Middle english written records

Federal Education Agency

Irkutsk State Linguistic University

Theoretical Linguistic Department 
 
 

Middle English written records

Term Paper 
 

Student of Group ТМПА1-06-02

Dorzhieva A.V

Scientific Advisor:

Y.N. Karypkina

Philol. Cand., Assoc. Prof 
 
 

Irkutsk 2010 
 

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………...3

PART 1. ANTOLOGY OF OLD AND MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE…………………………………………………………………….5

Old English literature in the period of Anglo-Saxon ethnic extension……………………………………………………………..5

The Middle English corpus………………………………..................9

1.2.1. Jeffrey Chaucer..........................................................................11

Principal Middle English written records…………..................13

PART 2. CONCEPTUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE ………...........................................................................................16

          2.1. Knighthood and Chivalry as a cultural dominant in the Middle English literature…………………………………………………………………………..16

          2.2. The ideal of chivalry in “Sir Gawain and Green Knight”……………..17

          2.3. The concept of Courtly love in the English Medieval epoch………….20

          2.4. Christian religious dominant…………………………………………..21

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………...24

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………..26 
 
 
 
 

INTRODUCTION

     The language of a past time is known by the quality of its literature. Charters and records yield their secrets to the philologist and contribute their quota of words and inflections to our dictionaries and grammars. But it is in literature that a language displays its full power, its ability to convey in vivid and memorable form the thoughts and emotions of a people. The Middle English literature is fortunately one of the richest and most significant of any preserved. Because it is the language mobilized, the language in action, we must say a word about it.

     Generally speaking, this literature is of two sorts. Some of it was undoubtedly brought to England by the Germanic and Norman conquerors from their continental homes and preserved for a time in oral tradition. The prevalent ethno-cultural dominants of this epoch considerably influenced upon the whole English literature. In this work we can trace their gradual formation from the early times of the development of the old Germanic writing system. In the course of time three streams mingle in Middle English epoch: the religious, chivalrous and courtly literature forming a unique mixture and a tangle of genres characteristic of medieval writing.

     The object of this thesis is the process of establishing the national literary language in England throughout the Old English period up to the Middle Ages.

     The purpose of the research can be formulated as follows: the representation of the Middle English literature with its immediate connection with main concepts of that time such as religious, courtly and chivalrous one in particular.

     The subject of the research is the historical, cultural and social backgrounds for the formation of Middle English literature.

     The purpose, object and subject of the research stipulated the arrangement and consecutive solving the following goals:

     1 Give a short retrospective view on early stage of English literature development

     2 Consideration of the medieval English literature at the conceptual angle   

     3 Detecting the principal Middle English written records  

     During the work the following methods of researching were applied  

     The learning and making analysis of the literature according to the topic of the research;

       Historical - philological method. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

PART 1. ANTOLOGY OF OLD AND MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE 

. Old English literature in the period of Anglo-Saxon ethnic extension 

     As a result of British invasion at the end of the VI century a new West-Germanic ethno-social system, traditionally called Anglo-Saxon, began forming. It brought about some considerable changes in the social structure of the Anglo-Saxon society. To get a better understanding of the Anglo-Saxon society it is worth considering the Old-English words of status. The key-words are given below in order of precedence:

     cynig (chief,  later the founder the royal dynasty)

     ealdorman (sub-king,  a kind of hereditary aristocracy; later replaced by the term eorl)

     pegn (warrior)

     ceorl (a free man, farmer)

     peow (a slave,  servant)

     The given structure provided an effective functioning of considerably tough ethno-social system needed for the Anglo-Saxons during the period of their ethnic extension when the former tribal organization of the society did not met the stereotypes evoked by military orientation of the ethnic dominant at that time. There emerged a peculiar class of professional warriors who swore to their lords in exchange for lands and gifts seized in the military campaigns. The kings and noble people belonged to the ruling upper circles, whereas professional soldiers-thegns- took an interim niche in the social hierarchy standing between noble and common people. M. Lehnert describes “a pegn” as a personal servant who was one degree higher in the ranks of freeman than a “a ceorl”. As servants of the King the status of “pegn” gradually rose, until they formed the elected nobility of the Kingdom. 

