Philology 4A Final Exam (Middle English)
History
Normans
The Normans changed the kind of writing that was produced.
3 key changes in literature:
1. New interest in selfhood: fascination with inner workings of people’s life starts to emerge.
An example of this is confessional literature, like writing about sin.
2. New interest in rhyme: OE poetry mainly used alliteration. However, people were now
fascinated with troubadour poetry, and Old Irish traditions. We also see this return in Latin
hymns.
3. Writing about love: in OE poetry there are very few examples of romantic love, however
now we get love lyrics and romances.
Literary approaches
Allegorical = what to believe or what it signifies. It treats facts / events as metaphors which
represent some truth or some other events.
Tropological = how to act.
Anagogical = what to hope for.
Literal = what happened.
English society
While Chaucer had a big influence on the increased interest of English writings in the late
Middle Ages, there were many other developments that also contributed to this change.
- War: In 1066, the Norman Conquest took place, where French William of Normandy fought
Edward the Confessor. Since then, the countries would stake competing claims for one
another’s lands (Hundred Years’ War, etc). Edward III cultivated a sense of national pride in
English citizens by aligning himself and his court with the legendary King Arthur (ex: Round
Table, feast at Windsor, used Arthurian model in battle tactics).
- Plague: in 1348, the plague reached England and decimated its population. England
became starved for labor – there weren’t enough people to sustain the economy -> people
who worked were valuable -> system of feudal ties began to dissipate.
- Rebellion: there came many statutes which attempted to control what were natural
socioeconomic developments. Edward and Richard both increased taxation, causing
peasants to become impoverished and furious -> Great Rising / Peasants’ Revolt. Rebellions
marched and broke open prisons, led by John Ball. The rebels’ knowledge of documentary
power was part of their own literacy. English texts allowed the lower classes access to
documentary and literary culture in new / radical ways.
- Religion and reform: the unrest and violence extended to religion as well. John Wyclif’s
theology was reformist, insisting that the Church not accrue wealth and that individuals
should be able to read the Bible in English and confess directly to God, but he was
nevertheless initially supported by the royal court. Lollardy became a widespread cultural
current, its followers resistant to the Church’s control over individual religious practice.
Manuscripts
Mouvance = the process of texts changing as they get transmitted in the medieval period.
Every copy could be different or could have something special for a certain person or
1
, circumstance they were produced in.
Legacy romanticism = the author is seen as a poetic genius.
Lots of manuscripts are lost. Philology wants to get to the ‘original’ text in order to figure out
who wrote it and when.
New philology:
- Approaching texts with a greater awareness of medieval textual transmission (no longer
emphasizing the ur-text).
- Recognition or ideological investments.
- The digital as an effective means of representing medieval textual culture in all its
complexity.
Texts
The Knight of the Cart – Chretien de Troyes
This excerpt is from the famous French romance Le Chevalier de la Charrette (= Lancelot,
The Knight of the Cart). Troyes was one of the first to put the Arthurian material into a
romance format. It’s the first story about Lancelot and the first to depict the extra-marital love
between him and Guinevere. He wrote for an influential patron, Marie de Champagne,
daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII.
Background summary: At the beginning of the narrative, Guinevere is kidnapped and
Arthur is unable to save her. Gawain and Lancelot set off to rescue her. Thinking it will help
him find her faster, Lancelot jumps into a cart led by a dwarf. People are taken in these carts
when they commit crimes, so it shows how Lancelot’s love for Guinevere is so strong that he
has no shame or regard for his reputation. Gawain and Lancelot meet a young maiden who
tells them that Guinevere is in the Kingdom of Gorre. There are 2 ways to get there: the
sunken bridge (entirely underwater) or the sword bridge (the blade of a giant sword). After
many adventures, Lancelot arrives at the sword bridge. It is so dangerous that he must cross
it using his bare hands and feet, which become slashed by the blade, but his love for
Guinevere draws him onwards. On the other side he encounters her captors: treacherous
Meleagant and his more reasonable father King Bademagu, who is getting sick of
Meleagant’s antics.
Summary: The King tells his son to honor him by giving Guinevere back to Lancelot, but
Meleagant declines. The King goes to Lancelot and offers to help him with his wounds, but
Lancelot declines because he feels he’s wasting time. The next day, the Prince and Lancelot
fight, and there was a huge audience (who stood on Lancelot’s side). It was an equal fight at
first, but after a while Lancelot weakened because of his wounds. Guinevere thought that if
he knew that she was watching him, his strength and courage would increase, which
worked! The King begs the Queen to stop the fight, because his son is getting killed, and she
agrees. So, Lancelot stops fighting, but Meleagant attacks him in his rage. They make a deal
that in a year time they will fight again for Guinevere.
Ancrene Wisse
Ancrene Wisse or the ‘Anchoresses’ Guide’ (1225-1240) represents a revision of an earlier
work called the Ancrene Riwle (‘Anchorites’ Rule’), a book of religious instruction for 3 lay
women/sisters of noble birth who had themselves enclosed as anchoresses somewhere in
the West Midlands. ‘Anchorite’ comes from the Greek anachōrētēs (= ‘to withdraw’). It’s one
2
History
Normans
The Normans changed the kind of writing that was produced.
