The Diverse Cultures of Medieval Britain: Contributions and Influences

2. Africa, Asia, and Europe in 1000 C.E. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

3. Medieval Europe,circa 1100 C.E. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

4. Medieval Britain: An Introduction Before the Norman Conquest: 700-1066 C.E. • Medieval Britain was "the meeting place" for complex, multilayered groups of diverse cultures and peoples from as far south as Italy to as far north as the domain of the Vikings. • The Major Groups who settled in Medieval Britain were the Celts, the Romans, and Germanic tribes, mainly the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. • Contributions: Each group brought its language, literature, and cultural structures to Medieval Britain over a period from 100 C.E. to 1066.C.E. • Results: This mixture of cultures produced "extraordinary cultures and artistic works, whose richness and diversity challenge the modern imagination." 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

5. The Earliest Immigrants: The "Brittonic" or British Celts • Celts migrated to Britain beginning in 400 B.C.E. With the Celts, the "recorded history" of Britain begins. • Brittonic Celts: An early group of continental Celts, known as the "Brittonic" or "British" Celts, maintained contact with the continental Celts, especially in Brittany. • Language Contribution: The British Celts gave rise to the branch of Celtic language of Welsh in Medieval Britain which later formed the basis for the language in use today in Wales. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

6. The Earliest Immigrants: The "Brittonic" or British Celts (cont.) • Literary Contribution: The British Celts brought with them "their myths and legends" which later writers incorporated into their works, using "these cross-Channel memories," in works like the stories of King Arthur. • Major Early Works: An important early work of rich poetic techniques and lyric poetry of the British Celts was attributed to "the early, shadowy poet Taliesin." • Cultural Contribution: A bit later in the first century C.E., this group of British Celts "absorbed some elements of Roman culture" and adopted Christianity during the Roman occupation of parts of Medieval Britain from 100-400 C.E. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

7. The Earliest Immigrants: The "Goidelic" or Irish / Scottish CeltsLiterary and Cultural Contributions • Goidelic Celts: Another group of immigrant Celts, known as the "Goidelic" Celts, settled in Ireland, in the western isles of Scotland, and the west of Scotland, in Argyll. • Language Contribution: The Goidelic Celts became the dominant social and linguistic group in Ireland as their language "split off from that of the British Celts." Their language became the basis for the Celtic language in use today in Ireland and parts of Scotland. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

8. The Earliest Immigrants: The"Goidelic" or Irish / Scottish Celts • Literary Contribution: The Goidelic Celts’ early literary production was in the field of vernacular poetry with "schools" for poets, who held important political and social positions in the society. • Forms: The Celts brought to Medieval Britain a tradition of the heroic narrative that included "the heroic spirit," "acceptance of the magical," and a tradition of strong female figures probably based on the "goddess figures of Ireland's pagan era." 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

9. The Earliest Immigrants: The "Goidelic" or Irish / Scottish Celts • Vernacular Poetry: The Táin Bó Cuailnge, from the 8th century Irish poetic tradition, features the heroic narratives, including women, as figures of power. • Latin Scholarship: The preservation and advancement of Latin scholarship, both Christian and classical ("Virgil's Aeneid, and works by Cicero and Seneca"), took place in the Irish monasteries which were established with acceptance of Christianity in the region. • Manuscript Production: The production of manuscripts using the decorative arts of their earlier, pagan culture (now Christianized) produced the fabulous Irish Book of Kells, and a bit later the marvelous Lindisfarne Gospels in England. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

10. Stylized Beasts, Sacred WordsFirst page of the Gospel of Matthew, fromthe Lindisfarne GospelsCourtesy of the British Library 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

11. The Earliest Immigrants: The"Goidelic" or Irish / Scottish Celts • Cultural Contribution: This group of Celts, after they converted to Christianity, continued their interest in literary work in the "great Irish monasteries" and formed the basis for the "Irish and Anglo-Saxon missionaries who carried Christianity to northern and eastern Europe." • Cultural Importance: While this group of Goidelic Celts did not exactly save the culture and scholarship of the Latin world, they were an important part of its preservation and dissemination in eighth and ninth centuries, when other parts of continental Europe "fell into near chaos during the Germanic invasions" with the fall of Rome. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

