1. What is Old English/Anglo-Saxon, Middle English?

Anglo-Saxon

• Early form of English, which was spoken and written by Anglo-Saxons and their descendants between 5^th and 12^th century

• The Old English period: since the beginnings until the Norman Conquest (1066)

• Examples: cyning - king; kniht - knight

• Literature: Beowulf, The Dream of the Rood, poetic riddles, romantic poems

Middle English

• describes dialects in English language between High and Late Middle Ages, during 12-15^th century.

• developed of Late Old English in Norman England (1066 - 1154) and spoken throughout the Plantagenet era.

• ended at about 1470

• English language used from 1066 up until the Renaissance (Early Modern English)

1. Mead-hall and scop and their place in Old English culture.

Mead-hall

• communal gathering place for warriors

• gathering to drink mead and celebrate victories as well as listen to the scops telling stories

• Literature: mead-hall as symbol of safety, fellowship and all that's good in humanity

• mead-hall as a bright spot in the darkness

Scop

• Old English term for poet

• his job was to sing about the accomplishments of his patron & people

• function of historian and entertainer

1. What do the themes of ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt and sic transit gloria mundi mean?

ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt - 'Where are those who were before us?' -> asking this question the poet evokes for a moment the splendour of life, symbolized by famous people of the past

sic transit gloria mundi - 'Thus passes the glory of the world' -> phrase used in the ritual of papal coronation ceremonies

1. What was the Heptarchy?

• collective name applied to the 7 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Great Britain during Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

• The 7 Kingdoms: Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia, Essex, Wessex, Sussex, Kent

• unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into the Kingdom of England

• Kingdom of England - term in use since the 16^th century - first used in Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum

1. What were the three estates (oratores, bellatores, and laboratores)?

a) Bellatores (knights, nobility, aristocracy)

b) Oratores (clergy and the Church)

c) Laboratores (peasants, city-dwellers, artisans)

1. What was orature?

• art of oral expression; conveying information through spoken word traditions

• transmission of narratives and customs

1. What were alliteration, kennings and variation in Old English poetry?

Alliteration - the sound of a certain letter is repeated in the same sentence, e.g. 'showed sea-cliff shining'

Kennings - descriptive, poetical expression used instead of a simple name for a person or thing, e.g. 'whale-path' for sea

Variation - repetition in different words of an element of a sentence, clause or phrase, e.g. 'a soul mate to me, a true mentor, / my right hand man’

1. What was elegiac, heroic, gnomic poetry in Old English?

Elegiac - lamenting the loss of worldly goods, glory or human companionship, e.g. 'The Wanderer', 'The Seafarer', 'Wulf and Eadwatcher', 'Wife's Lament', 'Husband's Message'
Heroic - a narrative verse that is elevated in mood and uses a dignified, dramatic and formal style to describe deeds of aristocratic rulers and warriors, e.g. 'Beowulf'

Gnomic - short memorable statements of traditional wisdom and morality, found in The Exeter Book

1. What was the Exeter Book in Old English period?

• 10/11^th century book which preserved most of Anglo-Saxon elegiac poetry

• one of the four major Anglo-Saxon literature codices

• donated to the library of Exeter Cathedral

• biggest known collection of Old English literature that exists today

1. How does a heroic narrative contribute to the rise of a community?

• made to live in people’s memories

• helped to build an early sense of identity

• need of hope

1. What is Beowulf, what are its origins and main themes?

• the oldest surviving epic poem and one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature

• written in Old English by an anonymous poet

• originally untitled yet in 19^th century started to be called by the name of the Scandinavian hero

• written between the 8^th and early 11^th century

• story and hero are fiction

• origins of Beowulf stems from a mix of Scandinavian, Germanic and Anglian influences

• written in England, story of Danes, Geats, Swedes

• main theme – heroism which involves more than physical courage

• the warrior must fulfil his obligations to the group of which he’s the key member

• king – obligation to behave generous

• valuable gifts for thanes for defence of tribe & success in battle

1. What is wyrd in Old English literature?

   Wyrd – fate, sense of fatalism and uncertainty of human existence, of the impossibility of changing what cannot be changed and is beyond human control – Nordic, Germanic influences.

