Anglo-Norman Age (1066-1350)

Introduction

• ‘Norman’ is another name for ‘Northman’
• They came from Scandinavia
• These were the same people who attacked Northumbria in 9^th century under the name of Vikings
• In 911AD , Viking leader Rollo was offered place in Northern France by Charles II, King of France
• Rollo and his ‘Northmen’ settled in that area which is now known as Normandy
• Normans adopted the French culture and accepted French ideals
• The rude Vikings became polished

Norman Conquest (1066)

• Edward the Confessor was among the last Anglo-Saxon Kings of England
• He spent many years in Exile in Normandy
• He got so many helps from Normandy all these years
• Then in 1042 he succeeded English throne
• Normans got interested in English throne
• On 5^th January, 1066, Edward the Confessor died as an English King
• Next day Harold Godwin, a very rich, powerful and aristocratic man succeeded the throne as Harold II
• In Normandy, Duke William, the descendant of Rollo, did not take this in a good way
• Duke William of Normandy claimed the Edward the Confessor had promised them English throne
• In the midst of this, Harold II’s exiled brother, Tostig Godwinson also landed with army against his own brother
• Harold II won the battle on 25^th September
• On 1^st October Harold II had to march again 300km in the south to defend Norman
• On 14th October a great battle began near the place called Hastings
• Harold II’s eyes were strucked with arrows and he was killed
• Duke William won the battle and he was truly called ‘William the Conqueror’
• On Christmas day 1066, he was crowned as William, the King of England

Results of Conquest

• Harold II became the last Saxon King

• Next few years William campaigned heavily to establish peace in England
• All supporters of William were given lands and titles
• Aristocratic class emerged
• Important positions in state and church were filled with Normans and French
• Norman brought the ideals of Roman civilization with them
• The merging of Saxon and French produced our modern English language
• They came with the idea of a Nation

Influence of Conquest on Language and Literature

• • French became the language of court and and aristocratic classes for next 3 centuries
  • English became the language of lower classes
  • For the first time England became a 3 languages’ Nation: English, Latin, France
  • At that time English were living in a narrow isolation; and Norman conquest connected them to the world to share literary works
  • In this age, Literature was mediaeval in spirit and French in style
  • Phoneme sounds were introduced
  • Sentences got uniformed word-orders
  • Literature was in the hands of Clergy and noble men
  • Common people only had few ballad and songs
  • Merging of two great systems made English capable of the melody:
  • French- meter, rhymes, assonances
  • Saxon- Strong accent and alliteration
  • Saxon- Strong accent and alliteration
    (This melody later we find in Chaucer’s poetries)

Influence of Conquest on Language and Literature

a) Historia Regum Britanniae (1136 AD)

• Author- Geoffrey of Monmouth

• It is written in Latin Prose
• More than a literary work, it became a source book to draw literary materials
• Geoffrey is a Welsh monk who collected few legends from Brutus to Julius Caesar
• It is mostly based on imagination
• It talks about the complete history of Britons
• It influences
•  a) Malory’s ‘Morte d’ Arthur’
  b) Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’
  c) Tennyson’s ‘Idylls of the King
• This Latin work was put into French verse by two authors
  a) Gaimer (in 1150AD)
  b) Wace’s ‘Roman de Brut’ (in 1155AD)

b) Layamon’s Brut

• Poem of 16,096 lines
• Also known as The Chronicle of Britain
• Layamon, a humble priest, was the first person who as an English man wrote for English men
• This is the most important of English rhyming chronicles
• It is largely based on Wace’s ‘Roman de Brut’ which was also translated and put into verse from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ‘Historia Regum Britanniae’
• Written in doggerel verse (monotonous and irregular rhyme)
• Alliteration is there
• It narrates the history of England from its foundation by Brutus
• King Lear appeared here
• It marks the first appearance of King Arthur and Arthurian legends in English language

Middle English Romances

• Normans brought these typea of Romancea in England
  • These are based on
  • Love,
  • Chivalry,
•  Mostly deals with series of poems treating love and adventures of the Knights
• The hero is a Knight
• The characters are mostly warriors, beautiful ladies, dragons, giants etc

Cycles of Romances

• There are three major cycles of Romances
• Jean Bodel has divided the subject matter of medieval romance

a) Matter of France

• ‘Chanson de Roland’ or ‘The Song of Roland’ (National epic of France) is the chief among Matter of France
• Originally these romance were called ‘Chansons de Geste’ or ‘ Song of Heroic Deeds’
• It also deals with the feats of Charlemagne and his peers
• Comparatively unimpressive

b) Matter of Rome

• Based on classical stories
• Main themes : Alexander the Great, Trozan war etc
• It has a spirited narrative

c) Matter of Britain

• It has two strain of romances:
• i) ‘Matter of England’
• Deals with the English Subjects that came brfore 1300
• It includes poem like ‘Havelok the Danes’, ‘Guy of Warwick’ etc

ii) ‘Matter of Britain’

