THE MIDDLE AGES

The Middle Ages: The Beginning of English Literature

Overview of the Middle Ages

  • The Middle Ages spans from the collapse of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance and Reformation.

  • The term "medieval" refers to anything created during this period, which witnessed significant historical, social, and linguistic changes alongside the continuity of the Roman Catholic Church.

Literary Periodization

  • The Middle Ages can be divided into three major literary periods:

    • Anglo-Saxon period (c. 450-1066)

    • Anglo-Norman period (1066-c. 1200)

    • Middle English Literature (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries)

Historical Context

  • From the first to fifth centuries, Britain was a province of the Roman Empire called Britannia, inhabited by Celtic-speaking Britons.

  • Following the withdrawal of Roman legions, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (three Germanic tribes) invaded Britain.

Conversion to Christianity

  • The conversion began in 597 AD with St. Augustine of Canterbury's arrival.

  • Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" (731 AD) documents this conversion.

  • Prior to Christianity, books were absent; Germanic poetry was performed orally in alliterative verse.

  • Christian writers like the Beowulf poet expressed admiration for their pagan ancestors.

  • Old English poetry often carries an elegiac tone.

The Norman Conquest

  • The Normans, initially an Anglo-Saxon tribe of Germanic ancestry, conquered England in the 1066 Battle of Hastings.

  • Henry II, the first Plantagenet king, expanded English territories significantly through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Linguistic Picture of Anglo-Norman England

  • Four languages coexisted: Latin (used in academia and theology), French (spoken by the Norman aristocracy), and Celtic languages (in regions like Ireland and Wales).

  • Literary texts in Anglo-Norman England often adapted French and Celtic sources, with Romance (tales of love and adventure) being popular.

  • By 1200, poetry and prose began to cater to English-speaking, educated audiences.

Effects of the Norman Conquest

  • The 1066 conquest accelerated linguistic and cultural changes; French words integrated into English.

  • An awareness of distinctly English literature began forming only in the late fourteenth century.

  • English supplanted French as the language of government, with Chaucer significantly promoting it as a literary language.

The Fourteenth Century: Calamity and Culture

  • Wars and the plague ravaged England in the fourteenth century but did not hinder trade or the merchant class's rise.

  • The latter part of this century heralded the blooming of Middle English literature, showcased in the works of Chaucer, William Langland, and the Gawain poet.

Notable Literary Figures

  • Chaucer was influenced by notable medieval Italian writers (Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio) and ancient Roman poets.

  • He presented a nuanced perspective on the ideals of poetry, maintaining both admiration and irony.

  • Religious figures like Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe offered female viewpoints on the church and its beliefs.

  • Sir Thomas Malory provided a definitive English form to the Arthurian legends toward the period's end.