ELH: Historical background
1. The Middle Ages to ca. 1485
Overview
43 – ca. 420 Roman invasion and occupation of Britain
Ca. 450 Anglo-Saxon Conquest
597 St. Augustine arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon conversion to
Christianity
871-899 Reign of King Alfred
1066 The Norman Conquest
(1154-1189) (Reign of Henry II)
Ca. 1200 Beginnings of Middle English literature
1360-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
1485 One of the first printed books in England
The Middle Ages
- From the collapse of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance and reformation
- adj. “medie(a)val”
- The Renaissance refers to a rebirth of ancient culture
implies that something has been lacking in the preceding era?
- However: literature, art and science flourished during the Middle Ages
- End: 1485, accession of Henry VII and the Tudor dynasty
- Period of enormous historical, social and linguistic change
Division in three sections
o Anglo-Saxon Literature
o Anglo-Norman Literature
o Middle English Literature
Book production
- Expensive process
- Before the invention of movable type: written by hand in manuscript
- Paper became common for less expensive manuscripts (before: parchment or vellum)
- Often miscellaneous books, containing many kinds of texts in different languages (English, Latin
and French
- Institutions developed across the period
o Anglo-Saxon period: monasteries
o Early 14th century: commercial book-making enterprises by various artisans
- Market changed
o Before: for courts and religious houses
o Since Anglo-Norman period: also for noble and gentry households
o 14th century: also urban patrons
Only a small number of books survived many books were destroyed during the dissolution
of the monasteries in 1530s
1
, 1.1. Anglo-Saxon Literature
- From 1st to 5th century: province of the Roman Empire, “Britannia”
- 5th century: withdrawal of the Roman legions to protect Rome from Germanic threat
Britain vulnerable for invasion
450: Germanic tribes occupy England
o Three tribes: the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes
o English from ‘Angles’
o Anglo-Saxon invaders take over the southeastern part of Britain, but the conquest
happens slowly
- Language: early form of Old English
Kinship with other Germanic languages
- Literature: body of heroic and Christian stories
much in common with other Germanic literatures
Religion and conversion to Christianity
- Pagan Anglo-Saxons vs. Christian Britons
o Britons had converted to Christianity in the 4th century
only a small part of the island
o 597: St. Augustine, a benedictine monk was sent to spread Christianity
Brought books
- Following centuries: conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, rise of English churchmen
Ecclesiastical History of the English People
o About the conversion and the English church
o One of our most important sources of knowledge of the period
The last centuries
- By 800: rich English culture
- 9th century: Germanic invasions by the Danes
inspiration for The Battle of Maldon, the last Old English heroic poem
King Alfred
o Stopped the invasion of the Dantes
o United all the southern kingdoms of England (for a time)
o Patron of literature
o Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: a year-by-year record in Old English of important events
1.1.1. Old English Poetry
- Anglo-Saxons brought a tradition of oral poetry
no written records: little evidence of what it was like
- Earliest records of English in manuscripts from monasteries and other religious houses, around
7th century
literacy only for servants of the church
o Most Old English literature about religious subjects
o Drawn from Latin sources
2
, Germanic heroic poetry
- Performed orally in alliterative verse
- Sometimes to describe current events
- Aristocratic, heroic and kinship values of Germanic society
Shares many characteristics with the ancient heroic poems by Homer
o Nations: groups of people related by kinship > geographical area
Kinship = basis for heroic code
Tribe ruled by a chieftain called king (lord) leads his men in battle and rewards
them afterwards
o Royal generosity
o Blood vengeance
Sacred duty
Figh to the death for their lord
If Lord is slain, avenge him or die trying
Far from the Christian world of Anglo-Saxon England
o Fascination for the distant culture of their pagan ancestors
o Conflict heroic code Christian values
Christian and heroic ideals get blended
Heroic stories adapted to Christian values
Hard to draw a line between “heroic” and “Christian”
Form, style and content
-Elegiac atmosphere
about war and possible triumph but also failure
- No romantic love
- Irony, ex. litotes: ironic understatement
- Form
o Poetic diction and formulaic phrases
o Repetitions of parallel syntactic structures
o Special vocabulary
o Synechdoche and metonymy1
o The kenning: compound of two words in place of another: ex. dragon “sky-winger”
o Figurative use of language
o Variation: use of parallel and appositive2 expressions
musical quality
Formalize and elevate speech
o Was always distant from everyday language
o Clinging to old forms conceals enormous changes that were happening in the
English language
Changes in language and culture that were already happening, accelerated by the Norman
Conquest
1
Synechdoche: part stands for a larger whole: ex. mouths to feed people
metonymy: whole stands for a part: ex. England has won the English army, soccer team,…
2
Appositie of bijstelling: zinsdeel dat meer info geeft over het zn.: ex. Mijn mentor, een aardig man,…
3
1. The Middle Ages to ca. 1485
Overview
43 – ca. 420 Roman invasion and occupation of Britain
Ca. 450 Anglo-Saxon Conquest
597 St. Augustine arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon conversion to
Christianity
871-899 Reign of King Alfred
1066 The Norman Conquest
(1154-1189) (Reign of Henry II)
Ca. 1200 Beginnings of Middle English literature
1360-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
1485 One of the first printed books in England
The Middle Ages
- From the collapse of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance and reformation
- adj. “medie(a)val”
- The Renaissance refers to a rebirth of ancient culture
implies that something has been lacking in the preceding era?