2. What does ‘transitoriness’ mean (in senses related to medieval literature)?

   Transitoriness – Christian belief that earthly life is transitory, evanescence of earthly things:
   ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt and sic transit gloria mundi

3. How and when did Christianity arrive to Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (two directions)?

   Two directions: from Ireland and Rome

   St. Columba – Irish missionary – establishment of a monastery in Scotland – 563 AD

   St. Augustine of Canterbury – 579 AD

   The Synod of Whitby – 664 AD – end of discord between Irish and Roman Christianity

4. What is Franks Casket and what do some of its scenes prove?

• small Anglo-Saxon whale’s bone chest

• from early 8^th century

• densely decorated with knife-cut narrative scenes in flat two-dimensional low-relief with inscriptions mostly in Anglo-Saxon runes

• considered to be of Northumbrian origin

• unique importance for the insight it gives into early Anglo-Saxon art and culture

• odd positioning of scenes – violent story of Weyland, the Smith appears next to the Three Magi

1. What was Cdmon’s hymn and where was it recorded?

• short Old English poem composed by Cdmon in honour of God the Creator

• survives in a Latin translation by Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum

• designed to be sung out loud, never recorded yet written and preserved by other literate individual

• composed between 658-680, recorded in the early part of 8^th century

1. What was Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum? What was its role in the establishment of Englishness?

• work in Latin, by Bede

• on the history of Churches in England and of England generally

• main focus – conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity

• one of the most important original references on Anglo-Saxon history

• played a key role in development of English identity

• supposedly completed in 731

1. How does The Dream of the Rood combine pagan and Christian elements?

• full of Christian influences

• rood – cross

• the speaker dreams of the cross Jesus was sacrificed on

• Christ as a warrior preparing for battle as he marches to his crucifixion

• transition between Pagan and Christian idea

• bloody battles, revenge for doing wrong, heroes as comfort for Pagan people

• Christian qualities – sacrificing for others, sympathy, loyalty

• in order to accept the Christian idea, the Anglo-Saxons blended the idea of Christ being a warrior and hero together

1. What were the Northumbrian revival and insular art?

   Northumbrian revival

• period of cultural flowering in Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria

• from mid-7^th to mid-8^th century

• characterised by a blend of insular & Germanic art as well as Mediterranean influence

• Authors – Bede & Alcuin

  Insular art

• production of beautiful illuminated manuscripts

• 7^th – 8^th century

• derives from the word insula lat. Term for ‘island’

• Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style, differing from that of the rest of Europe

1. What was the role of King Alfred the Great in the establishment of English (Old English) as the language of literature?

• King Alfred the Great as one of the most crucial figures of Anglo-Saxon culture

• interested in literature

• first to translate Latin literature into local dialect

• he wanted to make literature comprehensive to British

1. What were the two major Latin works translated by King Alfred the Great?

   Regula pastoralis – Pastoral Care by Gregory the Great

   De consolation Philosophae – Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius

2. What is logocentrism and pansemiotism (in medieval sense)?

   Logocentrism – focus on the Holy Logos (the Scripture) and on the power of words as an emanation of reality.

   Pansemiotism – the meaningfulness of everything; the idea of the divine plan and divine purpose of everything that happens.

3. What does giedd mean and what does (do) its meaning(s) prove?

• Song, lai, poem, speech, tale, sermon, proverb, riddle, maxim, sentence, word

1. What are the main themes of Old English sea elegies?

• loneliness; separation; death of friends, families;

• the hopelessness of earthly existence

• the voyage – life as a journey

• exile – understood both literally and as earthly exile

• wise suffering and moral lessons to be drawn from it.

• the search for sense in life – both here on earth and beyond

1. How is the sense of ‘The Seafarer’s’ voyage different from that of ‘The Wanderer’?

   a. The Wanderer:

• a lamentation of a man deprived of his past happiness and security beside his lord and friends, now searching for a new patron – also metaphorically

• the idea of suffering as a blessing, a divine gift.

