The Clerk In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales

The Clerk is a character type that is encountered several times in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Cantebury Tales. Always described as a young man attending university or at the very least knowledgeable in the fields the social and natural sciences, the clerk is a character who outwits his opponents with his superior knowledge whether it be by telling his victim that the stars foretell a second great flood like Nicholas in the Miller’s Tale, or by maneuvering a piece of furniture to bed a crook’s wife like John in the Reeve’s tale. The Clerk is written to be the smartest person in the room, if not one of them, but that was not always the case.
Originally the term was used to describe someone who was a member of the ecclesiastical order and no matter how humble the position had been

The first was to undergo tonsure, a shaving of one’s head and the second was a proof of one’s ability to read and write. It was through this test that students, specifically university students, could claim to be members of the clergy. Most did eventually hold office, but did not pursue an ecclesiastical career. Then in the twelfth century, also according to the dictionary, with the growth of political and economic institutions there was an increase in the number of literate men. These men were taken on as assistants for kings, bishops, and businessmen. The term was then extended to also describe the men in these positions. The clerks of these institution reached higher status and sometimes high office in the church. In fact, it was not unusual that a high official in England or France, like a minister of state, judge or even an archbishop was chosen from a group of men who were clerks in their respective institutions. Though the term is now more often used to describe a learned man it is still interesting to see its beginnings and how far it