1. The Medieval Period 1066-1485

2. The Coming of the Normans ‘Norman’ means ‘North-man’. They were descendants of the Vikings in northwestern France. They adopted many of the French customs and had their own Norman-French language. The official history of the Medieval period begins in 1066 with the invasion and occupation of England by William the conqueror.

3. William believed himself as the owner of the country so he owned the land and everything it it. He sat up the feudal system which changed English life. Feudalism was a system of landholding, in which nobody owned the land except the king and the nobles who helped him in his conquest.

4. The Medieval Church From the 11 th c. to the 15 th c. the Western Europe formed one society as they shared common culture and common set of beliefs. This unity was encouraged by the Medieval Church, which crossed physical boundaries and language differences. The church language, Latin became the language of all educated persons.

5. Medieval Life People following the feudal system worked in their own fields and the lands of the lord of the manor to whom they owe their loyalty. Gradually their interests moved from farming to herding as the wool produced by English sheep was the best in Europe. The production of wool and woolen fabric encouraged the growth of cities in the north. New class of merchants grew up and many became rich. With the growth in population, English turned to other kinds of works.

6. Medieval Literature: The Romance Medieval romance consisted of tales of chivalry, love interest, and all sorts of wonders and marvels e.g. fairy enchantments, giants, dragons, wizards …etc. The first English romances (verse and prose) were translations from the French. The romantic tales came from three sources: Britain (the story of King Arthur and his nights), France (the court of Charlemagne) and Rome (classical stories such as the conquest of Troy).

7. Folk Poetry and the Drama Folk poetry, Ballads * Songs not written down but recited and sung in alehouses and at thousands of firesides. * started in the 14 th and 15 th centuries, but collected and published in the middle of the 18 th century.

8. Drama (miracle plays and morality plays) The origins of the popular drama are in the Middle Ages. Miracle plays were performed during religious festivals for entertainment. They dramatized biblical stories and created the tradition of comedy. Morality plays started toward the end of the Middle Ages. They tend to present the various virtues and vices as they confront each other. The most famous play was Everyman, which was not originally English, but its English adaptation made it popular.

9. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400) Chaucer is the first truly great figure in English literature. He was called ‘the father of English poetry’ and was regarded as the father of English Literature. Instead of writing in the fashionable romance of the day, Chaucer turned to poetic and humorous realism. He was not only a great poet and a storyteller but also a humorist.

10. Worked as page associated with the court of king Edward III, he learned a lot about aristocracy. Served as a soldier, courtier, diplomat, civil administrator, and translator. His mastery of Latin, French, and Italian in addition to his services allowed him to translate literary works in all three languages. His greatest contribution to English Literature is his development of the English language resources for literary purposes.

11. He improved the East Midland dialect of English which was lacking vocabulary and good literature. This was achieved by turning to the literature of France with its elegance and bringing it to East Midland English. He, therefore, created the English language spoken today and established its literary traditions.

12. He also surveyed the tales and histories of Europe to find subject matters.

13. The Canterbury Tales In his great work The Canterbury Tales he created a unique piece of literature which includes observation of real life and pictures of real people. It includes modern view of life (tolerance, humor, passion, and love of humanity). It is the first literary work written in modern English language.

14. The structural device of The Canterbury Tales is the frame story, a frame around which he grouped his tales. The frame is the spring time pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. As a custom in Europe, people of all classes used to travel to religious shrines to seek miraculous cures, to gain forgiveness of their sins, or to satisfy their wanderlust.

15. In England, the pilgrimage to the Canterbury was the most popular. The device of the journey helped Chaucer to bring together quite naturally persons of different occupations and various social ranks, which is rare in Medieval society. Each pilgrim was to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on their return. Chaucer’s plan of The Canterbury Tales was of 124 stories but Chaucer died after completing 24 stories only.

16. Chaucer’s description of the pilgrims in The Prologue is considered the best picture of life in 14 th century England. Although written in verse rather than prose, The Canterbury Tales is the first collection of short stories in English literature. Chaucer’s style is flexible as he rejected the conventions of earlier French and Italian literature.

17. Titles of some tales: The Knights’ Tale. The Miller’s Tale. The Wife of Bath’s Tale. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale. The Pardoner’s Tale.

18. http://canterburytales.org.uk