• the narrator of the poem as a man haunted by the memories of his happy past and who cannot set himself free from them

  b. The Seafarer:

• the conscious choice of the life of hardship on the sea – the desire to live life fully, to live it to its extremes – also as a metaphor of choosing the difficult life “on the sea” and close to God, over the easy life “on land.”

• ‘The Seafarer’ and the idea of “the world being old” – an elegy describing the pitiful state of what used to be a splendid, most probably Roman city.

1. What is Anglo-Norman period/literature?

• Composed in Anglo-Norman language

• Language developed during 1066-1204

• When: union of Duchy of Normandy and England

1. What was Doomsday Book?

• compiled by the King William the Conqueror in 1086

• detailed village-by-village record of the people and their possessions throughout kingdom, record of England`s population and wealth, compiled for taxation purposes

• tremendous value to English historians

• presentation of description of Norman England

• symbol of the Conquest

1. What were the chanson de geste?

• Old French for song about deeds, heroic deeds

• Chanson de Guillaume, The Song of Roland

• Appear at the dawn of French literature

1. What were the three matters of medieval chivalric romances? Who were the main heroes of the matter of Rome, Britain and France?
   Three main cycles of romances (matiers, matters):

   a. the matter of Rome (antiquity, Troy, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar),

   b. the matter of Britain (King Arthur, Grail, Knights of the Round Table),

   c. the matter of France (Charles the Great, i.e. Charlemagne, Roland).

1. What was the connection between Britain and ancient Rome and Troy (Brutus)?

Mythicization of reality – history turned into legend

• the myth of Arthur,

• later romances of Henry II’s son,

• Richard the Lion heart contrasted with his incompetent brother John Lackland.

Re-birth of the myths of origin – the story of Brutus, the grandson of Aeneas of Troy.

• Aeneas – legendary founder of Rome, Brutus – of Britain (the popular, though untrue, origin of the name).

• Britain associated with Rome and Troy. ‘We are like the second Rome, Troy, it was fascinating, British Empire is a continuation of Roman Empire’

1. What was Brut, its main themes and who wrote it?

• Author – Layamon

• Themes – based on Wace and Geoffrey Monmouth

• first work on Arthur in English and one of the first major works in English after the Conquest

• Mythicized presentation of the first rulers of England – incorporation of the myth of Arthur into the legendary English pantheon (ironic as historical Arthur – if he ever existed – defended his Christian kingdom from pagan Anglo-Saxon invaders).

• Arthur as ceaseless inspiration for poets

• Arthur as a perfect monarch – a possible answer to weaker English monarchy in late 12th/early 13th c.

1. What was fin amour/courtly love? Where did it originate?

• Medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration

• Courtly love as a secret love between members of nobility

• Originated in courts of Aquitaine, Provence, Champagne

• End of 11^th century

• Experience between erotic desire & spiritual attainment

1. What is the chief theme of Laustic and who is its author?

• Author – Marie de France

• Theme – fin amour, it’s a lai, triangle.

• Bird – symbol of secret love

1. What were lais?

• a lyrical, narrative poems in rhymed French, based on Celtic folklore and legends from Bretagne (Brittany), dedicated to King Henry

• deals with tales of adventure and romance

• mainly composed in France and Germany,

• composed in 13^th and 14^th century

• Marie de France composed lais

1. Who (and when) were troubadours, touveres, minnesanger?

   Troubadours – composer, performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during High and Middle Ages in 1100-1350.

   Trouveres – school of poets who flourished in Northern France and Europe from 11^th to 14^th century.

   Minnesanger – courtly love poets in England, Italy and Germany. They wrote love poetry in High Middle Ages.

