3rd Year Medieval and Renaissance Literature

Introducing English Literature

When did "English Literature" begin? The very concept of English literature: a construction of literary history, a concept that has changed over time. Caedmon's Hymn, the earliest English poem to survive as a text, belongs to the latter part of the 7th century. The morality play, Everyman, is dated "after 1485" and probably belongs to early 16th century. For the Middle Ages - no central movement or event such as the English Reformation, the Civil War, or the Restoration to organize a historical approach to the period.

Introducing English Literature

The literary culture of the Middle Ages was far more international than national; It was divided more by lines of class and audience than by language. Latin was the language of the Church and of learning. After the 11th century, French became the dominant language of secular European literary culture.

Early English Literature Themes

Particular attention is given in Medieval literature to religious orders and to the ascetic ideals. When a text is geared toward a particular class of people, it is said to be written ad status, Latin for "to the estate." The "First Estate" was the Church. The "Second Estate" was the Nobility.The "Third Estate" was the Peasantry. The 10th century Benedictine monk Aelfric gives the theory of three estates clergy, nobles, and commoners working harmoniously together. These "estates" are defined primarily by what one does (as well as by the social class one is born into). Women were also categorized according to three specifically "feminine estates": virgin, wife and widow.

The Arthurian Cycle

The Arthurian cycle trace how French writers in the 12th and 13th centuries transformed the legendary histories of Britain into "romance. The works of Chrtien de Troyes focus on the adventures of individual knights of the Round Table and how those adventures impinge upon the cult of chivalry. In romance the adventurous quest is often entangled with personal fulfillment of love for a lady achieving her love, protecting her honor. In the 13th century, clerics turned the sagas of Arthur and his knights especially Sir Lancelot into immensely long prose romances.

Conclusions
Chaucer and his contemporaries are heirs to classical and medieval cultures that had been evolving for many centuries. There is a tendency to think of the Middle Ages as a single culture in which architecture, art, music, and liturgy join in magnificent expressions of a unified faith. This view overlooks the diversity of medieval cultures and the social, political, religious, economic, and technological changes that took place over this vastly long period.

Course Assesment
Attendance: 20% Seminar grade: 30% Final examination: 50%