English 121 10/06

1. English 12110/06 --Influences on Middle English --Middle English Syntax Exercise

2. Medieval Period (1066-1485) • Magna Carta (1215) shows the decline in a feudal system of law and required the king to be bound by law. • Roman Catholic Church gains power and influence over both nobles and commoners. • Period of the Crusades • Period of Cathedral building • Corruption in the church leads to reformation.

3. Language influences • French: language of the nobles; written • English: used by peasants in earlier Middle English period; spoken An interesting question: Why do you think we have the Old English word deer but the French word venison? (also pig—pork; sheep—mutton; cow—beef)

4. Language influences (cont’d.) • Latin: primarily written; used for church services and church writings

5. Middle English (ME) Period • Change from Old English to ME was gradual • Norman invasion was in 1066 lead to a strong French and Latin influence on Old English • Early Middle English looks closer to Old English than later Middle English

6. Cuccu Song (1250) Sumer is icumen in; Lhude sing cuccu! Groweth sed, and bloweth med, And springeth the wude nu. Sing cuccuu! Ewe bleteth after lomb, Lhouth after calve cu Bulluch stereth, bucke verteth, Murie sing cuccu!

7. Sumer is icumen in; Lhude sing cuccu! Groweth sed, and bloweth med, And springeth the wude nu. Sing cuccuu! Ewe bleteth after lomb, Lhouth after calve cu Bulluch stereth, bucke verteth, Murie sing cuccu! Summer is coming in; Sing loud cuckoo! Groweth seed and bloweth mede [bloometh meadow] And springeth the wood now. Sing cuckoo! Ewe bleateth after lamb; Loweth after calf cow Bullock starteth; buck darteth. Merrily sing cuckoo! Cuccu/Cuckoo Song

8. How do we know about the type of English used in this period?

9. Two major types of evidence 1. Surviving documents • Early ME documents of government, law, administration, Literature, and Church documents were in French and Latin. • From around 1200 onward, there were an increasing number of songs and religious sermons/prayers surviving in English.

10. Some texts (e.g., William of Nassynton’s Speculum Vitae (Mirror of Life)) tell us a good deal about the status of English by 1325. What did it say?

11. William of Nassynton’s Speculum Vitae • Nobody knows only French • Everyone knows English • Illustrated the power of English and its survival.

12. Examples of ME texts • Domesday Book (1086): In Latin but with many English names and place names. Illustrates the changing sound system • Peterborough Chronicle: a continuation of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles after a fire in Peterborough Monastery. • From 1116-1131 written in Old English • Vanished in 1131, likely due to Civil War during the reign of King Stephen • Started again in 1154 but with a very different grammar, vocabulary, and spelling (sort of like the difference between texts A and B in your homework assignment).

13. Poems in Old English • Late 13th Century • Lazamon’s Brut: A History of Britain from early Britons to Anglo Saxon invasion (written around 1180) • Piers Plowman: stories of a poor farmer named Piers. primarily an allegorical tale (designed to teach a moral lesson) (written around1360) • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: physical and moral tests for the knight Sir Gawain) (written around 1390)

14. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

15. Status of English with the Norman kings --The Kings from the outset of the Norman invasion--William I. William II, , Stephen, Henry II, Richard I, and John (1066-1216) either spoke no English or we do not know if they spoke English. -- First attested use of English by a King was Richard II in 1381 when he used English to address the English people during the Peasant's Revolt. --1413, King Henry IV’s will written in English

16. Canterbury Tales (between 1387-1400) By the late ME period, Chaucer (1340-1400) was writing to a large, literate audience in English