12. The Germanic Migrations 500-900 C.E.The Major Groups • The Angles, Saxons and Jutes migrated, and invaded, Medieval Britain after the withdrawal of Roman forces in the 5th century. This group displaced the British Celts and settled "roughly the eastern half of modern-day England." • Germanic Tribes: This group added another aspect, Germanic paganism, to the existing cultural mix of the Celts and their continental culture, and Romans, whose roots were in Mediterranean Christianity and Classical antiquity. • Scandinavians: A second, later, wave of invasions was by the Vikings, starting around the eighth century. This group settled in an area north of the Thames, "in areas called the Danelaw and around modern day Dublin." They were a strong political force in Medieval Britain by the late 800's and in early 900 C.E. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

13. The Germanic Migrations 500-900 C.E.Contributions • Language Contribution: The language that became known as Old English, or "Anglo Saxon" emerged from this group of immigrants. • Anglo Saxon Language: Germanic languages, (including loan words from Old Norse), Celtic, and Latin became the basis for Middle and Modern English, though much modified by the later addition of Norman French with the invasion of 1066 of Medieval Britain by the Normans. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

14. The Germanic Migrations 500-900 C.ELiterary Contribution and Major Early Works: • Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People:This history was written in Latin interspersed with passages of Anglo-Saxon. This work "narrates the successive waves" of emigrations and invasions that made up Medieval Britain in the 800's. • Beowulf: This first "English" heroic epic, celebrating "the exploits of a pagan hero," was originally conceived as an oral production, but was later "copied by scribes where almost certainly clerics." 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

15. BeowulfPeople and Places in Beowulf 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

16. Royal genealogies of the Northern European tribes according to the Beowulf text. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

17. The Germanic Migrations 500-900 C.ELiterary Contribution and Major Early Works: • Cultural contribution: This group of Germanic immigrants and invaders brought their culture of "heroic code of the German warriors." This code provided for bravery in battle, loyalty to the tribal leader, the fellow warriors, and family. The code called for vengeance for the death of a leader or family member to be sought at all costs. This group also valued treasure as a sign of status and a reward for loyalty. • Political Contribution: This culture "was fraught with violence," but added political models of power and stability to Medieval Britain. • Conversion: This group also converted to Christianity starting in the 6th and 7th centuries, mixing their cultural values with the earlier aspects of Celtic and Latin-Mediterranean Christianity. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

18. Pagan and Christian: Tension and Convergence • Learning: In Medieval Britain, most work in the vernacular, which was often of pagan origin, "tended at first to be orally composed and performed." Most works that were written were mainly religious, as it was the Church which introduced writing in the Roman alphabet and trained clerics to the country. • Tensions: The Germanic pagan values of "bravery, loyalty, vengeance, and the desire for treasure" which often created violence in the culture, stood in contrast and in tension with Christian values, which featured aspects of peace and forgiveness, contempt for worldly goods, and detachment from earthly forms of social, economic, and political power. However, despite these apparent conflicts, the two sets of values "were alike in many respects and coexisted with various degrees of mutual influence." 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

19. Pagan and Christian: Tension and Convergence • Convergence: The power of literary composition in the work of the Anglo-Saxon poets explored the "primary modes of poetry—the heroic and the elegiac," and demonstrated the conflict and convergence in the overlap of pagan and Christian values and virtues. • The Heroic mode, as seen in Beowulf, celebrates the power and virtue of bravery, loyalty, and even the positive aspects of treasure. At the same time, even with all these positive portraits in the poem, in the end the treasure is buried, the lords are dead, and bravery does not save the hero. However, these values themselves were not seen as worthless, but served as examples from the "heroic" past for later readers. • The Elegiac mode, as seen in shorter poems like the "Wanderer" and the "Wife's Lament," reveal the hollowness of earthly lords, love of kin, and worldly treasure as both the Wanderer and the Wife have lost all and have been left with nothing but empty memories. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

20. Oral Poetry, Written Manuscripts • Oral Poets: The Celtic oral poets and the Anglo-Saxon poet (scop) were important in their oral cultures. They were the "encyclopedias of their culture" carrying with them history, beliefs, myths, legends, and value systems in their pagan cultures. • Word Power: Such pagan poets and their works were seen as important and awe-inspiring. The power of the word and its makers was "enhanced by the arrival of Christianity, a faith that attributes creation itself to an act of divine speech." • Manuscript Power: The almost magical power of oral composition was transferred to the pages of manuscripts as work began to be written and produced in "beautifully copied and exquisitely decorated books of the Bible" like Book of Kells andLindisfarne Gospels. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

