Medieval Literature
From the fall of Rome to the
Renaissance
English & French Literature

Dominated by:
– The epic
 Beowulf
– The romance
 Song of Roland (early)
 Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight (late)
– The allegory
 The Canterbury Tales
 The Divine Comedy
– The folk tale
– The lyric
– The drama
 Everyman
499-1066 CE
EARLY BRITISH MEDIEVAL
LITERATURE
The Anglo-Saxons: 449–1066
300s B.C.
Celts in Britain
55 B.C–A.D.409
Roman Occupation
300
B.C.
A.D.
1
A.D.
300
A.D. 1066
Norman
Invasion
A.D. 449
Anglo-Saxon
Invasion
A.D.878
King Alfred
against
the Danes
A.D.
600
A.D. 400–699
Spread of Christianity
A.D.
900
A.D.
1200
Britain
Before and during the 4th century B.C.
• Britain home to
several Celtic tribes
• Britain named for
one Celtic tribe—the
Brythons
• Celtic religion a form
of animism
• Druids were Celtic
priests
Stonehenge
The Roman Occupation
55 B.C.
Hadrian’s Wall
Julius Caesar invades Britain
A.D.43
Celts defeated by Claudius
• Romans build walls, villas, baths,
roads
A.D. 409
Romans evacuate their troops
• Britain left vulnerable to attack
• Central government breaks down
Roman ruins
The Anglo-Saxon Invasion
Jutes
Angles
Celts
Saxons
A.D. 449 The Anglo-Saxons push the Celts into the far west of the
country.
The Anglo-Saxon Invasion
Anglo-Saxon Society
•
kinship groups led by strong
warrior chief
•
people farmed, established local
governments, produced fine
craftwork
•
English emerged as a written
language
The Anglo-Saxon Invasion
The Anglo-Saxon religion
•
offered no hope of an afterlife
•
valued earthly virtues of bravery, loyalty, generosity, and friendship
•
similar to what we call Norse mythology
Norse god
Anglo-Saxon god
Day of week
Odin
Woden
Wednesday
Thor
Thunor
Thursday
The Anglo-Saxon Invasion
The Anglo-Saxon bards
• called scops
• strummed harp as they sang
• sang of heroic deeds
• were often warriors
Why were the scops important?
• Anglo-Saxons did not believe in
afterlife
• warriors gained immortality through
songs
Anglo-Saxon harp
The Spread of Christianity
Around A.D. 400
• Christian monks settle in
Britain
• Christianity and AngloSaxon culture co-exist
By A.D. 699
• British pagan religions
replaced by Christianity
Early Literature

Celtic and Germanic
Tribes
– heroic legends

Written down by
monks hundreds of
years later.
– What effect will this
have on pagan epics?
Old, Middle, Modern English
Old
'OurEnglish
father which art in heaven,
name.
hallowed
'Fæder be
urethy
þuþe
eart
on
Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be
heofonum
done
in earth
it is in heaven.
si þin
nama as
gehalgod
Give
us this day
bread.
tobecume
þin our
rice daily
gewurþe
þin
And
forgive
us ourswa
debts
as on
we
willa
on eorðan
swa
forgive
our debters.
heofonum
And
leadgedæghwamlican
us not into temptation,
urne
hlaf
butsyle
deliver
from evil.'
us tousdæg
and forgyf us ure gyltas swa
swa we forgyfað urum
gyltendum
and ne gelæd þu us on
costnunge ac alys us of yfele
http://bitterscroll.podomatic.com/entry/2006-08-09T16_02_07soþlice.'
07_00
Middle English

'Oure fadir þat art in heuenes
halwid be þi name;
þi reume or kyngdom come to
be. Be þi wille don in herþe as
it is dounin heuene.
yeue to us today oure eche
dayes bred.
And foryeue to us oure dettis
þat is oure synnys as we
foryeuen to oure dettouris þat
is to men þat han synned in
us.
And lede us not into
temptacion but delyuere us
from euyl.'
Old English
The Germanic Tribe
 Spoken on the British Isles

– Anglo-Saxons specifically
Beowulf

Germanic traditional epic
– Specifically Anglo-Saxon
– Warring culture




3,000 line epic poem
First literary composition
in the English Language
Composed sometime
between 600-900 C.E.
700 is our best guess.
Written down 200-300
years later.
History of the text




Poem exists in one
manuscript only (in
British Library)
Survived fire in 18th
century
This scare led to the
copying, editing,
translating of the copy
Now an integral part of
the canon.
– A group of the most
important literature of any
given time period, genre,
author, etc.
Beowulf

Poem written in England
– Set in Scandinavia


Follows the Scandinavian prince, Beowulf.
Poem has three major plots
1. Beowulf, a warrior for the Geats, crosses the sea to
help the Danes kill the man-eating monster Grendel.

