MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE: 1066–1500

ALEXEI CHIRDEACHIN, PHD, AS.PROF.

 INTRODUCTION

 After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the written form of the Anglo-
Saxon language became less common. Under the influence of the new aristocracy,
French became the standard language of courts, parliament, and polite society. As
the invaders integrated, their language and literature mingled with that of the
natives, and the Norman dialects of the ruling classes became Anglo-Norman.
 From then until the 12th century, Anglo-Saxon underwent a gradual transition
into Middle English. Political power was no longer in English hands, so that the
West Saxon literary language had no more influence than any other dialect and
Middle English literature was written in the many dialects that corresponded to
the region, history, culture, and background of individual writers.
 INTRODUCTION (CONT.)
 In this period religious literature continued to enjoy popularity and Hagiographies
were written, adapted and translated: for example, The Life of Saint Audrey,
Eadmer's (c. 1060 – c. 1126). At the end of the 12th century, Layamon in Brut
adapted the Norman-French of Wace to produce the first English-language work to
present the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It was also
the first historiography written in English since the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
 Middle English Bible translations, notably Wycliffe's Bible, helped to establish
English as a literary language. Wycliffe's Bible is the name now given to a group
of Bible translations into Middle English that were made under the direction of, or
at the instigation of, John Wycliffe. They appeared between about 1382 and 1395.
These Bible translations were the chief inspiration and cause of the Lollard
movement, a pre-Reformation movement that rejected many of the teachings of
 INTRODUCTION (CONT.)

 Another literary genre, that of Romances, appears in English from the 13th century, with King Horn and
Havelock the Dane, based on Anglo-Norman originals such as the Romance of Horn (ca. 1170), but it was
in the 14th century that major writers in English first appeared. These were William Langland, Geoffrey
Chaucer and the so-called Pearl Poet, whose most famous work is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
 Langland's Piers Plowman (written ca. 1360–87) or Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman (William's Vision of
Piers Plowman) is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem, written in unrhymed alliterative verse.
 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance. It is one of
the better-known Arthurian stories of an established type known as the "beheading game". Developing
from Welsh, Irish and English tradition, Sir Gawain highlights the importance of honour and chivalry.
Preserved in the same manuscript with Sir Gawayne were three other poems, now generally accepted as
the work of the same author, including an intricate elegiac poem, Pearl. The English dialect of these poems
from the Midlands is markedly different from that of the London-based Chaucer and, though influenced by
French in the scenes at court in Sir Gawain, there are in the poems also many dialect words, often of
Scandinavian origin, that belonged to northwest England.
 INTRODUCTION (CONT.)
 Middle English lasted until the 1470s, when the Chancery Standard, a London-based form of
English, became widespread and the printing press started to standardise the language. Chaucer is
best known today for The Canterbury Tales. This is a collection of stories written in Middle English
(mostly in verse although some are in prose), that are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a
group of pilgrims as they travel together from Southwark to the shrine of St Thomas Becket at
Canterbury Cathedral. Chaucer is a significant figure in the development of the legitimacy of the
vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were still
French and Latin.
 At this time, literature in England was being written in various languages, including Latin, Norman-
French, and English: the multilingual nature of the audience for literature in the 14th century is
illustrated by the example of John Gower (c. 1330 – October 1408). A contemporary of William
Langland and a personal friend of Chaucer, Gower is remembered primarily for three major works:
the Mirroir de l'Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis, three long poems written in Anglo-
Norman, Latin and Middle English respectively, which are united by common moral and political
themes.
 INTRODUCTION (CONT.)
Significant religious works were also created in the 14th century,
including those of Julian of Norwich (ca. 1342 – ca. 1416) and
Richard Rolle. Julian's Revelations of Divine Love (about 1393) is
believed to be the first published book written by a woman in the
English language.
A major work from the 15th century is Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir
Thomas Malory, which was printed by Caxton in 1485. This is a
compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances, and
was among the earliest books printed in England. It was popular and
influential in the later revival of interest in the Arthurian legends.
 WRITERS FROM THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD. ANONYMOUS
 Many of the works of literature from the Middle English period are anonymous and
obviously the authors are not listed here. There are anthologies of Middle English literature in
which the works in question – or extracts of these – are to be found, e.g The Owl and the
Nightingale, The Fox and the Wolf (both poems in the popular ‘debate’ genre, from the late
12th century and early 13th century respectively), The Bestiary (a set of animnal descriptions
in verse which survives in an East Midland manuscript) and the Poema Morale (an early
Middle English work).
 Verse romances are also found in the Middle English period, e.g. King Horn (mid 13th
century) and The Lay of Havelock the Dane (late 13th century), both tales of adventure with
sub-plots concerning love. Other works one might mention are The South English Legendary
(a collection of saints lives and events in verse form), the Acrene Wisse (a guide for closed-
order nuns, cf. modern English anchorite, anchoress ‘reclusive monk or nun’), Cursor Mundi
(a history of the world), see Laʒamon and Trevisa below for other examples of this genre.
 ROGER BACON , WILLIAM CAXTON