      The analysis of early Old English written records allows to single out two distinct imperatives throughout the period of the Anglo-Saxon ethnic extension. On the one hand it was -bellicosity, the orientation to the persecution of the war and submission of the person's concerns to this imperative and on the other hand- “an archetypal fear” to be reduced to the status of social outcast, a person deprived of any kind of rights, the most important of which was the right “to be a human”.                  the cowards were threatened with exile. It must have been the severest punishment for their “inglorious act” as a shameful life to exile, a person without his kin, was much worse than death. In the world of instability and violence the fear of being reduced to the position of an exile was so strong that it became one of the prevailing motives in the early Anglo-Saxon literature.  

     Whereas warfare for the sake of wealth provided the motive power that moulded ethnic stereotypes thus organizing the passionateness of the early Anglo-Saxons in the period of their ethnic extension. The same warfare motive underlay the ethnics justifying the prevailing stereotypes.  This epoch of great deeds and brave heroes is known in literature as the heroic age. The folk epic Beowulf is considered to represent the most telling evidence of the outlook and temper of the Germanic mind [23: 84-88].

     The epic “Beowulf” is of about three thousand lines. This poem seems to have originated on the Continent, but when and where are not now to be known. It may have been carried to England in the form of ballads by the Anglo-Saxons; or it may be Scandinavian material, later brought in by Danish or Norwegian pirates. At any rate it seems to have taken on its present form in England during the seventh and eighth centuries. It relates how the hero Beowulf, coming over the sea to the relief of King Hrothgar, delivers him from a monster, Grendel, and then from the vengeance of Grendel's only less formidable mother. Returned home in triumph, Beowulf much later receives the due reward of his valor by being made king of his own tribe, and meets his death while killing a fire-breathing dragon which has become a scourge to his people. As he appears in the poem, Beowulf is an idealized Anglo-Saxon hero, but in origin he may have been any one of several other different things. Perhaps he was the old Germanic god Beowa, and his exploits originally allegories, like some of those in the Greek mythology, of his services to man; he may, for instance, first have been the sun, driving away the mists and cold of winter and of the swamps, hostile forces personified in Grendel and his mother. Or, Beowulf may really have been a great human fighter who actually killed some especially formidable wild beasts, and whose superhuman strength in the poem results, through the similarity of names, from his being confused with Beowa. This is the more likely because there is in the poem a slight trace of authentic history. Beowulf' presents an interesting though very incomplete picture of the life of the upper, warrior, caste among the northern Germanic tribes during their later period of barbarism on the Continent and in England, a life more highly developed than that of the Anglo-Saxons before their conquest of the island.

     Outside of Beowulf and a few fragments, the recording of Anglo-Saxon heroic story begins with a ninth-century entry in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 755 (actually 757). To this we can add a few of the annals devoted to the combats of King Alfred's son and grandsons in the tenth century and stop at some point near the end of King Aethelred's reign in 1016. While not a Chronicle poem, The Battle of Maldon has a place in this range, if only as an inspired response to what otherwise the Chronicle (in the Canterbury and Peterborough manuscripts ) records for 991 as ealdorman Byrthnoth's death in battle at Maldon. Typically, guides, translations and readers introducing students to Old English texts highlight three of the stories from this range of years: the story of West Saxon feud we call "Cynewulf and Cyneheard" (chronicle entry 755), The Battle of Brunanburh, (entry for 937), and The Battle of Maldon (sometime after 991). Traditionally, and here all introductions in Old English readers follow suit, these narratives are seen as enshrining, in some literary intensified way, heroic values reflecting their ancient, Germanic roots.

