Anglo-French/Medieval English Literature

Middle English Literature

 The Middle Ages is like no other period in The Norton Anthology of English Literature in terms of the time
span it covers.
 Caedmon's Hymn, the earliest English poem to survive as a text, belongs to the latter part of the seventh century.
 The morality play, Everyman, is dated “after 1485" and probably belongs to the early‐sixteenth century.
 In addition, for the Middle Ages, there is no one central movement or event such as the English Reformation,
the Civil War, or the Restoration around which to organize a historical approach to the period.
 The literary culture of the Middle Ages was far more international than national and was divided more by lines
of class and audience than by language.
 Latin was the language of the Church and of learning. After the eleventh century, French became the dominant
language of secular European literary culture.
 Edward, the Prince of Wales, who took the king of France prisoner at the battle of Poitiers in 1356, had culturally
more in common with his royal captive than with the common people of England.
 The legendary King Arthur was an international figure. Stories about him and his knights originated in Celtic
poems and tales and were adapted and greatly expanded in Latin chronicles and French romances even before
Arthur became an English hero.
KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE
Uther Pendragon, king of Britain, falls in love/ lust with Igraine, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. He goes to
war with Gorlois. Gorlois puts his wife in the castle of Tintagel to protect her, but Uther uses the arts of Merlin the
prophet/magician to change his appearance to Gorlois. He enters Tintagel disguised in this way, and sleeps with Igraine.
Arthur is conceived that night. When Gorlois is killed by Uther’s army, Uther then marries Igraine, and reveals to her
that he was the man she slept with on the night she conceived.
As he promised Merlin in exchange for his help, Uther delivers the baby Arthur to the magician. Merlin gives
the baby to Sir Ector, who raises Arthur along with his own son Kay.
When Uther dies, rival kings war over the throne. Merlin has everyone gather in London at Christmas, and a
sword, stuck through an anvil and into a stone, appears in a churchyard. Its hilt says that whoever draws it is the rightful
king.
Arthur, now a teenager, comes to London with Ector and Kay. Kay is newly knighted, and has come to
participate in the tournament. When he realizes that he has left Kay’s sword at the inn, Arthur rushes off to search for
another one. Seeing the sword in the stone, he draws it and gives it to Kay. Kay shows the sword to his father, who
recognizes what it means. He reveals to Arthur that he is not his true father.
Arthur repeatedly draws the sword from the stone when others cannot, so the people acclaim him as their king.
Some rival kings resist, however, and Arthur must defeat them before he is secure in his kingdom. He receives his sword
Excalibur from the lake.
Arthur then decides to marry. He chooses Guenevere, daughter of King Leodegrance. Merlin warns Arthur that
Guenevere will have an affair with Lancelot, but Arthur chooses to marry her anyway. Merlin leaves the story not long
afterwards, as he falls prey to a young enchantress who imprisons him forever under a rock.
Knights come from all over to join Arthur and his company of the Round Table. Many adventures for Arthur
and his court follow. Arthur resists the claims of Lucius, Emperor of Rome, for tribute, and defeats the Romans in
Europe before coming home; in some versions of the story, this is his final triumph, before Mordred usurps the throne.
In other versions of the story, there is still a lot that happens before the final battle: knights such as Lancelot, Gawain,
Tristan, and Gareth, among many others, have many adventures. Lancelot begins an affair with Guenevere.
One day a maiden appears at court and asks Lancelot to come with her. She takes him to a convent where he is
introduced to a beautiful young man, whom he dubs a knight. He returns to court, and shortly the young man, Galahad,
comes to court as well and sits in the “Siege Perilous,” a special seat at the Round Table destined for him. Galahad is
Lancelot's son, conceived by Elaine through deception (she made Lancelot think he was sleeping with Guenevere). The
Holy Grail (the cup of Christ) appears in the Arthurian court, and Gawain is the first to vow to undertake a quest to find
it. Galahad is the destined Grail knight, however: a knight must be pure (a virgin or chaste) to find the Grail. In the quest
that follows, only Galahad, Perceval, and Bors will succeed. Galahad finds the Grail escorting it to its new home, and
after a short time dies and goes to heaven. Lancelot is repeatedly told that his failures are due to his sin with
Guenevere,and he repents the relationship.
However, after the Grail quest has been completed, Lancelot resumes the affair. It is revealed through the malice
of Agravaine and Mordred. Mordred is, in some versions, Arthur’s illegitimate son by his half-sister. Lancelot escapes
but Guenevere is condemned to burn at the stake. Lancelot rescues her, killing some of his old comrades in the process.
Guenevere goes to a nunnery, and Lancelot withdraws to his own country. Mordred leads an army against Arthur. In
the final battle, almost everyone is killed; Arthur kills Mordred, but is mortally wounded himself. At Arthur’s request,
Bedivere returns Excalibur to the lake. A ship with three queens appears, to take Arthur away to Avalon. The legend
grows up that he will return one day; he is rex quondam rexque futurus, the once and future king.
Lancelot becomes a monk, and dies a holy man.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343- 1400)

 Chaucer was certainly familiar with poetry that had its roots in the Old English period.
 The name Chaucer is derived from the French word chaussier, meaning a maker of footwear. The family’s
financial success derived from wine and leather.
 He was the outstanding English poet before Shakespeare and <he first finder of our language.
 He read popular romances in Middle English, most of which derive from more sophisticated French and Italian
sources. But when he began writing in the 1360s and 1370s, he turned directly to French and Italian models as
well as to classical poets (especially Ovid).
 English poets in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries looked upon Chaucer and his contemporary John Gower
as founders of English literature, as those who made English a language fit for cultivated readers.
 In the Renaissance, Chaucer was referred to as the "English Homer." Spenser called him the "well of English
undefiled."
 His The Canterbury Tales ranks as one of the greatest poetic works in English.
 He also contributed importantly in the second half of the 14th century to the management of public affairs as
courtier, diplomat, and civil servant.
 In that career he was trusted and aided by three successive kings Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV. But it is
his avocation the writing of poetry4for which he is remembered.