Lit. Anglo-saxona Si a Ev. Mediu_Merila I.(Pirvu L.)

7/25/2019 Lit. Anglo-saxona Si a Ev. Mediu_Merila I.(Pirvu L.)

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Universitatea Dunrea de Josdin Galai

Facultatea de Litere

Specializarea:

Limba i literatura romn Limba i literatura englez

Literatura anglo-saxoni a Evului Mediu

Conf. dr. Ligia Ghiescu Prvu

Anul I, semestrul I

D.I.D.F.R.


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Dunarea de Jos University of GalatiFaculty of Letters

OLD ENGLISHLITERATURE

(1st Year Students)

Course tutor:

Associate Professor Ligia Ghiescu Pirvu, PhD

Galai2010


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Contents

OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE 3

CONTENTS

Introduction: British History - Chronology 5

Chapter I From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Hastings 7

Chapter II The Anglo-Norman Period (From the 11th to the 14th

Century21

Chapter III The Fourteenth Century. The Age of Chaucer 27

Chapter IV The Fifteenth Century 45

Chapter V The Sixteenth Century 50

Selection of Texts 55

Bibliography 61

Answer key 62


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INTRODUCTION: BRITISH HISTORY - CHRONOLOGY


BRITISH HISTORY - CHRONOLOGY

55BC Invasion by Julius Caesars legions43 AD Under Emperor Claudius, Britain was conquered by the Romans61 Celtic Queen Boadiceas revolt against the Romans367 Raids of the Caledonian (Scottish) Celts and Picts

410 Roman forces withdrawn432 St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland449 Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded Britain563 St. Columba brought Christianity to Scotland597 St. Augustine brought Christianity to England. He became the firstArchbishop of Canterbury in 601793 Norwegian sea-raiders sacked famous monastery at Lindisfarne800-100 Danish raids871-899 King Alfred the Great1040-1066 Edward the Confessor the las t Saxon King1066 The Battle of Hastings. Britain conquered by the Normans

Norman Monarchs

1066-1087 William I,The Conqueror. Doomsday Book survey of allEnglish properties and lands

1087-1100 William II (Rufus)1100-1135 Henry I1135-1154 Stephen (of Blois)

Plantagenet (Anjou) Monarchs1154 -1189 Henry II. Son of Matilda, Henry Is daughter, and Geoffrey

Plantagenet, heir to Anjou. Efficient ruler who carried out muchlegal reform. Conquest of Ireland. Thomas Becket,Archbishop of Canterbury, assassinated by Kings Knights(1170)

1189-1199 Richard I. Known as Coeur de Lion, one of Englands mostpopular kings, although he spent hardly any t ime in England.

1199-1216 John. Richard Is brother. Forced to sign the Magna Carta(1215), an important symbol of political freedom.

1216-1272 Henry III. Rebellion by Simon de Montfort led to establishment ofGreat Council, from which Parliament later developed.

1272-1307 Edward I. Brought together the first real parliament and was thefirst to create a representative institution which could provide themoney he needed the House of Commons. Conquest of Wales.Scottish popular resistance movement led by William Wallace.

1307-1327 Edward II. Defeated by the Scots, led by Robert Bruce atBannockburn in 1314. Deposed and cruelly murdered.

1327-1377 Edward III. The Hundred Years War with France began (1338).Black Death struck England. The Age of Chivalry.

1377-1399 Richard II. Neglect of war with France. Period of disorder anddiscontent. Peasants revolt led by Wat Tyler(1381)

The House of Lancaster1399-1413 Henry IV. Henry of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt, (the third

son of Edward III).1413-1422 Henry V. Defeated the French army at Agincourt (1415) and was

recognised heir to the throne of France after marrying Katherineof Valois, the French Kings daughter. Great national hero.

1422-1416 Henry VI. Defeat in France. End of the Hundred Years War(1453). Wars of Roses began (1455).


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INTRODUCTION: BRITISH HISTORY - CHRONOLOGY

OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE6

The House of York1461-1483 Edward IV. Son of the duke of York. Put Henry VI into the

Tower. William Caxton set up the first printing press in London(1476).

1483 Edward V. Boy-King deposed by his uncle, Richard III and imprisonedwith his younger brother into the Tower. Both young princesprobably murdered.

1483 Richard III. Disliked by both Lancastrians and Yorkists. Defeated inthe Battle of Bosworth (1485) by Henry Tudor.

Tudor Monarchs1485-1509 Henry VII. National unity and order restored. The century of

Tudor rule (1485-1603) is often thought of as a most gloriousperiod in English history. Henry VII built the foundations of awealthy nation state and a powerful monarchy.

1509-1547 Henry VIII. Powerful,ambitious,cruel,talented. Notorious forhaving had six wives, with two executed and two divorced. Act ofSupremacy (1534) established the king as Head of Church inEngland (Protestant Church) no longer under the Popessovereignty. Thomas More executed.

1547-1553 Edward VI. Boy-King, son of Jane Seymour. Act of Uniformity(1549) to secure religious unity led to Book of Common Prayerin English, not Latin.

1553-1558 Mary I. Daughter of Catherine of Aragon. The first queen ofEngland since Matilda, 400 years earlier. A devout catholic, sheordered a ruthless repression of the Protestants, which won herthe nickname Bloody Mary.

1558-1603 Elizabeth I. Daughter of Anne Boleyn. Restored the Church ofEnglands independence from Rome, under Acts of Supremacyand Uniformity (1559). Philip of Spains Invicibila Armadadefeated (1588). Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots executed afteralmost 20 years of captivity. Elizabeth died childless at theunusually old age of 70.


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CHAPTER I From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Hastings


Chapter I

From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Hastings (1066)

About 5,000 BC Britain had become an island; about 3,000 B.C., the Neolithic (NewStone Age) people or Iberians peopled Britain; they made barrows or burial

mounds of earth or stone and after 3,000 B.C. they started building henges (wooden buildings and stone circles ) which became centres of religious, political andeconomic power. The most spectacular was Stonehenge, built in separate stagesover a period of more than a thousand years, probably a sort of capital. After 2,400B.C. new groups of people arrived in Southeast Britain from Europe; they werecalled the Beaker people because of the pottery beakers found in their graves.

The CeltsAround 700 BC, the Celts or Keltoi arrived in Britain and Ireland in successivewaves. The first wave included the Goidels or Gaels whose Gaelic language stillsurvives in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. The second wave came twocenturies later and it included the Brythons or Britons who settled in the south andeast and whose language still survives as Welsh, spoken in Wales. Another Celticlanguage, spoken in Cornwall, died out at the end of 18th century. The third waveincluded the Belgae or Belgic tribes, from Northern Gaul who settled in the southabout 100 B.C.The Celts or the Keltoi have been described as the fathers of Europe and as one ofthe great barbarian peoples of the world. They populated the major river valleys ofEurope, the Rhine and the Danube. Two great archaeological discoveries made inthe 19th century contributed to our present day knowledge of this brilliant people oforal tradition who, unfortunately, wrote down nothing on themselves:- the first one was made in Austria, at Hallstatt, near Salzburg (1846) where a

huge cemetery with more than 2,ooo graves was discovered, and this is knownas The Halstatt Culture;

- the second, called La Tene Culture, was made in Switzerland, near Neuchtel

(1858).The Celts were a tribal and agricultural people who worked with iron and othermetals; they were great warriors and on many occasions they raided and struckterror over Europe. Diodorus Siculus from Sicily, who lived in the first century B.C.,describes them as follows:On their heads they wear bronze helmets which possess large projecting figureslending the appearance of enormous stature to the wearer; in some cases, hornsform one piece with the helmet, while in other cases it is relief figures of foreparts ofbirds or quadrupeds. Their trumpets again are of a peculiar barbaric kind: they blowinto them and produce a harsh sound, which suits the tumult of war. Some of themhave iron breastplateswhile others fight naked Tall in stature and their flesh isvery moist and white, while their hair is not only naturally blond, but they also useartificial means to increase this quality of colour [Delaney, F.: 33].

