paints an interesting picture of the medieval church. The Christian Church provided leadership for the people of Western Europe. Saint Augustine was not the most diplomatic of men, and managed to antagonize many people of power who had never been particularly eager to save the souls of the Anglo-Saxons who had brought such bitter times to their people. When Augustine died, Christianity had only an unstable hold on Anglo-Saxon England. The Roman Empire had fallen, and “although the people of Europe no longer honored one ruler, they gradually began to wors…