 Bacon, Roger (1214?-1294) English philosopher and scientist. Bacon is one of the most prominent
figures in 13th century scholastic philosophy. He was born in Somerset and educated at Oxford and
Paris. On his return from Paris he became a Franciscan and carried out much experimental research
in natural science and in his Opus majus ‘Major work’ he expounded on all branches of knowledge
accessible at the time including grammar and logic along with mathematics and moral philosophy.
 Caxton, William (c.1422-1491) [Early Modern Period] A merchant and later a writer who set up the
first printing press in England in 1476. A few years earlier Caxton had visited Cologne where he
acquired his knowledge in the technique of printing and returned to England via Belgium to apply
this new art. He established his base at Westminster and during his career as publisher produced more
than 90 editions of well-known and lesser known authors. Among the former are Chaucer
(Canterbury tales), Gower (Confessio amantis), Malory (Morte d’Arthur). Caxton himself prepared
some translations of works in Latin and French. He is also famous for the prefaces which he wrote to
his editions and which are revealing documents of literary attitudes in late 15th century England.
 GEOFFREY CHAUCER

 Chaucer, Geoffrey (c.1340-1400) [literary writing] The major poet of England in the late Middle Ages and the most significant
writer before Shakespeare. Born and educated in London, Chaucer served in the court and the army and went abroad on diplomatic
missions. His oeuvre can be divided into three periods, an early one based on French models, such as the Roman de la rose, and
which contains the allegorical Book of the duchess (1369). The second period lasted to about 1387 and is characterised by his use
of Italian models above all Dante and Boccaccio. The main works of this period are The house of fame, which concerns the
adventures of Aeneas after the fall of Troy, The parliament of fowls, a story about the mating of birds on St. Valentine’s Day, The
legend of good women (an unfinished work on classical heroines and Troilus and Criseyde, for which he drew on Boccaccio.
 Geoffrey Chaucer is known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages.
Among his many works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde.
He is best known today for The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer's work was crucial in legitimising the literary use of the Middle English
vernacular at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.
 Chaucer's first major work, The Book of the Duchess, was an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster (who died in 1368). It is possible that
this work was commissioned by her husband John of Gaunt, as he granted Chaucer a £10 annuity on 13 June 1374. This would
seem to place the writing of The Book of the Duchess between the years 1368 and 1374. Two other early works by Chaucer were
Anelida and Arcite and The House of Fame. Chaucer wrote many of his major works in a prolific period when he held the job of
customs comptroller for London (1374 to 1386). His Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde
all date from this time.
 GEOFFREY CHAUCER. THE CANTERBURY TALES
 It is believed that in the early 1380s he started the work for which he is best known – The Canterbury
Tales, a collection of stories told by fictional pilgrims on the road to the cathedral at Canterbury; tales
that would help to shape English literature.
 The Canterbury Tales contrasts with other literature of the period in the naturalism of its narrative, the
variety of stories the pilgrims tell and the varied characters who are engaged in the pilgrimage. Many of
the stories narrated by the pilgrims seem to fit their individual characters and social standing, although