Within the Celtic society, women enjoyed much more independence than in thecenturies to come and they often fought in battles side by side with their men. Thereare records of women being warriors, teachers, prophetesses, crafts-women, bardsand druids. In Britain the most powerful and valiant Celt to stand up against theRomans was a woman, Queen Boudicca or Boadicea of the Iceni tribe. Near theHouses of Parliament in London there is a beautiful statuary group representing thisproud and beautiful queen driving her chariot as she did in 61 A.D. when she led herwarriors into battle. She was eventually defeated and she preferred to kill herselfrather than become a Roman captive.The religion of the Celts was a polytheistic one: they worshipped the sun, the moon,the stars, the oak-tree and the mistletoe, which was believed to have the power to


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cure all diseases. Their priests were called Druids and they were also scholars,prophets, wizards and physicians. The word Druid means the man by the sacredoak-tree that knew the truth. The Druids could not read or write but they memorisedall the religious teachings, the tribal laws and the historical events. They had notemples and they met in sacred groves of trees, on certain hills or by the rivers.Sacred sites are often gates to the Celtic Otherworld, a realm contiguous to andsometimes overlapping the mundane world. Their mystical voyages to the

Otherworld were called immramaand at least four complete sets of these storiesare extant today.The Otherworld is made up of strange islands situated somewherein the West and among them are The Land of Faery, The Island of Giant Ants, TheIsland of Canibal Horses, The Island of the Cat, The Island of Sorrow, The Island ofthe Ancestors, The Sea of Glass and The Sea of Mist.It is known that the Druids offered sacrifices, and on great occasions even humansacrifices, to their deities. In De Bello Gallico, Caesar tells of the power of theDruids and he describes an appalling instrument of torture and death, the wickerman, a huge frame made of cane and reed with a hollow torso and limbs, whichwas filled with living people who were afterwards burnt to death.The Celtic legends, sung by the bards with the accompaniment of the harp, haveremained a source of inspiration to the present day. Two cycles of Celtic Irishlegends have come down to us:

1. The Cycle of Ulster which records the fierce contest between king Conchobarand his royal prisoner, the valiant Cuchulain;

2. The Cycle of Munster whose heroes are Finn or Fingal and his son Ossian, askilful bard.

A particularly beautiful legend is that of The Children of Usna (Naoise, Ardan andAinle) and the love between Naoise and Deirdre, who after her lovers death will beknown as Deidre of the Sorrows.In the 18th century, Scottish writer James MacPherson (1736-1796 ) revived theinterest in Celtic legends when be resorted to a literary fabrication and pretendedhe had discovered some original fragments of ancient Celtic poetry. He published ananthology of Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotlandand Translated from the Gaelic or Erse Language and Fingal, an Ancient Epic inSix Books, attributed to Ossian or Oisin.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century it was WilliamButler Yeats (1865-1939), a great Irish poet and playwright, who turned to Irish-Celtic mythology as a source of inspiration for some of his poems and stories. TheWandering of Oisin, and The Celtic Twilight and for his cycle of five plays basedon the legendary life of Cuchulain: The Hawks Well, The Green Helmet, OnBailes Strand, The Only Jealousy of Emer and The Death of Cuchulain.

The RomansIn 43 A.D., during the reign of Claudius, Britain was conquered by theRomans. The name Britain comes from the word Pretani, the Greco-Roman word for the inhabitants of Britain.Apart from Boadiceas revol t, the Romans had lit tle diff icult y in conqueringBritain partly because they had a better-trained army and partly because the

Celtic tribes were busy fighting among themselves. In the south, the Celtsadapted themselves to the Roman life, but in the north, Caledonia, as theRomans called Scotland, could not be conquered so the Romans built astrong wall along the northern border, named after the emperor Hadrian, tokeep out raiders from the north.The Romans brought the skills of reading and writing, of building walled-towns,fortresses, villas, amphitheatres, temples. Most of the English towns, the names ofwhich end in chester, caster or cester derive their ending from the Latin wordcastra (camp): Winchester, Leicester, Lancaster, etc.Roman control came to an end as the empire started to disintegrate. Thefirst signs were the attacks by the Celts of Caledonia in 367 A.D. Starting


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with the year 407A.D. the Roman legions were gradually withdrawn and theRomanised Celts were left to fight the raiders alone.

The Anglo-SaxonsThe traditional account claims that the Britons asked help from the powerfulGermanic tribes the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes to fight back theattacks of the Scots and of the Picts. The legend says that Hengest and

Horsa landed with their men in 449 and, after successfully fighting the Scotsand the Picts, they decided to remain.The Jutes settled in Kent, the Angles settled in the east and in the northMidlands, and the Saxons between the Jutes and the Angles, in a band ofland from the Thames Estuary westwards.Venerable Bede, a learned monk who lived three hundred years laterdescribed these events, in his famous work The Ecclesiastical History ofthe English People.The Anglo-Saxons established a number of kingdoms but by the end of the7th centuryonly three kingdoms were larges and powerful: Northumbria,Mercia and Wessex.The Anglo-Saxons created the Witan the Kings Council a system whichremained an important part of the Kings method of government (The Privy

Council today). They divided the land into administrative areas based onshires, or counties. A shire reeve (whose name was shortened to sheriff)was appointed as the Kings local administrator.Towards the end of the 8 th century new raiders came the Vikings. Theycame from Norway and Denmark and they struck terror, looted the countryand burnt down churches and monasteries. In 865 they came for good, theysettled and quickly accepted Christianity. King Alfred the Great won adecisive battle against them in 878 and made a treaty according to whichEngland was divided into two parts, the Danelaw, the land where the law ofthe Danes ruled (north and east), and Saxon England (lying south andwest).By 950, when the Vikings started raiding westwards, the Saxon KingEthelred decided to pay a tax, called Danegeld. When Ethelred died, the

Witan chose the Viking Canute as king of England. He died in 1035, and hisson died shortly after, in 1040. Then the Witan chose Edward, one ofEthelreds sons to be king. Edward, known as The Confessor, was moreinterested in the Church than in kingship. He died in 1066 and Haroldsucceeded to the throne but duke William of Normandy challenged Haroldsright to the throne. The battle between the Saxons and the Normans wasfought at Hastings, Harold was defeated and killed in the battle, and Williammarched to London where he was crowned king at Westminster Abbey onChristmas Day, and a new period in the history of Britain began.

Wales. Ireland. ScotlandWales was a Celtic kingdom whose inhabitants called themselves cymry i.e.,fellow country men. In 1039 Gruffydd ap (son of) Llewelyn was the first

Welsh king strong enough to rule over all Wales. He was also the last.Welsh kings after him had to promise loyalty to the kings of England.Ireland was never invaded by either the Romans or by the Anglo-Saxons.Five Kingdoms grew up: Ulster (north) Munster (southwest), Leinster(southeast), Connaught (west), Tara the seat of the high Kings of Ireland.From 1002 to 1014 Brian Boru tried to create one single Ireland and he isstill looked back on as Irelands greatest ruler.Scotland was divided into the Highlands and the Lowlands and waspopulated by the Picts, the Scots and the Britons. Unity between Picts,Scots and Britons was achieved for several reasons: they shared a common


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Celtic culture and language and they also shared a common enemy theSassenachs that is, the Saxons.

Anglo-Saxon and Norse MythologyThe Anglo-Saxons did not bring any written literature; they had a primitivealphabet consisting of letters called runes to which they ascribed magicpowers. Nevertheless, they brought the Norse myths, legends and sagas

later collected in the Edda. The Volsunga Saga is a wonderful descriptionof the life and character of the Norsemen and along the centuries it hasinspired many story-tellers, artists and musicians.The Great German epic The Niebelungen Lied is largely derived from it, asis Richard Wagners tetralogy The Ring of the Niebelungen (The Gold ofthe Rhyne, Walkiria, Sigfried, Gotterdammerung or the Twilight of the Gods).The mightiest god in Northern mythology was Odin or Wodan, an ancientdeity with only one eye. From Ymirs body,the Frost Giant, Odin, togetherwith Vili and Ve, made the earth: of his blood they made the seas, of hisbones the mountains, of his hair the trees, of his skull the heavens. OfYmirs eyebrow the gods formed Midgard, the abode of man. The mighty ashtree, Yggdrasil, which sprang from Ymirs body, supported the wholeuniverse like an Axis Mundi.The abode of the gods was Asgard, access to which was only gained bycrossing the bridge Bifrost, i.e., the rainbow.There are nine worlds in Norse mythology starting from the bottom up of theYggdrasil tree: Helheim the rea lm of the dead, Niflheim the frosty realmof ice, Jotunheim the land of the giants, Nidavellir the land of thedwarfs, Svartalfheim the domain of the dark elves, Midgard, middle-earth the rea lm of mankind, Alfheim the land of the light elves, Vanaheim the world of the Vanir (gods), and Asgard (gods) the world of the Aesir.When Odin was seated on his throne he overlooked all heaven and earth.Upon his shoulders were the two ravens Hugin and Munin (thought andmemory) and at his feet lay his two wolves, Geri and Freki. Odin inventedthe runic characters and the Norns or Fate Goddesses (Urdur the past,

Verdandi the present and Skuld the future) engraved the runes of Fateor Wyrd upon a metal shield.In Greek mythology it was the task of the threeParce (Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos) to weave the threads of humandestiny. As Wyrd was the implacable destiny for the Northern peoples, sowas Moira for the Greek. Odins wife was Frigga and their residence was Walhalla or the Hall of theChosen Slain and the supreme desire of any warrior was to be consideredworthy to enter it. The Walkyrior or Walkyries, i.e., the Choosers of theSlain, were warlike virgins, mounted upon horses and armed with helmetsand spears. They chose those who must die on the battlefield and come toWalhalla to help Odin in the final contest with the giants and other forces ofevil. When they rode in the sky their armour shed a strange, flickering light,which flashed up over the northern skies, making what men called the

Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. The other important gods in the Norse mythology were:- Thor, Odins eldest son, who possessed three magic things, the hammer,the belt of strength and the iron gloves- Balder or Baldur, the beautiful, who was the god of the sun- Freya, the goddess of love and spring who had a chariot drawn by cats- Tiu/Tyu, the god of wars and battles, represented with only one arm as hecould give victory to only one side-Bragi, the god of poetry and song

- Heimdall, the watchman of the gods


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-Ostara, the goddess of spring whose festival of Easter is still called afterher name- Loki, the god of fraud and mischief, who fathered three terrible creatures:the giant wolf Fenris, the giant serpent Jormungand, who encircles thewhole earth with his tail in his mouth, and Hella or death.Four days of the week in English are still named after Germanic gods: Tiu-Tuesday, W odan-Wednesday, Thor-Thursday, Freya- Friday.

