Lecture 8 – Middle English Period

1. Norman Conquest.

2. Struggle between English and French languages.

3. Rise of English language.

4. London dialect.

5. Middle English dialects and their written documents.

6. Middle English literature.

7. Formation of national language.

1. The Norman Conquest of England began in 1066. It had a considerable influence on the English language.

The Normans were by origin a Scandinavian tribe. In the 9th century they began inroads on the northern coast of France and occupied the territory on both shores of the Seine. Since 912 this stretch of the coast belonged to Normans and was called Normandy. During the century and a half between the Normans had undergone a powerful influence of French culture. Mixing with the local population, they adopted the French language and in the mid-eleventh century, in spite of their Scandinavian origin, they were bearers of French feudal culture and of the French language.

In 1066 king Edward the Confessor died. Harold Godwinson became king of England. William, Duke of Normandy, who had long claimed the English throne, was not satisfied with this fact. He gathered a big army with the help of Norman barons, there near Hastings on October 14, 1066 happened the Battle of Hastings. William won it, became king and was called since then William the Conqueror.

In the course of a few years, the Normans became masters of England. The ruling class of Anglo-Saxon nobility was replaced by Norman barons, who spoke French, its Norman dialect. All posts in the church were given to persons of French culture. Frenchmen arrived in England in great numbers. Among them were merchants, soldiers, teachers, seeking for a new field of activity. During the reign of William the Conqueror (1066-1087) about 200000 Frenchmen settled in England. This influx lasted for about two centuries.

During several centuries the ruling language in England was French. It was the language of the court, the government, the courts of law, and the church; the English language was reduced to a lower social sphere: the main mass of peasantry and townspeople.

2. After the Norman conquest of 1066 the situation in England, as far as language is concerned, was as follows:

- The country is divided into, two layers: the feudal upper class, the government and the court speak Anglo-Norman, while the main bulk of the population- the peasantry and the townspeople - stick to English.

- None of the territorial dialects enjoys any privilege as compared with the others.

- There is a considerable layer of bilingual population, speaking both languages.

Struggle between the two languages for supremacy lasted all through three centuries; towards the end of this period the English national language began forming. The situation was still more complicated by the fact that alongside the two languages a third language existed - Latin as an international language of the church and medieval church science.

In the later half of the 14th century victory of English became evident:

French lost one position after another. But only in the 15th century it finally disappeared from English social life.

In the struggle between the two languages there are some important dates, marking its successive stages.

The first English kings after the conquest did not know the English language. Henry IV (1399- 1413) was the first king whose mother tongue was

English. After the conquest Anglo-Saxon laws were first translated into Latin, then into French. French was also the language teachers used in schools. Official and private letters, agreements, and other documents were written in Latin in the first centuries after the conquest. In the 13th century letters written in French appeared. Courts of law also used French in their procedures; parliamentary business was conducted in French.

3. A symptom of the rise of English came in 1258, when Henry III addressed the population of the country in a Proclamation written in English (the London dialect).

In mid-14th century the influence of English rose. In 1362 (under king

Edward II) Parliament, acting on a petition of the City of London, ruled that courts of law should conduct their business in English. In the same year English was first used in Parliament itself. About this very time English was the language in which teaching was conducted in schools. Thus, by the end of the 14th century supremacy of Anglo-Norman came to an end.

The victory of English was due to the rise of social layers that spoke it- the gentry and the town bourgeoisie, which took the upper hand in the struggle against the feudal top layer of society.

Hand in hand with this process there developed another, the rise of a national language based on the London dialect. Its cause was the great shifts in social structure characterizing the English of the 14th century.

4. Growth of commerce and industry, development of money circulation – these were the manifestations of social changes. They marked the end of feudal scattered economy and formation of wider economic ties between various parts of the country.

These economic and political changes had a decisive influence on the language situation in England. The existence of many separate dialects whose speakers did not understand one another was a problem. New social relations created the need for a unified national language standing above dialects and equally intelligible in all parts of the country. But they did not merely create the need: they also created the conditions for its realization. The problem of a united national language became urgent. Such was the other aspect of linguistic changes in this epoch.

A special position among the dialects belonged to the dialect of London, which after the Norman Conquest became the capital of England. London is situated on the Thames, it lies on the boundary line between the Midland and the Southern dialects. In the 13th century it already showed a mixture of Midland and Southern elements. As time passed, Midland elements grew at the expense of Southern ones.

Towards the end of the 14th century London dialect became influential in other parts of the country. This was due to the growth of its importance as an economic and political centre.

London’s geographical position was extremely favourable for a quick growth of its political importance and its role as the birthplace of a national language. Many roads along which England’s internal trade was conducted crossed in London. Owing to the great depth of the Thames, sea ships could easily reach London, and it became a centre of the country’s trade with the continent. London’s role as a trade centre attracted many people from different parts of the country and paved the way for elements of other dialects to penetrate into London English.

