ENGLISH LITERATURE

OF NORMAN INVASION
Dr. hab., professor
Oksana Babelyuk
• Norman Conquest is the military
conquest of England by William,
duke of Normandy, by his decisive
victory at the Battle of Hastings
(October 14, 1066). It resulted in
profound political, administrative,
and social changes in the British Isles
 THE MAIN PRELIMINARIES OF THE
CONQUEST

• The conquest was the final act of

complicated drama that had
begun years earlier, in the reign
of Edward the Confessor, last king
of the Anglo-Saxon royal line
 NORMAN INVASION
1066 – Battle of Hastings
last king of the Anglo-Saxon royal line
was involved in a childless marriage
used his lack of an heir as
a diplomatic tool promising the throne
to different parties (Harold Godwinson, later Harold I
the powerful earl of Wessex).
 had almost designated
William, duke of Normandy,
Edward the Confessor
as his successor in 1051
 NORMAN INVASION
 was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon
king of England
 Edward the Confessor promised
him the throne
 reigned from 6 January 1066
until his death at the Battle of Hastings
(October 14, 1066)

Harold Godwinson
 NORMAN INVASION

 was Duke of Normandy from

1035 onward
 had won the Battle of Hastings
 was reigning from 1066 until his
death in 1087

William the Conqueror

 THE ESSENCE OF THE CONFLICT
• Harold’s brother, and Harald III Hardraade, king
of Norway, also had designs on the throne and
threatened invasion. Among these conflicting
claims, Edward from his deathbed named Harold
his successor on January 5, 1066, and Harold
was crowned king the following day. However,
Harold’s position was compromised because in
1064 he had sworn an oath, in William’s
presence, to defend William’s right to the throne.
 THE POLITICAL CONDITIONS OF THE
CONQUEST
• Before William arrived, however,
Harald III and Tostig invaded in the
north
• Harold hastened to Yorkshire, where
at Stamford Bridge (September 25)
he won a smashing victory in which
both Harald III and Tostig perished
 THE CONDITIONS OF THE CONQUEST

• on the Continent, William had support for his

invasion from both the Norman aristocracy
and the papacy. By August 1066 he had a
force of 4,000–7,000 knights and foot
soldiers, but unfavourable winds delayed his
transports for eight weeks. Finally, on
September 27, while Harold was occupied in
the north, the winds changed, and William
crossed the Channel immediately
 THE INVASION
• Surprised by William at dawn on October 14, Harold drew
up his army on a ridge 10 miles (16 km) to the northwests.
Harold’s wall of highly trained infantry held firm in the face
of William’s mounted assault;
• As the battle continued, the English were gradually worn
down; late in the afternoon, Harold was killed (by an arrow
in his eye), and by nightfall the remaining English had
scattered and fled.
• William then made a sweeping advance to isolate London.
• He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day,
1066.
 CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONQUEST

• William’s victory destroyed England’s links

with Scandinavia, bringing the country into
close contact with the Continent, especially
France
• Inside England the most radical change was
the introduction of land tenure and military
service
 WILLIAM’S REFORMS
• William revolutionized the upper ranks of English
society by dividing the country among about 180
Norman tenants-in-chief and innumerable
intermediate tenants, all ruled by knight service.
• The result was the almost total replacement of
the English aristocracy with a Norman one.
• Similar changes took place in personnel among
the upper clergy and administrative officers.
• Anglo-Saxon England had developed a
highly organized central and local
government and an effective judicial
system (see Anglo-Saxon law). All these
were retained and utilized by William,
whose coronation oath showed his
intention of continuing in the English
royal tradition
• William also transformed the structure and
character of the church in England. He
replaced all the Anglo-Saxon bishops with
Norman bishops. He also replaced Anglo-
Saxon abbots with Norman ones and by
importing numerous monks
• He also supported Lanfranc’s claims for the
primacy of Canterbury in the English church
the most regrettable effect of the conquest

• was the total eclipse of English as

the language of literature, law, and
administration in official documents
by Latin and then by Anglo-Norman.
Written English hardly reappeared
until the 13th century
 Medieval Latin
• Medieval Latin had an enlarged
vocabulary, which freely borrowed from
other sources.
• It was influenced by the language of the
Vulgate, which contained many
peculiarities alien to Classical Latin that
resulted from direct translation from
Greek and Hebrew
the main
Medieval Latin
the working
medium of language of
scholarly science,
exchange literature

Latin
the working
the liturgical
language of
language of
law and
the Church
administration
 MEDIEVAL CHRONICLES

• Chronicle is a usually continuous historical

account of events arranged in order of time
without analysis or interpretation.

• The word is from the Middle English cronicle,

which is thought to have been derived from
the Greek chrónos, “time.”
 MEDIEVAL CHRONICLES

• the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

• Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum
Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain)
• Andrew of Wyntoun’s Orygynale Cronykil
• Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England,
Scotland, and Ireland
 ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE
Started under the patronage
of King Alfred
From the 9th century and
continued until the 12th century
Nine manuscripts survive
in whole or in part
The oldest seems to have been
started towards the end of Alfred's reign
The most recent was written
at Peterborough Abbey after 1116
THE MEDIEVAL CHIVALRIC LITERATURE

• Chivalric romance is a type of prose

or verse narrative that was popular
in the aristocratic circles of High
Medieval and Early Modern Europe
(from the 12th century onwards).

