The narrator of "The Canterbury Tales", by Geoffrey Chaucer spends a good amount of the General Prologue discussing the dress of the people upon the pilgrimage to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket. One can learn a lot about a person by what they wear. By describing and discussing the pilgrims clothing, the reader can base their portraits on objective facts as well as the narrators own opinions. The "Garmentology" of the Knight, the Squire, the Yeoman, the Prioress, the Monk, and the Wife of Bath will be discussed.

The first pilgrim mentioned in the "Canterbury Tales" is the noble Knight. The Knight wears a tunic made of course cloth, and his coat of mail is rust-stained. "Of fustian he wered a gipoun/ Al bismothered with his habergeoun/ For he was late y-come from his visage/ And wente for to doon his pilgrimage" (ll. 75-79). The...