Early Beginnings: The Middle Ages Once upon a time, a long long time ago, stories and poems were told around the fires in cottages or sung in the great halls of castles… Oral Tradition Before actual physical books came stories – stories for all ages, told after a long hard day in the fields, as the family gathered around the fire in the dark. Stories served as medieval television. Cottage vs. Castle Stories • Where: Cottages or medieval fairs • Who: Simple folks • What: daily life – farmers, woodcutters; beast tales about wolves, foxes and hens • Where: Castles and great manor houses • Who: Wandering minstrels or bards • What: heroic tales about Beowulf or King Arthur Early Manuscripts • • • • Picture Bibles Lesson books Only for wealthy or teachers in monastery Valuable: houses/lands exchanged for one volume!! • Had 2 forms – Dialogue between teacher/student (question & answer) – Rhymed couplets (easy memorization) Important People • Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury: introduced question & answer approach • Bede: translated/wrote 45 books for his students at the Jarrow monastery in England • Anselm: Elucidarium • Chaucer: Canterbury Tales Important Books • Elucidarium: book of general information for students (encyclopedia) • Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans): sourcebook of stories for clergy – contained myths/fables/tales from places like India • Canterbury Tales: legendary stories/folktales Printed Books • Originated in China (175 A.D.) – Also had wood block printing (8th century) • Gutenberg: movable metal type (1450’s) in Germany • William Caxton: learned trade and brough it to England (1476) – Published 106 books – Expensive – Many owned books now! Influence of Printing • Textbooks alone • Hornbooks – 15th Century – 2 x 5 inches – Battledore After Hornbooks • ABC books • Primers – Book of hours for children – Henry VIII Lasting Contributions • Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales • Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur • Education not entertainment TIMELINE of EVENTS & PUBLICATIONS EVENTS: 175 AD – Stone rubbings in China 400 – 1400’s – Oral storytelling 600’s – Early lesson Books 700’s – China’s block printing 1100’s—Elucidarium developed by Anselm 1380-1420 – Western printing began in Holland 1400’s – Hornbooks 1450 – Gutenberg’s moveable metal type (press) in Germany 1476 – Caxton’s printing press in Westminster 1514 – alphabet added to a book of hours for children 1600’s—Aldhelm introduces question/answer approach 1600’s—Bede translates/writes 45 books PUBLICATIONS: Early 1300’s – The Gesta Romanorum (deeds of the Romans) compiled 1387 – Canterbury Tales 1477 – A Book of Curtseye 1481 – The Historye of Reynart the Foxe 1484 – Aesop’s Fables 1485 - Le Morte d’Arthur 1584 - King Henry’s Primer Assessment 1 Question: List the different types of publications Assessment 1 Answers: written wood block printing movable metal type Assessment 2 Question: List people and countries that published early literature Assessment 2 Answers: Gutenberg William Caxton Anslem Aldhelm Bede Chaucer Holland Germany Westminster China Assessment 3 Question: List well-known books from the early literature period discussed in class Assessment 3 Answers: Elucidarium Canterbury Tales Aesop’s Fables Gutenberg Bible Beowulf