• They typically describe the adventures

of quest-seeking, legendary knights
who are portrayed as having heroic
qualities.
 Romance
• Historically, “romance” derives from the Medieval French
romanz/s referring to a work written in the vernacular rather
than in Latin. The romans first appeared in France in the 12th
century and applied to both verse and prose, and from the
beginning were associated with adventure tales (e.g. the
chivalric poems of Chretien de Troyes 1135?-1183?, or the
Roman de Troie or Roman de Thebes, between 1155 and
1180).
 Chivalric romance
• literary scholars generally use the term to refer to an early
modern form of the prosaroman that was widespread
throughout Europe.
• Such works were often based on medieval antecedents, being
prose reworkings of Arthurian and heroic epics (Heroic
poetry) (epics with Lancelot, Tristan, or Roland as
protagonists), but could also derive from other sources.
THE PLOT STRUUCTURE
The image of a chivalric knight
• the hero with impeccable grace and
courtesy, saving damsels in distress
while jousting for sport.
• The age of chivalry flourished
between a.d. 1100 and the beginning
of the 16 century.
 The chivalric code
• The chivalric code guides the
conduct of knights:
 Code of chivalry
• charged each knight with the defence of the
Church, his sovereign king, and the weak
and the poor.
• He was to be just and brave and highly
skilled in warfare.
• As a soldier of God, he must be sinless,
pious, and charitable.
• In time a knight’s duties would include the
safeguarding of women, which brought an
aura of romance to chivalry.
• By the time of the early crusades,
knighthood and chivalry were inseparably
bonded.
The legend of King Arthur and his knights of the Round
Table

•
King Arthur was a
legendary British leader
who, according to
medieval histories and
romances, led the defence
of Britain against Saxon
invaders in the late 5th
and early 6th centuries.
The details of Arthur's
story are mainly composed
of Welsh and English
folklore and literary
invention, and modern
historians generally agree
that he is unhistorical
 The Knights of the Round Table

The Knights of the Round Table

are the knights of the fellowship
of King Arthur in the literary cycle
of the Matter of Britain. First
appearing in literature in the mid-
12th century, the Knights are an
order dedicated to ensuring the
peace of Arthur's kingdom
following an early warring period,
entrusted in later years to
undergo a mystical quest for the
Holy Grail. The Round Table at
which they meet is a symbol of
the equality of its members, who
range from sovereign royals to
minor nobles.
Sources of chivalric literature
• Folklore and folktales
• Religious practices
• Medieval epic
• Contemporary society
• Classical origins
• Courtly love
 Features of chivalric romances
• The chivalric romance was vastly superior
to the courtesy book in part because of the
manner of its presentation. It contained
thrilling adventures of chivalric heroes and
consisted of engaging stories.
• The chivalric romance was intended to be
performed orally, often composed in the
vernacular languages.
• The nobles listened to the chivalric romances
because they weren’t prescriptive guides,
but instead were great stories that were
easily understood.
 Features
• Idealizes Chivalry (Code of Chivalry – hero-knights
abided by this code)
• Idealizes the noble hero-knight and his daring deeds
• Women are idealized and held in high regard by hero-
knight
• Imaginative, vast, fairytale like setting
• Mystery and supernatural elements abound
• Repetition of the magical numbers 3 and 7
• Tale involves a quest for love and/or adventure by
hero-knight
• Simple, predictable, inevitable plot
 Hero-Knight
• Birth of this hero is shrouded in mystery (as in
where, when…).
• He is reared away from his true home in ignorance of
his real parents.
• For a time, his true identity is unknown.
• After meeting an extraordinary challenge, he claims
his right. (He must overcome obstacles and
complete an adventure or specific tasks to claim his
hero status).
• His triumph benefits a nation or a group.
Cycles, characters and plot
Many romances were linked in cycles of thematic
tales based on the recognizable plot
e.g., "Constance cycle" or the "Crescentia cycle“

These stories were filled with adventure and

traditional roles of hero and villain.
Code of chivalry guided the behavior of the
heroes in these stories.
 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
(anonymous)
popular Arthurian story written in the late 14th century in Middle
English
• The story features two polar plot devices in Arthurian stories: the
beheading game and the exchange of winnings. The former refers to
a “game” in which two knights fight one another, exchanging blows
that could decapitate their opponent.
• It is a poem written in alliterative verse and utilizing the bob and
wheel technique (a group of typically five rhymed lines following a
section of unrhymed lines, often at the end of a strophe).
• It also uses many of the traditional elements of chivalric romance,
such as a focus on a hero’s quest and the hero’s moral character.
• The main character Gawain is a virtuous knight who accepts the
challenge from the Greek Knight. He tells Gawain that he can deliver
a blow now but will have to face a return hit from the Green Knight
in a year and a day.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
by Chrétien de Troyes
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart by Chrétien
de Troyes
• written in the 12th century in verse by Chrétien de Troyes.
• It tells the story of the abduction of Queen Guinevere and the
romance between her and Lancelot, typically depicted as King Arthur's
close companion and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table.
• The story also features information about Lancelot’s heritage and
helps to establish central character traits that stick with him
throughout the broader history of chivalric romances.
• One of the central themes is sin, particularly in the Christian tradition.
Lancelot becomes the lord of the castle Joyous Gard and personal
champion of Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere. But when his adulterous
affair with Guinevere is discovered, it causes a civil war that is
exploited by Mordred to end Arthur's kingdom.
• his character was expanded upon in other works of Arthurian
romance, especially the vast Lancelot-Grail prose cycle
 King Horn