21. Medieval scribe Jean Miélot Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

22. The Middle Ages after the Norman Conquest 1066-1500 • The Conquest: With the conquest of England, by William of Normandy in 1066, the world of Medieval Britain moved from a loose confederation of diverse tribal and cultural groups to a more homogenous kingdom created by the Norman rulers. • The Change: The change that this conquest brought was "experienced and registered at virtually all levels: social, religious, and cultural." 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

23. The Middle Ages after the Norman Conquest 1066-1500 • Language: At this point, yet another language, Norman French, dominated the world of England under the Normans. It was the language of the court and government. Anglo-Saxon as a language "sank into relative insignificance." • Literature: Even with the newlanguage of French and increased emphasis on Latin, and new rulers from Normandy, the literature of the past was valued and used to connect the Norman conquerors with heroes, myths, and values of the older Anglo Saxon world. • Some examples: Monmouth's The History of the Kings of England, written in Latin, links the Norman kings to the Celtic myths of King Arthur. Other works in French celebrate similar themes.

24. The Norman Invasion The English landing in Normandy; King Harold II stands in the foremost shipbow. Bayeux Tapestry, embroidery. Giraudon/Art Resource 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

25. Social and Religious Order under Norman RuleThe Social Order • Social Order: New Feudalism: The Normans brought a stronger royal government, reflecting the new feudal system of land tenure, as shown by the creation of a strong bureaucracy and centralized power. • The Three Estates: The idea of the mystical social body evolved from the new social order. The image of a figure was envisioned with those who prayed and ruled being portrayed the head, with those who fought, the knights, being portrayed as the hands, and those who worked, being portrayed as the feet. • Conflict: This system was not inclusive, as it did not take into account the growing body of urban merchants and craftspeople. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

26. Social and Religious Order under Norman RuleThe Religious Order • Religious Order: Normans brought a clergy who were invigorated by the "new learning and spirituality of the recent monastic reforms on the continent." • Conflict: The Church and the king and nobles came into conflict. Henry II and Thomas Becket (Royal Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury), disagreed over the distribution of royal and religious power. The conflict ended with the murder of Becket by Henry II's men. This conflict shifted power from the king to the Church, as Becket was canonized as a saint. • Literature: As a result of this conflict, "a large body of hagiography developed, adding to the rich tradition of writing about the lives of English saints." A second group of works like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales also pointed to the difficulties of grouping society into an increasingly restricted three estates, which no longer reflected the actual divisions of power in the land. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

27. The Murder of Sir Thomas Becket Courtesy of the British Library 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

28. Continental and Insular Cultures: Cross Channel Exchanges • Travel: With the political stability and favorable economic conditions created by the Normans and union of Norman England and "the large territories on the continent" ruled by the Normans, travel between the continent and England became more frequent and much easier. • 12th Renaissance: These conditions linked the intellectual and scholarly world of England to the "influences from a great intellectual current," the "renaissance of the 12th century." This renaissance included interest in Latin works, Neo-platonic philosophy, and Aristotelian science. • Advance of Learning: English scholars took advantage of the chance to study in the great schools in Paris and other seats of continental learning in Europe. As a result of this exchange of learning, English culture became "urbane and international." • Advance of Literacy: Additionally, the effects of the new learning created a diffusion of "literacy in wider circles and new venues" in England. The growing middle class of merchants, and craftspeople gained access to texts and to the encouragement of "the self awareness fostered by private reading." 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

29. Continental and Insular CulturesEffects of the "12th Century Renaissance" in England • New Learning: Foreign works by major continental writers became available to English schools and scholars. • As a result, education in England "became more ambitious and widely available." • The works of contemporary writers, like Conches and Silvestris, and the works of classical Latin writers, like Virgil, Cicero and Ovid, influenced literary and scholarly study in England. • The Trivium: The traditional division of the arts of eloquence made up of a study of grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic (persuasion through argument and counter argument) was reemphasized in the English schools. • The study of the trivium in England "helped foster" a "highly sophisticated" production of literature. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