- However: literature, art and science flourished during the Middle Ages
- End: 1485, accession of Henry VII and the Tudor dynasty
- Period of enormous historical, social and linguistic change
Division in three sections
o Anglo-Saxon Literature
o Anglo-Norman Literature
o Middle English Literature
Book production
- Expensive process
- Before the invention of movable type: written by hand in manuscript
- Paper became common for less expensive manuscripts (before: parchment or vellum)
- Often miscellaneous books, containing many kinds of texts in different languages (English, Latin
and French
- Institutions developed across the period
o Anglo-Saxon period: monasteries
o Early 14th century: commercial book-making enterprises by various artisans
- Market changed
o Before: for courts and religious houses
o Since Anglo-Norman period: also for noble and gentry households
o 14th century: also urban patrons
Only a small number of books survived many books were destroyed during the dissolution
of the monasteries in 1530s
1
, 1.1. Anglo-Saxon Literature
- From 1st to 5th century: province of the Roman Empire, “Britannia”
- 5th century: withdrawal of the Roman legions to protect Rome from Germanic threat
Britain vulnerable for invasion
450: Germanic tribes occupy England
o Three tribes: the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes
o English from ‘Angles’
o Anglo-Saxon invaders take over the southeastern part of Britain, but the conquest
happens slowly
- Language: early form of Old English
Kinship with other Germanic languages
- Literature: body of heroic and Christian stories
much in common with other Germanic literatures
Religion and conversion to Christianity
- Pagan Anglo-Saxons vs. Christian Britons
o Britons had converted to Christianity in the 4th century
only a small part of the island
o 597: St. Augustine, a benedictine monk was sent to spread Christianity
Brought books
- Following centuries: conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, rise of English churchmen
Ecclesiastical History of the English People
o About the conversion and the English church
o One of our most important sources of knowledge of the period
The last centuries
- By 800: rich English culture
- 9th century: Germanic invasions by the Danes
inspiration for The Battle of Maldon, the last Old English heroic poem
King Alfred
o Stopped the invasion of the Dantes
o United all the southern kingdoms of England (for a time)
o Patron of literature
o Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: a year-by-year record in Old English of important events
1.1.1. Old English Poetry
- Anglo-Saxons brought a tradition of oral poetry
no written records: little evidence of what it was like
- Earliest records of English in manuscripts from monasteries and other religious houses, around
7th century
literacy only for servants of the church
o Most Old English literature about religious subjects
o Drawn from Latin sources
2
, Germanic heroic poetry
- Performed orally in alliterative verse
- Sometimes to describe current events
- Aristocratic, heroic and kinship values of Germanic society
Shares many characteristics with the ancient heroic poems by Homer
o Nations: groups of people related by kinship > geographical area
Kinship = basis for heroic code
Tribe ruled by a chieftain called king (lord) leads his men in battle and rewards
them afterwards
o Royal generosity
o Blood vengeance
Sacred duty
Figh to the death for their lord
If Lord is slain, avenge him or die trying
Far from the Christian world of Anglo-Saxon England
o Fascination for the distant culture of their pagan ancestors
o Conflict heroic code Christian values
Christian and heroic ideals get blended
Heroic stories adapted to Christian values
Hard to draw a line between “heroic” and “Christian”
Form, style and content
-Elegiac atmosphere
about war and possible triumph but also failure
- No romantic love
- Irony, ex. litotes: ironic understatement
- Form
o Poetic diction and formulaic phrases
o Repetitions of parallel syntactic structures
o Special vocabulary
o Synechdoche and metonymy1
o The kenning: compound of two words in place of another: ex. dragon “sky-winger”
o Figurative use of language
o Variation: use of parallel and appositive2 expressions
musical quality
Formalize and elevate speech
o Was always distant from everyday language
o Clinging to old forms conceals enormous changes that were happening in the
English language
Changes in language and culture that were already happening, accelerated by the Norman
Conquest
1
Synechdoche: part stands for a larger whole: ex. mouths to feed people
metonymy: whole stands for a part: ex. England has won the English army, soccer team,…
2
Appositie of bijstelling: zinsdeel dat meer info geeft over het zn.: ex. Mijn mentor, een aardig man,…
3
