Medieval Literature

1. Medieval Literature From the fall of Rome to the Renaissance

3. English & French Literature • Dominated by: • The epic • Beowulf • The romance • Song of Roland (early) • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late) • The allegory • The Canterbury Tales • The Divine Comedy • The folk tale • The lyric • The drama • Everyman

4. 499-1066 CE Early British Medieval Literature

5. The Anglo-Saxons: 449–1066 A.D. 1066 Norman Invasion 300s B.C. Celts in Britain A.D. 449 Anglo-Saxon Invasion 55 B.C–A.D.409 Roman Occupation A.D.878 King Alfred against the Danes A.D. 1 A.D. 300 A.D. 900 A.D. 1200 300 B.C. A.D. 600 A.D. 400–699 Spread of Christianity

6. BritainBefore and during the 4th century B.C. • Britain home to several Celtic tribes • Britain named for one Celtic tribe—the Brythons • Celtic religion a form of animism Stonehenge • Druids were Celtic priests

7. The Roman Occupation 55 B.C. Hadrian’s Wall Julius Caesar invades Britain A.D.43 Celts defeated by Claudius • Romans build walls, villas, baths, roads A.D. 409 Romans evacuate their troops • Britain left vulnerable to attack • Central government breaks down Romanruins

8. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion Jutes Angles Saxons Celts A.D. 449 The Anglo-Saxons push the Celts into the far west of the country.

9. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion Anglo-Saxon Society • kinship groups led by strong warrior chief • people farmed, established local governments, produced fine craftwork • English emerged as a written language

10. Norse god Anglo-Saxon god Day of week Odin Woden Thor Thunor The Anglo-Saxon Invasion The Anglo-Saxon religion • offered no hope of an afterlife • valued earthly virtues of bravery, loyalty, generosity, and friendship • similar to what we call Norse mythology Wednesday Thursday

11. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion The Anglo-Saxon bards • called scops • strummed harp as they sang • sang of heroic deeds • were often warriors Why were the scops important? • Anglo-Saxons did not believe in afterlife • warriors gained immortality through songs Anglo-Saxon harp

12. The Spread of Christianity Around A.D. 400 • Christian monks settle in Britain • Christianity and Anglo-Saxon culture co-exist By A.D. 699 • British pagan religions replaced by Christianity

13. Early Literature • Celtic and Germanic Tribes • heroic legends • Written down by monks hundreds of years later. • What effect will this have on pagan epics?

14. Old, Middle, Modern English Old English Middle English 'Ourefadirþat art in heueneshalwid be þi name; þireume or kyngdom come to be. Be þiwille don in herþe as it is douninheuene. yeue to us today oureechedayes bred. And foryeue to us ouredettisþat is ouresynnys as we foryeuen to ouredettourisþat is to men þathansynned in us. And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.' 'Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debters. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' • 'Fæderureþuþeeart on heofonumsiþinnamagehalgodtobecumeþin rice gewurþeþinwilla on eorðanswaswa on heofonumurnegedæghwamlicanhlafsyle us to dægand forgyf us uregyltasswaswa we forgyfaðurumgyltendumand ne gelædþu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfelesoþlice.' http://bitterscroll.podomatic.com/entry/2006-08-09T16_02_07-07_00

15. Old English • The Germanic Tribe • Spoken on the British Isles • Anglo-Saxons specifically

16. Beowulf • Germanic traditional epic • Specifically Anglo-Saxon • Warring culture • 3,000 line epic poem • First literary composition in the English Language • Composed sometime between 600-900 C.E. 700 is our best guess. • Written down 200-300 years later.

17. History of the text • Poem exists in one manuscript only (in British Library) • Survived fire in 18th century • This scare led to the copying, editing, translating of the copy • Now an integral part of the canon. • A group of the most important literature of any given time period, genre, author, etc.

18. Beowulf • Poem written in England • Set in Scandinavia • Follows the Scandinavian prince, Beowulf. • Poem has three major plots • Beowulf, a warrior for the Geats, crosses the sea to help the Danes kill the man-eating monster Grendel. • He must also kill Grendel’s mother • Beowulf returns and rules for fifty years as king. A dragon terrorizes the country and Beowulf must confront it. • Beowulf slays the dragon but meets his own death. He enters the legend of his people as a hero.

20. Beowulf • Poem shows life in the Dark Ages. • Begins with soldiers in a hall, drinking mead • Grendel eats them all. Yum. • Grendel is the spawn of Cain, the murderous brother in the Old Testament.

21. Chainmail

22. Beowulf assignment • Assignment on page 2 of Medieval Lit packet • Take a look at this now • Excerpts begin on page 3 • Read academically and carefully • Take notes or annotate • Notes can be used on quiz, annotations cannot • Due Monday • If you’re absent Monday (or today, I guess) you will turn in typed answers to these questions upon return.

23. From Epic to Romance • The Epic yielded to Romance in 11th and 12th centuries • Originally applied to Old French to distinguish from Latin • Eventually, it referred to any work in French.

