ENGLISH REVIEWER
MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
The Church
◊power of church became force that bound Europe together
◊land was given to church in return for their services making the church the largest landlord
◊clergymen did not take a direct part in feudal warfare but controlled the lords which had weapons
◊excommunication: being cut off from the church
◊inquisition: fight against heresies/withces
◊tithe: church taxes; 10% of income
◊St. Thomas a’ Beckett: archbishop of Cantebury; murdered by knights of King Henry for abuses of low-ranking church officials
◊Code of Chivalry: Traits; courage, loyalty, courtesy, consistency
◊Page: at age 7, serves and does easy tasks
◊Squire: at age 14, trains for battle
◊Accolade: at age 21, trains hard to be a knight; learned how to use swords and defend themselves; during ceremenoy, he had to take a bath to wash off sins
◊Knight: at age 21, however can be knighted as young as 12, defended castles and worked for Lords
Social Classes
◊King: man who rules a country and its people
◊Lord: a male member of nobility
◊Vassal: servant or subordinate
◊Knight: a man, who for osme achievement is given honorary rank entitling him to use “sir” before his name
◊Peasant: agricultural laborer
◊Serf: laborer in feudal service who was bound to, and could be sold with, the land he worked
◊Fief: heritable land held by a vassal
◊Feudalism: the legal and social system that existed in medieval Europe, in which vassals held land from lords in exchange for military service
◊please refer to diagram in notes
Medieval Women
◊men believed women should be subordinate to men
◊Eleanor Aquitaine: famed English ruler
◊Occupations of women: shopkeepers, bakers, spinners, farmers
◊Beating wives was permitted
BEOWULF (IN BOOK ONLY); ALSO PLEASE REFER TO HANDOUT GIVEN BY MS. CASTILLO
Synopsis from Book
◊early Anglo-saxon poem
◊tells how Hrothgar, king of Danish tribe called Scyldings
◊built palace called Heorot between seashore and border of dark marshy forest believed to be full of wicked spirits and demonic creature
◊Heorot: large, four-sided wooden building having roof with high gables like horns
◊One night, Grendel, descendant of Cain came to Heorot
◊He ate thrity of Hrothgar’s thanes
◊Grendel kept on coming back until Heorot was eventually abandoned for 12 years
◊Poets and Singers (scops and gleemen) told the story of Grendel everywhere
◊Beowulf heard the story in Hygelac’s court in Southern Sweden
◊Hygelac: King of the Geats
◊Beowulf determined to get rid of Grendel
◊With 14 warriors, he went to Denmark where he was met by coastguard
◊Hunferth: King’s spokesperson; tried to humble the pride of Beowulf
◊considered greatest work of Old English
◊contains elements of Christian teachings accepted by King
◊epic: long narrative poem on the adventures of a hero
◊Wyrd: means fate
Excerpt of Beowulf from Book
Beowulf Taunted, Boasts of Bravery
◊While everyone welcomes, Beowulf, Hunferth was jealous
◊Hunferth began to rake up old tales about Beowulf
◊Hunferth mentioned how Beowulf lost a seven-day swimming match with Breca and eventually ended up in Norway on the eighth day
◊Beowulf then mentioned how after five days at sea with Breca, he survived sea creatures and even killed them all and eventually ended up in the land of the Finns after killing nine monsters
An Evening of Feasting
◊Queen Wealtheow (wife of Hrothgar) went among the guests dressed in gold-embroidered garment and decked with gems took beaker first to her husband then gave it to everyone else
◊Beowulf said either he’d perform a valiant deed or meet his end in the banquet hall
Beowulf Anticipates Meeting Grendel
◊Beowulf took off his iron corselet and his helmet and gave his sword to attendant thane
◊He then stated that he would not slay Grendel with a sword
Beowulf Grapples with Grendel
◊Grendel leaving cloud-capped cliffs then approached lofty talls
◊Not his first time to visit Heorot
◊He broke open the door
◊Grendel tore apart one thane
◊Beowulf then grapped firmly with Grendel eventually defeating him
◊So great was the fight that the hall shook with it
◊Beowulf’s men then drew their swords
◊Grendel lost his arm which was wrenched from its socket as he escaped
◊Hrothgar then congratulated Grendel
◊Hrothgar gave Beowulf a gold-adorned helmet and eight horses
◊THe king’s poet then recited the story, Fight at Finnsburg
The Canterbury Tales
◊collect of stories told by Canterbury pilgrims
◊Geoffrey Chaucer, greatest writer in the Middle Ages
◊pilgrims heade to shrine of Saint Thomas a Becket
◊they converged at Tabard Inn outside London
◊Harry Bailey, innkeeper suggested that pilgrims tell each other two stories each on the way to Canterbury and other two on the way back
