"The Summoner's Tale" is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
The tale is a fierce counterpunch to the preceding tale by The Friar, who had delivered an attack on summoners. Summoners were officials in ecclesiastical courts who delivered a summons to people who had been brought up on various charges;[1] the office was prone to corruption, since summoners were infamous for threatening to bring people up on charges unless they were bought off. The Friar had accused them of corruption and taking bribes, and the Summoner seeks to address the Friar through his own story.
The apparitor [or summoner] served as the bearer of summons from the archdeacon or other official in charge of an ecclesiastical court to the person cited to appear. Apparently, in addition to serving the notice, he was also responsible for actually getting that person to appear in court.