Thus, the London dialect, which became the base of the national English language, was a complex formation, reflecting various influences connected with the social and political life of the period. It contained, alongside East Midland, also south- Eastern (Kentish) and partly South- Western elements.

The London dialect of those centuries is represented by several important documents: Henry III’s Proclamation of 1258, poems by Adam Davy (early 14^th century), the works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1340- 1400), John Gower (1325- 1408), and John Wycliffe (1320- 1384). Towards the end of the century the London dialect had arisen as a type of language essentially corresponding to the Midland dialects. It became the base of the national language. Some 19th century scholars were inclined to ascribe a very great role in the formation of the national language to Chaucer. They thought that Chaucer had for the first time united various elements and laid the foundations of the national language. This view, as was shown by later investigations, was very much exaggerated. Chaucer’s merit is that of having made a masterly use of the London dialect, not of having created it.

5. In the period following the Norman Conquest the same dialects continue to develop which existed in OE. But they are given new names. The Northumbrian dialect is now called Northern (later Scottish appeared), Mercian is called Midland, and West Saxon had a name of South-Western. Kentish and South-Western also grouped as the Southern group. The Midland dialect is subdivided into West Midland and East Midland. The dialect of London combines East Midland and Southern features.

OE Dialects	Kentish	West Saxon	Mercian	Northumbrian
	¯	¯	¯	¯
ME Dialects	Kentish Dialect	South-Western Dialects	Midland Dialects	Northern Dialects
Examples	-	East Saxon Dialect London Dialect Gloucester Dialect	West Midland Dialect	East Midland Dialect	Yorkshire Dialect Lancashire Dialect

The main Middle English documents belong to the following dialects:

- Kentish. Religious work the Poema Morale (“Moral Ode”) – late12th or early 13^th c.; Dan Michel’s Ayenbite of Inwit (“Remorse of Conscience”), a religious treaty, translated from the French (14^th c.). Poems by William of Shoreham, (early 14^th c.).

- South-Western.Ancrene Riwle (“The Rule of Anchorites”) – early 13th century; Brut by Layamon (a verse history of Britain, imitated from an Anglo- Norman poem by Wace, early 13th century. Southern dialect with Midland admixtures), Chronicle by Robert of Gloucester (late 13^th c.); Polychronicon by John Trevisa (late 14^th c.)

- West Midland. Legends of Catherine, Margaret, and Juliana (13^th c.); Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (14^th c.); William of Palerne (romance, early 14^th c.). The Vision Concerning Piers, the Plowman by William Langland, a 14^th c. picture of the social conditions in the county.

- East Midland.Peterborough Chronicle (sequel to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for the years 1122-1154); Ormulum – religious poem composed by the monk Orm (about 1200); Havelok the Dane – adventures of Danish prince (13^th c.); King Horn (romance, 13^th c.). The Story of England by Robert Mannyng of Bourne; Handlyng Synne (“Manual of Sins”, verse translation from the French, 13^th c.).

- Northern. Cursor mundi – version of Gospels; Pricke of conscience – translation of Richard Rolle of Hampole; Towneley Plays, the York Plays.

- Scottish. Bruce by Barbour (poem about Bruce’s struggle for the freedom of Scotland,14^th c.). Poems The Kingis Quhair (“The King’s Book”), early 15^th c.

6. Middle English literature is extremely rich and varied. We find here the most different kinds and genres represented, both in verse and in prose. In verse, there is, in the 13th century, the religious form Ormulum, named after its author the monk Orm, who at great length retells in a popular style events of Bible and Gospel history, addressing his narration to his brother, also a monk. About the same time another monk, Layamon, composed a long poem, Brut, on the early history of Britain. This was partly a translation, or paraphrase, of Wace’s Anglo-Norman poem Brut, and Layamon also used some other sources. The origins of the Britons are traced back to Troy and the flight of some Trojans after its fall.

The anonymous poems of King Horn and Havelok tell the stories of young Scandinavian princes, who are deprived of their rights by their enemies but eventually, regain their throne and reign happily. Then we must mention a series of moralistic poems, such as Handlyng Synne (Manual of Sins), by Robert Mannyng of Bourne; Ay Enbite of Inwit (“Remorse of Conscience”) by Dan Michel, also adaptation of a French original; The Prick of Conscience by Richard Rolle de Hampole, and others.

Next comes a series of “romances”, that is, stories about knights and their heroic deeds. These are very numerous, all of them anonymous, and some have artistic value, notably the famous story of Sir Gawayne and the Green

Kinght; also Sir Fyrumbras, The Destruction of Troy, etc.

There are several historical chronicles, such as Robert of Gloucester’s

Rhymed Chronicle, Barbour’s Bruce, etc.

