Medieval England 2, Apuntes de Idioma Inglés

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MEDIEVAL ENGLAND, 1066-

(I)

THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND ITS

EFFECTS ON ENGLISH CULTURE AND

LIFE

THE NORMAN CONQUEST

• (^) The descedants of King Alfred continued his wisdom and

brilliance until King ETHERELD THE UNREADY (978-1016),

whose weakness, treachery and selfishness represent the

decay in English standards by the time. He was in exile during

the second wave of Viking invasions, whose professional, well-

trained army managed to occupy England and rule it under

the Dane law. The Danish king Canute actively governed

England as part of his Scandinavian empire:

• (^) He did not scorn and destroy English life and law system, but

reinforced it with military power and ruling wisdom.

• (^) In so doing, he fostered England’s economic growth.
• (^) He safeguarded the church and appreciated English culture.

• (^) Harold managed to defeat

Hardrada, King of Norway

(who claimed to be the

successor of Canute’s

Scandinavian empire) yet he

was himself defeated by

William the Conqueror—

William I of England—at the

battle of Hastings (1066).

THE BEGGINNING OF THE

NORMAN ERA IN ENGLAND.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST

• (^) A new period in English History starts: Norman England (which extended over England and Normandy) , in which William I’ s resolute leadership gradually fused the Viking, French and English elements by working on feudal principles to 1.- subordinate and harness the abilities of the Norman nobles and 2.- reform the church according to the principles of 11 th^ c. religious revival. So the Church and the nobility served the king.
• (^) English aristocracy Normanized, and feudalized. The lord grants part of his demesne (state or land) or “fiefs” to vassals (tenant-holders) in return for loyalty and service (military and counselling in “curia regis”). Yet he avoided granting massive land to just one lord. Feudal regranting (subinfeudation) whereby the king’s vassals might regrant part of their fiefs to other landholders, who became in turn their vassals. England became feudal under a strong monarch, who would mitigate the diffusion of loyalties by requiring all powerful men of the kingdom to take an oath of loyalty directly to him.

• (^) Three languages: the ruling classes spoke French; the upper

clergy, French and Latin; official documents were written in

Latin; lower classes spoke and were taught by the Church in

English (didactic prose: saints’ lives, devotional pieces and

sermons).

• (^) Middle English: levelling of inflections for English is simplified

in popular—not learned—use; simplification of grammar as it

becomes less synthetical and more analytical (relying on

prepositions and word order); introduction of borrowings

from French lexicon from the 13th c. onwards, with the loss of

the Duchy of Normandy.

• (^) The High Medieval Ages (1050-1300) were characterized by
  • (^) Urbanization. Move from agricultural society and production models

(barter exchange or transaction) to commerce, the cities and urban

middle-classes (guilds). From monasteries to universities.

• (^) A new profit spirit. From military values to mercenary armies and war

as sport: chivalry and the transition form epic to romance. Aristocratic

values and lifestyle (etiquette, and court conventions)

• (^) The position of women. Female audience. Eve and Virgin Mary types.

Women and land inheritance. Concerted marriages and (literature’s)

tolerance for adultery.

• (^) Female audience, who definitely contribute to the shaping of literary tastes (romance lyricism), production and authorship (women narrators or authors—Margery Kemp: (15th c.) The Book of Margery Kemp , the first (female) autobiography where she tells of her spiritual pilgrimages after a mundane life).
• (^) The church’s influence on any writing, even lyrical poetry, dulce et utile.
• (^) Literature’s oral nature. Mostly in verse. Orality and prosody.
• (^) Four main stages:
  • (^) 1. Early Middle English (1100-1250). English caters for the tastes of lower classes. Predominantly religious writings.
  • (^) 2. From 1250 to 1350. Transition stage when English begins to be used as literary language for aristocratic tastes. Religious writings and “romances” in English.

• (^) 3. From 1350 to 1400. Consolidation of English as vehicle for

sophisticated, refined literary expression. Golden period of artistic

flourishment (Chaucer, Gower or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ).

• (^) 4. From 1400 to 1500. Imitation of preceding masters and precursors

of Renaissance modes. Transition and complexity. Thomas Malory’s

Morte Darthur.

• (^) Aristocratic brand. Mostly translations from French. Yet French romances focus on love and sentiment, whereas English romances (mostly translated for the middle classes too) stick to adventure and leave sentiment/love affair out.
• (^) Idealized portrait of the romance knight: strong, brave yet virtuous, moral, pious, Christian cavalier, modest and altruistic.
• (^) Unlike epic heroes, romance characters fight ritualistically, as sport, rather than as a necessity.
• (^) ARTHURIAN LEGENDS
  • (^) Celtic origin, yet reintroduced by French models. Earliest accounts in Nennius’s Historia Brittonum (circa 800)
  • (^) Geoffrey de Monmouth’s The Historia Regum Brinanniae (1137). Legendary matter, yet Arthur still a warrior.
  • Robert Wace’s Roman de Brut (1155). In French. More literary and dynamic. Norman castles, knight-errantry, …
  • (^) Layamon’s Brut (1202), first into English.
  • (^) Chrétien de Troy of Provence supplies medieval English literature with one of its most influential, recurrent models. Cycle out of loose episodes; love sequence.

• (^) FABLIAU (pl. FABLIAUX)
  • (^) Unlike ‘polite’ courtly romances, a short narrative poem, realistic, humorous, often coarse. Product of middle classes to oppose romance idealism.
  • (^) Octosyllabic verse.
  • Enterntaining: humour of situation (wives tricking their husbands, satirical railing at the clergy, …)
  • (^) Caustic attitude towards women.
• (^) FABLE
  • (^) From Greek tradition (Aesop) and Indian sources. Short stories with humanized animals which illustrate simple moral.
• (^) LYRIC (see examples in Texts for discussions)
  • (^) Largely imitations from an established European tradition, they were written in English during the 13th and 14th centuries.
  • (^) Intended to be sung , so their composition subordinated to musical patterns.
  • (^) Origin : pre-Christian seasonal celebrations, comunal work songs (spinning, rowing) or danced folk songs for recreation