He must also kill Grendel’s mother
2. Beowulf returns and rules for fifty years as king. A
dragon terrorizes the country and Beowulf must
confront it.
3. Beowulf slays the dragon but meets his own death.
He enters the legend of his people as a hero.
Beowulf

Poem shows life in
the Dark Ages.
– Begins with soldiers in
a hall, drinking mead
– Grendel eats them all.
Yum.

Grendel is the spawn
of Cain, the
murderous brother in
the Old Testament.
Chainmail
Beowulf assignment

Assignment on page 2 of Medieval Lit packet
– Take a look at this now
Excerpts begin on page 3
 Read academically and carefully
 Take notes or annotate

– Notes can be used on quiz, annotations cannot

Due Monday
– If you’re absent Monday (or today, I guess) you will
turn in typed answers to these questions upon return.
From Epic to Romance
The Epic yielded to
Romance in 11th and
12th centuries
 Originally applied to
Old French to
distinguish from Latin

– Eventually, it referred
to any work in French.
Romance

Narrative shift
– from warfare
– to love.

Courtly love
 A tradition that idealized women and turned conventions of
human love almost literally into religion.
 First developed by troubadours – lyric entertainers
– Originally half-facetious
– elaborate code to follow
Romance

Earlier Romances,
chansons de geste (Songs
of Deeds), like Roland, are
men-at-war.
– The central figure:
 Charlemagne
 and members of his court.
– Basis in historical fact
– a towering figure in the
development of Western
and Christian culture.
 However, they have poetic
legend, as, for instance,
Charlemagne is in intimate
touch with the Angels.
Song of Roland
Background

Written in Old French circa
1100
– Composed 300 years earlier
– Oral songs sung by
troubadours accompanied by
lyres.

Song of Roland
– earliest and best known example
of the Song of Deed romance.

History of text (FYI)
– Unknown until 1832 when the
first of several manuscripts
was discovered.
– The best of these is at Oxford
University that is a copy by an
Anglo-Norman scribe of an
earlier version.
– Many conspiracies and
hypotheses about the organ,
poet, and facts of Roland
Background

Written at the beginning of the Crusades.
– By telling a story of the Great Charlemagne, the hope is to
inspire current fighters.

The values of the poem are simply identified.
– Exclusively deal with war and religion
– Success in battle is vital
 personal reasons
 prove God is on your side

Christians are good, Saracens (Muslims) are evil
– although some are great warriors and honorable

Absent are:
– philosophical subtleties
– inward conflicts
Song of Roland plot
Based on the ambush of Charlemagne's rear
guard in 778.
 Charlemagne’s nephew Roland ambushed as
they returned from an expedition against the
Muslims in Spain.
 Brings to life aspects of early medieval culture:

–
–
–
–
naming one's battle gear and weapons,
dependence on cavalry
glorification of blood-and-thunder heroism
and strong sense of companionship between
brothers-at-arms.
Structure of poem

Very un-poetic:
– Simple vocabulary & syntax.
 No Figurative language
– No atmospheric details
– Poet is on the side of the Christians, but he
doesn't gush like in Beowulf.
Structure of poem
Hyperbolic praise of the past
 Heroes of old
 Appearance of prophetic dreams and
omens
 Intervention at key moments of
supernatural beings
 Epithets
 Battles

Courtly Love
History of Arthurian Legend
and Courtly Love
Courtly Love

Extramarital
– very secretive

The knight (whom did the
loving) prone to:
– fits of weeping
– Growing pale
– Languishing in his unrequited
love

Lady of noble birth
– Knight performed great deeds
gain his lady’s admiration from
afar

Faithfulness was eternal
Courtly Love (don’t write down)

Chretien de Troyes applied these rules into
legendary tales including:
–
–
–
–

Eric and Enide
The Knight of the Cart
The Knight with the Lion
The Story of the Grail
These stories combined with other romances to
form a foundation for courtly love including:
– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
– Havelok the Dane
King Arthur
Courtly Love or
“The Romance”
Epic Poetry
Arthurian Legend

The Arthurian Legend is a compilation of stories and romances
– Arthur’s birth
– his adventures as knight
– adulterous love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere
King Arthur





Gains fame in the 1100’s
Chretien de Troyes takes the oral
legends he has heard, mixes them
with courtly love ideas and writes
the first five romances of
adventure in the 12th century
Stories culminate in the 15th
century
Alfred Loydd Tennyson “Idylls of
the of the King”
Mark Twain with “A Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”.
Romance

Church began to see Romance, specifically
Courtly Love, as a threat
– Sir Gaiwan and the Green Knight
– Romance of the Rose
Late Middle Ages
The Church took over
power
– based on two
propositions:
 Kingdom of God vs
Kingdom of the Devil
 only through the
offices of the church
 Earth is proving ground for
Heaven
 The literature reflected this
conflict.
– Nearly all literature was
religious in theme.

