Middle English: From Norman Conquest to Literary Revival
The Rise of Middle English (Late 11th – Late 12th Century)
The Norman Conquest marks the beginning of the Medieval Period of English History. The literary tradition inherited from the Anglo-Saxons was completely transformed because England became an extension of Northern France.
A new Norman French elite came to England and took control of the government and cultural life. The English language was marginalized, and no significant literature survived in English from the end of the 11th century to the end of the 12th century.
The English that began to emerge as a literary language at the end of the 12th century has been labeled Middle English by scholars to illustrate the very clear differences between it and Old English. This English represents a transition between the English of the Anglo-Saxon period and the Modern English of the post-Renaissance period.
Characteristics of Middle English
- Lexical loans from French
- The deletion of many words of Germanic origin
- The development of a fixed word order
- A simplification of the inflectional system for nouns, adjectives, and verbs
New kinds of literature appeared because of the Norman Conquest. The conquest increased the contact between the literature in Latin and French, and this gave English writers access to new models and, therefore, to new ideas and forms.
Romance
The Old English epic is transformed into romance. Thus, the epic hero is now a knight. He is ruled by an elaborate code of conduct to do with chivalry and courtesy. This code governed the behavior of knight to knight and of knight to lady.
The romance was an aristocratic genre, and the aristocracy required, as literary entertainment, an idealized view of itself and its aspirations.
Within the romance, we have fin amour or courtly love.
Love between well-born men and women was ritualized into fin amour or courtly love, in which the behavior of both parties was codified.
Characteristics
- Platonic love (woman on a pedestal)
- She is usually married and almost impossible to seduce
- She is disdainful
- The lover is lovesick, and his love is secret and extreme
Fabliaux
These are comic tales, and they gave an alternative view of sexual relations. This is for the bourgeoisie and the low-born.
The woman was seen as a descendant of Eve rather than as an image of the Virgin Mary.
Early Middle English
The Owl and the Nightingale
It is a very mature work, and this means that it has to be explained as the result of a long-established tradition (French tradition).
However, in spite of its non-English roots, it appears as an English piece. Apparently, it is a light piece, but at the bottom, it is thought to be taken seriously.
The plot can be interpreted in two ways:
- As the contrast of the life of pleasure with a life of sobriety
- As a contrast of a secular life with monastic life
Ancrene Riwle (Rule of Anchoresses)
It is an anonymous work. It dates from the middle of the 12th century. It was written at the request of three noble ladies who had withdrawn from the world to live as anchoresses and then they required Christian guidance.
It is a learned work, but it also includes comic and light things that make it lighter.