pardoners
Medieval forgiveness vendors
Pardoners were medieval church officials who sold indulgences—documents granting remission of sins or time in purgatory in exchange for payment.
The practice was rampant in the late Middle Ages and became a target of reformers.
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales features a corrupt pardoner who openly admits to swindling the faithful.
The term survives mainly as a historical reference to ecclesiastical corruption.
- Canterbury TalesMedieval English story collection
- Middle AgesEurope's feudal millennium
- pilgrimageReligious journey to shrine
- relicsPreserved items from antiquity
indulgences · simony · papal bulls · feudalism · excommunication · crusades · sermons · manuscripts
Releasing resentment toward offenders
- indulgenceYielding to desire
- penanceSelf-mortification for wrongdoing
- remissionTemporary disease absence
- absolutionFormal clearing of guilt
redemption · atonement · grace · mercy · dispensation · clemency · reprieve · sin
Buying church positions
- forgeryCreating fraudulent imitations
- deceptionIntentional misleading of others
- avariceExcessive desire for riches
- greedExcessive desire for wealth
fraud · charlatans · exploitation · swindling · hypocrisy · counterfeit · profiteering · abuse
Chaucer
- Canterbury TalesMedieval English story collection
- Middle AgesEurope's feudal millennium
- pilgrimageReligious journey to shrine
relics · indulgences · simony · papal bulls · feudalism · excommunication · crusades · sermons · manuscripts · veneration
forgiveness
Releasing resentment toward offenders
- indulgenceYielding to desire
- penanceSelf-mortification for wrongdoing
- remissionTemporary disease absence
absolution · redemption · atonement · grace · mercy · dispensation · clemency · reprieve · sin · confession
simony
Buying church positions
- forgeryCreating fraudulent imitations
- deceptionIntentional misleading of others
- avariceExcessive desire for riches
greed · fraud · charlatans · exploitation · swindling · hypocrisy · counterfeit · profiteering · abuse · scandal
priest
One who performs sacraments
cleric · chaplain · minister · summoner · confessor · monk · canon · deacon · ecclesiastic · papal
pardonersconfessors
Priests hearing sins
sinners · priests · penitents · inquisitors · bishops
pardonerscondemners
Those who blame harshly
accusers · punishers · inquisitors · judges · prosecutors
- Pardoner's TaleMedieval moral about greed