24. Romance • Narrative shift • from warfare • to love. • Courtly love • A tradition that idealized women and turned conventions of human love almost literally into religion. • First developed by troubadours – lyric entertainers • Originally half-facetious • elaborate code to follow

25. Romance • Earlier Romances, chansons de geste (Songs of Deeds), like Roland, are men-at-war. • The central figure: • Charlemagne • and members of his court. • Basis in historical fact • a towering figure in the development of Western and Christian culture. • However, they have poetic legend, as, for instance, Charlemagne is in intimate touch with the Angels.

26. Song of Roland

27. Background • Written in Old French circa 1100 • Composed 300 years earlier • Oral songs sung by troubadours accompanied by lyres. • Song of Roland • earliest and best known example of the Song of Deed romance. • History of text (FYI) • Unknown until 1832 when the first of several manuscripts was discovered. • The best of these is at Oxford University that is a copy by an Anglo-Norman scribe of an earlier version. • Many conspiracies and hypotheses about the organ, poet, and facts of Roland

28. Background • Written at the beginning of the Crusades. • By telling a story of the Great Charlemagne, the hope is to inspire current fighters. • The values of the poem are simply identified. • Exclusively deal with war and religion • Success in battle is vital • personal reasons • prove God is on your side • Christians are good, Saracens (Muslims) are evil • although some are great warriors and honorable • Absent are: • philosophical subtleties • inward conflicts

29. Song of Roland plot • Based on the ambush of Charlemagne's rear guard in 778. • Charlemagne’s nephew Roland ambushed as they returned from an expedition against the Muslims in Spain. • Brings to life aspects of early medieval culture: • naming one's battle gear and weapons, • dependence on cavalry • glorification of blood-and-thunder heroism • and strong sense of companionship between brothers-at-arms.

30. Structure of poem • Very un-poetic: • Simple vocabulary & syntax. • No Figurative language • No atmospheric details • Poet is on the side of the Christians, but he doesn't gush like in Beowulf.

31. Structure of poem • Hyperbolic praise of the past • Heroes of old • Appearance of prophetic dreams and omens • Intervention at key moments of supernatural beings • Epithets • Battles

32. Courtly Love History of Arthurian Legend and Courtly Love

33. Courtly Love • Extramarital • very secretive • The knight (whom did the loving) prone to: • fits of weeping • Growing pale • Languishing in his unrequited love • Lady of noble birth • Knight performed great deeds gain his lady’s admiration from afar • Faithfulness was eternal

34. Courtly Love (don’t write down) • Chretien de Troyes applied these rules into legendary tales including: • Eric and Enide • The Knight of the Cart • The Knight with the Lion • The Story of the Grail • These stories combined with other romances to form a foundation for courtly love including: • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight • Havelok the Dane

35. King Arthur The Arthurian Legend is a compilation of stories and romances Arthur’s birth his adventures as knight adulterous love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere Courtly Love or “The Romance” Epic Poetry Arthurian Legend

36. King Arthur • Gains fame in the 1100’s • Chretien de Troyes takes the oral legends he has heard, mixes them with courtly love ideas and writes the first five romances of adventure in the 12th century • Stories culminate in the 15th century • Alfred Loydd Tennyson “Idylls of the of the King” • Mark Twain with “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”.

37. Romance • Church began to see Romance, specifically Courtly Love, as a threat • Sir Gaiwan and the Green Knight • Romance of the Rose

38. Late Middle Ages • The Church took over power • based on two propositions: • Kingdom of God vs Kingdom of the Devil • only through the offices of the church • Earth is proving ground for Heaven • The literature reflected this conflict. • Nearly all literature was religious in theme.

39. On the Misery of the Human Condition Sermon written by Pope Innocent III ~1200 Book 2 page 96

44. Medieval Drama • In courtyards • Layman actors • Three types: • Mystery play • Biblical history from fall of Lucifer to Last Judgement • Miracle play • Stories of life of Christ, Mary, or saints • Morality Play • Struggle of good and evil and soul’s afterlife. • Allegorical

45. Everyman

46. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM5Zwd427iU&feature=related

47. Middle English • More recognizable to modern reader. • Middle Class rises • Feudalism weakens • Canterbury Tales

48. Whan that Aprill with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the roote,And bathed every veyne in swich licourOf which vertu engendred is the flour;Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breethInspired hath in every holt and heethThe tendre croppes, and the yonge sonneHath in the Ram his half cours yronne,And smale foweles maken melodye,That slepen al the nyght with open ye(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;And specially from every shires endeOf Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,The hooly blisful martir for to seke,That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke. Bifil that in that seson on a day,In Southwerk at the Tabard as I layRedy to wenden on my pilgrymageTo Caunterbury with ful devout corage,At nyght was come into that hostelryeWel nyne and twenty in a compaignyeOf sondry folk, by aventure yfalleIn felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.The chambres and the stables weren wyde,And wel we weren esed atte beste.And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,So hadde I spoken with hem everichonThat I was of hir felaweshipe anon,And made forward erly for to ryse,To take oure wey ther as I yow devyse. The General Prologue

49. The Canterbury Tales • Take a look at the four following images. Write down three characteristics the image triggers – think about their role in society as well as your personal, moral beliefs of them. • Basically, generalize

50. Politician • Write down three characteristics the image triggers – think about their role in society as well as your personal, moral beliefs of them. • Basically, generalize