• dates back to the middle of the

thirteenth century.
• The story was retold in later romances
and ballads, and is considered part of
the Matter of England
• The poem is currently believed to be the
oldest extant romance in Middle English.
'Le Morte D'Arthur' by Sir Thomas Malory

• is a French compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of traditional tales

about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the
Knights of the Round Table.
• Malory both interprets existing French and English stories about
these figures and also adds original material. First published in 1485
by William Caxton, Le Morte d'Arthur is perhaps the best-known
work of Arthurian literature in English.
• The Middle English of ‘Le Morte d'Arthur’ is much closer to Early
Modern English than the Middle English of Geoffrey Chaucer’s
‘Canterbury Tales’
Medieval prose romances
• Arthurian themes
The Arthurian prose romances arose out of the attempt, made
first by Robert de Boron in the verse romances Joseph
d’Arimathie, ou le Roman de l’estoire dou Graal and Merlin (c.
1190–1200), to combine the fictional history of the Holy Grail
with the chronicle of the reign of King Arthur. Robert gave his
story an allegorical meaning, related to the person and work of
Christ. A severe condemnation of secular chivalry and courtly
love characterize the Grail branch of the prose Lancelot-Grail, or
Vulgate, cycle as well as some parts of the post-Vulgate
“romance of the Grail” (after 1225); in the one case, Lancelot
(here representing fallen human nature) and, in the other, Balain
(who strikes the Dolorous Stroke) are contrasted with Galahad, a
type of the Redeemer. The conflict between earthly chivalry and
the demands of religion is absent from the Perlesvaus (after
1230?), in which the hero Perlesvaus (that is, Perceval) has
Christological overtones and in which the task of knighthood is
Medieval prose romances
• A 13th-century prose Tristan (Tristan de Léonois),
fundamentally an adaptation of the Tristan story to an
Arthurian setting, complicates the love theme of the original
with the theme of a love rivalry between Tristan and the
converted Saracen Palamède and represents the action as a
conflict between the treacherous villain King Mark and the
“good” knight Tristan.

• In the 14th century, when chivalry enjoyed a new vogue as a

social ideal and the great orders of secular chivalry were
founded, the romance writers, to judge from what is known of
the voluminous Perceforest (written c. 1330 and still
unpublished in its entirety), evolved an acceptable compromise
between the knight’s duty to his king, to his lady, and to God.
 Universality
• Romances of chivalry have a universal, timeless quality. The
adventures are variations on the eternal struggle between
good and evil, order and disorder, requited and unrequited
love, and happen in some vague time in the past (but after
the birth of Christ) and in exotic and distant places.
• The world depicted in these romances is unreal, a world in
which daily life is irrelevant, where action dominates
reflection and exaggeration rules (the hero is the best, the
greatest, the lady the most beautiful, the enemy the cruelest
etc.).
 Influence
• Fantastic fiction had many imitations
• Miguel de Cervantes ‘Don Quixote’ (1605, 1615)- a satirical story of an
elderly country gentleman, living in La Mancha province, who is so
obsessed by chivalric romances that he seeks to emulate their various
heroes
• Hudibras, an English mock-heroic narrative poem from the 17th century
written by Samuel Butler, lampoons the faded conventions of chivalrous
romance, from an ironic, consciously realistic viewpoint.
• John Dryden ‘The Indian Queen’ (1664), tragedy
• Restoration spectaculars
• Shakespeare's “The Winter’s Tale’ (1623)
• Thomas Lodge “Rosalynde”
• Gothic novels
• Fantasy genre – J.R.R. Tolkien, W, Morris, P.Anderson
 Conclusion
• The medieval chivalric romance is a literary genre of high
culture, heroic romance, written first in verse, then in
prose, and popular in the noble courts from the 12th to
the 16th centuries.
• Typically, it describes the adventures of legendary knights,
and celebrates an idealized code of civilized behaviour
that combines loyalty, honour, and courtly love.
• Chivalric romance featured such characteristics as over-
the-top heroes, adventurous plot lines, chivalric knights,
quests, and an emphasis on love and manners.
• Medieval chivalric romance played a crucial role in the
establishment of the genre of romance in English
literature.
 Research
• Chivalric romances : popular literature in medieval England.
by: Ramsey, Lee C., 1935-. Publication date: 1983.