In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Friar is depicted as a man lacking any genuine piety and one of questionable integrity. The Friar exemplifies the corruption that had run rampant in the Catholic church beginning in the 12th century, that led to the production of Martin Luther’s ninety-five theses in the early 16th century, until is was finally curbed by Pope Pius V in 1567. This corruption is displayed in the character of the Friar both blatantly and inconspicuously. Chaucer sardonically reveals the degenerate actions of the Friar by detailing his personal and professional affairs. In this way Chaucer makes his opinion of the Friar quite evident; additionally, he underscores this opinion through his strategic use of language. Chaucer’s etymological decisions reveal a historical context that is not otherwise stated in The Canterbury Tales. His decision to omit Latin words from the vocabulary of the Friar’s prologue serves to immediately alert the reader of a dichotomy between the Friar’s supposed piety and his actual devotion to God. For the Friar to have effectively performed his job he would have to have been at least moderately well versed in the Bible which, at the time, was only written in Latin. This absence of Latin in the Friar’s prologue is Chaucer’s way of representing an absence of God in the Friar’s life. Chaucer displays the Friar’s moral depravity in saying, “For though a widow hadde not a shoe, So pleasant was his "In Principio" (his blessing), Yet he would have a farthing ere he went.” This treacherous method of mendicancy is echoed on a larger scale by historian Robert W. Shaffern in his article “The Pardoner's Promises: preaching and policing indulgences in the fourteenth-century English church.” Shaffern speaks “...Sources clearly show that pardoners (including friars) exploited the penitential fervor of their era. They spread erroneous teachings and despoiled simple rustics out