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LECTURE 10
XIV CENTURY LITERATURE
By the 14^th century, English language re-emerged as the dominant language and it was different from Anglo-Saxon Old English. It was known as Middle English.
Feudalism and chivalry are evident in much Middle English literature. The Church was highly influential in daily life of the Middle Ages and Middle English literature. Because the church and the concept of chivalry were dominant factors in the Middle Ages philosophy, these two ideas also appeared in literature.
Outbreaks of the plague, known as Black Death, affected both the everyday life and the philosophy of the Middle Ages. With these conditions, it’s not surprising that the people lived with a persistent sense of morality and understanding of the Church’s promise of Heaven. Some believed that all disabilities and plague were judgement for sin.
Religious literature appeared in several genres:

1. 
   Devotional books
   
2. 
   Hagiographies - stories of the saints’ lives
   
3. 
   Medieval drama.
   

Two forms of Medieval drama were mystery plays and morality plays.
In Britain, chivalric literature flowered in the medieval romance, a narrative presenting a knight and his adventures. The ideals of chivalry form the basis of King Arthur’s legends, the stories of King Arthur and his Knights of Round Table. Arthur was likely a Celtic/Roman leader who rejected Anglo-Saxons invading. However, King Arthur is a fictional figure of the later Middle Ages, the concepts of chivalry and country love were real. According to Medieval histories, King Arthur was the British leader who led the British army against the invaders in the 5th and 6th centuries. It is mainly folklore that led to the composition of the legendary King Arthur story. Some literary inventions have been made in the story, but the historical existence of King Arthur has always been questioned.
There exist a few historical sources, such as the Annales Cambridge, the Historica Brittonum and the writings of Gildas, which may be attributed as sources of the legend of King Arthur.
One of the major writers of the Middle Ages is the unidentified Pearl Poet. One of the major works of Pearl Poet is “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. This story shows features of paganism in a society dominated by Christianity. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” illustrates two concepts important to medieval nobility: chivalry and country love.

LECTURE 11

GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1343 – 1400)
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1343, in London, in the prosperous merchant family. He was an English poet, author, a philosopher and astronomer. He was considered the father of English literature. He died in 1400 in London. He was the first writer who was buried in Westminster Abbey.
In 1357, Chaucer became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster, for which he was paid a small stipend – enough to pay for his food and clothing. In 1359, young Chaucer went off to fight in Hundred Years War and was captured for ransom. King Edward III helped to pay his ransom. After his release, Chaucer joined the Royal Service and travelled throughout France, Spain and Italy on diplomatic missions.
Literary critics divide Chaucer’s literary career into three major periods: the French, the Italian and the English.
French period lasted until 1372. During this time Chaucer translated the “Roman de la Rose”, a French poem written during 1200s. He also wrote his “Book of Duchess”, a poem that shared much with contemporary French poetry of the time.
After a journey to Italy in 1372 started Italian period and lasted from 1372 to 1385. The trip introduced him to the works of Italian writers, such as Boccaccio, Dante and Petrarch. At the end of this period he wrote his longest poem, “Trollus and Criseide”.
During the final period of Chaucer’s career that was called as the English period, he wrote “The Canterbury Tales”.
English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the unfinished work, the Canterbury Tales. It is considered one of the greatest poetic works in English.
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales provides a vivid description of life in the Middle Ages by describing in detail characters from every level of medieval society. His works proved revolutionary for their time and they survived for nearly 700 years.
THE CANTERBURY TALES
Chaucer’s Canterbury tales are unique because they are more than a collection of unrelated stories: he produces a unified work through two techniques. First, he uses a framework, a narrative that contains another narrative. Second, he provides links, conversations among the different pilgrims between the stories to tie the stories together.
The first component of framework is “The General Prologue” which introduces characters who tell the stories and who continue to function as characters in the links between tales.
The Canterbury Tales, written in combination of verse and prose, tells the story of 30 pilgrims walking from Southwark to Canterbury. On the way the travellers told stories to win a meal at Tabard Inn. The stories are often sharp and funny. For example, The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Tale and so on.
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of 24 stories, told as the pilgrims make their journey to Canterbury Cathedral.

LECTURE 12

WILLIAM CAXTON (1422-1491)
THE WARS OF THE ROSES
William Caxton was born in around 1422 in Kent. William Caxton was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is the first person to introduce a printing press into England.
In 1476, Caxton set up a printing press in the suburb of Westminster Abbey. He began printing books in Latin and in English. Because there was no standardization in English spelling, Caxton’s choices often became the standard. Caxton’s establishment of the printing press in England helped standardize the English language and developed the use of English in written texts. Among the books he printed were Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, Gower’s “Confession Amantis” and Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur”. William Caxton was a translator and publisher who had a great influence on English literature. He translated 24 books. By the time of his death he published about 100 books. He died in 1492.
The Wars of the Roses were a series of English Civil Wars for control the throne of England between the House of Lancaster, whose symbol was the Red Rose and the House of York, whose symbol was the Red Rose. The conflict lasted from 1455 until 1487 but there was fighting before and after this period between the parties. There was battle of Bosworth Field between the armies of King Richard III and Henry Tudor. Richard dies in battle and Henry becomes King Henry VII of England, ending the Middle Ages in England and beginning of the Tudor dynasty.