Loki causes Balders death and this brings about Ragnarok or the final deadly battlebetween the forces of good and evil - the Norse Apocalypse or the Twilight of theGods/ Gotterdammerung in German- in which almost all gods as well as theiropponents die, the earth sinks into the ocean, the stars fall from heaven and time isno more.

The first sign of the onset of Ragnarok will be a savage winter, then the wolveswill devour the Sun and the Moon. Heimdall will sound a note on his trumpetwarning all of what is imminent, the dead warriors taken to Walhalla from thebattlefield will hear this blast and get ready. The frost giants and other forces of evillead by Loki will ride over Bifrost and shatter the rainbow bridge. The halls of thegods will be destroyed and almost everyone and everything will perish.However,things will come into being again as there is hope that a new earth and a new

heaven will rise out of the sea and the first two mortals of the new race afterRagnarok, called Lif and Lifthrasir, will repopulate the earth with their children andgods and men will live happily together.

Anglo - Saxon LiteratureAnonymous Anglo-Saxon poetry belongs to an ora l and aural tradi tion; it hasbeen transmitted by word of month by the minstrels or scoops that were thevoice and memory of the tribe. In Beowulf, the greatest Anglo-Saxon epicpoem, the poet is described as: a fellow of the kingswhose head was a storehouse of the storied verse,whose tongue gave gold to the language

of the treasured repertory[Alexander, M.: XII].A gloomy atmosphere and an acute feeling of despai r, probably engenderedby the hostile surroundings and unfriendly climate, pervade old Englishpagan poetry. The long, cold northern nights, the all-pervading mist, theloneliness of the cliffs, the bareness of the land, and the roaring of the galesleft a deep imprint on the peoples outlook of life which was felt to be just ashort passage full of grief and hardships; the belief in an implacable fate,the doom of weirds, against which man was powerless, was the crux ofAnglo-Saxon Weltanschauung, summed up by the words Gaep a wyrd swahio scel-Fate goes ever as it must.The motif of the transience of life- memento homo, quod cinis es, et incenerem reverteris- lends the poems a peculiar atmosphere of melancholyand regret; this goes together with the ubi sunt motif, the lament over past

splendours never to be re-gained and over past happiness enjoyed but fortoo short a while.The description of battles occupies an important part of Anglo-Saxon poetry,since those were times of wars and warriors and the survival of thestrongest and the fittest was a matter of life and death.Other motifs present in Anglo-Saxon poetry are: the wanderings of theminstrels, the loyalty to the lord or king, exile, love, the travels at sea, thecurse of gold, revenge and rivalry, and old beliefs and customs of the triballife such as the beot or the vow before battle and the burning of the deadon the pyres.


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The style of O.E poetry abounds in syntactic parallelism and repetitions, with abruptchanges in the narrative and omission of explanatory details, since the eventsdescribed were presumably known by the audience.Each line was divided into two shorter lines by means of a strongly markedpause called caesura and each short line had two stressed syllables markedby alliteration, the main characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

Wodon pa waewulfas, for waetere ne murnonWicinga werod west ofer PantanOfer scir waeter scyldas wagonLidmen to lande baeronPaer ongean gramum gearowe stodonByrhtnoth mid beornum [Gower, R.:18].This is a modern English translation:The wolves of war advanced, the Viking troup,Unmoved by water, westward over Pante,Over the gleaming water bore their shields.The seamen brought their linden-shields to land,There Byrhtnoth and his warriors stood readyTo meet their enemies [Gower, R.:17].

Another characterist ic feature of the style was the use of the kennings ormetaphorical compounds which lent a poetic quality and a charmingremoteness and solemnity to the verses.Examples of kennings: the bone chamber (body), the treasure chamber(heart), the lime-bearers (warriors), the sweat of war (blood) the dwellingornament (woman), the swans track (sea), the ring giver (lord), etc.The bulk of Anglo-Saxon literature is to be found in four manuscripts, theExeter Book or the Codex Exoniensis the Cotton MS, the Junins MS, theVercelli MS, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles.Anglo-Saxon li terature may be divided into Old English Anonymous/Non-Christian or Pagan Poetry (elegies and heroic poems), Old English Non-

anonymous/Anonymous Christian poetry, Old English Prose andMiscellanea.The elegies include: The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Deors Lament, The Ruin,The Wifes Lament, The Husbands Message, and Wulf and Eadwacer.The heroic poems include: Beowulf, Waldhere, Widsith, The Fight atFinnsburh, The Battle of Brunanburh, and The Battle of Maldon.

The Elegies

The Wanderer

The Anglo-Saxon tribal society was organised in small units, clans or cynns,around a lord. The word hlaford (lord) is derived from hlaf-weard whichmeans the guardian of the loaf, i.e. provider of bread. The members of thecynns also got protection since the lord took responsibility for his mensacts; the lord was even held responsible for what his men had done beforeentering his service that is why it was difficult for a man who had lost hislord to find a new one and a man without a lord was an outcast.The protagonist of The Wanderer is such an outcast, a wraecca, that is anexile, a wretch, a wanderer, an unhappy man who had lost his gold-friendenwrapped by the grounds shroud and who now has to roam the seas insearch of a new lord.


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The ubi sunt motif brings the lamentation and deep longing for the happypast with the joys in the hall, the warmth of the fire and the presence ofkinsmen.The rhetorical questions point to a sense of eternal loss and sadness:

Whither went the horse? Whither went the man?Whither went the treasure-giver?

What befell the seats of feasting?Whither fled the joys in hall? [Levitchi, L.: 26]

The pessimistic conclusion stresses the power of wyrd, the mutability offortune and the transience of human life:

in the earth-realm all is crossed;weirds will changeth the worldwealth is lent us, friends are lent us,man is lent, kin is lent;all this earths frame shall stand empty [Alexander, M.: 51]

The very last lines, probably a didactic and moralising addition, bring the

hope of Christian faith and redemption:

well is it for him who seeks forgivenessthe Heavenly Fathers solace, in whom all our fastness stands

[Alexander, M. :51].

Deors LamentThe theme of the exile and the ubi sunt motif are also present in Deors Lament butin this poem the tone is of wise resignation in front of the adversities of fortune. Thepoem has the form of a monologue spoken by the minstrel Deor who was replacedby a more skilful rival, a certain Heorrenda. The complaint enumerates a series ofmisfortunes that befell other illustrious people in the Old Germanic heroic traditionand each story is an example of misfortune outlived.

The poem is unique among Anglo-Saxon poems because it has a strophicform and a refrain. The refrain That went by, this may too voices the poetsresignation and the acceptance of his fate and of the transience of fortune.

The SeafarerThe Seafarer is the monologue of another wanderer, wraecca or exile, thistime at sea, who speaks first of the dangers of the ice-cold waters and theroaring of the sea, evoking the storms striking the stone cliffs and thehardships he had to endure for many winters. He nevertheless wishes to goagain at sea since its call, despite its perils, is more alluring to him.The end of the poem is made up of a passage which mingles old paganbeliefs and Christian devotion to the ever lasting Lord.

The RuinThe poem is considered the first descriptive poem in Anglo-Saxon literaturesince it describes the ruins of Bath, formerly a Roman city of splendour, thework of the Giants. But it also voices the recurrent themes of the transienceof life, the power of Wyrd that changes everything, and the ubi sunt motif:

There once many a man.moon-glad, goldbright, of gleams garnished,flushed with wine-pride, flashing war-gear,gazed on wrought gemstones, on gold on silver,on wealth held and hoarded, on light-filled amber,


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on this bright burg of broad dominion [Alexander, M.:3].

The Wifes Lament/Complaint

This is a desperate feminine voice breaking through the century- thick veil oftime. It is a sad voice speaking of slander and betrayal, of sweet memoriesand loss. Who was she?Well never know. As she tells her sad story we understand that her life hadmany sorrows, that she got married but her husband had to leave foranother country and that his kinsmen banished her, maybe because she wasa stranger. Now she is an outcast, forced to live by herself in a cave in theforest with sorrow and grief as her sole companions. Her lament brings onemore time to the foreground the ubi sunt motif and the cruelty of Wyrd:

Our lips had smiled to swear hourlyThat nothing should split us-save dying-nothing else. All that has changed:

it is now as if it never had been,our friendshipI go by myselfAbout these earth caves under the oak tree.Here I must sit the summer day throughHere weep out the woes of exile,The hardships heaped upon me [Alexander ,M.:58-59].

The Husbands MessageThis poem is more optimistic in mood and even if the husband is an exile, itseems that he has built himself a prosperous life on another shore. He wasdriven away by a feud and now he sends a messenger to tell his lady toleave with no notice and rejoin him when she first hears the cockoos pitch,

his melancholy cry [Alexander, M.: 60].

Wulf and EadwacerThe fragment is obscure in meaning; it seems to be the lament of a womanwho has been separated from her lover, Wulf, an outlaw. Eadwacer seemsto be her husband who keeps her against her will. The fragment has astrophic from and a refrain ungelic is us, that is, we are apart or, inanother translation, our fate is forked, which points one more time to thepower and cruelty of Wyrd.

