The Loss of Normandy.

 King John (son of King Henry II of England) "lost" Normandy in
1204 . King John fell in love with a French noblewoman--Isabel of
Angouleme.
 He married her hastily without regard for her other suitor (to
whom she was already engaged), Hugh of Lusignan. Hugh was the
head of a very powerful and ambitious family, but John chose to
ignore these connections and, in anticipation of retaliation for
stealing Isabel, attacked Hugh's family.
 Hugh appeals to the King of all France, Philip, and Philip took
advantage of the situation to "embarrass" the duke of Normandy
(and King of England), John. Since John was extremely irritating to
Philip, it was with great delight that Philip summoned John to
appear before him, answer charges, and submit to the judgement of
the court.
 John maintained that, as King of England, he was exempt from
subjugation and did not appear at his trial. Hence, Philip
stripped John of his "dukedom" and invaded Normandy.

 Philip succeeded, and Normandy returned solely to the
French. John lost support: he was viewed as a scoundrel.
 With the loss of Normandy (some holdings were left in the
south of France), many nobles had to decide where their
allegiance lay . . . France or England.
 Philip, and later Louis, helped solve this problem: he
confiscated the land of many nobles. Those who still had
holdings in both places were forced to give up one or the other.
There were some that were divided up by Philip, and in some
instances, the nobles kept their larger landholdings in England
and gave up the lesser in Normandy.
 By 1250 the holdings had been divided or the choice made to
hold land either in England or Normandy, and by 1250, there
was no real reason for using French.

 During the breakup of holdings, an influx of French from the
south was also occurring.
 During the breakup of holdings, an influx of French from the
south was also occurring. There were three periods of
infiltration by foreigners, all occurring during the reign of
Henry the 3rd:Henry the 3ed's reign was full of excesses and
liberties. He freely gave to foreigners--land,etc.--and
encouraged their influx. The hostilities that ensued were, in
large part, due to Henry's catering tothe French. Resentment
of the foreigners and of Henry was the attitude of the day.
Factors Contributing to The
Diffusion of English.

 During this time the upper classes continued to speak French, as
they had done in the previous century, but the reasons for doing
so were not the same.
 Instead of being a mother tongue inherited from Norman
ancestors French became, as the century wore on, a cultivated
tongue supported by social custom and by business and
administrative convention.
 Meanwhile, English made steady advances. A number of
considerations make it clear that by the middle of the century,
when the separation of the English nobles from their interests in
France had been completed (the loss of Normandy), English was
becoming a matter of general use among the upper classes.
The 100 Years War.

 The Hundred Years' War was a series of
conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453
between the Kings of France and the
Kings of England and their various
allies for control of the French throne,
which had become vacant upon the
extinction of the senior Capetian line of
French kings.
 Its long duration, it is often viewed as
one of the most significant conflicts in
the history of medieval warfare.
Separation of the French and
English Nobility

 After the Norman Conquest a large number of people held lands in both
England and France, and a kind of interlocking aristocracy existed.
 It is true that some steps toward a separation of interests had been taken
from time to time, as when William the Conqueror left Normandy to his
eldest son Robert and England to William Rufus, and as when Henry I
confiscated the estates of unruly Norman barons.
 But in 1204 the process of separation was greatly accelerated when the king
of France confiscated the lands of several great barons, and of all knights
who lived in England. For the most part the families that had estates in both
countries were forced to give up one or the other.
 After 1250 there was no reason for the English nobility to consider itself
anything but English. This was the most valid reason for ceasing to use
English
Promotion of National Feeling

 During the reign of John there were calls for a policy of "England for the
English". And in the reign of Henry III the antagonism arose immediately after
the first stream of foreigners came to England. The king dismissed the
foreigners from the important offices they held, but they were soon back.
 Opposition to foreigners became the principal ground for national feeling.
Between the years 1258 and 1265 the foreigners were driven twice from
England. When Edward (1272-1307) came to the throne England entered upon
a period of consciousness of its unity. The government officials were for the
most part English, and the king warned against the purpose of the king of
France to "wipe out the English tongue".
 The effect of the foreign incursions in the thirteenth century was to delay the
natural spread of the use of English by the upper class that had begun earlier. It
also stimulated the consciousness of the difference between those who
participated in English affairs as to consider themselves Englishmen, and those
who flocked to England to enjoy Henry's favors.
 On of the frequent criticisms against the newcomers was that they did not
know English. This meant that there was a general felling that some knowledge
of English was regarded a proper mark of an Englishman.
Black Death

