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From Caedmon to Caxton

From Caedmon to Caxton. Thomas Honegger Tm.honegger@uni-jena.de. http:// www. db-thueringen.de/ content/top/ index.xml History of English. Richard II (1367-1400, reigned 1377-1399). Richard II. Richard II was the second son of Edward the Black Prince (who was the eldest son of Edward III).

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From Caedmon to Caxton

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  1. From Caedmon to Caxton Thomas HoneggerTm.honegger@uni-jena.de

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

  3. Richard II (1367-1400, reigned 1377-1399)

  4. Richard II • Richard II was the second son of Edward the Black Prince (who was the eldest son of Edward III). • Richard’s elder brother Edward (*1364) died already 1371, so that he became heir to the English throne after the death of the Black Prince (1376). • He became king after the death of Edward III in 1377.

  5. Richard II • Even though he was coming of age only in 1389, no Regent or Lord Protector was installed. • Proved his courage when he confronted the revolting peasants in 1381 before London.

  6. The Peasants’s Revolt 1381

  7. Richard betrothed to Isabella (7 years old) of France (1396)

  8. Froissart presents his book to Richard II

  9. Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340-1400)‘the father of English poetry’ (Dryden 1700)

  10. Chaucer’s self-description He in the waast is shape as wel as I;This were a popet in an arm t’embrace For any womman, smal and fair of face. He semeth elvyssh by his contenance, For unto no wight dooth he daliaunce. He is in the waist as well-shaped as I am;this puppet would fit into the arms of any womanpetite and pretty, to be embraced.Judging by his expression, he seems to come from another world,since he does not converse with anyone.

  11. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 1 • 1340 born as son of John and Agnes Chaucer, wine merchants (vintners). Date of birth calculated from disposition made in 1386: ‘Geffray Chaucere esquier del age de xl ans et plus armeez par xxvii ans’ • Black Death 1349 => Chaucer’s parents inherit lands and houses from deceased relatives => Chaucer’s family well-to-do.

  12. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 2 • Early years (no documentary evidence) probably spent in house of parents in London. Comes into contact with many foreign merchants and foreign languages. • Schooling: no evidence survives. Maybe St. Paul’s school. • Education: would be taught his prayers in English and the alphabet (hornbook) not long after learning to talk. Would learn to read and write, first training in Latin.

  13. Horn books

  14. Horn books

  15. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 3 • Grammar school from age 7 onwards. Or parents teach him. • Latin (reading, writing, speaking) • Classics (Virgil, Ovid, Aesop) in form of excerpts (florilegia = anthologies) => shared common knowledge of a classical canon among educated people • 14th century education not enforced by state or society.

  16. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 4 • French - whether taught formally or not - of great importance. • by 1370, Chaucer also knew Italian. • 1357 earliest record mentioning Chaucer (as page): household account of the court of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, wife of Lionel, son of Edward III. Account fragmentary (1356-59), survived in the binding for another book.

  17. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 5 • Pages: given board, lodging, clothes in exchange for service. ‘Education’ in the ways of polite society. • Chance to listen to/read works of literature (mainly French, but also Latin and some Italian [Dante]) • Meets Philippa Pan (?Roet?), elder sister (?) of Katherine de Roet, mistress and later wife of John of Gaunt (a son of Edward III and father of Henry IV Bolingbroke).

  18. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 6 • 1359 yeoman; with Lionel in France; captured but ransomed 1 March 1360 for £ 16. • Speculations about time spent at Court of Inns and Court of Chancery (evidence of legal knowledge in his poems) • Septem artes liberales = humanities

  19. Trivium (textual sciences) 1Grammatica

  20. Trivium (textual sciences) 2Rethorica

  21. Trivium (textual sciences) 3Dialectica

  22. Quadrivium (‘mathematical’ sciences) 1Arithmetica

  23. Quadrivium (‘mathematical’ sciences) 2Musica

  24. Quadrivium (‘mathematical’ sciences) 3Geometria

  25. Quadrivium (‘mathematical’ sciences) 4Astronomia

  26. The Heavenly Spheres • Terra (with spheres of water, air and fire) • Luna • Mercurius • Venus • Sol • Mars • Jupiter • Saturnus • firmamentum • primum mobile

  27. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 7 • 1362 Parliament opened in English for the first time; English established as official language of law courts. • 1365 Chaucer marries Philippa Roet (attached to Constance of Castile => were often separated when travelling with their employers) • 1366 Father John Chaucer dies; mother remarries. Chaucer travels through Navarre. Secret mission?

  28. Chaucer in Secret Mission • ‘in eisdem secretis negotiis ipsius domini regis’ (on those same secret negotiations of the lord king himself; document of 1370)

  29. Chaucer in secret mission to the king?

  30. Le Roman de la Rose • late 1360s Chaucer translates all or some of Le Roman de la Rose as The Romaunt of the Rose. • Le Roman originally composed by Guillaume de Lorris (first 4,000 lines between 1225-1230) and Jean de Meung (remaining 18,000 lines between 1269-1278) • Medieval bestseller with over 200 copies

  31. Le Roman de la Rose • Allegorical protagonists: the Lover, Courtesy, God of Love, Hope, Pleasant Thoughts, Pleasant Looks, Pleasant Conversation, Fair Welcome, Reason, Jealousy, Evil Tongue, False Seeming etc.

  32. Christine de Pizan (1365-1430)

  33. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 8 • 1367 Chaucer esquire in the royal household, granted 20 marks annuity. His son Thomas born. • 1368 abroad on King’s service; death of Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt. • 1368-72 Chaucer writes The Book of the Duchess.

  34. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 9 • 1369-72 several times in France with John of Gaunt and on military campaigns. • 1372-73 travels to Italy (Genoa and Florence) on diplomatic business. Possible first encounter with the poetry of Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch.

  35. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

  36. Francesco Petrarca (1304-74)

  37. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75)

  38. Boccaccio’s Influence • Filostrato (1335): story of Troiolo who is in love with Criseida => Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde • Teseida (1340-41): story of Arcite and Palemone => Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale • Decamerone (1349-51): 100 novellas told during 10 days by 10 people who fled from the pest in Florence => ideas for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

  39. A Medieval Literary Dream Team

  40. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 10 • 1374 Chaucer was granted a gallon of wine per day for life; rent-free life-long lease of property in Aldgate; controller of customs; 10 £ annuity from John of Gaunt. • 1376 death of Edward the Black Prince • 1376-77 again in France on King’s business

  41. Geoffrey Chaucer: A Life 11 • 1377 death of Edward III; Richard II king • 1378 Great Schism (two popes elected). Chaucer in Milan; writes House of Fame; successfully petitions conversion for 1374 wine grant to be commuted to cash (20 marks)

  42. Milan

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