MEDIEVAL PERIOD (1100 – 1500)

Transitional period between the Anglo-Saxon and Renaissance period (the

classical and modern worlds)

FEUDAL SYSTEM

From: Britain’s Bayeaux Tapestry at the Museum of Reading,

Characterised by:

• Castle building

• Knights

• Chivalry

• Feudal system

Religion

• Growth of Christianity as a form of dominance over the people

• Separation between church and state – both the king and the Church had autonomous jurisdiction

• Period of the Crusades – Religious wars to gain Christian dominance over Europe

Literature

Main literature at the time was poetry.

Purpose of poetry was to:

• Commemorate historical events

• Service a person (eg. King, queen, bishop)

• Celebrate an occasion (eg. Coronation, feast)

Literature cont’d

• The “epic” poetry was popular at the time• The purpose of this poetry was to describe and

celebrate individuals who risked life and limb to protect their own and others’ honour eg. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• The term “romantic poetry” was first coined during this period, however, the poetry of the time is not an accurate representation of romantic poetry but merely a reflection of heroism and honour

Literature cont’d

ChaucerOne of the greatest poets in English history is Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer wrote the epic The Canterbury Tales, considered to be not only an accurate portrayal of medieval society, but a satirical portrayal of it. The Canterbury Tales describes a pilgrimage of 30 people (pilgrimages were extremely common in those days), making their way to the shrine of Saint Thomas Beckett at Canterbury Cathedral. On their route to Canterbury, the pilgrims tell stories to each other to amuse themselves. The Tales encompasses characters from all aspects of medieval society: feudal, urban, ecclesiastical and middle-class.

It is interesting to note that this is one of the first texts that includes a female voice (eg. the wife of bath, the nun), although these characters are nevertheless written from a man’s perspective.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=SuaQzKPIf9o

Literature cont’d

Theatre

• Medieval drama was considered to be unaristocratic – designed to be enjoyed by the masses and not by the aristocracy

• The Church dominated the themes and ideas of drama of this period

The Renaissance (1500 – 1660)

“Renaissance” – French for “rebirth”

Michelangelo, The Rome Pieta

From: ArtLex Art Dictionary

Galileo Galilei by LeoniFrom: Wikipedia: Renaissance

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian ManFrom: Wikipedia: Renaissance

From: Cartographic Images

Characterised by:• Financial growth• Optimism• Forward-thinking• New possibilities, but also new doubts• Intellectual movement and growth – expansion of

knowledge• Growth in modern, scientific thinking• Growth of more sophisticated methods of surveying and

map-making – expansion of the world• New emphasis on education (both higher and lower)• Patriarchal power relationships

Humanism

• Intellectual movement based on the idea that humans are levelheaded

• Importance of individuals was stressed

History

• Population of England increased• Feudalism died – private ownership of land

increased• Economy based around inherited fortune• Many people moved to the towns and cities to

pursue and income for their families, however, London was still dwarfed by European cities such as Paris

• Invention of the printing press – widespread communication

Society

• Despite the advances in intellectual thinking and science, and the growth in independent wealth, society still held firmly to a social order and social rules

• People firmly believed in a rigidly hierarchical social order – “the Great Chain of Being” – which espoused that every living thing had its designated place in the cosmic order

• Rise of the court – “class” was replaced by birthright and ownership; if you were not born into fortune, you could acquire it by association and connection; one way to do this was to become part of the King or Queen’s court

"The Courtier disdaineth the citizen;The citizen the countryman;the shoemaker the cobbler.

But unfortunate is the man who does not have anyone he can look down upon."~ Tomas Nash, 1593

GodAngels

Kings/QueensArchbishops

Dukes/DuchessesBishops

Marquises/MarchionessesEarls/Countesses

Viscounts/ViscountessesBarons/Baronesses

Abbots/DeaconsKnights/Local Officials

Ladies-in-WaitingPriests/Monks

SquiresPages

MessengersMerchants/Shopkeepers

TradesmenYeomen Farmers

Soldiers/Town WatchHousehold Servants

Tennant FarmersShephards/Herders

BeggarsActors

Thieves/PiratesGypsiesAnimals

BirdsWormsPlantsRocks

From: Renaissance Web Reference

1579 drawing of the Great Chain of Being from Didacus Valades, Rhetorica Christiana

From: Wikipedia: Great Chain of Being

Religion

• Power of the Catholic Church was decreasing• Reformation in Europe in 1517 led to the

establishment of the Protestant Church, after people were becoming increasingly disgruntled with the Catholic Church’s corruption

• Henry VIII formed the Church of England (of which he became the head) in order to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne of Boleyn

Literature

• Lyric poetry and song• Although the Church was still powerful, it was often

satirised in the literature• Literature was often used as a vehicle to analyse the

flaws in the prevailing systems of government• Punning was a tool commonly used in both drama and

poetry to deal with sexual humour• Lady Mary Wroth became the first significant female

voice in literature. Her father and uncle were the foremost literary patrons of the day. Wroth did something extraordinary with one of her sonnet sequences – she wrote it from a woman’s point of view. For a woman to have a voice rather than merely be the admired object is a significant shift.

