Topic 43: Oral transmission of medieval literature: The Arthurian legend. G. Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales

Which event marks the beginning of the Medieval Age in England?

The Medieval Age ranged from 1066 to 1500, marked by the Norman Conquest following the victory of William, Duke of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings

Languages in Medieval England

• French (ruling class): social and cultural prestige, technical language on ocassion

• Latin (clergy): religion and learning

• English (populace): vernacular

Why did the English language survive the Norman conquest?

• The pre-conquest old English vernacular was strongly established

• Almost immediately after the conquest intermarriages started. After that, both cultures lived together

• In John’s kingdom, Norman-Englishmen who had possessions in France and England were forced to declare allegiance to one England or France, thus close contact with the continent was lost

Periods of English Literature throughout the Middle Ages

• First period (1066-1250)

• Second period (1250-1350)

• Third period (1350-1400)

First period of Medieval English Literature

• From 1066 to 1250, two main types of literary production

• Religious works in Latin to represent God’s will. Represented the Bible, to spread the word of God to a wider public

• Literature aimed at higher social classes (all belonging to French nobility). Written in French, language of love and romance (main topics). As French noblemen (now English) were the only ones who could afford to pay writers and poets, most of the literature is in French

Second Period of Medieval English Literature (1250-1350)

• Gathers most of the religious literature of the time

• Written in Latin

• English becomes the language of upper middle class, therefore religious literature broadens to accommodate their tastes, becoming a topic of pleasure and entertainment

Third period of Medieval English Literature (1350-1400)

• Individual writers emerge (such as Chaucer and Langland)

• Peak of English literature in the Middle Ages

• England was introduced to the cultural mainstream of the continent

• Because only the upper classes knew how to read and write, most of the population relied on oral transmission. Literature at this point was made to be listened to, rather than being read. This influenced how it was written (simple language, rhymes)

Literary origin of the Arthurian Legend

Birthed by Geoffrey Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (1135), who created the Arthurian legend by means of a wonderful historical romance

Historic origin of the Arthurian Legend

• According to historian Gildas, there was a Romanised Celtic chieftain called Ambrosius Aureliano who became a Celtic hero against the Saxon

• Another British author, Nennius, talking about the same story mentions a man called Arthur who earned 12 victories against the Saxons

Influences of the Arthurian Legend

• The chanson de geste, a medieval narrative which represented an epic poem that appeared in French literature, slowly changed into romances of chivalry, as part of the rise of feudalism and the establishment of English nobility after the French conquest

  • Knightly duty to serve God and the King

Geoffrey Chaucer (Life)

• Born 1343 died 1400

• Sent to early schooling to St Paul’s Almonry

• Became a page in the household of the Countess of Ulster, mentioned in their accounts

• In 1359 was sent to France as a soldier during the Hundred Year’s War. He was captured and ransomed the following year

• In 1367 he was taken into service by the royal family, often sent away on King’s business, often to France and some to Italy. These were crucial for his development as a writer, as they gave him the opportunity to discover Italian and French literature, particularly the works of Dante and Boccaccio

• Knew how to read in Latin, French, Anglo-Norman and Italian

• Learned contemporary sciences (astronomy, medicine, physics and alchemy)

• In regards to Humanities, he was influenced by Ovid, Seneca, Cicero, Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch

• Buried in Westminster Abbey

Chaucer’s periods

• French Period

• Italian Period

• English Period

Chaucer’s French Period

• Translation of the Roman de la Rose (probably the most influential of French poems in the Middle Ages)

• The Book of the Duchess written to commemorate the death of Blanche, wife to John of Gaunt

• The Parliament of Fowls, perhaps the first celebration of St. Valentine’s Day. Love considered in its philosophical, social, poetic and erotic aspects

• Rhyme Royal, a stanza form that Chaucer used in many of his compositions. It is made of seven lines with a scheme of the pattern ababbcc, an adaptation of a French ballade stanza. This also influenced other writers of the time

  • The name of Rhyme Royale could be derived from its formality, more likely because it was used by King James I of Scotland in his love poem The Kingis Quaire

• Strong influence from French poets

Chaucer’s Italian Period

• The House of Fame, disputed by some scholars as to whether it belongs to the French or Italian period. It deals with Italian themes within a French framework

• Troilus and Criseyde, sourced from Boccaccio but altering the main characters, inserting dialogue and changing the rhythm

• The Legend of Good Women, 19 stories about faithful women. He stopped writing it after the death of the addressee, devoting himself to his new project, The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer’s English Period (influences, themes)

• Not known where exactly from Chaucer derived his influence, but there are traces of Boccaccio’s Decameron (rich people in the countryside telling stories to distract themselves when the plague hits)

• In the Prologue Chaucer intended that each of the thirty or so pilgrims should tell two stories on the way there and two on the way back, but he never finished the project (posibly never even revised it)

• Themes include love, justice, relations between men and women and proper conduct of life, woven into the tales granting them cohesion in more subtle ways

• The pilgrimage was to the Canterbury Cathedral, where Thomas à Becket was murdered and later canonised

Chaucer’s English Period

• The story begins when Harry Bailey, host of the Tabard Inn, proposes the story telling competition and appoints himself as leader. Chaucer’s pilgrims represent a wide range of social levels, ages and occupations, gathered there by chance

• They have little in common except for the goal of their pilgrimage, and many disputes break out among them, storytelling developing seemingly out of its own volition

• The Canterbury Tales has the semblance of realism because it is based on real events, and also because of Chaucer’s ability to replicate colloquial speech in his characters’ dialogues. He positions himself as another storyteller, merely reporting that which he sees and hears

• The tales almost seem dramatic soliloquies, their portraits in the General Prologue, their actions and speeches are so interwoven that one piece cannot be fully understood in isolation from one another

• This is also true for the structure of the tales, in which some function as part of arguments and debates, each used to express one of the viewpoints of the characters or a common issue