6V Literature - Middle English

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

Middle English Period 1066-1500

A Survey of English Literature

2

Middle English

Middle English literature

The Middle English Period

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

The Norman Conquest

• 1066: the Battle of Hastings
• The Anglo-Saxons (King Harold) vs. the Normans (Duke William of Normandy)
• The Bayeux Tapestry
• England becomes a feudal state
• land - church - town
• nobles and serfs - clergymen - craftsmen and tradesmen

feudal system

The Bayeux Tapestry

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
• Doomsday Book (1086) - possessions, rights, duties of landowners and courts
• Magna Charta (Great Charter)- kind of lawbook that covered feudal rights and limits of king's authority

Middle English (2) - Characteristics

• Many regional dialects
• A merger of Old English and Norman French
• Basic vocabulary is (Old) English > words connected with the body and basic human needs
• Many French words imported into the language (language of court, law, government, trade)
• simplified grammar
• end 15th c. : a new standard language emerges: (early) Modern English

Middle English Literature

• Most works of art (including literature) were anymous
• One name stands out: Geoffrey Chaucer c. 1340 - 1400
  
• the father of English literature / the father of the English language
• A courtier and a diplomat (foreign travels)
• main work: The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

• Frame-story
• Group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury > the shrine of the martyr St. Thomas Becket
• A cross-section of medieval English society (nobility, clergy and commoners)
• A panorama of medieval life
• Examples of many medieval literary genres
• Remained incomplete at Chaucer's death

Medieval Drama

Mainly religious in character > gradually more and more secular (i.e. non-religious) elements are introduced

Medieval Drama

Mystery plays

• cycles of plays based on biblical stories
• performed by guilds on wagons (pageants)
• meant to be instructive as well as entertaining

Miracle plays

• on the lives and deaths of saints
  

Morality plays

Morality plays

Characteristics of medieval morality plays

• performed by travelling players
• allegorical (no real-life characters, but personified abstractions, like Beauty, Death, Virtue, Pride etc.
• instructive > teach a Christian moral lesson

Everyman

Most famous example in English: Everyman

• translation of a Dutch original: Elckerlyc
• typicallly Christian moral: man can only be saved by performing good deeds in life

Everyman

Everyman is a morality play, which details the life and death of the allegorical Everyman, who embodies all of humanity.

• Death warns Everyman that he will be judged by God when he dies.
  
• Terrified, Everyman turns to Fellowship (gemeenschap), but his friends desert him. Everyman then hopes that his Goods will comfort him, but his possessions also abandon him.


• Everyman eventually arrives in Heaven with the help of Kindness, Strength, Beauty, etc. , but he learns that only his Good Deeds will come with him. He'll be judged by his actions alone.

Note that the characters in the play are personifications of virtues or sins!

The Canterbury Tales

link-in-frame story (raamvertelling)

what does that mean?

What is the time span of the Middle English period?

1. 1066 - 1340
2. 1066 - 1485
3. 800 - 1066
4. 1340 - 1400

Which language was spoken at court?

1. French
2. English
3. Latin

Geoffrey Chaucer also goes by other names - which?

What are the three types of Medieval Drama?

Next lesson

• Discuss Beowulf exercises
• Read extracts of The Canterbury Tales and do assignments

Bring your notes, reader&workbook and survey!