On the Misery of the
Human Condition
Sermon written by Pope Innocent
III
~1200
Book 2 page 96
Medieval Drama
In courtyards
 Layman actors
 Three types:

– Mystery play
 Biblical history from fall of Lucifer to Last Judgement
– Miracle play
 Stories of life of Christ, Mary, or saints
– Morality Play
 Struggle of good and evil and soul’s afterlife.
 Allegorical
Everyman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM5Z
wd427iU&feature=related
Middle English
More recognizable to modern reader.
 Middle Class rises

– Feudalism weakens
– Canterbury Tales
The General Prologue

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
Bifil that in that seson on a day,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
At nyght was come into that hostelrye
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
And wel we weren esed atte beste.
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
So hadde I spoken with hem everichon
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,
And specially from every shires ende
And made forward erly for to ryse,
Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
To take oure wey ther as I yow devyse.
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.
The Canterbury Tales
Take a look at the four following images.
Write down three characteristics the
image triggers – think about their role in
society as well as your personal, moral
beliefs of them.
 Basically, generalize

Politician
Write down three
characteristics the
image triggers – think
about their role in
society as well as
your personal, moral
beliefs of them.
 Basically, generalize

Priest
Write down three
characteristics the
image triggers – think
about their role in
society as well as
your personal, moral
beliefs of them.
 Basically, generalize

Rapper
Write down three
characteristics the
image triggers – think
about their role in
society as well as
your personal, moral
beliefs of them.
 Basically, generalize

Businessperson
Write down three
characteristics the
image triggers – think
about their role in
society as well as
your personal, moral
beliefs of them.
 Basically, generalize

Journal
In your notebook, choose one of these people
and describe him. Your description should judge
him on a moral and social level. You may want
to discuss his clothing, items he has with him,
physical attributes, etc. A reader who reads your
description should be able to get a gist of your
feelings toward that person.
 NOTE: Don’t describe the photo I just showed
you, rather a person in that job/role.

Canterbury Tales Organizational
Plan

Chaucer (our narrator)
fictitiously watches 29
pilgrims enter the Talbard
Inn in the Southwark
neighborhood of London
–
On their way to the shrine of Thomas a
Becket in Canterbury
– Becket, murdered in 1170

Use of journey motif as
framing device
– 4 tales per person: 2 coming;
2 going

Actually completed 22
– Began 2 others
Cathedral of Canterbury
The Prologue


Sets stage for journey
Meeting place the Tabard Inn
in Southwark of 29 pilgrims
including:
–
–
–
–
Knight and his Squire
Yeoman
A Nun (Prioress)
a chaplain,
– 3 Priests
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
A monk and a friar
A merchant
a cleric
a lawyer
a franklin (freeman)
A pardoner
A miller
Tales & Prologues

Each pilgrim will tell a tale
– Tales usually have morals or tell us about the teller

Some tales have a prologue introducing the tale
– Chaucer telling us a little about the teller of the tale
– In a couple he will write a few words after the tale, too.

The whole story had the “General Prologue”
– Chaucer describing the scene in the Inn. He describes the tellers
and passes subtle judgment about him/her and his/her status in
life

We will look at 2 tales – the Pardoner’s and the
Miller’s
The Pardoner’s Tale
3 young men of drunk and riotous
behavior search for Death.
 An old man whom they insult tells them
that Death lies up the hill under a tree.
 They find bags of gold and plot to send
the youngest for food and wine and then
kill him for the gold.
 He returns with poisoned wine and all die.
 “The love of money is the root of all evil.”

The Miller’s Tale

No need to read the “Prologue to
the Miller’s Tale” Basically:
– The Miller is very drunk & likes bawdy
tales




Tale of old carpenter (John), his
young wife (Alison), a student and
border in John’s home (Nicholas)
and a suitor and cleric. (Absalom)
Nicholas & Alison plot to sleep
together and trick the husband
Absalom, who also loves Alison,
steps into the fray but is rejected
Nicholas plots Noah’s flood scam of
John
Tips to reading
Understand plot
 List characters and
their characteristics
& relationship to
others.
 What can this tale
tell us of its teller
(the Miller)


Nicholas:
– Student of
astrology
(Astroglobe on his
shelf (23))
– “well versed in
love” (14) & good
looking (15)
–