30. Continental and Insular CulturesEffects of the "12th Century Renaissance" in England • Literature—Allegory: Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria Nova, a treatise of rhetorical devices, was a product of this renewed interest in learning and served as a model and inspiration for the use of allegory in the English morality plays (Mankind), in works of Chaucer (especially his translation of the French Romance of the Rose), and Piers Plowman by Langland. • Literature—Courtly: With the influence of the French vernacular tradition in England, the English vernacular, Middle English, began to be used for works of courtly literature. • Examples of such works in Middle English are Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Malory's Morte Darthur, and Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. • Such works reflect the cross channel connection between the English and the continent. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

31. Women, Courtliness and Courtly LoveRole of Women in the Culture • Education for Women: The advances in literacy, literary production, and access to books affected the women of the time as well as the scholars and clerics. Possession of books like Psalters (often for prayer and private devotion) encouraged education for women. Many of the works of the period written in French or English targeted female readers. • Churchly Power: The role of women in Norman England in comparison to that of the Anglo-Saxon period seemed to be less prominent. The Anglo-Saxon Abbess Hilda, and other holy women, held ecclesiastical power and prestige, but this role did not continue for women in the Norman period. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

32. Women, Courtliness and Courtly LoveRole of Women in the Culture • Political Power: Women in the Norman period also saw a decline in political power. The queens and daughters of tribal leaders and kings in Anglo-Saxon England functioned as part of the political system through marriage and leadership. Figures like the Empress Matilda, who brokered power for her son's accession to the throne, did not continue in Norman England. • Literary Power: Though women may have lacked much actual power in the Norman period, they were "the focus of much of the best imaginative literature of the 12th and 13th centuries." They were "central to the social rituals" associated with "courtliness and the idea of courtly love." The impact of this literature and the position of women in the works captured the public's imagination. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

33. Women, Courtliness and Courtly Love Concepts and Influence • Origin of Ideals: "The ideals and rituals of courtliness" go back to "Greek and Roman models of controlled, stylized behavior in the presence of great power." The values of discretion and modesty were added in the medieval period. • Literary Concept of Courtly Love: Its language and concepts were adopted from "two distinct traditions: the veneration of the Virgin Mary and the love poetry of Ovid and his heirs." • Sources of Courtly Love Imagery: The Virgin Mary provided an image of female perfection and helpfulness through her powers of intercession. Ovid's works provided "a whole catalog of love psychology and erotic persuasion.“ • Literary Examples:Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Malory's Morte Darthur. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

34. Romance: Literary Traditions • The Genre: "Courtliness was expressed both in lyric poetry and in a wide range of vernacular narratives" named "romances" as an expression of the genre, as well as the romance languages in which these narratives were first written. • Major Romance Traditions: Romances often drew on the figures and narratives from earlier works of myth and classical writings. These traditional sources of romances include the Celtic legends of King Arthur, the Welsh legends of Tristan and Isolde, Greek narratives of Alexander (the Great), and the stories of Havelock the Dane (Norse legends). 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

35. Romance: Literary Traditions • Narrative Structures: Courtly love was often a focus in romances, showing a hero's devotion to an unapproachable lady, with the possible outcome of marriage or warnings about the dangers of questionable desires for a young hero and the society. Stories of war were also a feature of romance, which often led the hero into "encounters with the uncanny, the marvelous, and the taboo," with the story line moving "between the mundane and the extraordinary" in the narrative. • Images of Women: Women in romances often were portrayed in dual roles, the first as "disruptive agents of erotic desire," or as goddess figures whose perfection and aid to the hero drew on characters from early Irish and Welsh stories. Such elements also included the magical and the malevolent, often side by side. This literature often seemed to be a form in which the medieval society could acknowledge the disruptive presence of such elements as "adultery, incest, and unmotivated martial violence" within its bounds.

36. The Return of English • One Land—Three Languages: After the Norman conquest, there were three major languages in use. • Norman French was the language of the aristocracy, and in the courts and government. • Latin was still the major language for the Church and served as the language of international diplomacy. • The working class of England still used various dialects of Anglo-Saxon. • The Emergence of Middle English: This working language of the peasantry was an evolving form of Anglo-Saxon that would become Middle English by 1300's. By this time, English became the language of Parliament and government offices and was in demand in the Church as well. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

37. The Return of English • Middle English Literature: The growing use of English "allowed an extraordinary flowering of vernacular literature." However, English at this point still remained a collection of "dialects for different regions of the island." • London: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and other works were primarily written in the dialect of London and the Southeast, which later became the "standard" for Middle and Modern English. "London was the center of government and commerce in this era and later the place of early book printing, which served to stabilize the language." • West Midlands: Langland's Piers Plowman and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight represented the dialect of the West Midlands and serve as examples of the "alliterative meter used in Old English poetry," in the fourteenth century alliterative revival. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