The Heroic Poems

The Battle of MaldonThe Battle of Maldon, or The Death of Byrhtnoth, is one the greatest battlepoems in English. It forcefully and truthfully describes a fierce battlebetween the English and Viking warriors in A.D. 991 at Maldon in Essex onthe River Blackwater, formerly called River Pantan or Pane. Byrhtnoth, thebattle-bright, and his men, unwisely let the wolves of war cross to themainland when the tide is out:

So battle with its gloryDrew near. The time had come for fated menTo perish in that place. A cry went up.


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The ravens wheeled above, the fateful eagleKeen for his carrion. On earth was uproar [Gower, R.: 17].

The English fight bravely to the bitter end but their great leader is killed onthe battlefield and they are finally defeated. The second part of the poemexpresses their determination to avenge their leaders death in words whichrepresent a declaration of their heroic faith:

Courage shall grow keener, clearer the will,the heart fiercer, as our force faileth [Alexander, M.: 111].

The Fight at FinnsburgThe fragment is a story of a feud between the Frisians and the Danes which ends intreachery, blood and revenge. The story is sung by a Danish scop at Hrothgars hallin Beowulf and it is obscure and complicated to the modern reader partly becausethe events narrated were presumably known by the scops listeners. The outline ofthe story tells of Hnaef, leader of the Danes, who is killed while visiting his sisterHildeburg, wife of Finn, the Frisian chief.Hengest has the moral duty to avenge Hnaefs death, so he gathers his

warriors, sails to Finnsburh, slays King Finn and his men, and takesHildeburg home to Denmark.The theme of the blood-fend which lingers on from generation to generationis an ancient one, and so is the sacred duty of a man to avenge his ownkinsmans death instead of accepting wergild, the gold a man was worth tohis kin. The motif of the revenge of ones own kinsman and the figure of theavenger will enjoy a spectacular popularity during the Elizabethan age.

The Battle of BrunanburhThe poem is the heroic celebration of a great English victory won in 937 by kingAthelstan of Wessex and his brother Edmund, against the Scots, Picts and theVikings from Ireland at Brunanburh, a place which cannot now be identified.

Athelstan the king, captain of men,ring giver of warriors and with him his brotherEdmund the Atheling unending glorywon in that strife by their swordsedgesthat there was about Brunanburh [Alexander, M. : 96].

Both poems, one describing a great victory, the other a tragic defeat, sharethe same patriotic appeal and a feeling of heroic dignity characteristic of theAnglo-Saxon spirit .

WaldhereThe fragment is inspired from the story of Walter of Aquitaine, which is available in

other sources as well, and it tells about various exploits and feuds, well-known to theold Germanic world.

Widsith

Widsith or the Far traveller tells of the wanderings of its title character onthe continent at the courts of legendary Germanic, Burgundian ,and DanishKings and of the feuds between the old tribes of the Huns and Goths,mingling history and legend. The end of the poem speaks of the wyrd of thescop who is a wanderer by tradition and profession, who is to ensureimmortality through his art to all those who deserve it and to provide those


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who understand his mission a name that shall never die beneath theheavens [Alexander, M.: 20].

Beowulf

Beowulf is the greatest epic poem in English literature which gives us, modernreaders, a glimpse of the old heroic past of legends and myths, and of the fights withthe embodiments of the unearthly, primeval forces which haunted the imagination ofthe Anglo-Saxons and the Germanic tribes.Beowulf is a poem whose grim music is the snapping of fangs, the crunching ofbones, and whose colour is the grey of the northern winter, shot by the red ofblood[Burgess:18].The poem, originally meant to be sung or spoken aloud, was composed in the 8thcentury and was later recorded by monks, about the year 1,000. This manuscript of3,182 verses, is now in the British Museum; it was first called Beowulf in 1805 bySharon Turner in the History of the Anglo-Saxons and it was first printed in 1815but the story itself goes back to the 5th or 6th centuries.To the pagan core the monks added Christian interpretations, so Beowulf is a

mixture of legend, myth, historical events, pagan customs and rituals and Christianmorality, and its value as a literary, cultural and historical document is priceless.The poem is divided into fitts or sections and opens with a prologue, the arrival ofScyld the founder of the Scylding house of Denmark, followed by this greatforefathers funeral in a shipburial, and it ends with Beowulfs own funeral and theepitaph of his Geat people.The story is set in southern Scandinavia, in the land of the Geats, in southernSweden, and in the land of the Danes, and the main hero is a Geat; there is nomention of the British Isles or the Anglo-Saxons, but the poem is considered to bethe English national epic because the manuscript at the British Museum was writtenin Old English, the West-Saxon dialect.Thematically speaking, the poem may be divided into two sections: first, Beowulfsfight with the monster Grendel and with Grendels mother, in Denmark, and second,his 50-year reign over the Geats, his final fight with a fire-spitting dragon, and hisdeath.Hrothgar, the brave descendant of Scyld, lives in a stately palace, Heorot, but heand his kin can no longer enjoy the peace and feasts in the hall since every night acreature from the moors, a messenger of the dark evil forces from the outside,comes, grabs, and eats a warrior. Hrothgar asks for help to the king of the Geatsand Beowulf, a young and brave warrior, accepts the challenge and sails toDenmark with fourteen of his best warriors. They are received with great courtesyand honours at Heorot. During the night Grendel comes and snatches a man butBeowulf fights him bare-handed and succeeds in tearing off one of Grendels arms.The creature flees and eventually dies.There is much joy in the hall and Beowulf is offered precious gifts, but the joy is

short-lived.Grendels mother, a sea-witch, comes to avenge her sons death. Beowulf followsher in her den, under the waters, fights with her and kills her. After having deliveredHeorot from this curse, Beowulf and his men sail back home to Geatland.After his kings death, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and, according to the oldtribal tradition, be marries Hygd, the kings widow. There follows a long, peacefulreign for him and his people.But Wyrd strikes the fated king; one of his men recklessly steals a golden cup from afabulous treasure guarded by a dragon, so Beowulf, already in his old age, has todefend his people and his kingdom. In the fierce encounter which follows, hiswarriors forget about their pledges of loyalty and run away; only one, by the name ofWiglaf, stands by his lord to the very end. Beowulf kills the dragon but he is


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wounded severely and finally dies. The Geats have lost their valiant lord andprotector and they gather for the last ritual to pay their last homage. Beowulf isburied as a great ruler in a barrow, together with the gold that has brought so muchmisfortune. His people mourn him and their sorrow foreshadows their unhappy fate,the disasters and slavery to come, now that their great king is dead:

The Geat race then reared up for him

a funeral pyre. It was not a petty mound,but shining mail-coats and shields of warand helmets hung upon it, as he had desired.Then the heroes, lamenting, laid out in the middletheir great chief heir cherished lord.On top of the mound the men then kindledthe biggest of funeral firesAnd in heavy moodthey uttered their sorrow at the slaughter of their lord[Alexander,M.:150].

The recent archaeological discovery of the Sutton Hoo ship burial shows remarkablecorrespondence with the two ritual burials of Scyld Scefing and of Beowulf.Beowulf belongs to the god-like race of heroes, in Hesiods words, and his strength,courage and desire for a name that shall never die beneath the heavens, makes

him accomplish what other mortals cannot. According to the Germanic heroic code,Beowulf is first of all loyal to his king and willing to help Hrothgar and avenge thedeath of his kinsmen; when he himself a king, he sacrifices his own life to save hispeople and dies because of a breach of loyalty; the breaking of the tribal code ofloyalty to the king brings about death and disintegration since the cowardly thaneswho have shared in the feasting do not share in the fighting and desert their king.There is one more theme common to the Germanic lore, the curse of the hidden andthen stolen treasures of gold: the golden cup stolen from the dragons treasure isBeowulf and the golden ring which brings ruin and destruction to the Niebelungen.The naming of the swords made by supernatural beings or by gods such Wieland orWolund is also characteristic of the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian world;Naegling and Hrunting, the two swords mentioned in Beowulf, will be later followedby the more famous Excalibur, King Arthurs sword.

The poem also incorporates mythical elements: the first refers to Beowulfssuperhuman powers as he is the Bee-Wolf or The Bear, the dragon-slayer who canfight bare-handed and who can live under water; the second refers to the triplepattern of the fights, and the third to the presence of the monsters.Grendel seems to impersonate the dark threats of the misty Northern landscape, amalevolent creature of the night but according to Christian interpretation, he is thedescendent of Cain:Grendel they called this cruel spiritThis unhappy beinghad long lived in the land of monsterssince the Creator cast them out as kindred of Cain [Alexander, M. : 22].As a descendent of Cain, Grendel is partly human but he is doomed to hate andenvy the humans who do not acknowledge him.

