c. 1390: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (Prologue)With him there rode a gentle pardonere Of Ronceval, his friend and his compere, That straight was comen from the court of Rome.
1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Abbot... old men, cheated by their wives and daughters, pillaged by their sons, and imposed on by their domestics, a braggadocia captain, a knavish pardoner or quaestionary, a country bumpkin and a wanton city dame.
1917, Catholic Encyclopedia, "Collections" http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04104b.htmThese grants of Indulgence were often entrusted to preachers of note ("Pardoners") who carried them from town to town, collecting money and using their eloquence to recommend the good work in question and to enhance the spiritual privileges attached to it. ----
