The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the 14th century until the 1470s. During this time the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English became widespread and the printing press regularized the language.
The Background of Middle English Literature
The history of Middle English is often divided into three periods:
Early Middle English- from about 1100 to about 1250, during which the Old English system of writing was still in use.
Central Middle English- period from about 1250 to about 1400, which was marked by the gradual formation of literary dialects, the use of an orthography greatly influenced by the Anglo-Norman writing system, the loss of pronunciation of final unaccented -e, and the borrowing of large numbers of Anglo-Norman words; the period was especially marked by the rise of the London dialect, in the hands of such writers as John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer.
Late Middle English, from about 1400 to about 1500, which was marked by the spread of the London literary dialect and the gradual cleavage between the Scottish dialect and the other northern dialects.
Among the chief characteristic differences between Old and Middle English were the substitution of natural gender in Middle English for grammatical gender and the loss of the old system of declensions in the noun and adjective and, largely, in the pronoun.
Norman Conquest
The event that began the transition from Old English to Middle English was the Norman Conquest of 1066, when William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy and, later, William I of England) invaded the island of Britain from his home base in northern France, and settled in his new acquisition along with his nobles and court. William crushed the opposition with a brutal hand and deprived the Anglo-Saxon earls of their property, distributing it to Normans (and some English) who supported him.
Resurgence of English
It is estimated that up to 85% of Anglo-Saxon words were lost as a result of the Viking and particularly the Norman invasions, and at one point the very existence of the English language looked to be in dire peril. In 1154, even the venerable “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”, which for centuries had recorded the history of the English people, recorded its last entry.
But, despite the shake-up the Normans had given English, it showed its resilience once again, and, two hundred years after the Norman Conquest, it was English not French that emerged as the language of England.
Increasingly out of touch with their properties in France and with the French court and culture in general, they soon began to look on themselves as English. Norman French began gradually to degenerate and atrophy.
The Hundred Year War against France (1337 - 1453) had the effect of branding French as the language of the enemy and the status of English rose as a consequence. The Black Death of 1349 - 1350 killed about a third of the English population (which was around 4 million at that time), including a disproportionate number of the Latin-speaking clergy. After the plague, the English-speaking laboring and merchant classes grew in economic and social importance and, within the short period of a decade, the linguistic division between the nobility and the commoners was largely over.
Some holdovers from Old English inflections remain (e.g. present tense verbs still receive a plural inflection, as in beren, dwellen, han and ben), and many words still have the familiar medieval trailing “e” (e.g. wolle, benethe, suche, fynde, etc), but the overall appearance is much more modern than that of Old English.
Chaucer and the Birth of English Literature
Texts in Middle English (as opposed to French or Latin) begin as a trickle in the 13th Century, with works such as the debate poem “The Owl and the Nightingale” (probably composed around 1200) and the long historical poem known as Layamon's “Brut” (from around the same period). Most of Middle English literature, at least up until the flurry of literary activity in the latter part of the 14th Century, is of unknown authorship.
Geoffrey Chaucer began writing his famous “Canterbury Tales” in the early 1380s, and crucially he chose to write it in English. Other important works were written in English around the same time, if not earlier, including William Langland’s “Piers Plowman” and the anonymous “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. But the “Canterbury Tales” is usually considered the first great works of English literature, and the first demonstration of the artistic legitimacy of vernacular Middle English, as opposed to French or Latin.
Chaucer introduced many new words into the language, up to 2,000 by some counts - these were almost certainly words in everyday use in 14th Century London, but first attested in Chaucer's written works. Words like paramour, difficulty, significance, dishonesty, edifice, ignorant, etc, are all from French roots, but when he wanted to portray the earthy working man of England (e.g. the Miller), he consciously used much more Old English vocabulary, and he also reintroduced many old words that had fallen out of favour, such as churlish, farting, friendly, learning, loving, restless, wifely, willingly, etc.
Beginning of the Knight's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
The Knight's Tale, one of the 24 stories in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. This chivalric romance was based on Giovanni Boccaccio's Teseida, and though it was not originally written as part of the Canterbury collection, Chaucer adapted it to fit the character of the Knight.
Such was the pace of continuous change to the language at this time, that different forms of words were often used interchangeably, even by the same author, and this flexibility (or inconsistency) in spelling is quite noticeable in Chaucer’s work (e.g. yeer and yere, doughtren and doughtres, etc).
However, it should be noted that, because Chaucer’s work was copied by several different scribes, and they have no original in Chaucer’s own hand, different manuscripts have different spellings, none of which are definitive (e.g. the same word is variously rendered as site, sighte, syth, sigh and cite in different manuscripts).
The Canterbury Tales
24 stories: The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Prologue and Tale, The Reeve’s Prologue and Tale, The Cook’s Prologue and Tale, The Man of Law’s Introduction, Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, The Friar’s Prologue and Tale, The Friar speaks approvingly of the Wife, The Summoner’s Prologue and Tale, The Clerk’s Prologue and Tale, The Merchant’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue, The Squire’s Introduction and Tale, The Franklin’s Prologue and Tale, The Physician’s Tale, The Pardoner’s Introduction, Prologue, and Tale, The Shipman’s Tale, The Prioress’s Prologue and Tale, The Prologue and Tale of Sir Thopas, The Tale of Melibee, The Monk’s Prologue and Tale, The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue, The Second Nun’s Prologue and Tale, The Canon’s Yeoman’s Prologue and Tale, The Manciple’s Prologue and Tale, and The Parson’s Prologue and Tale.
In The Canterbury Tales, we see Chaucer explore moral values and lessons. He provides moral lessons not only in the main story, but also in the tales recounted by the pilgrims. Some of the lessons are love conquers all, lust only gets you in trouble, religion and morality is virtuous, and honor and honesty is valued.
The Canterbury Tales is considered Chaucer's masterpiece and is among the most important works of medieval literature for many reasons besides its poetic power and entertainment value, notably its depiction of the different social classes of the 14th century CE as well as clothing worn, pastimes enjoyed, and language.
The Canterbury Tales (Middle English: Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. In 1386, Chaucer became Controller of Customs and Justice of Peace and, in 1389, Clerk of the King's work.
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