What was a summoner or A canon’s yeoman or A franklin or A manciple or a reeve?

These occupations of characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (c. 1387-1400) refer to the following:

summoner—an officer who summoned suspects before the ecclesiastical courts

canon’s yeoman—an attendant of a canon; a canon was a clergyman associated with a cathedral or large church

franklin—a prosperous country man of low birth

manciple—a steward of a community of lawyers reeve—a superintendent of a large farming estate

These occupations of characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (c. 1387-1400) refer to the following:

summoner—an officer who summoned suspects

before the ecclesiastical courts

canon’s yeoman—an attendant of a canon; a canon was a clergyman associated with a cathedral or large church

franklin—a prosperous country man of low birth manciple—a steward of a community of lawyers reeve—a superintendent of a large farming estate

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