The Canterbury Tales: The Second Nun's Tale Characters

The heroine of this story, Cecilia is already a Christian when we first meet her, since she's been raised that way since childhood. Now a pious adult, she is determined to remain "unwemmed," or uns...

A figure like Almachius appears in virtually every virgin martyr legend. He is the yin to the saint's yang. He's the dark, evil figure whose tyranny the saint must confront, usually in the form of...

Valerian is the husband Cecilia's family chooses for her. To Cecilia he demonstrates his good judgment and basic moral worthiness when he quickly agrees to the truths of Christianity. Yet Valerian...

Tiburtius is Valerian's brother, who comes to the Christian faith because of the "boon" or gift Valerian asks of Cecilia's angel. Tiburtius undergoes a much more intellectual or "bookish" conversio...

Maximus is the executioner Almachius orders to kill Valerian and Tiburtius. Finding himself filled with pity for the brothers, and struck by their "loore," or teaching, he gets the execution delaye...

Pope Urban, to whom Cecilia sends Valerian and Tiburtius to be baptized, is a strangely powerless figure for a pope. Tiburtius describes Urban as a fugitive from the law, who "woneth in halkes alwe...