Age of Chaucer- Chaucer’s England

 

Chaucer’s England

We saw in the introductory session about how in the Middle English period after the Norman Conquest, England began to emerge as a distinct nation. There was an increased sense of nationalism, a sense of nationhood; they began to emerge more with native influences rather than with the foreign, Italian or French influences.

Standardization of English Language:

It was Chaucer’s language and King Alfred’s language, the East-Midland dialect which emerged as the Standard English which continued to be used even in the contemporary. And we also find that it was not merely English which was used in Chaucer’s England, the clergy continued to use Latin which was the language of ecclesiastical power and the courtiers continued to use French language as well. French for a very long-term, in fact continued to be the language of the royalty. And it was also used in some measures in law courts until a statute which came to be issued directed that English should completely replace the usage of French.

 

14th century was dominated by the Roman Catholic Christianity

The Middle English period, Chaucer’s England, especially 14th century was dominated by the Roman Catholic Christianity. The clergy enjoyed a lot of power and we also find a certain kind of revival happening within Christianity in England, a little bit of that we will be seeing in detail shortly.

Expansion of trade: And there is expansion of trade as Britain consolidates itself as a nation and also understands the possibility of expanding itself in terms of land, in terms of trade, so on and so forth. And during this period we also find that there is a renewed interest in the literature of classical antiquity, especially literature in Greek and Rome. And there is also this influence of humanism which is connected to the emergence of Renaissance. And we find that there is a free secular spirit, a spirit of enquiry which is beginning to emerge that also qualifies much of the writing and thought of the later periods in England.

Oxford emerged :

And it’s during this period that Oxford emerges as an intellectual centre and we do see John Wycliff’s major influence, major contribution in shaping Oxford into the intellectual centre that it is today. And it was only a little later by the 15th and 16th centuries that Cambridge emerges as a prominent centre as well. And this is the period which also witnessed a lot of changes in the university system. We find that the collegiate system which most of the Commonwealth nations although continue to follow, the foundations of this English college system was late in during the 14th century in Chaucer’s England, there were various reasons, various social political reasons that contribute to make England as one of the founding civilizations of modern period itself. So having lived during that period, Chaucer did enjoy a lot of these advantages and in his writings also we see a reflection of this refinement, this exposure, and this increased growth that England was getting used to.

But at the same time it is very important for us to note that Chaucer also lived in a century which was very eventful. Chaucer’s England was not all about political stability, was not all about the golden. The flowering period of English language and literature, it was very eventful in the political sense, in terms of other kinds of crisis, in terms of the common life people, so on and so forth.

England in the 14th and 15th century:

Now we will take a quick look at the turn of events during Chaucer’s England and how it adversely affected the progress of England in the 14th and 15th century.

Plague:

We find that England during that time, it was quite affected by plagues; mainly, we have a major plague which swept through most of Europe and Britain, it was Black Death. That was quite a tragic event to begin with and there was a continuous occurrence, in fact, Britain was under the attack of the Black Death 4 times almost consecutively and that had even wiped out half the population. The nation had to struggle a lot to deal with this crisis.

Rebellion:

There were also a lot of peasant rebellions because England was still under the feudal order and that had resulted in a lot of unrest and lot of difficulties for the peasants.

Corruption:

There was also massive corruption mainly within the Roman Catholic Church. In this context, it is useful to remember that there were lot of monasteries that and the other institutions at the Roman Catholic Church had established. And these were also breeding grounds for a lot of corruptive activities. The common man was quite upset by the many things which were happening about the luxurious life that most of the clergy were living. And the clerks who were employed within this institution were also contributing to the corruption in many different ways. And this was also affecting the people in another sense, in the sense that there was a heavy taxation which was imposed upon them. And the taxation was quite doubled by the effect of the wars that happened.

Wars:

One of the major wars that we will be taking a look at is the Hundred Years War. The war was fought with France for over 116 years though it comes to be known as the Hundred Years War. And there was prevalent anarchy because of all these things put together. There were massive deaths, rebellion, corruption, wars, heavy taxation, the common man was not living a life of luxury like the courtiers but he was bearing the brunt of all these events put together.

Social Contrast:

And in that sense, it was an age of glaring social contrast. As we would see, on the one hand there was a very lavish kind of pageantry going on and other hand, people lived in adverse poverty. There was robust Vigour and good health and lot of good things happening on the one hand. On the other hand, we had death, crippling diseases, so on and so forth.

Latin was a language of Church:

On the one hand, elegant literature such as Chaucer’s and many others had begun to flourish, which is seen as the beginning of English literature, but on the other hand, there was also widespread illiteracy. Here it is also important to note, there is some linguistic element here as well. England also had these languages such as Latin and French. As we mentioned, Latin was a language of Church, of clergy and French was the language of the courtiers. So there was very little attention - formal attention - paid to English language in the beginning.

Emergence of English as a Common Language:

But we do see that a lot of concerted effort went into making English language the medium of the common people and also, the Church also in certain ways, especially the activities of Reformation also paved to the emergence of English as a common language, the translations of Bible into the vernacular by John Wyclif. And more importantly, most of the leading writers of the period including Geoffrey Chaucer, he wrote in English making the language more, bringing the language closer to the common man as well. So coming back to our point, on the one hand, there was this emergence of elegant literature and on the other hand, there was widespread illiteracy of the common people. And also this brings this reminds us that literature and all the other reading material which was available during that period, the target audience was mainly the courtiers, and the nobles and the clergy and that was very little available for the common man as such. and also, fourthly on the one hand, there was this revival of religious faith which happened; it was also known as Reformation.

 

Social History :

A more detailed study of social history will take us into the specific details of this event which swept across Europe and Britain in the 14th and 15th century, which also laid a proper cultural foundation to the England which was set to begin on a golden period from the 16th century onwards. And on the other hand, there was widespread corruption in Church which was leading to a whole lot of hostility and lot of disgruntled feelings among the people, yeah. And as we mentioned, earlier the wars were contributing in a tremendous way to the general peace and general life of England in many ways.