LECTURE 13

SCOTTISH LITERATURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Scottish literature in the Middle Ages is literature written by Scottish writers between fifth century until the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. It includes literary works written in Brythonic, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, French and Latin.
The 15^th century is a time of experimentation with poetry. The 15^th-century poets often attempt to generate new meaning from previous poetry by picking up the old to form it into something new. Such is the relationship between Chaucer and Scottish poets. These poets share in the medieval status of Chaucer. Chaucer’s influence on 15^th century Scottish literature started at the beginning of century. As time continues on in the 15^th century, the writers move further away from direct similarity with Chaucer. For 15^th century Chaucer was an important model, but they used that model for their own purposes. The most famous authors of Scottish literature are: King James I of Scotland, Robert Henryson, Willian Dunbar and Gavin Douglas.
King James I of Scotland (1394 – 1437) wrote “The Kings Quair”, a series of love poems. This poem is narrative story of his love where he mixed allegory with reality. The King wrote this poem as a sort of autobiography about his experiences in English captivity.
Robert Henryson (1425-1500) brings his own nationalism into his writing. He is famous with his work “The Testament of Cresseid”, a critical re-writing of Chaucer’s “Troilus and Criseyde”. He creates a totally new ending where Troilus is kept alive.
William Dunbar (1460- 1520) is also 15^th century Scottish writer but his work is quiet far from of Chaucer’s. His famous work “The Tretis” includes many ironic gestures but his humour is much different from Chaucer’s.
Gavin Douglas (1474-1522) also carries on Chaucerian allegory, but concentrates on cultural nationalism. His Famous work is “The Palace of Honour” is modelled on Chaucer’s work “House of Fame”.

LECTURE 14

LITERATURE OF IRELAND
Irish literature includes writings in the Irish, Latin and English languages on the island of Ireland. The earliest recorded Irish writing dates from the 7^th century and was produced by monks. The monks recorded both poetry and mythological tales. There is a large body of Irish mythological writing including such as “The Tain” and “Mat King Sweeny”.
The English language was introduced to Ireland in the thirteenth century, following the Norman invasion of Ireland. But the Irish language remained dominant until the nineteen century. The later part of the nineteenth century saw the replacement of Irish by English language.
The Irish people became literate by the arrival of Christianity in the 5^th century. The introduction of Latin led the adaptation to Irish alphabet and the rise of a small literate class.
The earliest Irish literature consisted of original lyric poetry and ancient tales. The earliest Irish poetry described the world nature. “The Blackbird of Belfast Laugh” was an example of the earliest poetry.
After the Old Irish period there is a large range of poetry from medieval times. The Irish writers created a classical tradition in their own language. Medieval Irish writers also created a large literature in Latin. This Hiberno-latin literature was notable for its learned vocabulary.
The literary Irish language was taught in bardic schools (academies of higher learning) in Ireland and Scotland. These produced historians, lawyers and professional writers. Literary works produced in this period was traditional in character. They were about families and patrons. But the most famous poetry included poetry of personal nature. The most famous Irish writers were: Gofraidh Fionn O’Dalaigh ( 14^th century) and Tadhg Og O’huiginn ( 15^th century). Women were excluded from the official literature.

LECTURE 15

MEDIEVAL DRAMA
Some scholars thought that medieval drama was religious drama of the Middle Ages that grew from the Church’s services. Others suggest a different origin of medieval drama, saying that it grew parallel to but outside of Church services.
Medieval drama provided a method for the Church to teach a largely illiterate people. Two main forms of medieval drama were the mystery play and the morality play.
Mystery plays describe events from the Bible. Often mystery plays were performed as cycle plays. Some cycle plays were performed by guilds, each guild taking one event to dramatize. Most famous of the play cycles were the York mystery plays and the Chester cycle. They are still performed in England.
The cycles were performed on pageant wagons that moved on a planned way through the city. By staying in the same place, the people could see each play as the wagon stopped and the actors performed before moving on to perform again at the next station.
One of the most famous mystery plays is The Second Shepherds’ Play, part of the Wakefield cycle. The play blends comic action, serious social commentary and the religious story. At the end of play, the religious message came clear when angels announce the birth of Christ.
Morality plays are intended to teach a moral lesson. These plays often use allegory. It is the use of characters or events in a literary work to represent abstract ideas. Morality plays did not act out events from Bible, but instead showed characters much like people watching the play. From characters’ difficulties the people could learn the moral lessons.
One of the most famous morality plays is Everyman. In this morality play, God sends Death to tell Everyman that his time on earth has finished.