◊Bailey offered supper to the best story teller
◊pilgrims represented cross-section of English society during Medieval Period
The Pilgrims
1. Knight: nobleman; valiant warrior, true & courteous gentleman
2. Squire: young; son of knight
3. Yeoman: servant;merry, clad in green; carried a sheaf of arrows with peacock feathers
4. Prioress: dainty, well-bred gentlewoman
5. Nun’s Priest: rode with nuns
6. Monk: not kind that stays in the cloister; more likely to be found where there is good company, good hunting, and good food
7. Friar: begging, didn’t look like poor scholar or cloistered monk but like bishop or pope in fine heavy rope; when playing harp, his eys twinkled like stars
8. Clerk: poor student at Oxford; thin and absolutely hollow; cared more for books and learning than fine robes
9. Parson: good learned man
10. Plowman: Parson’s brother; simple and cheerful
11. Summoner: horrible fiery red faced frightened little children; coarse and ignorant; loved drinking at tavern
12. Pardoner: had just come from Rome with satchelful of pardons that were signed by pope; carried relics such as pice of old pillowcase which he swore was Virgin Mary’s male; sang, “come hither, love, to me”, in a duet with summoner
13. Merchant: wealthy
14. Physician: learned Doctor of Medicine who knew cause and cure of every illness
15. Man of Law: wary and discrete; could recite every law in the land
16. Franklin: well-to-do landowner; represented country in parliament; justice of peace
17-……. London Tradesmen (not sure): brought along cook
18. Cook: Best in London; scoundrel
19. Shipman: bold sailor; knew every harbor in Europe; dangerous customer who liked to make people walk the plank
20. Wife: widow from city of Bath; bold, fair, red face; five husbands all dead; wore hat as broad as shield over heavy kerchiefs wound around her head, and her stockings were scarlet red
21. Miller: brawny fellow with wart on nose; long hairs growing from wart
22. Manciple: quiet; clever and shrewd in business dealings; group of lawyers whom he bough food and drink for, as a kind of purchasing agent, got value for their money because Manciple made sure he made profit
23. Reeve: thin, sour disposition; great care of estate where was overseer that his lord was satisfied; ended up with samll profit
24. Narrator
25. Innkeeper (not sure): Harry Bailey; friendly, talkative, companionable, large, handsome, merry
26……..29. probably tradesmen (nº 17) not sure
◊springtime
◊Tabard Inn, south of River Thames
◊29 pilgrims
◊four days to Canterbury
◊host was friendly and talkative; companionable, large, handsome, who liked nothing better than merrymaking
◊They drew lots to find who’d go first
◊Knight first to tell tale
Anglo-Saxons in Book
◊Main groups: Celts, Saxons, Danes, Normans
◊Oldest literature known as English was written in Germanic language called Anglo-Saxon
◊Anglo-Norman: kind of French used for literary purposes by aristocracy
◊Anglo-Saxon mized with Norman French: lower classes
◊Latin: serious and dignified literature
◊Literature underwent changes in 10th century; result of invasions by foreigners
◊little known about Ancient Stone Age (earliest inhabitants of Britain)
◊they left no written history; however they worshipped sun, said prayers, and sang hymns to weather; nothing known about language they spoke
◊Celtic: came to Britain centuries before Christ speaking various forms of languages
◊Ireland Celtics: Gales; Britain Celtics: Britons
◊They drove earlier settlers out of Britain
◊Bards: class of poets; sang songs in praise of their chiefs, accompanying them with small harp
◊Roman: led by Julius Caesar, invaded in 55BC, left after 100 years after Germanic Tribes crowded into Italy and Gaul
◊Angles, Saxons, Jutes: 5th century AD, from Sweden, Denmark, Germany along North Sea; referred to as Anglo-Saxons, England from “Angleland”
◊tall and fair-haired; wore breastplates called byrnies
◊helmets crowned with figures of boars’ heads
◊fought with swords and spears or with bows and arrows
◊they first plundered & destroyed then later settled
◊most became settlers; rowed fearlessly through the northern seas, known for dauntless bravery
◊brought with them Germanic language
◊Latin and Germanic Old English: Indo-European
Outline of Anglo-Saxon England Handouts (miss said they might be included)
Introduction
• Stonehenge: • found in Salisbury Plain in England
• suggests ancient unknown history of England
• Who built in and when it was built is unknown
• first recording of Britain was a remote land during the time of Julius Caesar
• Caesar crossed English Channel to Britain in 55 BC
• Britain was occupied by Celts (related to Gauls of Western Europe).