 The Black Death, an epidemic of bubonic plague that spread over the whole
of Europe, arrived in England in 1348 and killed as much as a third to half
the population.
 The first outbreak of plague swept across England in 1348-49. It seems to
have travelled across the south in bubonic form during the summer months
of 1348, before mutating into the even more frightening pneumonic form
with the onset of winter.
 The foul conditions was as true of Bristol as it was of any other medieval
town, if not more so because of its size and importance. People had a
tendency to empty their chamberpots out of their windows into the street.
 On average, between 30-45% of the general populace died in the Black
Death of 1348-50. But in some villages, 80% or 90% of the population died
(and in Kilkenny at least, it seems likely that the death-rate was 100%!). Nor
was 1350 the end of it. Plague recurred! It came back in 1361-64, 1368, 1371,
1373-75, 1390, 1405 and continued into the fifteenth century.
The Rise of the Lower &
Middle Class.

 Life in Britain in the fourteenth century was 'nasty, brutish
and short', and it had been that way for the peasantry since
long before the Black Death. Britain in the early fourteenth
century was horrendously overpopulated.
 This was very good for the land-owning classes, since it
meant that they had a vast reserve of inexpensive
manpower upon which they could draw.
 This changed after 1348.
 We can see in the example of the immediate consequence of
the plague, the Black Death: a slash in the cost of livestock
and inflation in the cost of labor. The poor started to demand
more for their work.

 The immediate reaction of the elite was to legislate against
this. The Ordinance of Labourers was published on 18th June
1349, limiting the freedom of peasants to move around in
search of the most lucrative work.
 It failed. Skilled manpower was so short that no landlord
could afford to ignore the strictures of the market. In fact, to
those with the opportunity and ability to seize it, the Black
Death presented a golden opportunity for advancement.
 With the de facto (if not de jure) freedom to move around and sell
their labor, and the horrendously deflated prices of goods and land,
those with the enterprise to do so were able to lift themselves out of
the bonds of villeinage and make something of themselves.

 n 1371, an academic Oxford cleric called John Wycliffe was
promoted into the government service of King Edward III.
 Wycliffe was a reformist clergyman who had evolved a theory that
the bible was the only truly religious authority, rejecting the
teachings of the Pope and the Catholic Church.
 He believed that it was impossible to know whose souls would
ultimately be saved, and that it was entirely possible for those of
the clergy and the Pope not to be among them. His teachings were
vilified by the Church, and he was tried for heresy in 1377.
However, John of Gaunt literally stood by him in court, causing the
trial to break up in confusion.
 Yet Wycliffe's teachings had struck a dangerous chord amongst the
populace. Thanks to the new social freedoms released by the
Black Death, the Commoners had become more confident in
demanding their rights.

 The followers of Wycliffe's ideas, known as Lollards, were
vociferous in support of such demands. Such words struck a deep
chord among the men of Kent; more so than in other places like
Durham, where feudal lordship still held strong sway.
 This was because the Kentish peasantry had been able to improve
their lot considerably in the wake of the Black Death.
 This was the outcome of simmering resentments and the
surprising social shifts, in part caused in part by the Black Death.
The Peasants Revolt is the only truly popular uprising in English
medieval history.
The Status of English in the 14th
Century

 The General Adoption of English, at the beginning of the fourteenth
century everyone in England knew English.
 Until a generation or two before that time so much of the polite
literature of England had been in French.
 When writers used English they felt called upon to justify their
decision. They frequently did this in a prologue, and incidentally
made interesting observations on the linguistic situation. One
prologue to a work written in 1300 tells us that both the learned and
unlearned understood English at that time.
 In another prologue written in 1325 the writer acknowledges that
some people who lived at court know French, but he specifically
states that old and young, learned and unlearned, all understand
the English tongue.
 In a third introduction written not later than 1325, and probably
earlier, the author makes the expected statement that everybody
knows English, and additionally asserts that at a time when
gentlemen still "used" French he had seen many nobles who could
not speak it.

 At this time England had a king, Richard II, who spoke English
fluently. Edward III also knew English. Outside the royal family,
among the governing class English was the language best
understood.
 And in 1362 the Parliament was opened with a speech in English
for the first time. In the last year of the century the order deposing
Richard II was read in English, and Henry IV's speeches claiming
the throne and later accepting it were delivered in English. Such
instances show that in the fourteenth century English was again the
principal tongue of all England.
English in the Law Courts &
Schools.