     There is a dark age between the arrival of the Anglo- Saxons and the first arrival of Old English manuscripts. A few scattered inscriptions in the language date from the 5^th and 6^th centuries, written in the runic alphabet which the invaders brought with them, but these give very little information about what the language was like. The literary age began only after arrival of the Roman missionaries, led by Augustine, who came there to Kent in 597 AD. Because of the increasingly literary climate old English manuscripts also began to be written-much earlier, indeed, that the earliest vernacular texts from other north European countries. The first texts dating from around 700, are glossaries of Latin words translated into English, and a few early inscriptions and poems. But very little material remains from this period. Doubtless many manuscripts were burned during the 8^th century Vikings invasion. The chief literary work of this period as it was mentioned before  was Beowulf, survives in a single copy, made around 1,000 possibly some 250 years after it was composed. There are a number of short poems, again almost entirely preserved in the late manuscripts, over half of them concerned with Christian subjects-legends of the saints, extracts from the Bible, and devotional pieces. Several others reflect the Germanic tradition, dealing with such topics as war, travelling, patriotism, and celebration. Most extant Old English texts were written in the period following reign of King Alfred, who arranged for many Latin works to be translated-including Bede's Ecclesiastical History. But the total corpus is extremely small makes about 3, 5 million-the equivalent of about 30 medium-sized modern novels. Only 5 per cent of this total is poetry [16: 10].         

     In the 10^th century when the old heroic epic verses were already declining, some new poems were composed and inserted in the prose historical chronicles: the battle of Brunanburgh, the battle of Maldon. They bear resemblance to the ancient heroic poems but deal with contemporary events: the wars of the Scots, the Picts and the raiders from Scandinavia.

     Hence, the literature of the Old English period was not notable for its diversity of literature genres. The leading place was taken by heroic romances and religious writings. Obviously, heroes of the old times had no time to think of love as in ancient epic romances love did not play any important role. However, the situation considerably changed in the subsequent period.

1.2. The Middle English corpus

The Middle English period has a much richer documentation than is found in the old English. This is partly a result of the post-conquest political situation. The newly centralized monarchy commissioned national and local surveys, beginning with the Domesday Book and there is a marked increase in the number of public and private documents- mandates, charters, contracts, tax-rolls, and other administrative or judicial papers. However, the early material is limited value of those interested in the linguistic history of the English because it is largely written in Latin or French, and the only relevant data which can be extracted relate to English and the personal names. Most religious publication falls into the same category, with Latin maintaining its presence throughout the period as the official language of the Church.

     A major difference from old English is the absence of a continuing tradition of historical writing in the native language, as in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle-a function which Latin supplanted, and which was not revived until the 15^th century. 

     Material in English appears as a trickle in the 13^th century, but within 150 years it has become a flood. In the early period, we can see a great deal of religious prose writing, in the form of homilies, tracts, lives of the Saints, and the other aids to devotion and meditation. Sometimes a text was written with a specific readership in mind; the Ancrene Rewle (Anchorites Guide), for example, was compiled by a spiritual director for three noblewomen who had abandoned the world to live as anchoresses. During the 14^th century, there is a marked increase in the number of translated writings from French to Latin, and of the texts for teaching these languages. Guild records, proclaims, proverbs, dialogues, allegories, and the letters illustrate the diverse range of new styles and genres. Towards the end of the century, the translations of the Bible inspired by John Wycliff appear amid considerable controversy, and the associated movement produces many manuscripts. Finally, in the 1430es, there is a vast output in the English   from the office of the London Chancery scribes, which strongly influenced the development of the standard written language.

     Poetry presents a puzzle. The Anglo-Saxon poetic tradition apparently dies out in the 11^th century, to reappear patchily in the 13^th. A lengthy poetic history of a Britain is knows as Lagamon's Brut as we have mentioned above, one of the earliest to survive from Middle English, and in the 14^th century come the important texts of Piers Plowman and Sir Gawain and the Green  Knight. What is surprising in that the alliterative Old English style is still present in these all works, despite an apparent break in poetic continuity of at least hundred years. The conundrum has generated much discussion. Perhaps the alliterative technique was retained though prose: several Middle English prose texts are strongly alliterative, and it is sometimes difficult to tell from a manuscript which genre (poetry or prose) a piece belongs to, because the line divisions are not shown. Perhaps the Old English style survived through the medium of oral transmission. Or perhaps it is simply that most poetic manuscripts have been lost. Middle English poetry was inevitably much influenced by French literary traditions, both in content and style. One of the earliest examples is the 13^th -century verse-contest known as The OWL and the Nightingale. Later works include romances in the French style, secular lyrics, bestiaries, biblical poetry, Christian legends, hymns, prayers and elegies.