some of the stories seem ill-fitting to their narrators, perhaps as a result of the incomplete state of the
work.
 Chaucer drew on real life for his cast of pilgrims: the innkeeper shares the name of a contemporary
keeper of an inn in Southwark, and real-life identities for the Wife of Bath, the Merchant, the Man of
Law and the Student have been suggested. The many jobs that Chaucer held in medieval society—page,
soldier, messenger, valet, bureaucrat, foreman and administrator—probably exposed him to many of the
types of people he depicted in the Tales. He was able to shape their speech and satirise their manners in
what was to become popular literature among people of the same types.
 CHAUCER'S WORKS GROUPING
1. Chaucer's works are sometimes grouped into first a French period, then an Italian
period and finally an English period, with Chaucer being influenced by those
countries' literatures in turn.
2. Troilus and Criseyde is a middle period work with its reliance on the forms of
Italian poetry, little known in England at the time, but to which Chaucer was
probably exposed during his frequent trips abroad on court business. In addition,
its use of a classical subject and its elaborate, courtly language sets it apart as one
of his most complete and well-formed works. In Troilus and Criseyde Chaucer
draws heavily on his source, Boccaccio, and on the late Latin philosopher
Boethius. However, it is The Canterbury Tales, wherein he focuses on English
subjects, with bawdy jokes and respected figures often being undercut with
humour, that has cemented his reputation.
 CHAUCER’S TRANSLATIONS
 Chaucer also translated such important works as Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and The
Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris (extended by Jean de Meun).
 However, while many scholars maintain that Chaucer did indeed translate part of the text of
Roman de la Rose as The Romaunt of the Rose, others claim that this has been effectively
disproved.
 Many of his other works were very loose translations of, or simply based on, works from
continental Europe. It is in this role that Chaucer receives some of his earliest critical praise.
 Eustache Deschamps wrote a ballade on the great translator and called himself a "nettle in
Chaucer's garden of poetry".
 In 1385 Thomas Usk made glowing mention of Chaucer, and John Gower, Chaucer's main poetic
rival of the time, also lauded him. This reference was later edited out of Gower's Confessio
Amantis and it was suggested by one editor that this was done because of ill feeling between
them, but it is likely due simply to stylistic concerns.
 MILES COVERDALE, ROBERT GLOUCESTER, JOHN GOWER

 Coverdale, Miles (c. 1488-1569) [religious writing] One of the main translators of the Bible in
the 16th century. He was born in Yorkshire and studied in Cambridge and became bishop of
Exeter in his latter years. For much of his life he lived and worked in Germany, producing the
first complete Bible to be printed in English (1535) and worked with others on the Great Bible
of 1539.
 Gloucester, Robert (late 13th century) The author of a chronicle which can be dated to about
1300 and was written in the southern dialect. The chronicle consists of about 12,000 rhyming
couplets and is noted for comments on the political and linguistic state of England at the time,
with special refernece to the behaviour of the Normans in the country.
 Gower, John (c. 1330-1408) An English poet of courtly love who is remembered as the author
of the Confessio Amantis, a collection of exemplary tales (from both classical and medieval
sources) about courtly and Christian love. To judge by the language of this work, Gower was
from Kent.
 MARGERY KEMPE, LAƷAMON, WLLIAM LANGLAND

