The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a group of pilgrims on their way from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.

The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery, and avarice. The genres also vary, and include romance, Breton lai, sermon, beast fable, and fabliau. The characters, introduced in the General Prologue of the book, tell tales of great cultural relevance.
The version read here was edited by D. Laing Purves (1838-1873) “for popular perusal” and the language is mostly updated.
(Summary by Wikipedia/Gesine)

(19 hr 23 min)

Chapters

Preface	6:21	Read by Gesine
The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer	58:18	Read by Chip
The General Prologue	39:00	Read by Thomas Hoover
The Knight’s Tale, Part 1	1:06:20	Read by Ted Delorme
The Knight's Tale, Part 2	1:19:51	Read by Ted Delorme
The Miller's Tale	54:42	Read by Gord Mackenzie
The Reeve's Tale	23:26	Read by Alex Foster
The Cook's Tale	7:51	Read by Chip
The Men of Law's Tale	1:19:51	Read by Chip
The Wife of Bath's Tale	1:03:23	Read by Kristin LeMoine
The Friar's Tale	22:53	Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023)
The Sompnour's Tale	43:03	Read by Chip
The Clerk's Tale	1:20:06	Read by Chip
The Merchant's Tale	1:21:25	Read by Cynthia Lyons (1946-2011)
The Squire's Tale	43:41	Read by Joshua Young
The Franklin's Tale	31:34	Read by Alex Foster
The Doctor's Tale	17:01	Read by Fox in the Stars
The Pardoner's Tale	40:02	Read by David Barnes
The Shipman's Tale	27:36	Read by Gwen
The Prioress's Tale	15:06	Read by Fox in the Stars
The Tale of Sir Thopas	10:12	Read by Jim Mowatt
Chaucer’s Tale of Meliboeus	36:01	Read by Kirsten Ferreri
The Monk's Tale	47:29	Read by Andy Minter (1934-2017)
The Nun’s Priest’s Tale	47:07	Read by Graham Williams
The Second Nun’s Tale	27:43	Read by Alys AtteWater
The Canons Yeoman’s Tale	37:28	Read by Joshua Young
The Manciple’s Tale	17:04	Read by Thomas Hoover
The Parson’s Tale	54:57	Read by Robert Foster
Preces de Chauceres	3:48	Read by Gesine

Reviews

More than one rotten apples...

(2 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

This set of recordings suffers as do many others published with multiple collaborators as opposed to a single reader.

Wife of Bath's Tale Review

(4 stars)

emelye

Excellent reading of the middle english text (untranslated, thanks!) with modern vowels. Very listenable and clear.

(1 stars)

Tadhg

If someone is going to read Middle English aloud, they should be sure to learn how it's pronounced. When I took a Chaucer course in college, the professor had the students memorize the first eighteen lines of the General Prologue. Each person then had to go to his office and recite it for him. He'd then help them with their pronunciation in more detail than he could in class.

Poetry

(4.5 stars)

Graham Widmer

None of these readers were bad, and some of them were quite good! As for the story, I found some of it hard to follow on audiobook, but I found that when I picked up the physical copy of the book, I had a much richer experience. The Miller's Tale made me laugh aloud. Quite good, but understand that most of it is poetry, not prose.

Very Poor Middle English

(2 stars)

ApolloReed

It is obvious that this reader has studied little or no Middle English pronunciation. If it is your intent to listen to this recording to improve your Middle English, search for Jess B Bessinger Jr.'s reading of the General Prologue.

Sad! Baby! Low energy

(1 stars)

ℊ℮øღεтεя

I don't know who thought giving random audiobooks voice overs the job of reading the ENTIRE canterbury tales, but I hope they never go anywhere near classic literature again. They should be demoted to the office janitor. FFS