 Law Courts; Soon after the Norman Conquest, French was the language of all legal
proceedings. But in 1356 proceedings in the courts of London and Middlesex were
ordered to be in English. And in 1362 the Statute of Pleading was enacted in the
Parliament, and was to go into effect in the following year. According to this statute
all lawsuits were to be conducted in English, because "French is much unknown in
the said realm," i.e. in England.
 Schools; Shortly after the Conquest, French replaced English as the medium of
instruction in the schools. In the twelfth century there were complaints that former
education was in English, but was now in French, because "other people now teach
our folk". Until the fourteenth century the use of French in the schools was quite
general. Some writers of the period attributed the corruption of the English language
partly to this fact.
 However, after the Back Death, two Oxford schoolmasters were responsible for a
great innovation in English education, namely John Cornwall and Pencrich. These
two schoolmasters introduced English as the vehicle of instruction in their schools,
probably because of a scarcity of competent teachers. Anyhow, after the middle of the
fourteenth century English began to be used in the schools, and by 1385 the practice
became general.
The Use of English in Writing

 The last step in the gradual ascent of the English language was its
employment in writing. This is because in this respect it had to
compete with both Latin and French. French was the first language in
England to break the monopoly of Latin in writing.
 It was only in the fifteenth century that English succeeded in
replacing both. About 1350 French was at its height as the language
of private and semi-official correspondence. The earliest letters
written in English appeared in the latter part of the fourteenth
century, although there were few before 1400. eventually, after 1450
English letters were used everywhere.
 The situation was rather similar with wills. The earliest known
English will after the Conquest dates from 1383, but wills written in
English were rare before 1400. in 1397 the earl of Kent made his will
in English, and in 1438 the countess of Stanford did likewise. The
wills of Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI were all written in
English.
 In the fifteenth century English was adopted for the records of
towns and guilds, as well as in some branches of the central
government. About 1430 some towns translated their ordinances
and books of customs into English.

 English became generally used in their transactions after 1450. It
was likewise with the guilds, in some of which English was used
along with French in their ordinances. This was the case in a London
guild as early as 1345, and later at York in 1400.
 The records of Parliament are a similar case. The petitions of the
Commons, on which statutes were based if they were approved,
were usually in French until 1423. These petitions were enrolled in
French even when they had been originally presented in English.
 As for the statutes themselves, they were generally in Latin until
about 1300, then in French until the reign of Henry VII. It was in
1485 that they began to appear in English side by side with French,
until French entirely disappeared in 1489.

 The reign of Henry V (1413-1422) marked the turning point in the use
of English in writing. The king set an example in using English in his
correspondence, and exerted certain efforts to promote its use in
writing.
 Apparently his victories over the French gave the English a pride in
things that were English. The end of the reign of King Henry V and
the beginning of the next mark the period at which English began to
be generally adopted in writing.
 The year 1425 represents the approximate date of the general
employment of the English language in writing.
Middle English Literature

 The separation of the English nobility from France around the year 1250, and
the spread of English among the upper class is reflected in the next hundred
years of English literature. Polite literature that had until that time appeared
only in French now appeared in English.
 The most popular type of this literature was the romance. Only one English
romance exists from an earlier date than 1250. but from this time on
translations and adaptations from French began to appear, and their number
increased largely during the fourteenth century. Although the religions
literature characterizing the previous period continued, there appeared now
other types. Thus the hundred years between 1250 and 1350 is labeled the
Period of Religious and Secular literature in English literature. This period
indicates clearly the wider spread of the English language.
 The general employment of English by all cases, which took place by the
latter half of the fourteenth century, resulted in a body of literature that
represented the high point in English literature during the Middle Ages. The
period from 1350 to 1400 is called the Period of Great Individual Writers.
 The chief name among these writers was Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400), who
is considered the greatest English poet before Shakespeare.
 In addition to delightful minor poems, Chaucer composed a long narrative
poem called Troilus and Criseyde, but his most famous work is the
Canterbury Tales, which constitutes in its variety of tales an anthology of
medieval literature.
 To this period belong William Langland, John Wycliffe, and other prose
writers and poets, who made the latter part of the fourteenth century an
outstanding period in Middle English literature.

 The fifteenth century is sometimes called the Imitative Period because so
much of the poetry written at that time was imitating that of Chaucer. The
same century is sometimes also referred to as the Transition Period, because
it covers a large part of the time between the age of Chaucer and that of
Shakespeare.
 To this period belong the writers Lydgate, Hoccleve, Skelton, and Hawes.
At the end of the century English literature had the prose of Malory and
Caxton. Scottish imitators of Chaucer, e.g. Henryson, Dunbar, Gawin
Douglas, and Lindsay, produced significant work.
 These authors carried on the tradition of English as a literary medium into
the Renaissance. Thus, English literature during the Middle English period
sheds interesting light on the status of the English language.