 Kempe, Margery (c. 1373- c.1439) An East Anglian women who is known to posterity from The Boke of Margery
Kempe. This is a text dictated by Kempe which recounts her religious experiences, including visions and
pilgrimages. Kempe had withdrawn from society and married life to became a religious recluse and dictated this
work – essentially her autobiography, the first in the English language – towards the end of her life, probably in
the 1420s. She knew Julian of Norwich and had travelled to meet her.
 Laʒamon A late 12th century author from Worcestershire who is known as the author of the Brut, a history of
Britain from the earliest times to his day. It contains information on early kings such as King Arthur and King
Lear. The language is that of the West Midlands and the poem is written in alliterative verse.
 Langland, William The supposed 14th century author of Piers Plowman, an allegorical poem on a variety of
religious themes written in simple language which could be understood by the laiety at its time. The poem can the
figure of the Dreamer who Langland is sometimes regarded as a veiled portrait of Langland himself. The
identification of William Langland as author rests on a reference to him in a manuscript of the poem held in the
library of Trinity College Dublin. Langland was probably from the West Midlands and the language of the poem
reflects West Midland usage in the Middle English period. Traditionally three versions – A, B and C – are
assumed and version B is often used as a reference version.
 THOMAS MALLORY, JOHN MANDEVILLE, ROBERT MANNING
 Mallory, Sir Thomas (c. 1405-1471) The author or at least compiler of Le Morte d”Arthur. Little definitive
information is known about him, though he was twice voted into Parliament and apparently was involved in
criminal behaviour during his life, something for which he was imprisoned a number of times; he is also
known to have been explicitly excluded from a number of pardons by Edward IV. Mallory wrote the Morte
at the end of his life. Le Morte d’Arthur is an account in prose of legendary Celtic King Arthur and the
Knights of the Round Table (based on previous French romances), a topic which had captured the
imagination of many writers then and since. The work was printed by William Caxton in 1485.
 Mandeville, Sir John (mid 14th century) The Travels of Sir John Mandeville was an immensely popular
book of the 14th century which has survived in a couple of hundred manuscripts. The name ‘Sir John
Mandeville’ was probably adopted by a doctor form Liège called Jehan de Bourgogne who would have
written in French. Hence the English version is a translation though it is not known who prepared it. The
travels described in the book are entirely fictitious though they may be based on genuine travel descriptions
by other writers.
 Manning, Robert (c. 1298-1338) An English poet who is remembered for his didactic work Handling Sin,
itself an adaptation of a French-language original Manuel des péchés by William of Wadington.
 JULIAN OF NORWICH, WILLIAM OF OCCAM, ORRM, JOHN OF
TREVISA
 Norwich, Julian of (c. 1342- c. 1416) An English mystic of the 14th century. A near-death illness at the age of 30 led to a
series of visions which formed the basis for The Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love or simply The Revelations of
Divine Love, a devotional work which she wrote some 20 years later. The language is that of the East Midlands. Julian
(whose name is of uncertain origin) was the first woman in England to have a book published.
 Occam, William of (c.1285-1349) English philosopher and scholasticist. He was original in his teachings and writings
and represented a new turn in medieval philosophy. Occam was an adherent of nominalism — as opposed to realism,
supported by Thomas Aquinas — which maintained that universals do not exist in nature but only in the mind and in
language. The term Occam's Razor, which states that one should not assume more than is absolutely necessary, derives
from him. Occam denied the use of reason in matters of faith and was a precursor of later philosophers who separated
theology from philosophy.
 Orrm An English writer who flourished around 1200 and who wrote a religious work, known after him as the Orrmulum.
This is of interest to linguists as it shows the use of double consonants to indicate short vowels, a practice which was an
innovation at the time.
 Trevisa, John of (c. 1350 1402) A writer from Cornwall known for his translation of the Polychronicon by Ranulf
Higden – a history of the world – from the Latin original. He also translated De Proprietatibus Rerum an encylopedia of
science by Bartholomew de Glanville. Both translations were widely known in the 15th century and were later printed.
 JOHN WYCLIFFE, WILLIAM TYNDALE
 Wycliffe, John (?-1384) Wycliffe is known as an early reformer in the Catholic church,
one of the pre-Reformation figures who foreshadowed the reforms by Luther in the early
16th century. Between 1380 and 1384 Wycliffe, together with his followers, was
responsible for producing a translation of the Bible (deriving from the Latin version of
St.Jerome). Wycliffe’s style is close to the original and the version contains a large
number of Latin loans.
 Tyndale, William (c.1492-1536) English scholar and clergyman, an early translator of the
Bible into English. Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire and studied in Oxford. He was
one of the early converts to Protestantism, moving from London to Worms, Germany
where his translation of the New Testament was printed (1524-5). While in Antwerp he
was betrayed to Catholic officials and was subsequently put to death. In keeping with his
attitudes, his style of translation was simple and direct and this won his work much
popularity.