Grendels mother, the sea-wolf, is never named in the poem, a fact which hasbrought much dissatisfaction to modern feminist criticism. She is an embodiment ofthe shadowy female foe, a battle demon who engages in masculine postures,revenge and battle, and who, according to the old laws of revenge is entitled toclaim Beowulfs death.In 1971, American author John Gardner (1933-1982) published a novel, Grendel, inwhich the story is told from the point of view of the creature, the Others story. In thispostmodernist novel, Grendel is an old and bored monster who is musing over thehistory of mankind.In point of language the poem is rich in kennings and elaborate imagery, more oftensound effects; parallelism, antithesis and repetition are the other characteristics of


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the style together with alliteration and the stress pattern. The style is sometimesburdened by digressions and obscure references, but then, the original audience ofBeowulf enjoyed the artful elaboration of the scops tales, the only entertainmentduring the long Northern winters. Some of the episodes incorporated in Beowulf,such as The Sigemund Lay, the lay of Finn and Hengest, Beowulfs own story of theHeathobard-Danish feud and the lay of the last minstrel, have the role of tragicanticipation, foreshadowing the re-opening of the wars between the Geats and

Swedes and the destruction of the Geats after Beowulfs death.The structure of the poem has been debated by many critics, Arthur E. Du Bois andJ.R.R. Tolkien among many others. Some consider that the poem has a simple,linear structure with a symbolical rise and fall expressed by youth and old age,others see a careful patterned, inter-laced composition while others speak of itscircularity since it begins with a funeral and it ends with a funeral; whether or not wechoose one line of interpretation or another is of little importance, Beowulf will stillremain the unique literary product of a unique warrior society.

Old English ProseOld English Prose was used for legal documents, historical records and religiousinstructions, that is, for the dissemination of knowledge on a wide range of subjects,and it also included translations and re-workings of Latin texts.

Venerable BedeVenerable Bede or Beda was a scholar who enjoyed European reputation. Hisworks are numerous and cover different fields but his enduring fame rests upon hishistorical work written in Latin Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, or TheEcclesiastical History of the English Race, in five books. This chronicle, whichmingles fact and legend, traces the history of the English people from the Romanconquest to the year 731 (four years before Bedes death).Some of the accounts in this great book have become national legends, such as thecalling of Caedmon, the account of Pope Gregorys meeting the Angles in Rome(when Gregory saw a group of tall, fair-haired and blue-eyed Angles he asked whothey were and he was told that they were Angles, to which he replied non angli, sedangeli), and the beautiful and famous passage in which mans life is compared to

the flight of the sparrow out of the bark winter night into the warmth of the hall andthence into the dark again.

Alfred the Great (849-901)The glory of Alfreds reign is Alfred himself. Not only was he pre-eminent as scholar,soldier, law-giver and ruler: he had in abundance the gift that Englishmen never failto value, in the end, far beyond cleverness or attainments, namely, character[Sampson, G.: 11].Alfred wanted to educate and instruct his people and the first step he took was toestablish schools and monasteries and to fill them with competent teachers andscholars from abroad. He collected a number of religious teachings in a book that hecalled Handboc, he collected the existing laws in his famous Code of Laws, basedon the principle Judge as thou thyself willst be judged, and he initiated and

encouraged the writing of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, which is the first continuoushistory of a western nation in its own language and the first great book in Englishprose [Sampson, G.: 12].Alfreds main contribution to the English literature is to be found in the field oftranslation. With a view of improving the cultural standards of his people hetranslated from Latin into the vernacular Pope Gregorys Cura Pastoralis (ThePastoral Care), Bedes Ecclesistical History, Paul Orosius Historia AdversusPaganos and Boethius De Consolatione Philosophiae; this last work, written bythe Roman philosopher while he was in prison, had a great influence upon themedieval mind through its stoical fatalism and it was translated again by Chaucer inthe 14th century. The last work attributed to Alfred was Soliloquiaby St. Augustine.


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Other important Old English prose writers were: Gildas Sapiens (De ExcidioBritannie, c. 547), Nynniaw or Nennius (Historia Britonum, c. 679), Aldehelm, Bishopof Sherborne (Riddles, Letters), AelfricGrammaticus, Abbot of Eynsham (EnglishLatin Grammar, Homilies, and Lives of the Saints), Wulfstan, Archbishop of York(Homilies, the most famous of which is Sermo Lupi ad Anglos).

Miscellanea

This body of popular literature is represented by The Runic Poem, Charms,Riddles, and Maxims or Gnomic Verses.The charms or incantations were used to secure the fertility of the fields or immunityfrom witchcraft.The riddles are elaborate pieces, sometimes of considerable length, which describecelestial bodies, natural phenomena, objects and animals in a metaphorical andenigmatical way:The wave, over the wave, a weird thing I saw,Thorough-wrought, and wonderfully ornate:A wonder on the wave-water become bone (Ice) [Alexander, M.:79].The maxims are popular sayings of ancient origin which define the natural order, theprimordial elements (Frost, Fire, Earth, Ice ),or human relationships:Frost shall freeze, fire eat wood

A king shall win a queen with goodsWyrd goeth ever as it will

I. Multiple-choice exercise1. In Anglo-Saxon poetry the bone chamber is a:a) simile b) synecdoche c) kenning d) epithet2. Beowulf is considered to be the English national epic because:a) it was written in Old English b) the hero is an Anglo-Saxon c) the action takesplace in Britain d) it presents an episode from the English history3. A great Anglo-Saxon victory is the epic substance of:a) The Battle of Maldon b) The Battle of Brunanburh c) The Fight at Finnsburh d)Waldhere

4. Which of the following themes is not characteristic for the Anglo-Saxon poetry:a) the power of Wyrd b) the ubi sunt motif c) the quest of the Grail d) the exile5. The ring-giver means:a) the lord b) the kings jeweler c) the lords wife d) the lords treasures

II. True or false? (T/F)1. Anglo-Saxon poetry was transmitted by word of mouth.2. Scyld Scefing was the legendary founder of the Royal Danish House.3. Ragnarok was the place where the Norse gods lived.4. Alfred the Great wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People.5. Alliteration was the main stylistic characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry.

III. Questions:

1. Which are the most important themes of Anglo-Saxon poetry? Illustrate withexamples

2. Why is Beowulf a mythical hero?


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CHAPTER II The Anglo-Norman Period (from the 11th to the 14th

century)


CHAPTER II

THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD (FROM THE 11TH TO THE14TH CENTURY)

Historical and Cultural BackgroundThe Norman invasion was the last armed invasion of England and its consequenceswere as important as those of the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Curiously enough, there isno recording of this conquest with the exception of the Tapestry of Bayeux.William the Conqueror organised England according to the feudal system, the basisof which was the holding of land and vassalage. By 1086 he ordered a completesurvey of all properties in England which was called Doomsday Book by thepeople; it is still extant and it offers an extraordinary amount of information aboutthat period.The Normans also brought the French language and culture to England and Frenchbecame the official state language.When William died in 1087, he left the Duchy of Normandy to his elder son, Robert,and England to his second son, William, known as Rufus (Latin for red).Williamdied in a hunting accident and Henry, the younger brother, took the crown. Hisgrandson, Henry II, was the first unquestioned ruler of the English throne. Aftermarrying Eleanor of Aquitaine, his empire stretched from the Scottish border to thePyrenees. He was followed by his son, Richard, who died in France in 1199, thenhis other son, John, succeeded to the throne. John was an unpopular king becausehe was greedy and weak. In 1215 he was forced to sign the Magna Charta, i.e., theGreat Charter, which marked a first step towards political freedom and a clear stagein the collapse of English feudalism.Johns son, Henry III, also upset the nobles because of his heavy spending and hisforeign advisers. Under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, the Earl of Leicester,some nobles took over the government and elected a council of nobles called

parliament (from parlement-a discussion meeting in French).The next king, Edward I, brought together the first real parliament and also created arepresentative institution which became The House of Commons, and contained amixture of knights, wealthy freemen and merchants.

Wales. Scotland. IrelandWilliam I had allowed his lords to conquer lands in Wales and by the beginning ofthe 12th century much of Wales was held by them. The Normans built castles andmixed with the Welsh during the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. The only free Welshlived around Snowdon, the mountainous region in the north. In 1284 Edwarddefeated Llewelyn, prince of Gwynedd and united West Wales with England. At apublic ceremony at Caernarfon, Edward made his son Prince of Wales and from thattime the eldest son of the ruling monarch has usually been made Prince of Wales.

Ireland had been conquered by Norman lords and in 1169 Henry II made Dublin, theold Viking town, the capital.In Scotland things were different because the Scottish kings were more powerful.However, in 1290 a crisis over the succession to the throne appeared and Edward Iwas invited to settle the matter. He invaded Scotland and during a second invasionhe stole the sacred Stone of Destiny from Scone Abbey on which, the legend said,all Scottish kings must sit. A popular resistance movement was created under theleadership of William Wallace. When Wallace was captured and executed, RobertBruce took up the struggle and in 1314 he defeated the English at Bannockburn.


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century)


The Philosophers and the ChroniclersThe cultural movement which started in the 12th century in Italy reached England atthe end of the century. Schools of learning were established in many towns. Theytaught in Latin since Latin was the educated language of almost Europe. Theuniversities of Oxford and Cambridge came into being at the end of the 12th centuryand by the1220s these two universities were the intellectual leaders of the country.