• Caesar did not try to colonize UK
• Only Roman emperor Claudius conquered Britain in 43AD
The Coming of the Anglo-Saxons
• For 400 yrs, Britain was part of Roman Empire
• Before the collapse of the Roman Empire in 5th century, Romans left Britain
• Britain was subsequently invaded by the Irishmen (from west), Scots and Picts (from north) and the Germanic tribes
• Anglo-Saxons (Anglo, Saxons, Jutes)
• Formerly of Northwest Germany and Denmark
• The Hun invasion of Europe (4th/5th century) forced the Anglo-Saxons to move westward into Britain
• The Anglo-Saxons then became Vikings making raids on British coastline
• Jutes under Hengest and Horsa landed in Kent
• From 600-850: rise & fall of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
• Kent strongest of kingdoms under King Ethelbert
• Kingdom of Northumbria (kingdom of the Angles) achieved political eminence and literary culture
Anglo-Saxon Society
• Two classes of society:
Earls of the Ruling Class: who could claim kinship to the founder of the tribe
Churls: became bondmen tracing their ancestry only some unfortunate captive of the tribe
• Anglo-Saxons lived amid hostile warriors therefore admired the ideals of courage possessed by individual warrior leaders
• Strict laws and certain degree of social consciousness on the social organization
• Warrior occupied important position in society
• King had assembly of elders (Witan, wise men)
• Group of prominent elders (witenagamot)
• Churls: • responsible for hard labor
• spent day tilling soil, hunting, fishing etc.
• bound to service of earls unless they could earn possessions and special royal which could make them freemen (independent landholders)
• Women were unimportant; however Queen, wife of most powerful earl was a churchwoman and she occupied a position of honor & power
• A warrior always prized a specimen of metal work, a heroic sword (doughty of edge)
• Many feasts which included professional bard called scop which served as entertainer, antiquarian, poet laureate & press agent for king and tribe
• Scop would come forward and state and state legends of Germanic heroes
• He would deliver story rhythmically and with verses
• Audience of earls would listen attentively to scop
Advent of Christianity
• Christian missionaries from Ireland put up missions in Britain
• Began when Pope Gregory the Great 597 AD sent Augustine to convert King Ehelbert of Kent
• Gregory allegedly met “Angles” in Rome thinking they were “Angels”
• Augustine became first archbishop of Canterbury
• Christianity expanded the curriculum to include not only scriptures but classical writings of Vergil and of the ancient Greeks
• Despite christianity, paganism still remained
King Alfred and the Danish Invasion
• 850: King Alfred the Great emerged from Kingdom of Wessex
• The Danes advanced further into Britain forcing Alfred to cede Danelagh (northern and central England)
• 1014: Danes conquered England
• 1042: Anglo-Saxons retake England
• 1066: Norman conquest ends the Anglo-Saxons
The Changing English Language
• spoken by more than 260 million people
• principal language of diplomatic affairs
The Ancestry of English
• 2000 BC: Indo-European languages are born
• English influenced by 2 Indo-European branches, the Italic (Latin, Italian, Spanish, French) and Hellenic (Greek)
• Branch from which English comes from is called Germanic
• Divisions of the Germanic Branch:
• Eastern division: Gothic
• Northern division: Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
• Western division: German, Dutch, Flemish and English
England Before the English
• Celtic branch languages: Cornish, Welsh, Erse, Scots
• Celts contributed richly to British literature through romantic legends of Arthur & Tristam and the imaginative nature of English poetry
• Romans influenced England with town names: -chester, -cester, -caster, all from castra which is Latin for camp
• English words of Roman origin: port, mile, wine and street
Old English
• Three dialectical groups:
• Angles: inhabited lands from Thames to north of England; where England (Angleland)
and English (Anglise) came from; few Angle documents remain
• Saxons: south of the Thames
• Jutes: in Kent, words like vat, fat, vixen
• Enriched after arrival of Augustine when he arrived from Rome in 597
• Christian-related words: altar, canale, disciple, mass, organ, temple and dyppan (baptism), feond (fiend, synonym of devil)
• Scandivanian-related words from Northern England: law, egg, window; they, their, them
• Towns ending in –by ex:Derby(farm and town) or Thorpe ex: Linthorp (village) and thwaitre ex: Braithwaire (Land off by itself) are of Scandinavian origin
• nouns meant to show gender, number and case
• vowel changes common (sing, sang, sung)
• Fewer than ¼ of current English words are from Old English
Sir Patrick Spence
Vocabulary
Towne:town
Blude-red: blood-red
Weine:wine
Whar: Where
Guid: Good
Schip: ship
Eldern: elderly
Knicht; Knight
Spake: Spoke
Braud: Broad
Lauch: Laugh
Laith: Loath
Schoone: Shoes
Aboone: Above
Kens: Combs
Theme of Sir Patrick:Loyalty