1. What is fable?

• story that has a moral or gives a lesson

• involves human qualities with animals, plants, mythical creatures; Aesop’s Fables

1. What were the chief changes among the bellatores in the 14^th century?

• upholding of the idea of chivalry - war with France

• change of soldiers role

• slow transformation of the knightly ideal into the idea of a courtier

• fall of French language

1. What were the chief changes among the oratores in the 14^th century?

• Church in moral, institutional, economic crisis - simony

• political influence upon Church

• moral and existential problems stemming from the above

• first attempts at reformatory movements in England

1. What were the chief changes among the laboratores in the 14^th century?

• plague - depopulation, labour shortages, uprisings against the higher classes

• plagues as a result of God's anger

1. What were the effects of the Hundred years’ War on English language and literature?

• Series of battles that took place between the years 1337-1453, between the English and the French

• battles as the result of a number of disagreements and egos causing friction between the kings of England and France

• A large amount of literature was affected by the war - most notably such authors as Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare, wrote about events surrounding the war

• confirming the fall of the French language in England, which had served as the language of the ruling classes

1. What are the main themes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?

• Nature vs. Human Society

• The Futility of Human Constructions

• The Viability of Chivalric Values

• Faith in God

• Celtic Pagan Sources and Christian overlay

• Questioning the Romance

• The Fall of Man and Loss of Innocence

1. How are 14^th century social changes presented in G. Chaucer’s CT (Prologue)?

• composed in 1380s

• sometimes more, sometimes less ironic presentation of various characters, according to their social position

• Chaucer’s ability to change the tone and style of his narrative and his incorporation of various social classes into his tales

1. What are the main features of G. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales? What is so new in the Tales?

• it’s the first important English text employing lower class characters and presenting an immense range of topics

• powerful, elegant and novel presentation of characters- irony, social satire, very visual, very informative as regards details of 14^th c. life

• a range of narrative styles matching the characters- chivalric romance, fabliau, fables

• frequent social criticism, some decree of anti-clericals, some degree of misogyny

• shows social changes – people used to talk according to positions and in the Tales they don’t (Knight’s Tale -> Miller’s Tale instead of Monk’s Tale)

1. What is fabliau?

• humorous tales

• often resorting to erotic and bawdy elements,

• frequently ironic of the church and social hierarchies (Miller’s Tale)

• often anonymous tale written by jongleurs

• 13^thcentury, France

1. What is a fable, an exemplum, a mock-heroic poem?

   Fable – moralizing tale with animals as characters (Nun’s Priest’s Tale)

   Exemplum – extended moral anecdote used to illustrate a point (Pardoner’s Tale)

   Mock-heroic poem – parodical poems (The Tale of Sir Thopas)

2. Explain the idea of carnivalesque in medieval culture.

   Carnivalesque - disputation and mocking of the ‘normal rules’ of order and morality

3. What are the origins of medieval theatre?

• the decadence of the ancient Greek and Roman theatre

• Church treated classical theatre with suspicion

• a new tradition – liturgical tradition: quem queritis? - ‘Whom do you seek?’

• the ritual of the mass – natural source for medieval theatre

• visualization of the Scriptures - Biblia pauperum

• carnivalesque themes

• eventually medieval liturgical theatre would merge with the Greek and Roman tradition

1. What were medieval mystery plays?

• Mystery Plays – biblical themes, the life of Christ

• plays inspired by Old and New Testament events

• theatre moving outside churches: production of plays gradually taken over by laymen in the vernacular

• first short individual plays, then organized into great cycles

• Christ’s Passion as central: the plays expressed the humanity as well as the divinity of Christ

1. Miracle plays?

• Miracle plays (Saint’s Plays) – present a real or fictitious account of the life, miracles, or martyrdom of a saint.

• evolved from 10th/11^th

• liturgical offices related to calendar festivals

• belief in the healing powers of saintly relics

• the surviving miracle plays concern either the Virgin Mary or St. Nicholas was widespread

• the Mary plays involve her in the role of deus ex machina: coming to the aid of all who invoke her, worthy or not

1. Morality plays (their example)?

• Morality plays – allegorical drama: characters personify moral qualities or abstractions, moral lessons are conspicuously taught

• 15^th/16^th century

• morality plays centre on a hero whose inherent weaknesses are assaulted by such personified diabolic forces as the Seven Deadly Sins but who may choose redemption and enlist the aid of such figures as the Four Daughters of God

• Among the oldest of morality plays surviving in English is The Castle of Perseverance (c. 1425),

• Everyman is considered the greatest of all morality plays and is still performed

• Authors: Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare