THE ENGLISH MIDDLE AGES: HISTORY, LANGUAGE, LITERATURE PDF

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THE ENGLISH MIDDLE AGES: HISTORY, LANGUAGE, LITERATURE Introducción a la literatura en lengua inglesa, Curso 2011-2012 Grado en Estudios Ingleses / Filología Hispánica, Primer Curso Materiales adicionales de lectura opcional (inglés) Prof. Zenón Luis Martínez Events of English History, 1066-1485 1. ...

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THE ENGLISH MIDDLE AGES: HISTORY, LANGUAGE, LITERATURE

Introducción a la literatura en lengua inglesa, Curso 2011-2012 Grado en Estudios Ingleses / Filología Hispánica, Primer Curso Materiales adicionales de lectura opcional (inglés) Prof. Zenón Luis Martínez

Events of English History, 1066-1485

1. The Battle of Hastings (1066).This battle ended with the defeat of Harold, King of

England, by William, Duke of Normandy, and marks the beginning of the Norman domination of Britain. William crossed to England without military opposition, and led an army of a few thousand cavalry and infantry. The battle, which took place on 14th October 1066, inclined on the Norman side thanks to William’s strategic skills. From Hastings William’s army advanced to London, which, after a harsh siege, fell to the Normans on 25th December of the same year. William was crowned new King of England, so the Norman invasion means the end of AngloSaxon domination in Britain. The Battle was immortalized in the Bayeux Tapestry, a segment of which can be seen in the illustration above (the scene represents William leading his cavalry during the battle). The tapestry is an impressive 70 meter long embroidery showing in comic-strip fashion the different phases of the battle. The tapestry was probably commissioned in 1070, and the original is exhibited in the French city of Bayeux. If you want to have a scene-by-scene look at the tapestry, check the following website: http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk .

Events in English History, 1066-1485 2. King John and The Magna Carta (1215). King John (whose byname was John

Lackland), was king of England from 1199 to 1216. He has become infamous for having lost Normandy and most of the French possessions annexed to England after Duke William’s invasion in the wars against the French king Philip II. His seventeen years as English King are also remarkable for two other reasons: On the one hand, he challenged the authority of Pope Innocent III, who appointed Stepen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, thus defying John’s own plans. The Pope excommunicated John and laid an interdict on England, which lasted from 1208 to 1213. On the other hand, John faced his barons’ rebellion, who became discontent after John’s oppressive taxing policies, which limited their feudal rights. John was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, whose 63 clauses granted the noblemen’s political and economic rights. This document is considered a precedent of modern constitutions.

Portrait of King John of England (John Lackland), from Historia Anglorum 1250-59. British Library Royal MS 14 C.VII, f.9 (detail)

Events in English History, 1066-1485 3. The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453). The

main cause of these wars between England and France was the question of the legitimate succession to the French crown. King Edward III’s claims to the French throne are at the origin of this long conflict, which underwent several phases involving Edward the Black Prince’s defeat of the French at Poitiers (1356), the subsequent Treaty of Calais that gave Edward III control over France, Henry V’s later victory at Agincourt (1415) and his securing of the throne of France through marriage with Katherine, Charles VI’s daughter, and the later loss of French possessions by Henry VI of England. Battle of Sluys from a Ms. of Froissart's Chronicles, Bruges, c.1470

Characters like the abovementioned Black Prince, on the English side, or the French maid Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc) are part of the heroic legend of the Wars. Joan resisted the English siege of Orleans in 1429, but was later captured, sold to the English, and tried and executed for heresy and witchcraft. This episode was a turning point in the wars, and initiated the English withdrawal from French territories. This war is considered a milestone in the formation of England and France as modern European states.

Shifting English possessions in France (1360-1450)

Portraits of Henry VII (left) and Richard III (right)

Events in English History, 1066-1485 4. The Wars of the Roses (1455-1485).

This series of dynastic civil wars had as main contenders the noble Houses of Lancaster (whose badge was a red rose) and York (whose badge was the white rose). Each family claimed the rights to the throne of England through descent from the sons of Edward III. The Lancastrians had occupied the throne since 1399 (after the usurpation by Henry IV). The death of Henry V in 1422 gave the throne to his son Henry VI (still a child). Henry married the ambitious and dominant Margaret of Anjou, and this damaged his popularity. Henry frequently lapsed into insanity, and this made his baron Richard Neville, earl of Warwick (known as the kingmaker) promote Richard Duke of York as Lord Protector of England. Richard deprived Margaret and her supporters of power, but when the King recovered he tried to restore his wife’s influence. This was the beginning of strife between the supporters of each side. Warwick was on the Yorkist side, and with his help they gained control of the situation until 1461, when the Lancastrians defeated the Yorkists at the battle of Wakefield. But York's eldest son and heir, Edward had defeated a Lancastrian force at Mortimer's Cross and marched to London, where he was proclaimed King Edward IV. Wars were renewed in 1469, now with Warwick and Edward's rebellious brother George, Duke of Clarence, on the Lancastrian side. These helped Margaret in her return to England, and they managed to briefly depose Edward and crown Henry VI again as king in 1470. By March 1470, however, Edward regained control, forcing Warwick and Clarence to flee to France, where they allied themselves with the French king Louis XI and their former enemy, Margaret of Anjou. Returning to England (September 1470), they deposed Edward and restored the crown to Henry VI. But Margaret was finally captured at the Battle of Tewkesbury, her forces destroyed and her son killed. Henry VI was murdered in the Tower of London. Edward remained safe in the throne after his death in 1483. In 1483 Edward's brother Richard III overrode the claims of his nephew, the young Edward V, alienated many Yorkists, who then turned to the last hope of the Lancastrians, Henry Tudor (later Henry VII). Henry defeated and killed Richard at Bosworth Field in 1485. By his marriage to Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York in 1486, Henry united the Yorkist and Lancastrian claims. This initiated the Tudor dynasty.

English in the Middle Ages The linguistic situation of England after the Norman conquest is the result of drastic political changes and determines later developments of English as a literary language. In very rough terms it can be described as follows: Norman French. William brought his own aristocrats and clerics to England, and that meant the replacement of English as official language of the court with Norman French, a northern dialect of French which the Normans (originally from Scandinavia) had adopted after their conquest of Northern France. This meant that French became the language of English kings, and for a long period the main literary language of England. Latin. In a society divided by the languages of conquerors and conquered Latin played a mediating role. Latin was the language of learning, and latinitas (i.e. Latin written culture) created a bridge between the Anglo-Saxon past and the Norman present. From the Latin tags and inscriptions of the Bayeux Tapestry (after 1066) and the property records of the Domesday Book (1086) through genealogies and histories like Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (1140) to psalters, liturgical texts, philosophical works and lay poetry, Latin became a vehicle both for an ecclesiastical and a secular culture.

Geoffrey of Monmouth writing his Latin Historia Regum Britanniae, from a tapestry at Monmouth Priory

English (what we know today as Middle English) was originally the language of the middle and lower classes. There were some literary texts that continued the Old English tradition, but these are probably the least original and innovative of the literature produced in the early years. Apart from this, English became the least prestigious language of those already mentioned. However, subsequent English kings became more identified with England as a country. An important event that determined the restoration of English as the official language of the island is the loss of the French possessions in 1204 by King John. From that point English re-emerged as the main language of the country, but as rather different from the language that had been spoken before 1066. The influence of French was already remarkable in structure, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, and also literary language. If the first Plantagenets and his nobles were unable to speak the language, later kings became bilingual. We have to assume that Richard II was already able to speak English, that Henry IV was bilingual. By the times of Henry V English was again the main language of the country.

Middle English Literature: Four Main Periods

Poet John Gower portrayed as an archer in the Tripertita Ms. (c. 1400) containing his work Vox Clamantis

According to Albert C. Baugh, from a linguistic point of view the history of Middle English literature undergoes four main chronological periods: 1066-1250. There is little remarkable literature in English. This is mainly the time of a flourishing Anglo-Latin and Anglo-Norman literature. Chronicles like Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Bitanniae (1140) or poems like Geoffrey Gaimar’s Estoire des Engleis (c. 1140) are remarkable for their future influence on later Middle English literature (especially romance). A long verse chronicle called Brut (c. 1200), translated to English by Layamon, is the most remarkable English text of the period. 1250-1350. Literature in English becomes important. To this period belong the early romances written in the English language. The miscellaneous poem The Owl and the Nightingale, the devotional work Ancrene Riwle (The Anchoress’s Rule) and the early verse romances Havelock the Dane and King Horn (c. 1300) are the most important works of this time. 1350-1400. This is a period of splendour of English as a literary language. The first great names of Middle English Literature wrote at this time (during the reigns of kings Edward III and Richard II). Geoffrey Chaucer (see files below), William Langland (author of the long allegorical poem Piers Plowman), John Gower (author of the narrative miscellany Confessio Amantis), John Wycliffe (the first Middle English translator of the Bible), and the anonymous Gawain-poet lived and wrote in these times. 15th century. Many historians consider it a period of transition. It involves, among other things, the rise of English drama. Morality plays like Mankind were written and performed in the second half of the century. In 1476 William Caxton opened the first printing press in London. Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur (The Death of Arthur), a long prose romance that happens to be the most important Arthurian text in English, was printed by Caxton in 1485.

LIFE OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1342-1400) Chaucer must have been born in London around 1342, in a family of vintners. In 1357 he was already at the service of the Countess of Ulster, wife of the Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III, possibly as a page. His intelligence gained him better positions and a good education, and he entered the service of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the most powerful man in England at the time. Chaucer served as a soldier in 1359 in the Hundred Years’ War, and he must have become acquainted with continental, especially French, poetry, and the uses of courtly love by that time. Chaucer married Philippa de Roet, a lady attending the Queen, and little by little gained some relevance at court, serving in commercial missions abroad. His trips allowed him to acquire a vast knowledge of continental literature, philosophy, and science. He was competent in Latin, French, and Italian, and was widely read in the classics (Virgil, Ovid, Seneca, Cicero) and the moderns (Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, the Provençal poets, and the authors of the Roman de la Rose, apoem which he partly translated into English).

A Ms. illustration of Chaucer as a pilgrim

His trips to Italy in 1372 (Genoa) and 1378 (Milan) were crucial for his acquaintance with the Italian literature of the time. Of clear Italian influence are Troilus and Criseyde and some of the stories in The Canterbury Tales. Between 1386 and 1390, with the rising influence of the new king, Richard II, he temporarily lost favour at court, and devoted most of his efforts to literary composition. But his literary powers waned in his late years and he left his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, unfinished when he died in 1400. Chaucer is the best writer and most influential literary man in the Middle English period: this is due to his fresh use of classical and modern continental literature, his concern with the philosophy of his time, his interest in sciences like astrology and medicine, and his subtle portraits of the church, the courtly nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie of his time.

CHAUCER’S WORKS: AN OUTLINE Early Works. Up to 1382 Chaucer partially translated the French allegorical dream poem Roman de la Rose, composed The House of Fame and The Parliament of Fowls, and started some of the stories in The Canterbury Tales. To a slightly later period, perhaps before 1385, belongs his translation of one of the crucial philosophical works of the Middle Ages: Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae.

Troilus and Criseyde. Around 1386 Chaucer must have finished his tragic love romance Troilus and Criseyde, based on a poem by Giovanni Baccaccio that recounts the unfortunate love of the Trojan King Priam’s son, PrinceTroilus, and the Greek lady Criseyde during the Troy Wars. This is one of the finest and most subtle narrative poems ever written in English. Chaucer must have enraged King Richard’s wife Anne of Bohemia for his treatment of women in this poem, and was forced to write a Geoffrey Chaucer, detail of an initial from a retraction in the form of a group of stories about faithful women manuscript of The Canterbury Tales (Lansdowne 851, folio 2), c. 1413–22; in the British Library. known as The Legend of Good Women. The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s best and best-known work is an unfinished miscellaneous collection of verse narratives known as The Canterbury Tales. Like other ancient and medieval collections, the tales are built around a single framework – in this case thirty pilgrims meet in an inn in the outskirts of London to travel together to Canterbury, in order to visit the shrine of the English saint Thomas Becket. Chaucer’s plan was to have each pilgrim tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back, but he just finished twenty-six out of the one hundred and twenty tales of his original design. The originality of this work lies in the variety of styles, themes and genres. Chaucer chose characters from different social strata (from the low nobility through the church to craftsmen and workers), and, following the literary principle of decorum, made them speak in accordance with their social class and tell stories that match their condition. From the point of view of genre, the tales range from romances to fabliaux and animal fables. The tales are preceded by a General Prologue specifying the frame and providing descriptions of the pilgrims....