Invaluable documents of the spoken language of the time are the various collections of Miracle Plays, such as the Towneley Plays, the York Plays, and the Chester Plays.

And of course we must mention the famous The vision Concerning Piers, the Plowman by Wiliam Langland (or Langley), a 14th century picture of the social conditions in the county, invaluable also as a historical document.

And we close this enumeration by the two great names of John Gower,

author of the poem Confessio Amantis (besides Latin and French works), and the greatest of all, Geoffrey Chaucer, author of Troilus and Criseyde, The

Ganterbury Tales, and a number of other poems. As far as prose goes, there is

perhaps less variety, and no prose fiction in the true sense of word. The two prose pieces of The Canterbury Tales are not really stories but rather religious or philosophical treatises.

As an important prose document we must note Ranulphus Higden’s Polychronicon, translated by John Trevisa with added passages from other sources. This is a history book containing much useful information about the

England of his time, with a most valuable passage on the dialects of the 14^th century.

In the 15th century, towards the end of the ME period, we come across the first prose fiction in English. Here we have Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, a long prose work summing up a number of legends about king Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and at about the same time prose translations made by William Caxton, the first English printer, from the French.

7. The formation of a national language was greatly fostered by two events of the late 15th century.

The most significant event of the period was the Wars of the Roses (1455- 1485), which marked the decay of feudalism and the birth of a new social order. Henry Tudor became king of England as Henry VII. The political result of this prolonged struggle was the rise of an absolute monarchy. This meant a high degree of political centralization and thus contributed to centralization in language as well.

Another great event was the introduction of printing. Printing was invented in Mayence (Germany) by Johann Gutenberg in 1438. In the town of Bruges, in Flanders, the Englishman William Caxton (1422-1491) became acquainted with this art. He published the first English printed book, The Histories of Troy, in Bruges. Returning to England, he founded the first English printing office in London in 1476, and in 1477 appeared the first book to be printed in England, The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers. The spread of printed books was bound to foster the normalization of spelling and also of grammatical forms.

Caxton was a native of Kent, but he had acquired the London dialect. In

spelling, he stuck to the tradition of the scribes. Introduction of printing greatly helped normalization of spelling. Norms adopted by the first printers have basically survived up to our own days. Phonetic changes which have occurred since then have hardly been reflected in the spelling. As a result vowel letters in English acquired meanings different from those they have in French, German, Italian, and other European languages; besides each vowel letter acquired different sound values depending on its environment.

Glossary:

Bearer – ['beərə] – носитель

Decay – [dɪ'keɪ] – упадок, распад

Duke – [djuːk] – герцог

Gentry – ['ʤentrɪ] – джентри, нетитулованное мелкопоместное дворянство

Influx – ['ɪnflʌks] – приток, наплыв (большого количества людей)

Inroad – ['ɪnrəud] – набег, нашествие

Invaluable – [ɪn'væljuəbl] – бесценный, неоценимый

Monk – [mʌŋk] – монах

Narration – [nə'reɪʃ(ə)n] – описание, повествование

Nobility – [nə'bɪlətɪ] – знатность, дворянство

Peasantry – ['pez(ə)ntrɪ] – крестьянство

Proclamation – [ˌprɔklə'meɪʃ(ə)n] – декларация, провозглашение

Reign – [reɪn] – правление, царствование

Scattered – ['skætəd] – редкий, отдельный, разрозненный

Supremacy – [s(j)uː'preməsɪ] – верховенство, превосходство

To exaggerate – [ɪg'zæʤəreɪt ], [eg-] – преувеличивать

To reduce – [rɪ'djuːs] – ослаблять, понижать, сокращать

To regain – [rɪ'geɪn] – возвращать, отвоёвывать

To undergo – [ˌʌndə'gəu] – испытывать, подвергаться (чему-л.)

Urgent – ['ɜːʤ(ə)nt] – срочный, неотложный

Names:

Battle of Hastings – Битва при Гастингсе

Edward the Confessor – Эдуард Исповедник

Geoffrey Chaucer – Джеффри Чосер

Harold Godwinson - Гарольд II Годвинсон

John Gower – Джон Гауэр

Seine - Сена (река во Франции)

William the Conqueror - Вильгельм Завоеватель

Questions for discussion:

1. What did the Norman Conquest happen? What were the reasons of it?

2. Who were Normans?

3. Why did Normans adopt French language and culture?

4. What was the linguistic situation after the Norman Conquest in England?

5. How many languages were used that time in England?

6. What were the symptoms of the rise of English language?

7. Why was the need for national language in England?

8. Why did London dialect become a base for national language?

9. What were the dialects in Middle English period?

10. Name the main works of literature written in Middle English dialects.

11. What events fostered the formation of a national language?

12. Where and when was printing invented?

13. Who was William Caxton?

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