# The Franklin — The Canterbury Tales character guide

> The Franklin in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Franklin, Franklin

**First appearance:** 0000-the-prologue

## Snapshot

A white-bearded country gentleman whose table groans with food and whose tale tests whether a promise can outlast despair.

## Who they are

The Franklin rides among the pilgrims as a wealthy landowner who has served as sheriff and MP, his dagger and purse of silk hanging at his belt. He bristles at the gentility of birth, insisting that true gentleness lies in deeds, and his tale of Dorigen and Arveragus argues the same case. His preoccupation with 'trouthe'—keeping one's word at any cost—sets up the collection's most searching debate about love, honor, and obligation.

## In the story

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

Interrupts the Squire's tale with praise, leading to the tale being left incomplete.

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

The teller of this tale, a wealthy landowner who advocates for the ideals of gentility and truth over rigid social hierarchy.

### [The Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-prologue)

Praises the Squire's eloquence and gentility, laments his own son's lack of virtue, and humbly introduces his tale.

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

The narrator of this tale, a Breton lay about love, marriage, and patience.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/endnotes)

His tale is mentioned in the context of manuscript ordering and the Breton lay tradition.

## Links

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