The philosophy of this period was dominated by theological disputes over theuniversals or general notions. The two opposing representative trends werethe nominalists led by William of Occam or Ockham, The Invincible Doctor(1280-1349), who maintained that the universals had no existence beyondour minds, and the realists, represented by John Duns Scotus, The DoctorSubtilis, (1265-1308) who believed that they were independent of ourminds. Occams name survives today in the idiom known as Occams razorwhich means the ruthless analysis of a problem which eliminates allsuperfluous factors; John Duns Scotus adversaries derived from his namethe uncomplimentary term dunce, meaning stupid.The greatest mediaeval philosopher and scientist was Roger Bacon, theDoctor Mirabilis, (1214-1294) a mendicant friar of the Franciscan order wholived at Oxford. Because of his liberal opinions he was kept in strict

seclusion for 10 years and when finally released, in the brief interval of 18months, he produced his masterpiece in three books, Opus Majus, OpusMinus and Opus Tertium, after which he was kept in seclusion for another14 years. His vast knowledge of philosophy, alchemy, etymology, philology,chemistry, etc., earned him an extraordinary reputation but also the fame ofan alchemist and necromancer with supernatural powers. Roger Baconbelieved that experience was the basis of all knowledge and his famouswords Theory without practice is blind and practice without theory isuseless are as true today as they were in the 13 th century. He was visionarylike Leonardo da Vinci and in Epistola Frartis Rogeri Baconis he spoke ofthe possibility of flight, the properties of the magnet, the origin of the Greekfire, the telescope among many others.Inspired by their predecessors, Beda and Alfred the Great, the Anglo-

Norman chroniclers continued to write their chronicles in Latin.The first important chronicler of the 12th was William of Malmesbury whowrote De Gestis Regum Anglorum and Historia Novella covering thehistorical period from 449 to 1142.Another chronic ler , Geoffrey Arthur or Geoffrey of Monmouth (1100-1154) isnow considered The Father of English Fiction. In his Historia RegumBritanniae he described legendary kings of Britain, such as Brutus,Cymbeline, Lear and Arthur. According to Geoffrey, the book was atranslation of a Celtic manuscript brought to England from Brittany, France.Even if he had invented many of the stories, English literature owes him agreat deal, for, had he not written down the wonderful Arthurian legends,they might have been lost forever.Matthew Paris (d. 1259), a courtier and a scholar, wrote Cronica Majora

and Cronica Minora, with the judgement and accuracy of a born historian.Walter Map or Mapes (1137-1209) is the author of De Nugis Curialum (OfCourtiers Trifles) a work both entertaining and moralising.Henry of Bracton (d. 1258) wrote the first authoritative English law-book ofthe time, De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae.

The Mediaeval RomancesThe literary genre, which dominated the age and remained popular until theend of the 15 th century, was the mediaeval romance or the metrical/courtlyromance. Romances, like the chansons de geste, described marvellousadventures, spectacular deeds, a courtly and chivalric world of gallant love


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peopled with brave knights and beautiful ladies as well as supernaturalcreatures; the fantastic settings and the presence of the fairies and thewizards contribute to the fairy-tale atmosphere of the romances. In thebeginning the romances were written in verse but gradually more and moreromances were written in prose; whether written in prose or verse, romancesaddressed a well-educated and aristocratic audience who valued the

elaborate chivalric code of love and honour.The doctrine of courtly love had strict laws and rituals and, even if it was aconventional representation, women were worshipped as they had neverbeen before. The pattern of wooing included the lovers suffering, hisrejection after the confession of his feelings, the performing of some daringfeat of arms to prove himself worthy of his ladys love and finally hisacceptance as a true knight sans peur et sans reproche. The idealisedpresentation of the mediaeval knight as strong, brave, virtuous, ready tofight for his king and kingdom and help those in need set an example ofchivalric conduct at the court but not in real life or on the battlefield. BothEdward III and his son, the Black Prince, were known for their refinedmanners at the Court but also for their cruelty on the battlefield during thewars with France.

Two great themes of the mediaeval romances are the Quest and the Rite ofPassage; the former refers to the quest of the Holy Grail (the cup Christdrank from at the Last Supper and in which Joseph of Arimathea treasuredthe blood dripping from Christs wounds) and the latter presents a knightengaged in the process of transition from youthful ignorance to self-knowledge and maturity during which he faces many tests and trials. Boththemes are of universal appeal and have been incorporated, with alterationsand/or deepening of meanings, in the literary works ever since.Romances circulated in French, Latin and English and according to theirmatter (matire) they were divided into:

- The Matter of France (Charlemagne and his Paladins, Rolandand Olivier)- The Matter of Rome (the Trojan war, the wandering of Aeneas,

Alexander the great)- The Matter of Britain (the Arthurian cycle, Havelock the Dane,King Horn)

The Arthurian Cycle; Arthur, the Once and Future KingThe legend of King Arthur and his court at Camelot is one of the mostenduring in Western culture. The heroic and chivalric world of Camelot andof the Knights of the Round Table has been celebrated generation aftergeneration throughout the centuries while King Arthur himself has becomethe symbol of English national identity.Evidence of Arthurs existence in the Welsh tradition has been traced backto the days of the Anglo-Saxon invasion; about 600, the northern bardAneir in composed the Gododdin, a series of elegies on noble warriors

among whom Arthur was supreme.Historically speaking, the earliest reference to Arthur was made by thechronicler Nennius or Nynniaw, a Welshman who wrote Historia Britonum(c. 800). He describes the battle of Mount Badon, usually dated 516 in whichArthur dist inguished himself as an exceptiona l warrior. However, GildasSapiens, author of the work De Excidio Britanniae, who lived at the time ofthe battle, did not mention Arthur as the hero of Mount Badon but a certainAmbrosius Aurel ianus. Nevertheless, a 10 th century chronicle, The AnnalesCambriae (annals of Wales), connected Arthur with the Mount Badon battle.


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century)


The father of the Arthurian legend is Geoffrey of Monmouth; his masterworkof fiction gives Arthur his biography and his royal genealogy, tells of Arthursfather, king Uther Pendragon, of Merlin and of Merlins magic.Geoffrey incorporates historical facts and shows specific knowledge of theHistoria Britonum but he sometimes changes the dating and exaggeratesfor his heros greater glory. At the end of his story Geoffrey offers a precise

date for Arthurs death, the year 542, and the name Insula Avallonis. Thisname may be the name of a real place, i.e., Avallon in Burgundy. TheContinental documents mention a certain Riothamus as king of the Britonswho fought in Gaul about 468-470 and who, when last seen, was movingwith his army in the direction of the Burgundian Avallon. He may have beenthe historical king of the Britons who became Arthur in Geoffreys work.Geoffreys book was so popular that it was immediately translated intoFrench by Robert Wace as Brut dAngleterre or Li Romans du Brut, Brutusor Brut being the Trojan hero who is considered to be the forefather of theBritons. Wace was the first to mention the Round Table given as a presentto Arthur by his father-in-law, Leodegan.His book was in turn translated into English by a cleric Layamon, early in the13 th century. Layamons book amplified the story and added the new

elements (e.g., the building of Stonehenge with the help of Merlin).In France, Marie de France and Chrtien de Troyes also brought theircontribution to the legend. Chretien de Troyes introduced new episodes andcharacters: Lancelot and his love-affair with Guinevere (Le Chevalier de laCharette) and Percivals adventures (Percival le Galois).In the 14 th century an anonymous author, known as the Gawain-Poet, wrotean alliterative poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, considered to beone of the great literary productions of the Middle Ages. The poem presentsan episode from the Arthurian tales incorporating both the Rite of Passagetheme and elements of an old vegetationmyth in which the beheading gameproposed by the Green Knight/Man can be interpreted as the return of springand the regeneration of nature. Gawains Rite and Quest are placed under aunifying numerical symbol 3: there are 3 journeys, three settings (Camelot,

the Castle in the Wood and the Green Chapel) 3 exchanges and 3 blows. Atthe end of this circular initiation test Gawain comes back at Camelot adifferent man.While celebrating New Years Eve at Camelot, King Arthur and his knightsare interrupted by the arrival of a Green knight riding a Green horse whochallenges those present to cut his head off on condition that, if he remainedalive, he should have the right to give a blow in return a year and a dayhence at the Green Chapel in North Wales. Sir Gawain accepts thechallenge and succeeds in beheading the Green Knight who picks up hissevered heed and leaves the hall reminding Gawain of the bargain.Noble and brave Gawain embarks on his test and quest adventure and aftermuch wandering arrives at a castle the next year. He is warmly greeted bythe lord of the castle, Sir Bercilak de Hautdesert and by his lady, and is

asked to stay for 3 days of merriment. Bercilak proposes that at the end ofeach day they should exchange winnings, that is, whatever they might getby hunting or otherwise and Sir Gawain agrees.The next day, while Bercilak is hunting in the woods, his beautiful wife comes to SirGawains room and tries to tempt him but without success. She gives him a kiss andin the evening, when the lord comes back and offers Gawain some game, Gawainkisses him once. On the second day much the same thing happens but Gawainkisses Bercilak twice. On the third day Gawain kisses him three times but heunwisely hides the fact that the lady offered him a magic green girdle which made itsowner invulnerable. On New Years day Gawain goes to the Green Chapel, meetswith the Green Knight, receives three blows and is slightly wounded. The Green


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Knight reveals himself as Bercilak and tells Gawain that he has been put to a test.He reprimands Gawain for not having kept his word to the end, yet finally forgiveshim.