3 key changes in literature:
1. New interest in selfhood: fascination with inner workings of people’s life starts to emerge.
An example of this is confessional literature, like writing about sin.
2. New interest in rhyme: OE poetry mainly used alliteration. However, people were now
fascinated with troubadour poetry, and Old Irish traditions. We also see this return in Latin
hymns.
3. Writing about love: in OE poetry there are very few examples of romantic love, however
now we get love lyrics and romances.
Literary approaches
Allegorical = what to believe or what it signifies. It treats facts / events as metaphors which
represent some truth or some other events.
Tropological = how to act.
Anagogical = what to hope for.
Literal = what happened.
English society
While Chaucer had a big influence on the increased interest of English writings in the late
Middle Ages, there were many other developments that also contributed to this change.
- War: In 1066, the Norman Conquest took place, where French William of Normandy fought
Edward the Confessor. Since then, the countries would stake competing claims for one
another’s lands (Hundred Years’ War, etc). Edward III cultivated a sense of national pride in
English citizens by aligning himself and his court with the legendary King Arthur (ex: Round
Table, feast at Windsor, used Arthurian model in battle tactics).
- Plague: in 1348, the plague reached England and decimated its population. England
became starved for labor – there weren’t enough people to sustain the economy -> people
who worked were valuable -> system of feudal ties began to dissipate.
- Rebellion: there came many statutes which attempted to control what were natural
socioeconomic developments. Edward and Richard both increased taxation, causing
peasants to become impoverished and furious -> Great Rising / Peasants’ Revolt. Rebellions
marched and broke open prisons, led by John Ball. The rebels’ knowledge of documentary
power was part of their own literacy. English texts allowed the lower classes access to
documentary and literary culture in new / radical ways.
- Religion and reform: the unrest and violence extended to religion as well. John Wyclif’s
theology was reformist, insisting that the Church not accrue wealth and that individuals
should be able to read the Bible in English and confess directly to God, but he was
nevertheless initially supported by the royal court. Lollardy became a widespread cultural
current, its followers resistant to the Church’s control over individual religious practice.
Manuscripts
Mouvance = the process of texts changing as they get transmitted in the medieval period.
Every copy could be different or could have something special for a certain person or
1
, circumstance they were produced in.
Legacy romanticism = the author is seen as a poetic genius.
Lots of manuscripts are lost. Philology wants to get to the ‘original’ text in order to figure out
who wrote it and when.
New philology:
- Approaching texts with a greater awareness of medieval textual transmission (no longer
emphasizing the ur-text).
- Recognition or ideological investments.
- The digital as an effective means of representing medieval textual culture in all its
complexity.
Texts
The Knight of the Cart – Chretien de Troyes
This excerpt is from the famous French romance Le Chevalier de la Charrette (= Lancelot,
The Knight of the Cart). Troyes was one of the first to put the Arthurian material into a
romance format. It’s the first story about Lancelot and the first to depict the extra-marital love
between him and Guinevere. He wrote for an influential patron, Marie de Champagne,
daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII.
Background summary: At the beginning of the narrative, Guinevere is kidnapped and
Arthur is unable to save her. Gawain and Lancelot set off to rescue her. Thinking it will help
him find her faster, Lancelot jumps into a cart led by a dwarf. People are taken in these carts
when they commit crimes, so it shows how Lancelot’s love for Guinevere is so strong that he
has no shame or regard for his reputation. Gawain and Lancelot meet a young maiden who
tells them that Guinevere is in the Kingdom of Gorre. There are 2 ways to get there: the
sunken bridge (entirely underwater) or the sword bridge (the blade of a giant sword). After
many adventures, Lancelot arrives at the sword bridge. It is so dangerous that he must cross
it using his bare hands and feet, which become slashed by the blade, but his love for
Guinevere draws him onwards. On the other side he encounters her captors: treacherous
Meleagant and his more reasonable father King Bademagu, who is getting sick of
Meleagant’s antics.
Summary: The King tells his son to honor him by giving Guinevere back to Lancelot, but
Meleagant declines. The King goes to Lancelot and offers to help him with his wounds, but
Lancelot declines because he feels he’s wasting time. The next day, the Prince and Lancelot
fight, and there was a huge audience (who stood on Lancelot’s side). It was an equal fight at
first, but after a while Lancelot weakened because of his wounds. Guinevere thought that if
he knew that she was watching him, his strength and courage would increase, which
worked! The King begs the Queen to stop the fight, because his son is getting killed, and she
agrees. So, Lancelot stops fighting, but Meleagant attacks him in his rage. They make a deal
that in a year time they will fight again for Guinevere.
Ancrene Wisse
Ancrene Wisse or the ‘Anchoresses’ Guide’ (1225-1240) represents a revision of an earlier
work called the Ancrene Riwle (‘Anchorites’ Rule’), a book of religious instruction for 3 lay
women/sisters of noble birth who had themselves enclosed as anchoresses somewhere in
the West Midlands. ‘Anchorite’ comes from the Greek anachōrētēs (= ‘to withdraw’). It’s one
2
