The Prioress's Tale

The Prioress's Tale, a painting by Edward Coley Burne-Jones

"The Prioress's Tale" is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

It follows "The Shipman's Tale" in The Canterbury Tales. It is followed by Chaucer's "Tale of Sir Topas". The General Prologue names the prioress as Madame Eglantine, and describes her impeccable table manners and soft-hearted ways. Her portrait suggests she is likely in religious life as a means of social advancement, given her aristocratic manners and mispronounced French. She maintains a secular lifestyle, including keeping lap dogs that she privileges over people, a fancy rosary and a brooch inscribed with Amor vincit omnia ('Love Conquers All').

Her story is of a child martyr killed by Jews, a common theme in Medieval Christianity[broken anchor], and much later criticism focuses on the tale's antisemitism.