Gawain returns to Camelot and tells the story of his adventure and all theknights decide to wear green girdles as a symbol which will remind them oftheir chivalrous duties.Gawains breech of promise does no necessarily transform him into thestained knight as he will appear in Malorys and Tennysons works, but hewill be denied success in the Quest of the Grail. The poem ends with thewords Hony soyt qui mal pence which suggest the founding of a newchivalric order, The Order of the Garter.Throughout the Middle Ages the Arthurian legend evolved and endured; thenow familiar tale of Arthurs life and death was drafted from diverse sourcesby Sir Thomas Malory who gave unity and plausibility to the multitude of theextant versions in his Le Morte Arthure, written in the 15 th century.The story opens in a war-torn land. King Uther Pendragon fights the armiesof rebellious feudal lords but he falls in love with Igraine, the wife of hisenemy, Duke Gorlois of Cornwall, whom he wins with the help of Merlin.Thus, it seems that the Arthurian world begins with treachery and thereforeit is doomed to end in betrayal.Arthur is not born a King but he proves his right to rule by drawing the swordExcalibur from a stone. He makes his court at Camelot and founds thenoblest order of knights in chivalric history. But Arthurs destiny is markedwith tragedy: his wife falls in love with his best friend, some of his knightsare corrupted and his kingdom ultimately falls to the ravages of war. Arthurfaces his defeat on the battlefield of Badon where he is betrayed andwounded by his only son. At the end of the story there is a promise,embodied in The Myth of the Return: Arthur is taken from the fatal field bythree fairies to the Isle of Avalon and on some distant day, when his peopleneed him, he will return to fight once more for his beloved land and fulfil hisdestiny as the Once and Future king.

Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not deadand men say that he shall come again I will not say it shall be so, butrather I will say, here in this world he changed his life. But many men saythat there is written upon his tomb this verse: Hic iacet Arthurus Rex,quondam Rex quae Futurus. Here lies Arthur, Once and Future King [Th.Malory in Mancoff: 8].Malorys prose romance voices the nostalgia for a heroic and legendary

past and for that magnificent chivalric world of Arthur doomed todisintegration because of many a breach of promise.In the 19th century Alfred, Lord Tennyson brought the legend back to life. In1859 he published Idylls of the King which contained the poems Enid,Vivien, Elaine and Guinevere. To these he later added The Coming ofArthur , The Holy Gra il , Pelleas and Ettarre, The Passing of Arthur , The

Last Tournament, Gareth and Lynette, Balin and Balan and split the poemEnid into two The Marriage of Geraint and Geraint and Enid so by 1886he arranged his twelve Arthurian poems in a cycle that corresponded withthe cycle of seasons. Tennysons Arthur has somehow lost his remotefascination and mystery and has become the Victorian ideal of manhood a king and a warrior, but also a public servant, a husband and a father. Inthe Victorian eyes Arthur was the great leader who served as a symbolicidentity for the British nation.Throughout her life in the legend, Queen Guinevere has been accompaniedby the taint of infidelity. In Geoffrey's book she is taken by force by Arthursnephew, Mordred. Both Wace and Layamon suggest her complicity in the


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century)


treason. Chrtien de Troyes changes political treason to unfaithfulness toher king and according to the code of courtly love he provides her withLancelot, a knight worthy of her love and respect. Thomas Malory adoptedthe French tradition and his Guinevere is passionate, tragic, and ultimatelynoble.Guineveres involvement with other men may have an ancestry in Celtic

society. A Celtic Queen was her husbands equal, able to rule and to leadarmies and free to take lovers if she pleased. A famous example was queenCartimandua (first century A.D.) who divorced her husband in order to manyher lover.When traditions of that remote era reached story-tellers centuries after, theycould not understand or accept them; in a medieval, male-dominated societysuch a free and equal woman was seen as amoral and disloyal and thesame was true for the Victorian Age.Tennysons Guinevere pays for her sin with her happiness, her rank, and herdestiny and in the end of the poem she is condemned to penance, solitude,and pious chastity. In his Defence of Guenevere, Pre-Raphaelite writerWilliam Morris shows a different queen, sinful but proud, who admits herguilt but challenges judgement; neither broken nor humiliated, Morriss

Guinevere, unlike Tennysons character, captivates her audience at the trialand makes them listen to her side of the story. In Morriss poem, aftercenturies of silence, Guinevere was finally given the right to defend herself.

I. Multiple choice exercise1. The father of the Arthurian legend was:a) Geoffrey of Monmouth b) William of Malmesbury c) Walter Map d) Henry ofBracton2. The book in which King Arthur appeared as a fictional character for the first timewas:a) Morte dArthur b) De Excidio Britanniae c) Historia Regum Britanniae d) DeGestis Regum Anglorum3. Arthur was the son of:

a) Merlin b) King Uther Pendragon c) The Duke of Cornwall d) Lancelot4. Excalibur was:a) Arthurs horse b) Arthurs nephew c) Arthurs castle d) Arthurs sword5. Which of the following themes and motifs is not to be found in the Arthurianromances:a) the Quest b) the Rite of Passage c) the dream-vision d) the Return

II. True or false?1. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an alliterative poem of the 14th century.2. Alfred Tennyson wrote The Defense of Guenevere.3. According to Sir Thomas Malory, Arthur dies on the battlefield and is buried atCamelot.4. The Holy Grail is another name given to the Lady of the Lake.

5. The earliest historical reference to Arthur was made by the Welsh chroniclerNennius.III. Questions

1. Which are the themes of the medieval romances?2. Why is Arthur called The Once and Future King?


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CHAPTER III The Fourteenth Century. The Age of Chaucer


CHAPTER III - THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.THE AGE OF CHAUCER

Historical and Cultural BackgroundThe fourteenth century was marked by three crucial events: The Hundred YearsWar with France, The Plague, known as the Black Death, which ravaged Britain andEurope, and the Peasants Revolts.England had the additional burden of fighting the Scots and maintaining control ofIreland and Wales.The Scots looked for allies and formed the Auld (old) Alliance with France whichlasted into the sixteenth century. Edward III declared war on France in 1337 andclaimed his right to the French Crown. By the treaty of Brtigny in 1360, Edward IIIgave up his claim to the French throne as the French recognised his ownership of allAquitaine and parts of Normandy and Brittany.Edward III highly valued the chivalric ideals and the courtly manners as depicted inthe Arthurian legends. He and his son, the Black Prince, were admired for theircourage on the battlefield and for their refined manners. It is said that at a ball atWindsor, the Countess of Salisbury accidentally dropped her garter; Edward noticedsome courtiers laughing at her so he picked up the garter, tied it to his leg and saidin French: Honi soit qui mal y pense let him be ashamed who sees wrong in it.Thus, The Order of the Garter was founded in 1348. Edward chose 24 knights andthey met once a year on St. Georges Day (St. George is the Patron Saint ofEngland) at Windsor Castle. The custom is still followed today and Honi soit qui maly pense is still the motto of the royal family.The year 1348 brought the terrible plague which killed more than one-third of theentire population. After the plague there were few people to work on the land andthey could ask for higher wages.Edwards successor was his grandson, Richard II, who was not popular. Hisadvisers made him introduce a tax payment for every person over the age of 15 andin 1381, when the tax was reinforced for the third time and increased to three timesthe previous amount, there was immediate revolt in East Anglia and Kent. The revoltstarted in Essex in May, under the leadership of Jack Straw, and then spread to

Kent where the peasants were led by Wat Tyler.The revolt lasted only 4 weeks. The armed peasants marched to London, singingthe revolutionary rhyme: When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then thegentleman?.Richard II promised to grant their demands but betrayed them and killed the leaders.The Peasants Uprising was the first sign of growing discontent with the state. It hadbeen partially prepared by the discontent with the Church. The Church was a feudalpower whose greed was notorious. Popular preachers such as John Ball werespreading the doctrines of John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor, who demanded thesecularisation of Church properties. He also translated the Bible into English, helpedby Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey (1396). The heretical movement inspired byWycliffe was called Lollardy. This movement was persecuted and suppressed butit never wholly died out and it was revived in the Lutheran movement of early Tudor

times.

Language and LiteratureThe language was changing as French was used less and less by the Normanrulers.In the 14th century, Edward III had actually forbid the speaking of French in hisarmy. The language of the 14th and 15th century was called Middle English and wasvery different from Anglo-Saxon.Despite the Plague, the wars with France and the popular uprisings, the literature ofthe fourteenth century flourished in diverse ways which included the revival of the


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old alliterative verse, the first popular utopia, the first travel book of adventures inremote and fantastic lands, and the extensive use of the devices of allegory and ofthe dream-vision.The origins of the allegory are very ancient and the term derives from the Greekallegoria which means speaking otherwise [Cuddon, I.A.:22]. Allegories are talesin prose or verse with a double meaning: a primary, surface or literal meaning and asecondary, under-the-surface, symbolical meaning. The allegory is a device or

strategy which may be used in any literary form or genre.The now lost sixth book of De Republica by Cicero (1st c. B.C.) contains adream narrative known as Somnium Scipionis in which, Scipio Aemilianusmakes a journey through the spheres; much late, Macrobius Theodosius(about 400 A.D.) used this dream-narrative and his commentary becamewidely known and used during the mediaeval times.Another work, which had a tremendous impact upon mediaeval thought andimagination and which established themes to be used to the present day,was Psychomachia by Prudentius (4 th c. A.D.); it dwelt upon the everlastingbattle between personified vices and virtues for the possession of thehuman soul. Death was defined in the Middle Ages as the separation ofbody and soul and the salvation of the soul was the primary goal oftheological doctrine. Mediaeval eschatology focused upon the Second

Coming or the parousia, i.e., the return of Christ and the resurrection of allthe dead for the final Judgement.The fourteenth century witnessed a remarkable and quite surprising revivalof alliterative verse. Apart from William Langlands great allegorical poemPiers the Plowman and some minor poems such as William of Palerne orWilliam and the Werewolf and Morte Arthure, attributed to Huchoun of theAwle Ryale, the bes t all iterative works were the four unti tled poemscontained in a single manuscript and later called Pearl, Patience, Purityand Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight.Two women writers of devotional religious literature should also bementioned: Dame Julian of Norwich with Revelations of Divine Love (late14 th century) and Margerie Kempe with The Book of Margerie Kempe(early15 th century).

