Very complete and clear summary of English literature history, which deals with both the history of England itself and the literary history. Super useful for the SE literature history.
The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period 500 - 1066
History
Fifth century: Germanic tribes the Angles, Saxons and Jutes settled in England. Britain had
been a province of the Roman empire until the Roman armies withdrew in 410. The Celts
had been dependent on the Romans for protection. Now the Picts started attacking them, so
they asked the Angles, Saxons and Jutes for help. They started settling, confiscated the land
and chased the native inhabitants away. The tribes founded the English nation (Angle-land)
and language (Angle-ish).
A few 100 years of peace followed. The country was converted to Christianity as Roman
influence. Monasteries became centres of culture and learning. 793: Scandinavian pirates
destroyed the monastery of Lindisfarne, which started a period of Viking invasions.
The Vikings started settling and occupied nearly all of England. 871: Anglo-Saxon king
Alfred the Great prevented the country from becoming a part of Scandinavia by defeating the
Danish army, and forced them to stay in a certain part called ‘Danelaw’.
After king Alfred’s death the Vikings’ influence increased again, and at the end of the 10th
century a unification was achieved and the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings lived together
peacefully (turned to Christianity).
Poetry
Entertainment came from scops: artists reciting poetry from memory or singing to a harp.
Most people couldn’t read/write, so poems were handed down by word of mouth. Most
poems were anonymous, and not much work has survived (due to destroyings and raids).
Epic poems were long narrative poems in which the great deeds of heroes and kings were
described. Themes were war, death and glory. Alliteration: a form of poetry in which 2 or
more words within the same line begin with the same letter. This way the lines were easier to
remember. The majority of works were didactic works (about religion) and historical
chronicles.The best known work is Beowulf, a scandinavian story which shows much of the
way Germanic tribes lived.
Beowulf
The 1st part is about a young Swedish warrior (Beowulf) who comes to king Hrothgar’s court
in Denmark. A monster (Grendel) has been ravaging Heorot for 12 years with nobody to
defeat him. Beowulf wants to return a favour to Hrothgar and intends to kill the monster to
upgrade his reputation. He manages to single-handedly tear off the monster’s arm and
hangs it in the hall, but the monster’s mother comes to take back the arm and kills one of the
king’s nobles. The next day, Beowulf and Hrothgar follow her tracks and Beowulf kills her
with an ancient magical sword. After this he returns to Sweden and is named king.
In the 2nd part, Beowulf’s been successful king for 50 years. Then somebody steals a
valuable cup guarded by a dragon, and the draking starts to destroy the country for revenge.
Beowulf insists to fight the dragon on his own. However, Wiglaf (one of his men) helps him
and they defeat the dragon but Beowulf is wounded and dies. He leaves the kingdom to
Wiglaf. Beowulf is buried on a high seaside cliff so passing sailors can see his grave.
, The Middle English Period 1066 - 1500
History
1042: Edward the Confessor became king of England. When he died 4 men claimed the
throne:
● Harold Godwinson; the most powerful of the English nobles
● Duke William of Normandy (France)
● King of Norway
● Harold’s brother Tostig
Harold defeated his brother and the king of Norway by killing them. The attack
weakened his army → he couldn’t defeat William and got killed in the Battle of
Hastings (1066). Now the Normans were in charge.
William organized the government on the basis of the feudal system; a hierarchical system
based on the ownership of land. He had the Doomsday Book written: a work containing a
record of everything everyone in England owned, and the rights and duties of every
landowner and every court (1086). Now he could tax the people.
French became the language used in higher circles, Latin was used in learning and
churches, common people stuck with English.
During the Hundred Years’ War (1337 - 1454) with France, lots of people died from the Black
Plague. This way, there were fewer educated people who spoke French or Latin, so by the
14th century English was the national language again, but changed a lot and with lots of
French words.
Another important historical record from this period is the Magna Charta (Great Charter):
● Stated feudal rights between barons and the Crown
● Secured the freedom of the Church and limited the King’s authority
● First English law book
In 1215 King John was forced to sign this document to avoid a civil war.
Literary history
➢ Changed poetic form: Anglo-Saxon alliterative line replaced with the French-type
end-rhyme and fixed syllable patterns.
➢ Changed content: more refined and elegant type of poetry.
➢ New theme, replacing epic poems; Courtly love (an idealized and often illicit form of
love in which a knight or courtier devotes himself to a noblewoman who is usually
married and feigns indifference to preserve her reputation). It gave women a
prominent place in literary works.
➢ Popular genres: ballads (narrative poems intended to be sung) and romances (tales
about brave knights who usually go out to fight for a noble cause, like a Christian
ideal or a lady). Often about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
➢ Relationships between knights and women were based on the loyalty of a knight for
his lord, by owing the same loyalty to his lady. Courtly love was supposed to drive
knights to great deeds.
➢ Sir Lancelot and King Arthur’s wife Guinevere fell in love, they broke the rules.
➢ Le morte D’Arthur was an important work.
Drama
Drama reappeared in the Middle Ages because church services were conducted in Latin and
common people didn’t speak Latin so the liturgy were turned into plays. In 1210 the Pope
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