He is described as being lecherous with his red face disfigured with boils and—like the Miller and the Cook—quite drunk. His shield is described as a barley cake. Among his other attributes is extortion-dealing out false summons to court and either tricking foolish persons to bribe him with tavern feasts-or being beaten up by a potential victim; also theft-taking more than his share of court fines; and being a pimp and then blackmailing victims. He also wears a garland of oak leaves; since such a garland proclaimed the wearer was a "King of Outlaws" (i.e. William Wallace), Chaucer's readers would have recognised the Summoner as a corrupt clerical servant (as satirised in The Friar's Tale).