Middle English Period :13th Century

In continuation with the previous lecture, we begin looking at the Middle English period.

Oxford and Cambridge

Let us look at the time when Oxford and Cambridge begin to be founded and they also emerged as major centres of culture and language. Oxford was founded in 1167 and Cambridge in 1209, so we begin to notice that these cultural artifacts and these institutions of repute where begin to be founded even as early as Middle English period.

 

Let us now take a detail look at the various kinds of writings which were available during these centuries. We note that even when we take an entire century in hand, we have maybe a couple of works worthwhile to talk about.

Ormulum by Orm

So in that sense 12th century we have two major works Ormulum by Orm. And another anonymous work The Owl and the Nightingale.

The work Ormulum, it was more religious in nature it could be loosely translated as an interpretation of the bible, it was in that sense yet another attempt to bring bible and works of the bible closer to the common people. And this was also significant in a historical sense because it trace the history of the English from the Roman Conquest onwards. So in that sense this also through glimpses of the local life and the transitions from one ruler to the other. So historians continued to look at this work with a lot of interest.

And this was also the one of the first works one of the earliest works to use poetic meter and the other work “The Owl and the Nightingale” it was structured in a quite a narrative way. And it included arguments about various things of philosophical nature things that concern daily life and even about more profound things related to life in general.

So the arguments where structure in very courtly style and also it was more allegorical than many of the other works of that period, so apart from this two major works we do not have evidence for other kinds of literature that flourish during the time apart from the oral literature of those period.

 

13th century

And in 13th century we also noticed that the literary output begins to look a little more productive little more prolific compared to the previous century.

And Layamon’s Brut which is arguably written in 1205 is perhaps the most important work other than the later works that came after the period of Chaucer. And this work was not purely literary in nature, this was in fact the historiography of Britain in the form of poem and this also draws attention to the fact that even history could be written in verse during those times. because verse was easier for people to memorize, it also gave them a way to make oral transmission easier. So verse did not have a kind of limitations that now we talk about. because nowadays we know that predominantly any kind of historiography for it to be written in verse is quite an unthinkable feet. In that sense Layamon’s Brut could be considered as very significant work which could blend in together elements of history and elements of poetry together.

King Arthur

And this is also the work in which we find the first appearance of a King Arthur, we noted in one of the previous lectures that the legends of King Arthur is what made him more popular than the historical evidence of his own existence. So we also find that Layamon’s Brut tried to link older historical traditions with modern Englishness. So in that sense we find that the common people as well as in that sense we find that there is a lot we get to know about the old English period and about the culture of those times from Layamon’s Brut. And many historians talk about Layamon’s Brut as the first voice in Middle English especially in terms of language. because in this work we find that the use of English is less conscious it is more colloquial and there is more use of idioms and proverbs. So in this sense, a more familiarity of the language could be find from the from Layamon’s Brut onwards.

 

Wace’s Arthurian Chronicles:

And another significant work of this time is Wace’s Arthurian Chronicles, he may began to note that king Arthur of the old English times, he assumes supreme importance during this period because we find him getting resurrected from all the other kinds of Laymon’s of history. And the time we also find the popularization of Arthurian tales from not just from England but also from France. we find a lot of French Ballads and French folktales talking about King Arthur’s legends and many English writers also replicate that in their own writings in English.

King Horn and Havelok the Dane

And there were also these two romances of which there is historical evidence; King Horn and Havelok the Dane, the authors of which remain unknown.

Roman de la Rose

And the Roman de la Rose or The Romance of the rose is considered as a most influential imported text of Middle English period. This was written in French, this is said to have had a profound influence on writings in English and during the 13th century. It also has said to have laid the foundation for a particular kind of writings of romance to develop later in the 14th and 15th centuries as well.

 

 

Geoffrey of Monmouth

Another very important figure of the Middle English period is that of Geoffrey of Monmouth, he said to have lived around 1100’s; the exact dates are not yet known. And the most important and notable work of Geoffrey of Monmouth is that of The history of the kings of Britain. And though this work was highly popular and many historians even rely on this work for getting a glimpse of the past the cultural and social religious past, it is also said to be highly inaccurate. But what makes this work quite distinct as a fact that he is the one who popularized the legends of King Arthur.

So Geoffrey of Monmouth we recalled even in one of the earliest sessions that he is actually he lives through the legends recreated by Geoffrey of Monmouth. In fact many of the things, many of the anecdotes attributed to king Arthur is from the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth. And he is also the one who made Excalibur popular. Excalibur being the legendary sword of King Arthur who which is said to have had some magical powers as well. So there are lots of these stories about the Excalibur of King Arthur from the Middle English period onwards. And we know that Excalibur has come to signify a lot of things about the cultural heritage of England even in the contemporary.