Dame Julians work records her mystical experiences and her visions,expressing her deep and moving belief in the power of contemplation and ofdivine love. Margerie Kempes book, the first autobiographical confession ofits kind in English [Sampson, G.:80], presents a detailed account of herspiritual life as well as a vivid story of her pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

The Land of CockaygneThe idea of a place where all is well is an ancient one; in the Sumerian epic ofGilgamesh (the second millennium B.C.) there is a description of an earthlyparadise where the croak of the raven was not heard, the bird of death did notutter the cry of death, the lion did not devour, the wolf did not tear the lamb, the dovedid not mourn, there was no widow, no sickness, no old age, nolamentation[Cuddom:1016].

The Greeks believed in a remote paradise, the Hyperborean Isles or theIsles of the Blessed, Apollos favourite place, whose inhabitants enjoyed aperpetual spring, a fruitful land and everlasting youth and health.In the Odyssey, Homer describes the Elysian Fields as a place where theheroes led a life of peaceful enjoyment in a perfect summer land.In England, the earliest representation of such an earthly paradise is TheLand of Cockaygne, situated on island, somewhere westwards of Spain.The Land of Cockaygne is not a social or political utopia like Thomas Morussixteenth century Utopia, but a land of bounty as imagined by the needy, wherefood and drink are a- plenty. It is a land of prosperity and goodness, of mirth, joy and


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glee, better than Paradise where there is no other food but fruit; in Cockaygne, therivers are of oil, milk, honey and wine and roasted geese fly, crying out geese, allhot, all hot!. There is also a fair abbey whose walls are made of pastry, fish and richfood. In this terrestrial paradise there is no struggle or strife, no lack of food orclothing, no toil, no angry man or woman: a funny detail is that about the absence ofthe bugs that bite, such as flies, fleas and lice, which understandably created muchdiscomfort to fouteenth century people. This comic fantasy ends with a wish and a

pray for the readers/listeners that they might see the land and nevermore turnaway.

The Travels of Sir John MandevilleThis book is the most famous mediaeval travel book written in French and translatedinto English in 1377. The work was attributed to a certain Sir John Mandeville of St.Albans, an Eng;ish knight, but its authorship is uncertain; it could be a compilation oran original work by Jean dOutremeuse, who was known as un menteur tripletage. Whoever the author was, Jean dOutremeuse or another, he carried out themost successful literary fraud ever known in one of the most delightful books everwritten [Sampson,G.: 58]. Originally the book was meant to be a guide to pilgrims tothe Holy Land; it is the first prominent narrative dealing with adventures outsideEngland including Ethiopia, Turkey, Persia, India, China, etc. The information

supplied is seldom reliable even if some descriptions are accurate; there areincredible encounters with cyclops, men with giant ears, men with only one foot aswell as descriptions of fabulous animals such as the griffins. Whether or not acollection of great lies ingeniously written, the book enjoyed wide popularity whichproved the ages thirst for extraordinary adventures in strange lands.

John Gower (1325-1408)Gower was Chaucers contemporary and friend. In keeping with the tendency of theage his work was mostly didactic and moralizing. Gower wrote his three importantpoems in the three languages that circulated at the time: French, Latin and English.In his own Latin note Gower explained to his readers why he wrote each of thepoems: the first, an allegorical poem, to teach sinners the rightful path, the second,a political work, to show the great evils that England suffered during the reign of

Richard II, and the third, more lay in character, to tell stories about love and lovers.

Speculum Meditantis or Mirour de lOmme or Mirror of Meditation, waswritten in French and in it Gower used the familiar allegory of the SevenDeadly Sins and their opposing virtues to show men that the only way toescape eternal damnation was to approach God and Christ with the help ofMary.Vox Clamantis or The Voice of One Crying, written in Latin, wasinfluenced by the Peasants Uprisings of 1381 and it criticizes Richard IIsmisdoings, giving an account of the insurrection.In Confessio Amantis or Confessions of a Lover, written in English, Gowerabandons his didactic and moralizing purpose and, inspired by Ovids works,he proceeds to tell stories about love. The poem starts with a Prologue and

then establishes the conventional setting of the dream-visions: it is a Mayday, Amans falls asleep and has a vision of Venus. He confesses to Genius,Venus priest, and there follow more than one hundred stories told in asimple and pleasant style.

William Langland (1330-1386)William Langland, a clerk in minor orders, was a moralist who devoted hispoetic work to teaching his contemporaries the pitfalls of evil and to warningthose about the perils of a life lived in sin.He satirised and exposed the vices and corruption of the clergy, thus voicingthe general discontent of the common people with the frauds and abuses of


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the representatives of the church who made a nice living by selling pardonsand fake relics while preaching the virtues of poverty and penance.His great allegorical poem entitled The Vision of Piers Plowman was verypopular since there are more than fifty manuscripts still extant. Langlandwrote the first version of the poem, known as the A text, about 1360; it had aprologue and 2 divisions known as passus (Latin for steps). Later heexpanded the poem to 20 passus, which was the B text, and finally he re-

wrote it and produced the C text with 23 passus and more than 7,000 lines.The framework Langland chose was the conventional dream-vision, sopopular in the Middle Ages, in which the dreamer-narrator passes through asuccession of dreams interrupted by moments of waking and contemplation.The poem opens with a Prologue; the poet falls asleep on a May morningon Malvern Hills and in his marvellous dream he sees a fair field full of folkwhich stands for mankind and which is populated with merchants, pilgrims,friars, beggars, pardoners, knights, etc This field is symbolically situatedbetween the High Tower of Truth and the Deep Dungeon of Evil and thecharacters are personified vices and virtues such as Holy Church, Theology,Lady Meed (Bribery), Falsehood, etcThe second vision presents the Pageant of the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride,Luxury, Envy, Wrath, Avarice, Gluttony and Sloth (Accidia) which, in

Langlands opinion, is the worst of all.The Seven Deadly Sins and all the others decide to repent and find the pathto Truth but, as no one knows it, they ask Piers to show them the way. Piers,whose name is the Norman-French for Peter is an ambivalent symbol, hestands for St. Peter, one of the Apostles, and at the same time for Christ,the bearer of truth. The parable shows Peter ploughing with his four oxennamed after the four evangelists Luke, Mark, Mathew and Johan andplanting the seeds of the great four virtues, Prudence, Temperance,Fortitude and Justice.The fact that the main hero of his allegorical poem is a simple ploughmanpoints to Langlands belief that true Christian virtue was to be found amongthe humbler members of society and this belief may explain why the workwas so popular during the Peasants Uprising of 1381.

The allegory ends with Truth absolving all sinners except the false beggars;there is a supplementary poem entitled the Vision of Do Well, Do bet andDo Best which focuses on religious discussions in complicated parables.Besides its allegorical character, the poem gives a realistic picture ofcontemporary life and manners, a vivid sketch of London as well as a grimand moving description of the living conditions of the poor people faced withthe threat of hunger, cold, diseases, and rent.The poem was written in alliterative verse and in it the Old Englishalliterative line, strangely rekindled, blazes up to a glorious end, and is seenno more [Sampson, G.: 52]. Nevertheless, the message of the poem, withits plea for justice, mercy and truth, and its sincere exposure of social andreligious abuses, has survived to the present day.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)Geoffrey Chaucer was the first truly great poet in the history of Englishliterature who, less interested in the theological and moral disputes of theage, turned for inspiration to the new, humanistic perspective of theRenaissance.Chaucer travelled in France and Italy and became acquainted with the newtrends in literature, with the works of the great Italian writers, Boccaccio andPetrarca, and those of the French poets Guillaume de Lorris, Jean deMeung, Guillaume de Machaut, Eustache Deschamps, and Jehan Froissart.He was an eager and gifted observer of the life around him and hepossessed an exceptional psychological insight which allowed him to portray


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many contemporary types and individuals; he was not a bitter satirist or astern moralist and his delineation of characters was done with warmth,frankness, irony and humour and with a deep understanding of humannature.

LifeChaucer lived in a troubled century and his own life knew many ups and downs.

He was born in London in a middle class family; his father, John Chaucer,dealt in wine and had some connection with the Court of Edward III.Chaucer probably studied at Cambridge and Oxford and at the age of 17 hewas a page in the household of Lady Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster and wifeof Lionel of Clarence, the 3 rd son of King Edward III. W

Lit. Anglo-saxona Si a Ev. Mediu_Merila I.(Pirvu L.)

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