38. Gawain with the Wife of the Green KnightCourtesy of the British Library 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

39. Politics and Society in the Fourteenth Century • Times in Turmoil: Changes inpolitical, social, religious, and economic institutions put pressure on the country and its peoples. Even natural forces created problems for the population of England in this period with poor harvests and the arrival of the Black Death, the plague in 1348. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

40. Politics and Society in the Fourteenth Century • The First Estate–Kingship and Aristocracy: With the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, the power of the king diminished as that of the local barons rose. However, this group also came under pressure from the "increased economic power of the urban merchants and from the peasants' efforts to exploit labor shortages [caused by the plague] and win better control over land. The ancient basis of the feudal tie, land tenure," gave way to contract labor. • The Second Estate—The Church: The powerful "second estate" was also put under pressure by the growing body of lay people whose access to books and education caused them to take a more active part in their own religious and spiritual lives. Though the clergy were also better educated and more worldly, their move from "parish service into governmental bureaucracy" created opportunities for corruption in the Church. • The Third Estate: The peasants or laborers traditionally making up the third class were joined by the rising "mercantile bourgeoisie." This group of urban and wealthy class of English people, often patrons of the arts and a commanding economic force did not fit into the traditional class ordering of earlier times. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

41. The Magna Carta(AP Photo/The National Archives)

42. Politics and Society in the Fourteenth CenturyLiterature of Fourteenth Century • Kingship and Aristocracy: The aristocracy engaged in an effort to recapture the world of Arthurian chivalric culture and values with the foundation of the royal Order of the Garter, a select group of nobles honored for possessing those qualities of the ideal knight. Works which exemplified courtly and chivalric values like the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Chaucer's The Book of the Duchess, could not halt the erosion of kingly and aristocratic power. • The Church: The authority of the Church was challenged by the rise of popular mysticism, and the writers of this literature. Mystical writers like Richard Rolle (The Fire of Love), Julian of Norwich (Revelations of Divine Love), Margery Kempe (The Book of Margery Kempe), advanced the notion that the individual's direct experience of the divine was available without a formal setting of the Church. Clerical satires like Chaucer's The Friar's Tale also diminished the authority of the Church. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

43. Politics and Society in the Fourteenth CenturyLiterature of Fourteenth Century • The Third Estate: Both the rural peasants and the growing middle class of the urban areas developed a "new sense of class cohesion." One work that illustrates this new feeling of identity for the peasant class was William Langland's Piers Plowman. In the Rising of 1381 (The Peasants' Revolt) one of the leaders cited this work. Chaucer's tales, The Merchant's Tale, and the Wife of Bath's Tale, though with satirical elements, explored lives of the growing class of urban merchants and craftspeople. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

44. The Third Estate Courtesy of the Library of Congress 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

45. The Spread of Book Culture in the Fifteenth Century • The fifteenth century (1400-1500) traditionally serves as transition between the medieval period and the Early Modern period in the history of English literature. • Though this century lacked the literary presence of such "greats" as Chaucer, (d. 1400), it was great time for the spread of literacy. • The advent of printing, whose impact on the spread of books and literature was huge in all of the cultures of Western Europe, including England, and this medium provided greater access to all types of books to the population. • Printing in England: William Caxton, who learned the new craft of printing in Cologne, brought printing to England late in this century. • His English versions Malory's Morte Darthur, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and other important medieval literature, opened these works a big, new reading public. • While early printed books were still not cheap, they did offer more opportunity for acquiring books for more people. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

46. An Illustration in Faits d'armes et de chevalerie. Printed by William Caxton, 14 July 1489 Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

47. The Spread of Book Culture in the Fifteenth Century • Literature of the 15th Century: The expanded access to books and education to the common people resulted in a "lively public literary culture in towns and cities." Such works included plays, sermons, and public spectacles. • The Works of the 15th Century: The Second Play of the Shepherds, produced in Wakefield, later poems by William Dunbar and Robert Henryson, books of sermons and devotional texts, and the printed, English versions of a number of medieval works, created more educational and cultural opportunities, and sparked a a revival in popularity for older works. 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers

48. The British Isles in the Early Modern Period 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Publishing as Longman Publishers