5VMiddleEnglish

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5V Middle English

Outline

Recap Battle of Hastings

Feudal system

Domesday Book

Middle English language: Anglo-Norman

Middle English literature: courtly love, romance literature

Great vowel shift

Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales

Battle of Hasting

14 October 1066

King Harold Godwinson is killed

 William, duke of Normandy → William the Conqueror

King William I

 (crowned on Christmas Day 1066).

What happened to Anglo-saxon language after the Norman conquest?

Feudal system

Explain the feudal system

Who in the Anglo-Norman society spoke French?

Who in the Anglo-Norman society spoke Latin?

Who in the Anglo-Norman society spoke English?

Courtly love & romance literature

Code of honour

Examples: Sir Lancelot & Lady Guinevere

King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table

What does "courtly love" mean? Include chivalry, honour, and arranged marriages in your answer

Sir Gawain & the Green Knight

Main characters: Sir Gawain, Green Knight

Plot: King Arthur's court, queeste

Important: chivalry

Magic: Green Knight, green girdle

Explain why Sir Gawain and the Green Knight can be viewed as "romance literature"

Give a short summary of Gawain and the Green Knight

Great Vowel shift

The Middle English language evolved into Modern English in a process called the Great Vowel Shift (abt. 1450-1550). In this process, the pronunciation of most long vowels changed.

Great Vowel Shift

Examples:

date in Middle English [a:] (similar to modern dart);

feet was [e:](similar to modern fate);

wipe was [i:] (similar to modern weep);

boot was [o:] (similar to modern boat);

house was [u:] (similar to modern whose).

What happened with the long vowels during the Great Vowel Shift?

Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer filled an important position at the court of Richard II and travelled to the Low Countries and Italy.

Here he became acquainted with the works of the writer Boccaccio.

Chaucer is partly responsible for the London Middle English dialect becoming the source of Modern English.

Geoffrey Chaucer

Most important work:

The Canterbury Tales (1387 – 1400):

frame story (“raamvertelling”) after the Italian Decamerone: a number of stories linked by a framework (“raamwerk”).

Framework: pilgrimage from London to the grave of St. Thomas à Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. Thomas was murdered in front of the altar in 1170.

Introduction: The Canterbury Tales

1) A number of stories linked by a framework (“raamwerk”).

2) Framework: pilgrimage from London to the grave of St. Thomas à Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. Thomas was murdered in front of the altar in 1170.

 

Introduction: The Canterbury Tales

Pilgrims come from all walks of life and present a cross-section of 14th century England: nobility, clergy, third estate (or “common people”)

They hold a competition telling stories to pass the time while travelling to Canterbury.
 

Introduction: The Canterbury Tales

There are two parts:

-General Prologue: introduction and description of all the pilgrims;

-The 22 Tales, which are all very different, each fitting with its narrator:

Examples:

The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Tale

Introduction: The Canterbury Tales

Focus on From the General Prologue: The Squire

                                                                               The Wife of Bath

                                                                                Miller's tale

What is the general prologue describing?

General prologue

1)  Pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral > relics martyr of Thomas Beckett

2) 29 pilgrims (inc. Chaucer)

3) Host > Harry Bailey

4) Location Tabard Inn

5) Competition > 4 stories in total

     Prize > free meal upon their return

     Draw sticks > knight draws the shortest one, so he starts first

6) Description of spring (pagan)

7) Estate satire > satire on the different classes in society

     Prologue keeps everything together + provides an overview of pilgrims

In class

Go to classroom/take OE+ME reader

Read prologue on The Squire

Page 8

What did you notice after read the prologue on The Squire

Give a brief description of the squire. Include nobility, clergy or peasantry in your answer

General prologue: The Squire

• Knight's son
• focused on courtly love & romance
• Medieval bachelor
• Dress: rings, lavish clothing
• Carefree
• Personality: humble, polite, and helpful

In class

Go to classroom/take OE+ME reader

Read prologue on The Wife of Bath

Page 9 + 10

What is the social class of the Wife of Bath?

Describe the personality traits of the Wife of Bath

General prologue: The Wife of Bath

• Bath is an English town on the Avon River
  
• Seamstress
  
• Expert on marriage
  
• Married 5 times
  
• Loves marriage and being physical
  
• Indirect characterization: Takes pleasure in rich attire, talking, and arguing
  
• Deaf in one ear
  
• Gap between her front teeth (This was considered attractive in Chaucer’s time)
  
• She has traveled on pilgrimages to Jerusalem three times and elsewhere in Europe as well

Next time: The Canterbury tales

Plot/overview

General prologue: Squire

General prologue: The Wife of Bath

The Miller's Tale