Middle English period- English before Chaucer:-

 

Middle English period- English before Chaucer:-

 

Hello everyone, welcome to today’s session of the course. The History of English language and Literature. In continuation with the previous lecture, we begin looking at the Middle English period.

 

The Middle English period cannot be constructed in a single seamless continuer. It needs to be divided at least into two parts;

The time before Chaucer

and the period after Chaucer.

 

If you have noticed in the title itself has got a subtitle “England before Chaucer”.

 

So, we begin with this inherent understanding that Chaucer is perhaps the most determinant figure in classifying Middle English into two and also perhaps the most important literary figure and cultural figure in the whole of a Middle English period. However, we look at the period before Chaucer trying to locate the Middle English period in a more holistic sense looking at the other literary influences which began to shape Middle English language and Middle English literature even before the arrival of Chaucer.

 

So which is this period that we classify as Middle English? The exact dates are difficult to be stated because there is no exact date or a year in which Anglo-Saxon period or the old English period came to an end and the Middle English period began. However for political convenience it is easier to note down 1066 or the year of Norman Conquest as the beginning of and the opening moment of Middle English period because politically that was the time when the Anglo-Saxon dominance came to an end and the Normans took over England. And around the same time significant changes came to be imparted into English language, so in that sense 1066 is one convenient date which can mark the inaugural moment of Middle English period. And also around 1100 it is generally considered that English began to assume an identity of its own, it began to lose its Germanic old English Germanic inflections and the current form in which we know English began to emerge and evolve from the 1100 onwards.

 

So the language that we see during a Middle English period it is not old English, it is not the modern contemporary English either, it is a form of a blend of old English and Norman English, in that sense some historians even called the language of this period as an in between language. But English during this time becomes more comprehensible and the literatures of this period is easier to identify with than with that of the old English text. And roughly as we noted earlier, the Middle English is from the 12th to the 15th century.

 

In today’s session we will be looking only at the period till the beginning of Chaucer. At this point it is also important to be stated that some historians consider Chaucer as a real starting point of English literature. So, in that sense the works that we talk about in today’s lecture, they are not of supreme importance in terms of literary analysis and literary criticism, but they only have a historical kind of interest in situating the events that leaded to the emergence of Chaucer as the most important literary figure.

 

The Major Milestones of the Middle English Period -:

 

With this understanding we move on to look at the major milestones of the Middle English period. 1066 is obviously the year of the Norman Conquest. and by 1215 we have a very politically defining moment which produced the Magna Carta about which we will be hearing a little more about shortly. And around 1250 it said that the French begins to lose its prominence to various other socio-political events some of which we will be taking a look in the later sessions.

And it is also characterized by the 100 years war which lasted 1337 to 1453, the details of which we shall be taking a look at when we talk about Chaucer’s England.

And 1362 marks a very important year in terms of the prominence that English language acquires, it is the year of Statute of Pleading, which ordered that henceforth all proceedings in the law courts should be in English instead of French. This is been also characterized by Black Death, the bubonic plague which affected not just Britain but also many parts of Europe.

And this is also significantly the era which saw the emergence of the Middle classes a very prominent figure. And it is important to note that Europe was also undergoing radical changes during the Middle English period and this was the time of the Holy Crusades as well, but we do find that England had participated only minimally in the Holy Crusades. But it is however, the literature of longing the literature of love and about the beloved who is left behind who is yawning for the soldier who is out at the war front, all of these themes get built into the literature of the times because of the influence of the whole holy Crusades as well.

It was also politically and religiously quite significant, but however since the discussions on the Holy Crusades are beyond the scope of our course, we shall just leave it at that. And also to be highlighted is the point that around this period England also outgrows the hostility between the native population and the invaders who were Norman French.

And in 1066 when the Norman French invaded Anglo-Saxon, there was a growing hostility for quite a long time. But by the end of the Middle English period we find that it is no longer about the foreign influences, it is no longer about fighting among themselves, but it is more about consolidating themselves as a nation and as a single linguistic unit.

And let us take a quick look at what this even Magna Carta is, this is important because this was very politically significant event that began to mark the ways in which England began to shape itself as a nation and also even at a later point of time when England was talking about rights and various ways in which it could negotiate between the rulers and the ruled Magna Carta was a very determining factor. So, this was the great charter of the liberties as many of us know about. And this was signed on 15 June 1215, it was drafted by the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and was agreed to by King John was the ruler of England then. And this was in fact as a result of a growing rebellion from the barons and this was assigned to make peace between highly and popular King John and group of rebel barons. So, in that sense, it is one of the earliest political negotiations that had taken place and this also had lot of implications for the commoners because it promises the protection of the church rights, it also involved the protection of barons from illegal imprisonment so on and so forth. So it also ensured that the king could not act according to his wills and fantasies, but he also had to put in place certain principles and certain and ensure that certain rights are available to the subjects to the other rulers so on and so forth.

 

And Magna Carta is supremely important and we choose to discuss this in this lecture because it became a part of English political life. And we begin to see that the literature of the times also reflected this kind of new freedom and the new secular ambience, which was getting generated in England and Magna Carta was incidentally renewed by each monarch one after the other, so in that sense it assumes supreme political and civil importance.

 

Now coming back to our main topic on Middle English literature, Middle English literature was a little more warred compare to the old English literature, we noted that old English literature was mostly about war and about religion and about the trails of daily life. but with the Middle English period we move little ahead it is occupies major certainly war literature continues to occupy a major part of literary writings, there is also religious literature in place. But in addition to this we find a new kind of literature emerging which could which could be classified as romances. we need to understand romance in a rather broad since it is not just about love literature, it is also about a Knights and their quest for courtly love and the values of chivalry that they stood for. So in that sense, romance literature was mostly about the lives of knights and kind of a adventures that they embarked upon, so it was not the romance has not yet got reduce into love life between just two ordinary people. so alongside we also find this local tradition of songs and ballads emerging.

We do not have much evidence about the kind of songs and ballads that existed during that time but mostly it was also transmitted through this oral tradition. And it is also difficult to date these ballads due to the same reasons, some are even of the opinion that these ballads were prominent even during the old English period and they were just transmitted through this oral means from one generation to the other. And some of the important and the notable ballads which were orally transmitted even after the Middle English period where the songs which later came to be known as the song of Lord Randal and some of the songs that celebrated the changing of the season.

 

So in this lecture, we shall not be discussing much about this the oral tradition or the tradition of songs and ballads we shall be focusing mostly on war literature, religious literature and the romances which prevailed during that time primarily because they were written down and they were not just based on the oral tradition.

 

And another significant factor is that most of the works where anonymous, it is not yet become quite common for them to sign the works with their own names, so in that sense no one took any kind of the ownership to the works and all literary works were considered as almost as public property. And books where very expensive during that time printing had not yet come into place and it was mostly copied manuscripts were available that was a very expensive affair and not many could afford it.

 

And London also emerges as a center of politics, center of trade and commerce and also of culture and writing. And we also notice that most of the writers who gain prominence in Middle English period they were living in London. it was also because London was the Norman capital soon after the Norman Conquest, so since London was more happening than the other parts of the country many choose to migrate to London where they continued to build the more reputable literary career over there.