Middle English V5

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

Old English >>> Middle English

450 - 1066 AD >>> 1066 - 1500 AD

Today's schedule

- recap Old English

- timeline Middle English

- literary genres & highlights

- most prominent writers

- personal experience

What do you remember from Old English?

Anglo-Saxon Britain

- Different small kingdoms

- Wars between the kingdoms 

- Viking invasions and Danelaw

- development of Old English also known as Anglo-Saxon English

- Beowulf, the epic poem

Migration of the Peoples

Middle Ages

The Middle English Period: 1066-1500

The Middle English Period

• 1066-1485: (later) Medieval England
• The Norman Conquest 
• Social change: the feudal system
• A long war in France: the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)
• A bloody war at home: the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485)
• 1485: beginning of the Tudor Period
• Linguistic change: a new language

William the Conqueror

Norman Conquest

Middle English (1) - History

• 1066 - c. 1300: two languages side by side
• Norman French: language of court, government, the law and trade
• Old English: language of the common people (peasants, townspeople)
• the two slowly merge into one language
• c. 1300: Middle English
• c. 1480: towards (Early) Modern English

English - Lots of “French” influences:​

- Germanic endings were lost​

- About 10.000 French words were added ​

- Aristocracy spoke French (beef instead of cow)​

- Pronunciation changed​

Grammar changed (f.e. word order)

Which language was spoken at court?

1. French
2. English
3. Latin

feudal system

the Nobility 

the Clergy - Church

the Commoners

Literature

- ballads: story in simple language about betrayal, lost love, revenge and death. Short sentences and repetition

- romances: an English-language story about chivalrous adventures and romantic love, in verse form

Literature

Sir Patrick Spens - Unknown Arthur

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - unknown author

The Canterbury Tales (Wife of Bath) - Geoffrey Chaucer

Sir Patrick Spens

- Ballad about the loss of a ship full of nobles returning from a royal wedding in Norway in 1281

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

- Celebrated Romance - Late 14th century

- Lifestyle of the French aristocracy and French romances

- The story is derived largely from French Arthurian tales

- About a knight dressed in Green who challenges Arthur's knights, and Sir Gawain is willing to take up the challenge

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

 

For he was clad all in green, with a straight coat, and a mantle above; all decked and lined with fur was the cloth and the hood that was thrown back from his locks and lay on his shoulders. Hose had he of the same green, and spurs of bright gold with silken fastenings richly worked; and all his vesture was verily green. Around his waist and his saddle were bands with fair stones set upon silken work, 'twere too long to tell of all the trifles that were embroidered thereon–birds and insects in gay gauds of green and gold.

The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)

“The Father of English Literature”​

- He wrote in the vernacular, the speech of the common people​

- Chaucer in the film A Knight’s Tale: pay attention to the way he talks, how he plays with words and what he says!

The Canterbury Tales 

The framing device for the collection of stories is a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury, Kent. The 30 pilgrims who undertake the journey gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, across the Thames from London. They agree to engage in a storytelling contest as they travel, and Harry Bailly, host of the Tabard, serves as master of ceremonies for the contest. 

The Wife of Bath's Tale

The tale concerns a knight accused of rape, whose life shall be spared if in one year he discovers what women most desire. He eventually turns to an ugly old witch who promises him the answer that will save his life if he will do the first thing she asks of him. The answer—that it is “maistrie,” or sovereignty over men, that women desire—is accepted in court, and the witch then demands that the knight marry her. In bed she asks him if he would wish her ugly yet faithful or beautiful and faithless. He insists the choice must be hers. This concession of her mastery restores her youth and beauty, and they live happily ever after.

Sir Patrick Spens is a

1. play
2. romance
3. ballad
4. song

The Canterbury Tales

1. was all written in French
2. is a frame story
3. is a good representation of commoners only
4. was written by the Archbishop of Canterbury

Personal experience

- courteous love such as in A Knight's Tale

- influences of all the different languages on the English language

Sources

• Anonymous, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Trans. Jessie Weston, https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/weston-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight . Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 13 October 2022.

• Anonymous, Sir Patrick Spens, The Guardian: poem of the week. Poem of the week: Sir Patrick Spens | Poetry | The Guardian, retrieved from the World Wide Web on 13 October 2022.

• Augustyn, Adam. The Canterbury Tales: work by Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales | Summary, Characters, & Facts | Britannica, retrieved from the World Wide Web on 13 Oktober 2022.

• The Middle Ages – English version, Alquin: Literature, pp.18-

• Kuiper, Kathleen. The Canterbury Tales: work by Chaucer, The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Wife of Bath’s Tale | story by Chaucer | Britannica, retrieved from the World Wide Web on 13 October, 2022.