Lady Wroth’s “Pamphilia to Amphilanthus”

From: Masters in Pieces

Literature cont’d

Drama

• “Theatre” structures were built, but drama was still considered for the masses not the aristocracy; it was often looked upon as a breeding ground for dissent

• Elizabethan drama (Shakespeare, Marlow, Jonson) written in blank verse and mainly centred around tragedies or comedies

The Globe theatre – erected in London in 1599; the sight of many of Shakespeare’s plays.

From: Masters in Pieces

Title page from the 1623 “First Folio” of Shakespeare’s dramatic works

From: English Literature in Context

The Age of Reason (enlightenment)

(1660 – 1780)

Sir Isaac NewtonFrom: England & English Literature through the

ages: The Age of Reason

Newton by William Blake (1795)From: The Songs of Innocence, The Songs of Experience and The Book of Thel by William Blake at Nimbi - William Blake's Poetry

and Art

Characterised by:

• Rationalism (reliance on reason as the best guide for belief and action)

• Intellectual freedom• Freedom from prejudice, religious beliefs and politics• Self-understanding and understanding of each other• New ideas and new methods of learning• Logic and science• Urbanisation and modernisation (during the 18th Century,

London became the largest city in Europe)

An Isaac Cruikshank cartoon attacking Paine; The caption reads: "The Age of Reason; or, the World turned Topsy-turvy exemplified in Paine's Works!" From: Wikipeida: The Age of Reason

History• Early part of the period was considered the Restoration (1660) – King Charles II was

restored to the throne, after a period where England had no king and was ruled by the parliament and military following the English civil war. During this period, people were engrossed with the pursuit of pleasure and European art and literature.

• 1665 – London plague; 70,000 people were killed• 1666 – great fire of London; 2/3 of the population were displaced• London re-build itself into an urban sprawl; up-market urban living was created to

allow the wealthy to own townhouses in London which they would take up residence in during the “Season” (annual social period)

• Middle class grew in both size and wealth• More middle class people, meant more people reading – they wanted to read about

realistic events and people• One of the great satirical writers of the period was Jonathon Swift (Gulliver’s Travels)• Spread of English colonisation around the world• Transportation in England increased, thus establishing more interconnection within

England• Latter part of the period (18th Century) saw a diffusion of taste – politeness and

sociability were restored and an increasing confidence in native English art and literature emerged

Hogarth’s The Taste of the Town (1724). French and Italian architecture and theatre are popular while English authors are “waste paper for shops”.

From: English Literature in Context

Religion

• Although King Charles supported Religious tolerance, the government did not – they insisted upon an Episcopalian form of church government which meant that Bishops would run the church, rather than the congregations’ memberships

• When James II was crowned King, he brought Catholicism back to England

Literature

• Love sonnets were substituted by satirical verse, meant to reform the individual and society

• Heroic couplet was introduced in poetry (John Dryden, Alexander Pope)

• The literature of the previous century was considered excessive - symmetry and balance was the key in poetry (both in topic and style)

• Women were allowed to act in plays for the first time

• Return to the pastoral (nature) in the latter part of this era

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,          Whose body nature is, and God the soul ...

          All nature is but art, unknown to thee;          All chance, direction, which thou cannot see.

          All discord, harmony not understood;          All partial evil, universal good

          And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,          One truth is clear: Whatever is, is right.

An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope

Reflects the Newtonian universe.

Literature cont’d

The novel• This period saw the rise of the novel – until this

time, many of the popular novelists were women• 18th century novels reflected the colonisation and

discovery of the new world that was happening (eg. Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels)

• 19th century novels centred around the English lifestyle (eg. Bronte, Dickens)

BIBLIOGRAPHY(2000-2004). Britain’s Bayeaux Tapestry at the Museum of Reading, Reading Borough Council, Uk. Accessed 12th October, 2008. http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/BayeuxAfter.htm

Virtual Mueum. Accessed 12th October, 2008. http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projf984b/CanterburyTales.html

Delahunt, M. (1996-2008) ArlLex Art Dictionary, Accessed 12th october, 2008. http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/r/renaissance.later.html

(1998) Cartographic Images. Accessed 12th October, 2008. http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/Ren/Ren1/Reno.html

Parker, M. & Morrison, F. (2006). Masters in Pieces: The English Canon for the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, England.

Poplawski, P (Ed.). (2008). English Literature in Context, Cambridge University Press, England.

(2008). Wikipedia: Great Chain of Being, Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Accessed 12th October, 2008.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scala_naturae

Renaissance Web Reference. Accessed 12th October, 2008. http://jackytappet.tripod.com/chain.html

(2008). Wikipedia: the Age of Reason, Wikipedia Foundation Inc. Accessed 12th October, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Reason

(2008). Wikipedia: Renaissance, Wikipedia Foundation Inc. Accessed 12th October, 2008.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance

(2005). The Songs of Innocence, The Songs of Experience and The Book of Thel by William Blake at Nimbi - William Blake's Poetry and Art, Carbunkle. Accessed 12th October, 2008. http://www.nimbi.com/william_blake_newton.html

England and English Literature Through the Ages. Accessed 12th October, 2008. http://www.angelfire.com/journal/LiteratureOfEngland/EnglishLiteratureHomePage.html