• Deals with the richest store house- King Arthur, Merlin, Knights and Round table

Alliterative Revival

• It means revival of alliterative verse that was mostly written prior to conquest
• These revival happened mostly at the beginning period of 1350
• A large body of work was written
• These works were greater than the Anglo-Saxon alliterative verses

Works

a) Pearl

• It is a mediaeval dream allegorical poem of some 1200 lines
• Author of this poems (Pearl, Patience, Purity; and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are unknown) are unknown.
• So this poems are dedicated to a poet who is known as Pearl Poet or Gawain Poet
• This poem made Biblical stories familiar to English people
• The poem draws from the Vulgate Bible

Plot

• A father has lost his daughter named Perle (Pearl)
• The Father falls asleep in a garden
• In his dream, he saw a heavenly woman standing across a stream
• He questions her and she replies with Christian doctrine
• She shows him the glimpse of Heavenly City and shows him how she is a part of it
• He wakes up from the dream when he tries to cross the river
• After awakening he reflects on its significance

b) Patience

• The poem draws from the Vulgate Bible

• It is teaching about the virtue of Patience

• Written in west mid-land dialect

c) Purity

• Another title of this poem is ‘Cleanness’

• It talks about the value of purity and God’s rejection of impure
• Biblical narratives are used

d) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Consists of 2,500 lines
• It shows great literary power of story telling

Religious Poetry

a) The Ormulum

• Written by Orm
• It consists of the translations of Gospel lessons
• Orm’s main intention was to explain the Gospels in English to ignorant folks

b) Cursor Mundi

• Means ‘The course of the world’
• This work is the spiritual history of the world from Creation to Doomsday
• Bible history has been set in metre
• Elements taken from both Old and New Testaments
• Dedicated to Virgin Mary

c) The Owl and the Nightingale (1189AD-1216AD)

• Debate-poem
• Allegorical: and a satiric and comical tone is also there
• Author unknown
• Written in Octasyllabic couplets
• The narrator of the poem overhears a debate between a sombre owl and a joyous, light-hearted Nightingale
• Nicholas of Guildeford (Master Nicholas) became a mediator between them as they they approach Nicholas for consults
• These birds are very human in their emotions and reasonings

d) The Prick of Conscience

• The writer is probably Richard Rolle of Hampole
• This poem deals with man’s undesirable state of misery, life and death, doomsday, pangs of hell and signs of heavenly joys
• The poet hopes this poem is powerful enough to stir men to repentance

Religious Prose

a) Ancrene Riwle

• Author is probably Bishop Poore of Salisbury
• Meaning of the title- Rule of Anchoresses
• This prose writing gives religious advices to 3 ladies who wished to lead a religious life
• Divided into 8 parts
• Part 2, 7 deal with inner rules; and rest deal with outer rules

b) Katherine Group

• Katherine Group is a group of 5 Middle English texts
• It is all about the life of 3 women saints: Catherine, Margaret, Juliana
• The texts praise the virtue of virginity

Important Events

i) Domesday Book

• Domesday Book was written under the direction of William the Conqueror
• It was written to survey the lands to fix taxes
• ii) Thomas Becket Was Murdered

• King Henry II (1154-1189AD) wanted to control the Roman Catholic Church
• It led to the conflict between Henry II and Thomas Becket

ii) Thomas Becket Was Murdered

• On 29^th December, 1170, Thomas Becket was killed by King’s followers
• He was canonised by Pope Alexander III

iii) Magna Carta (1215)

• It is a royal charter of rights and freedom
• In order to reduce the power of King John (1199-1216), this charter was made
• Barons and Leaders of the Church forced King John to sign the charter in 1215

Aims:

• It is to protect the rights of the church
• To protect the Barons from illegal imprisonment
• To have an access to swift justice etc

iv) Construction of Westminster Abbey

• Henry III, son of late King John, constructed the magnificent structure
• It was built on the same place where Edward the Confessor had erected a church

vi) Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland (1169-1171)

• Henry II was the first King of England to set foot on Irish soil in 1171
• In 1171 Henry II made his son, ‘Lord of Ireland’

vii) Battles to Win Scotland

• Wales was brought under English control
• Edward I tried to become the king of Scotland but was defeated by Robert Bruce
• Edward II also tried but defeated in ‘Battle of Bannockburn’ (1314)