1. Middle English: 1066-1500 A look to the history behind the literature

2. William the Bastard becomes William the Conqueror…  In 1066, William the Bastard of Normandy along with his troops conquer Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings.  William the Conqueror brings the French Court, French Custom, and French Language to England.  The Hybrid of Old English and Old French make up what is today known as: Middle English.  Words like: wine, cheese, brother enter the English Lexicon.

3. What does Middle English Look and Sound Like?  Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote  The droghte of March perced to the roote,  And bathed every veyne in swich licour  Of Which vertu engendered is the flour;  Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth  Inspired hath in every holt and heeth  The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne  Hath in the Ram his halve course yronne  And smale foweles maken melodye  That slepen all the nyght with open ye  So priketh hem nature in his corages  Thanne longen folk too goon on pilgrimmages…

4. It takes a couple hundred years…by Chaucer’s time the two languages are fully integrated into Middle English  Geoffrey Chaucer 1343-October 25, 1400  The Book of the Duchess, Blanche of Lancaster, and The Canterbury Tales.  His works represent Middle English in its form.

5. The Canterbury Tales  Chaucer did not finish all the books he intended.  The Pilgrims were going to visit the shrine of Thomas A Becket (martyred Archbishop of Canterbury on order by King Henry II of England.  The Pilgrims walk twenty miles to Canterbury each telling a tale there and back. The best storyteller wins a free dinner.  Funny thing is…these people would have never travelled with one another. Why?

6. The Three Estates of Medieval Society The Clergy AKA: The Church Pope Cardinals Bishops Arch Bishops Priest Friars The Nobility Kings/Queens Dukes Duchesses Earls Lords/Ladies Everyone Else Everyone Else. Wealthy Merchants Artisans Guild laborers Blacksmiths Farmers Beggars