     The mystical dream -vision popular in Italy and France, is well illustrated by the poem  modern editors have called Pea, in which the writer recalls the death of his two-year- old daughter, who then acts as his spiritual comforter. Drama also begins to make its presence felt, in the form of dialogues, pageants, and the famous cycles of mystery plays. Much of the Middle English literature is of unknown authorship, but th end of the period this situation has changed. Among the prominent names which emerge in the latter part of the 14^th century are John Gower, William Langland, and some   time later John Lydgate, Thomas Malory, William Caxton, and the poets who are collectively known as Chaucerians.

     Rather than a somewhat random collection of interesting texts, there is now a major body of literature, in the modern sense. It is this which provides the final part of the bridge between Middle and Early Modern English.

     The flourishing of literature, which marks the seconds half of the 14^th c., apart from its cultural significance, testifies, to the complete reestablishment of English as the language of writing. Some authors wrote in their local dialect from outside London, but most of them used the London dialect or forms of the language combining London and provincial traits. Towards the end of the century the London dialect had become the principal type of language used in literature a sort of literary 'pattern' to be imitated by provincial authors.

     The literary text of the late 14^th c. preserved in numerous manuscripts, belong to a variety of genres. Translation continued, but original compositions were produced in abundance; party was more prolific than prose. This period of literary florescence is known as the 'age of Chaucer'; the greatest name in English literature before Shakespeare other writers are referred to as 'Chaucer's contemporaries') [16: 34-37].

     1.2.1. Geoffrey Chaucer

             Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) was by far the most outstanding figure of the time. A hundred years later William Caxton, the first English printer, called him 'the worshipful father and fist founder and embellisher of ornate eloquence in our language. 'In many books on the history of English literature and the history of English Chaucer is described as the founder of the literary language.

     His carried works more of less imitative if other authors - Latin, French or Italian - though they bear abundant evidence of his skill. He never wrote in any other language than English. The culmination of Chaucer's work as a poet; his great unfinished collection of stories 'The Canterbury Tales'.

     Chaucer wrote in a dialect which in the main coincided with that used in documents produced in London shortly before his time and for a long time after. Although he did not really create the literary language, as a poet of outstanding talent he made better use if it than contemporaries and set up 2 pattern to be followed in the 15^th c.  His poems were copied so many times that over sixty manuscripts of 'The Cantervary Tales' have survived to this day. No books were among the first to be printed, a hundred years after their composition.

     Chauser's literary language, based in the mixed (largely East Midland) London dialect is known as classical M.E. In the 15^th and 16^th centuries it became the basis of the national literary English language.

     The 15^th century could produce nothing worthy to rank with Chaucer. The two prominent poets, Thomas Hoccleve and John Lydgate, were chiefly translators and imitators. The style of Caucer's successors is believed to have drawn farther away from everyday speech; it was highly affected in character, abounding in abstact words and strongly influenced by Latin rhetoric (it is termed 'aureate language') [21: 160- 162].

     The tiny voice of this paper work can add nothing to the critical acclaim which has been given to Chaucer's poetic and the narrative achievements or to his sights into medieval attitudes and society; but it can affirm with some conviction the importance of his work to any history of the language. It is partly matter of a quantity of a quality- one complete edition prints over 43, 000 of a poetry, as well as two of a major prose works -but more crucial is the breath and variety of his language, which ranges from the polished complexity of high flown rhetoric to the natural simplicity of domestic chat. No previous author has shown such a range, and Chaucer's writing- in addition to its merits- is thus unique in the evidence it has provided about the state of medieval grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.