How did the writings of Dante and Chaucer reflect the history of the cultures in which they were produce?

Dante's concepts and images of heaven and hell are fundamentally informed by the teachings of the Catholic Church of his day and were published for readers who were Catholics. Chaucer was an astute sopcial observer and wrote "The Canterbury Tales" as the equivalent of todays docu-dramas. He described types of people he experienced in society around him. The backcloth, though, the actual pilgrimage on foot from London to Canterbury represents an activity that was indeed done in those days by social classes. To take pilgrimage to Canterbury was held in high esteem then in basically the same way as for a Muslim to go on Hajj to Mecca is held today.