# Aurelius — The Canterbury Tales character guide

> Aurelius in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** wretch'd Aurelius

**First appearance:** 0041-the-franklin-s-tale

## Snapshot

A lovesick squire who pines for Dorigen and makes a reckless bargain with a Orleans clerk to move the rocks that keep her from him.

## Who they are

Aurelius is a young squire in the Franklin's Tale who loves the married lady Dorigen with a devotion that shades into desperation. When she jokingly sets him an impossible condition — clear the black rocks from Brittany's coast — he takes it as a vow and seeks out a scholar of natural magic to fulfill it. His willingness to spend gold and honor on a trick exposes the tale's real question: what does a promise cost when it can actually be kept?

## In the story

### [The Franklin's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-franklin-s-tale)

A squire who loves Dorigen and, after a magician removes the rocks, releases her from her promise upon seeing the nobility of Arviragus and Dorigen.

### [The Franklin's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-tale)

A squire who loves Dorigen and, after being rejected, falls into despair and seeks magical aid to fulfill her impossible condition.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters/aurelius
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters