literature: the Middle English Period

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

The Middle English Period  1066-1500

History

• King Edward
• Harold Godwinson
• William, Duke of Normandy
• Battle of Hastings

Edward the Confessor 1042-1066

Feudal System

The Doomsday Book

• record of everything everyone owned
• rights and duties of every landowner
• rights and duties of every court

important historical record

English Language

• French;  language of Royal court
• French:  language of ruling classes (nobility)
• French:  language of business
• English:  language of commoners
• Latin: language of the clergy
• 14th century: English became the dominant language again! This language is called Middle English
• Huge impact of French on this language ( around 10,000 French words)

https:

Magna Charta

• 1215 King John (Plantagenets) forced by his barons to sign the Magna Charta
• first English Law Book
• limit to  the king's authority

The Magna Carta

Can you explain why:

1. the Magna Carta is considered to be the foundation of democracy?; and 

2. the Magna Carta is the beginnning of civil rights?

"The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history . . . It was written in Magna Carta."

--Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941 Inaugural address

"No taxation without representation" is most significant Magna Carta principle

The charter was the first document declaring that the king or queen had to abide by the laws of the land. 

"No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land."

"To no one will We sell, to no one will We deny or delay, right or justice."

There's more

The Magna Carta enumerates what later came to be thought of as human rights. Among them was the right of the church to be free from governmental interference, the rights of all free citizens to own and inherit property and to be protected from excessive taxes. It established the right of widows who owned property to choose not to remarry, and established principles of due process and equality before the law. It also contained provisions forbidding bribery and official misconduct.

The Hundred Years' War 1337-1453

• the English claimed the French throne, leading to hostilities
• after the war both the houses of Lancaster and York claimed the throne, leading to the Wars of the Roses ( 1445-1487)
• The Tudors came to the throne

Literature

• popular genres were: fables, ballads and romances
• courtly love
• Depiction of hero

Fable

In literature, a fable is described as a didactic lesson (teaching morals) given through some sort of animal story. In prose and verse, a fable is described through plants, animals, forces, of nature, and inanimate objects by giving them human attributes.

Features of a Fable

• A fable is intended to provide a moral story.
• Fables often use animals as the main characters. They are presented with anthropomorphic characteristics, such as the ability to speak and to reason.
• Fables personify the animal characters.

The Fox Reynard

• Beatrix Potter's Mr Tod and Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox were based on Reynard.
• first version in Middle Dutch in 13th century:                            Van den vos Reynaerde

the Ballad

Ballads, no matter which category they fall into, mostly rely on simple and easy-to-understand language, or dialect from its origin. Stories about hardships, tragedies, love, and romance are standard ingredients of the ballad. 

Ballads seldom offer a direct message about a certain event, character, or situation. It is left to the audience to deduce the moral of the story from the whole narration.

Romance

Etymologically, romance comes from Anglo-Norman and Old French romanz, which means a story of chivalry and love. The word “romance” also refers to romantic love. As far as literature in concerned, the term has an entirely a different concept. It means romantic stories with chivalrous feats of heroes and knights. Romance describes chivalry and courtly love, comprising stories and legends of duty, courage, boldness, battles, and rescues of damsels in distress.

Courtly Love

Medieval literature includes several examples of courtly love. Sir Lancelot expresses this kind of love for Lady Guinevere in Arthurian legend, though he breaks the rules and takes Guinevere for his own.

 In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Knight's Tale, this type of love is depicted.

Medieval hero

The ideal hero became the knight who combined courage and strength with gentlemanly behaviour and good looks. He treated ladies (his own lady in particular), but also his enemies, with respect.

Knights were known for their masterful skills with horses. A knight's code of conduct included: mercy, humility, honor, sacrifice, faithfulness, courage, utmost graciousness and courtesy toward women. www.medievaltimes.com

So, ....

Middle English literature usually features clergy and nobility. Women were depicted as beautiful, pious ladies who (in a platonic way) inspired brave knights to go on quests and perform heroic deeds.

But, who are missing in this picture?

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) is the most famous poet from the Middle English period. He was a courtier and was sent on diplomatic missions in Europe. Later in life he also worked for the government. 

He wrote poetry and was well-respected.

The Canterbury Tales

• link-in-frame story
• Thomas Becket's tomb in Canterbury Cathedral
• unfinished
• General Prologue
• 29 pilgrims from all walks of life
• Original plan: 29 x 4 stories
• Decamerone (Giovanni Boccaccio) > 100 stories

Chaucer's long poem follows the journey of a group of pilgrims, 31 including Chaucer himself, from the 

Tabard Inn in Southwark to St Thomas à Becket's shrine at Canterbury Cathedral. The host at the inn 

suggests each pilgrim tell two tales on the way out and two on the way home to help while away their 

time on the road. The best storyteller is to be rewarded with a free supper on their return.

 

This literary device gives Chaucer the opportunity to paint a series of vivid word portraits of a cross-section of his society, from a knight and prioress, to a carpenter and cook; a much-married wife of Bath, to a bawdy miller – an occupation regarded in Chaucer's day as shifty and dishonest.

 

Chaucer mixes satire and realism in lively characterisations of his pilgrims. The tone of their tales ranges from pious to comic, with humour veering between erudite wit and good honest vulgarity. Taken together, the tales offer a fascinating insight into English life during the late 14th century.

Chaucer's original plan was for over 100 stories, but only 24 were completed, some of which had already been written for earlier works. Their order varies in different surviving copies, the Hengwrt manuscript being valued most for its accuracy.

Satire: The Monk

The Monk is one of the many figures in the General Prologue 

connected with the church. Monks were supposed to live 

inside a monastery, devoting their lives wholly to the service of God.

The monastery with its fields and gardens  provided the monks with all that they needed, and their day was to be divided between prayer and meditation. Chaucer's Monk is an 'outridere', whose duty it was to look after the monastic estates. Occasionally his job took him outside the monastery....

www.librarius.com

Chaucer criticizing the church

The Monk is rebellious, ignores rules, and lives and controls his own life. 

He hunts hares and rides horses instead of studying, praying, and working. He does not follow the rules of the monastery which say that monks should not hunt, be reckless, nor leave the monastery.

The Wife of Bath

• gold digger
• 5 marriages
• enjoys sex

women were meant to be chaste. They were not to experience sexual pleasure.

There was a housewife come from Bath, or near,
Who—sad to say—was deaf in either ear.
At making cloth she had so great a bent
She bettered those of Ypres and even of Ghent.
Her kerchiefs were of finest weave and ground;(5)
I dare swear that they weighed a full ten pound
Which, of a Sunday, she wore on her head.
Her hose were of the choicest scarlet red,
Close gartered, and her shoes were soft and new.
Bold was her face, and fair, and red of hue.(10)

She’d been respectable throughout her life,
With five churched husbands bringing joy and strife,
Not counting other company in youth;
But thereof there’s no need to speak, in truth.
Three times she’d journeyed to Jerusalem;(15)
And many a foreign stream she’d had to stem;
At Rome she’d been, and she’d been in Boulogne,
In Spain at Santiago, and at Cologne.
.

            

She could tell much of wandering by the way:
Gap-toothed was she, it is no lie to say.(20)
Upon an ambler easily she sat,
Well wimpled, aye, and over all a hat
As broad as is a buckler or a targe,
A rug was tucked around her buttocks large,
And on her feet a pair of spurs quite sharp.(25)
In company well could she laugh and carp.
The remedies of love she knew, perchance,
For of that art she’d learned the old, old dance

Assignment Canterbury Tale

Step 1: Choose two characters and their respective tales.

You can choose from the following tales (which are the most popular ones):

- Wife of Bath's Tale

- The Knight's Tale

- The Miller's Tale

- The Reeve's Tale

- The Nun's Priest's Tale

(or any other)

Step 2: Answer the following questions:

•  What is typical or a-typical of the characters with regard to the customs of the Middle English period?
•  What is theme/message of their tales?
•  Why do you think the characters are telling these particular stories?

E.g. it is rather remarkable that the Wife of Bath had been married 5 times already and talks of 'rape' in her story. This may suggest feminism avant la lettre... 

TIP: Check the General Prologue for this element!

www.sparknotes.com