From Caedmon to Caxton

1. From Caedmon to Caxton Thomas Honeggert.m.honegger@gmx.de

2. http://www.db-thueringen.de/content/top/index.xmlHistory of English

4. Kings of England Alfred the Great (849-899) Edward I (871-924) Aethelraed Unraed (‘the Unready’)(968-1016) (great-grandson of Alfred; first married to Aelfgyfu;later married to Ymme, daughter of Ricard of Normandy)

5. Aethelraed (968-1016) Cnut (988-1035) (ruled 1016-35) Edmund II (990-1016) & (married Ymme 1017) Edward III (1005-1066) Harold I Harefoot (in exile in Normandy (1017/18-1040) most of the time; King of) Harthacnut England 1042-1066) (1018-1042) Harold II (Godwinson) Harold Hardraada (brother-in-law to of Norway Edward III) William of Normandy

6. The Conquest in the words of a 14th century chronicle Suππe regnede a goude gomeHarold Godwynes soneHe was icluped HarefotFor he was renner goudBote he ne regnede hereBot .ix mones of a yere

7. The Conquest in the words of a 14th century chronicle William bastard of NormandyeHym cant πat was a vilanyeHarold liπ at Waltham& William bastard πat πis lond wanHe regnede hereOn & tuenti yere

9. The Effects of the Norman Conquest 1 • The great majority of the Anglo-Saxon nobility died in the Battle of Hastings. • William filled the ‘empty’ places with his French/Norman speaking followers. • High-ranking Anglo-Saxon church-dignitaries (bishops and abbots) were, with time, also replaced by French/Norman speaking people.

10. Robert of Gloucester’s Chronicle c. 1300 πus com lo engelond in to normandies hond. & πe normans ne couπe speke πo bote hor owe speche& speke french as hii dude at om. & hor children dude also teche.so πat heiemen of πis lond. πat of hor blode come.holdeπ alle πulk speche. πat hii of hom nome.vor bote a man conne frenss. me telπ of him lute.ac lowe men holdeπ to engliss & to hor owe speche yute.

11. The Effects of the Norman Conquest 2 • The control of the administration was in the hands of the Norman/French speaking followers of William. • Domesday Book (1086): a kind of census; a survey of the land, population, livestock, possessions => the most important historical source for post-conquest England.

12. Domesday Book (1086)

13. Tribal Hidage 1

14. Tribal Hidage 2

15. Tribal Hidage 3 • OE hiwisc means ‘familiy’ or ‘household’. The hide was thought to be equivalent to land farmed by, and supporting, a peasant family. A-S charters use the term ‘land of x families’ interchangeably with ‘land of x hides’. The size of the hide differed thus according to the value and resources of the land involved.

16. 1444 Map of Boarstall, Buckinghamshire

17. Agricultural Britain 1

18. Agricultural Britain 2

19. Agricultural Britain 3

20. Medieval Society • bellatores (warriors, defenders of society) • oratores (clergy; take care of the soul) • laboratores (peasants, workers; provide food and commodities)

22. English society 1086 • Serf: Slave, property of the lord. • Cottars: Lowest of the main level of bonded peasant cultivators; 4 acres or less • Villeins: The highest class of dependent (bonded) peasantry, often holding between 30 and 100 acres. • Sokeman: Freeman of peasant status who was free to leave (and often to sell) his land; often owed services or rent, and obliged to attend his lord’s court.

23. English society 1086 • Freemen: A man who could owe rents of obligations to his lord; often ‘lesser thegns’

25. Population in 1086 • 109 230 villeins • 81 849 bordars (unfree smallholders) • 5 205 cottars (unfree smallholders, mainly in the south) • 28 235 servi (slaves) • 13 553 freemen • 23 324 sokemen • 1 100 chief tenants • 6 000 sub-tenants • 15 000 clergy (estimate only) • 6 905 miscellaneous rural workers etc.

26. Population in 1086 • Total of rural population according to census: c. 290 000 => c. 500 000 south of the Tee. • Estimated ‘town’ population of 200 000. • London 25 000 inhabitants. • Total population of England (not Britain) in 1086 between 700 000 and 1 million people.

27. The Effects of the Norman Conquest 3 • William (now ‘the Conqueror’, before he had been ‘the Bastard’) King of England. • William also Duke of Normandy, and as such vassal of the King of France • King William King of France Duke William • New upper class in military, administration and church speaks French.

28. The Effects of the Norman Conquest 4 • Most noblemen owned estates in England and the Normandy simultaneously => the ‘English nobility’ was more an international ‘Anglo-French’ nobility than properly ‘English’.

30. Effects of Norman Conquest 5 • French literature read, copied and composed in England (Marie de France, Thomas d’Angleterre) • L’aventure d’un altre lai cum ele avint, vus cunterai.Faiz fu d’un mult gentil vassal;en Bretanz l’apelent Lanval.

31. Marie de France (2 half of 12 cent.)

32. Effects of Norman Conquest 6 • Linguistic effects of the Conquest: • English no longer language of administration and learning. • Wessex Standard (royal scriptorium in Winchester) disappears. • English survives as a (predominantly) spoken language => dialects • ‘Written standards’ are Anglo-French, French and Latin.

33. From Old English to Middle English • Changes in spelling conventions. • Changes in pronunciation (‘phonetic spelling’). • Changes in word-structure (inflections) • Changes in grammar and word-order. • Changes in the vocabulary.

34. An Old English Homily from the 2 half of the 12 cent. Gif πåt isawene håwtene corn feallende on eorƒenGif πåt gesawene håwtene corn feallende on eorƒanIf the sown wheaten corn falling on earth ne biƒ fullice beågdƒådne biƒ fullice beagod,is not fully dead

35. An Old English Homily from the 2 half of the 12 cent. hit wunåƒ him sylfenå; ant he cwåƒ eft πa hit wuniaƒ him sylfum; and he cwåƒ eft πait remains to itself; and he spoke after then

36. eorƒan wuniaƒ sylfum sawla lufaƒ eorƒen wunæƒ sylfenæ sawle lufæƒ Old English vs. early ME

37. OE vs. ME • weakening and finally loss of most inflectional endings • word order becomes important • prepositions and other ‘grammatical words’ become important