Sir Gawain andthe Green Knight

A brief overview of the poem’s historical contextor

What happens in England between Beowulf and Sir Gawain

Richard II

• King Richard II 1377-99• He was deposed by

Henry Bolingbroke who made his speech of accession in English

What happens in 1066and why does it matter?

Hint:

• Comes from France

• Changes England: politically, linguistically, socially

What happens in 1066and why does it matter?

Edward the Confessor, king of England for 24 years, dies childless; he is descended from Alfred the Great. Edward speaks Anglo-Saxon.

Harold, son of Godwin, is elected to the throne, but William, Duke of Normandy (he speaks Norman French) had expected to inherit; he assembles an invasion army.

Battle of Hastings in 1066

William defeats Harold in a pitched battle; Harold is killed by an arrow through the eye. Most of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy are killed or flee into exile.

What happened to the Anglo-Saxon Language, the language of Beowulf?

William the Conqueror and his knights speak Norman French

Lower classes and peasants speak English

French becomes the prestige language of the court

What is the next big event?

Hints:

• Comes from Italy

• Undermines the feudal system of hierarchy

• Give rises the middle class

• Is devastating

The Black Death

It first ravages England between 1348-49.

Almost 50% of the population dies.

Chaucer is a boy of 8 or 9.

The Gawain Poet also survives the plague.

Rise of the Middle Class

• Serfdom dies out as result of Black Death

• Black Death causes massive labor shortage, raises wages, leads to unification of peasants, redistribution of wealth

• Population shifts to urban centers

• Economic developments: trade increases; growth of guilds and cottage industry

England in the Fifteenth Century

• Increased social mobility, loosening of hereditary bonds to land allows English people to move to urban centers, particularly London

• In 14th century majority of population lives south of the Humber; 85% of population is rural; the Midlands region is most densely populated and least ravaged by Black Death

• English in London becomes a mixture of Midlands with features of Southern and Northern dialects; Midlands becomes a compromise between the Northern and Southern dialects

Reading in the Middle Ages

• A very small portion of population can read: clerks, priests, some of the nobility

• Reading and writing are distinct skills

• Reading is often a purely devotional activity

More History (ho hum)

• King Edward III 1327-77• 1337-1453 The Hundred

Years War; Edward III discuss the invasion of France with the Parliament in English

• 1346 The Battle of Crecy• 1356 The Battle of

Poiters