From Anglo-Saxon (658-1154 C.E. )to Middle English (1154-1485 C.E.)

Major changes

• Norman Conquest (1066)—English kings become French speakers

• Linguistic: As Old English moves to Middle English, Anglo-Norman (French) establishes prestige as language #2 to Latin

• Chivalry: Social system based on prestige, courtesy, and service

Arthurian Mss.: Geoffrey of Monmouth

Building the Myth: Glastonbury Abbey

Building the Myth: The Round Table

Marie de France

• May be illegitimate sister of Henry II

• Social observer• Very familiar with fin

amor and courtly behavior

• Critiques it through Lais

The Lais

• Lais are short narrative poems, often in a meter that suggests a musical accompaniment

• She wrote 12• Deal with love from

many points of view• Two are Arthurian

Social Class Changes

• Normans install the feudal system

• Concept of three “estates”—fixed place in the social structure

• Black Death (major outbreak 1349) kills more than 30% of population, ends feudalism

• People move to cities for work, rise of merchant class, beginnings of a bourgeoisie

• Peasant’s Rebellion in 1381

Religion remains the constant, but…

• Though Latin continues its prestige stronghold and

• Education is mostly still in the hands of the church, merchant/guild schools are starting and

• Law & business are conducted mostly in French (Edward III addresses Parliament in English for the first time in 1362)

And the Church had troubles…

• Too much money being donated led to corruption (though often with good intentions)

• Selling salvation through indulgences as a fundraiser

• Tied up with politics (the Crusades, two Popes)

• People starting to question its control of religious texts…

Changes in Literacy

• More merchant classes mean more literate people

• Emphasis on pious literacy, especially for women

• Improved economic status means more $$ to buy status items like books

Where does Malory come in?

Writing c. 1465-70

• England in political turmoil (Wars of Roses)

• Family turning against family

• Noblemen switching loyalties for political gains

• Malory’s sense that the “old values” were fading away

Morte Darthur• Two versions—Caxton’s

print edition, 1485• “Winchester Manuscript,”

only discovered in 1934• Question of whether it’s a

“hoole book” or 8 related tales

• Genre is something new—blend of chronicle, history, fiction, and mirror for magistrates

What does Morte Darthur do?

• Mirror for Magistrates—tells a valuable lesson for those in authority

• Recalls the values of chivalry, loyalty, brotherhood

• Shows how individual ambition and passion can destroy corporate well-being

• Offers some hope that good times will someday come back