(pg 65-66 of “Adventures in English Literature”)
- Is a student training to enter the church
- In Medieval Times all education was governed by the Church
- His horse is “thinner than a rake”
- The Oxford cleric himself is also very thin
- He has a “hollow look and a sober stare”
- His clothes are threadbare (he is the typical “starving student”) and rejects material luxury
- Hasn’t found a job in the church yet but refuses to get a “secular” job
- He has “twenty books” by his bed (Books at that time were handwritten in monasteries, so to have 20 of them would have been quite expensive and would have been a library of a considerable size)
- Would rather spend his money on books than on nice clothes or entertainment (“he preferred having twenty books in read and black, of Aristotle’s philosophy, than costly clothes, fiddle or psaltery.”)
- Has not searched for the “Philosopher’s Stone” (the philosopher’s stone was a substance that Alchemists believed could turn base metals into gold)-this means the Oxford Cleric has no desire to be rich. He learns so he can understand “moral virtue”
- He pays back those who buy him books by praying earnestly for their souls. He is more spiritual than the Monk or Friar
- He never speaks more than he needs to -his only care is study
- He is very formal and respectful and too the point
- He is happy to learn and to teach others