ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE, OR THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES IN ENGLISH

LITERATURE (THE 5 - 11th CENTURIES)

 

Before the 5 century the British were many times invaded by different tribes from the Continent: the Celts/Kelts invaded the country in the 6th с. В. C. (before Christ), the Romans came here in the 1st c. A. D. (Anno Domini). After the fall of the Roman Empire the British Isles began to be invaded from the Continent by the Germanic tribes of Anglos/Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the middle of the 5th c. The warlike tribes drove the native population, the Celts who lived in tribes, to the western & north-western outskirts of the country. At the end of the 5th century Anglos, Saxons & Jutes settled in the central, southern & eastern parts of Great Britain. They formed 7 kingdoms: Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Norfolk, Northumbria, Mercia. Each of them tried to dominate the others. The adoption of Christianity in the 6th c. & the process of power centralization contributed to the strengthening of the state unity. The fall of the tribal system & the establishment of feudalism were accompanied by class division in society.

The new-comers began to call themselves English (after the principal tribe of settlers called E n g 1 i s с ). So the country was called England. Despite the primary hatred between Anglo-Saxons & Celts, the further historical development of the country determined other new & more sophisticated forms of their cooperation, as far as the peoples & their cultures are concerned. For example, later on Celtic legends formed the bases for medieval romances about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

 

Although we know very little of this period from literature, some poems have nevertheless come down to us. In those early days songs called epics(epic poems - эпопеи или эпические поэмы) were created in many countries. The epics tell of the most remarkable events of a people's history & deeds of heroic men. The first epic poems known in literature are Homer's "Iliad" & "Odyssey" (the end of the 6th c).

The native population of Britain, the Celts, was pagan/heathen. They believed in & worshipped different elements (стихии): the Sun, the Moon, the wind, etc. The signs of their beliefs can be found in the days of the week: Monday - the day of the Moon, Sunday - the day of the Sun, etc. In the medieval folklore (folk - народ, lore - запас знаний) there were elements of their beliefs, too.

Medieval literature existed in the form of songs & poems. As Anglo-Saxons had brought their language & culture to Britain, the earliest literary works were composed in Anglo-Saxon, which would be the bases for English in the future.

Some monuments of Anglo - Saxon runic (рунический) writing came down to us: inscriptions on swords, household articles, the inscription on the stone cross at the village R u t h w e 1 1 (Рутвелл) in Scotland. We also have some information about the songs that were sung during burial & wedding ceremonies, in labour process, during military campaigns. Legends & songs passed orally from generation to generation. There were singers in each tribe who sung them. The singers were divided into scopes (скопы) who performed their own songs & g 1 e e m e n (glee - радость) who sang the others' songs. These singers were highly respected, as they preserved the national legends & were skilful masters.

It was forbidden by pagan priests to take down poetic compositions. And the songs began to be taken down by monks-scholars when Christianity came to Britain. Naturally, not everything was written down. A great number of records had been lost. Many of the lists (списки) & manuscripts were many times changed: the stories of the pagan times were Christianized. In addition, it is very difficult to find out the precise date when the manuscripts were written. Sometimes the time when some literary monument appeared & the time when it was first recorded does not coincide with the time when the story got the wording we have now. There is often an interval of several centuries between the first & the last wordings.

 

The first known English literary monument, the epic poem (эпическая поэма) "The Song of Beowulf" ("Песнь о Беовульфе"), was composed somewhere in the 8th c. It came down to us in the lists of the 10 c. The poem was found in England somewhere in the 18 c. (in 1833 the first English publication of the poem appeared). Now the poem is kept & preserved in the British Museum. "The Lay of the Host of lgor" ("Слово о полку Игореве") can be regarded as the Russian analogy to "Beowulf, as the former was the first literary monument in Russian literature.

"Beowulf is an example of medieval heroic epos, which was based on the ancient Germanic legends that date back to the pagan times. They had appeared among Germanic tribes by far before the time when Anglo-Saxons settled in Britain. The action of the poem takes place on the banks of the Baltic Sea. The plot had been borrowed from Germanic mythology. And naturally there is no mention of England here. So the very legend could have been brought from the Continent but in the 8th c. it was written down in England in Anglo-Saxon.

The poem consists of 2 parts. The first part opens with the introduction that tells of S с у 1 d Scefing (Скильд Скефинг) (who was the ancestor of the Danish kings), of the honorable kin of Scyldings to which king Hrothgar himself belonged.

The first part also tells of the deeds & feats of Beowulf as a young man. He was a brave warrior of the Geatmen (геаты)/Jutes.

The second part tells of Beowulf s reign as king of Scandinavia. At the end of the story we read about Beowulf s burial ceremony by his loyal warriors. (See the description of the whole story in the additional papers.)

The wording that has come down to us proves that the basic magic motifs of the poem were later reworked according to the principles of the heroic epos. The motifs of early medieval epics (the descriptions of the battles with the sea-monsters & the dragon that have parallels in folk fairy tales & Icelandic sagas) are combined with religious elements. It proves that the poem was later reworked according to the principles of Christianity. So the names of the pagan gods disappeared from the text. But there is a mention of Biblical personages (Abel- Авель , Noah- Ной ) & events. Moreover G г e n d e 1 is called an off-spring / descendant of Cain-Каин, and the sea-monsters are called creatures from the hell. Beowulf's speech is also very often Christian by character. In the poem we often see that God himself interferes with the events (for example, Beowulf wins the race as it is desired by God); in the first part of the story one can find several lines about the creation of the world, etc.

Yet the poem's pagan-mythological bases are vivid & evident. The fantasy of the poem reflects mythological realization of history & the relations among the tribes in the early Middle Ages. People are shown in their opposition to the merciless natural powers, embodied in the images of the sea, sea-monsters, fiery dragon, etc. Goodliness & asceticism are not characteristic features of Beowulf. He is full of primitivism. Yet his personality is integral. The naive heroic simplicity of the poem, its serious tone, slow tempo are sort of charm of the epic narration. Beowulf embodies the ideal of a medieval warrior, a hero, who can submit the powers of nature, a person who is a moral ideal of the early Middle Ages.

The construction of the poem is rather difficult because Beowulf s life-story is not given coherently & successively. Some facts from his biography are retrospective by character. Some episodes are not connected with Beowulf at all: they tell of the life of Germanic tribes & include details concerning the history of the Royal families of the Geatmen / Jutes, Danes, Swedes & continental Anglos. The poem is really important as a source of information about the life of the tribes which inhabited North Germany & Scandinavia. The main hero is involved in different historically important events (the conflicts among north Germanic tribes & their wars against west Germanic tribes).

The narration is quite often interrupted: the author makes the reader acquainted with the heroes' prehistory, foretells their future, and complicates the plot giving extra details about different episodes. The poem also reflects the characteristic features of English & Scandinavian nature. Scandinavian landscapes are felt in the descriptions of the rocky seashore, high cliffs, caves under the rocks (the episode when Beowulf fights with the fiery dragon). (Так, описывая Гренделя, автор говорит, что он живёт в "трясинах ... в глубинах болот и топей ... на болотах, скрытых туманами ...").

The poetic language & rhythm of the poem are also very specific. The poem is written in a very beautiful picturesque style. It abounds in exquisite images & descriptions. The most characteristic features of the language are the following:

1) parallelism is very characteristic of the poem (like of epic works in general). Repetitions of the same motifs - contextual parallelism - accentuate some episodes & deepen their importance & inner sense. So, H i g e 1 а с ' s campaign is mentioned 4 times (1 - in the 1st part, 3 - in the 2nd part). This campaign was a success at the beginning but then the king of Jutes was defeated & Beowulf was one of the few who remained alive. The mentions of Higelac's campaign appear alongside the final episodes of the poem, they "foretell" the death of Beowulf & the defeat of Jutes. The theme of vendetta is also many times repeated. It underlines the idea that vendetta is a kind of a warrior's debt. Parallelism is also used as far as the choice of epithets is concerned - verbal parallelism;

2) there are also many double metaphors in the poem:

- whale-road (дорога китов) sail-road

- playground of winds (площадка ветров) about the sea;

- salt streams

- joy-wood

- glee-wood about musical instruments;

- light of battle (свет битвы) - about a sword;

- peace-weaver (прядильщица мира)

- dwelling-ornament (украшение жилища) _ about a woman;

3) there was no rhyme at that time & the rhythm of the poem was created by means of
alliteration (there were to be 4 stresses in a line - 2 stresses in half a line; and the
same consonant sounds were repeated at more or less equal intervals at the beginning of thewords that build a line. The stress falls onto the syllables beginning with the same sounds.It was obligatory for the early Germanic alliteration verse to repeat the prestressed consonant sound at the beginning of the 1st & 2nd half a line:

Folk-princes fared then from far and from near, Through long-stretching journeys to look at the wonder.

 

Then the baleful fiend its fire belched out, And bright homes burned. The blazestood high And landfolk frighting.

 

Besides there were several other epic poems or their fragments that came down to us:

- the heroic song "The Fight at Finnsburg" ("Битва при Финсбурге",10-11в.в.);

- the epic about Waldere ("Сказание о Вальдере", 10в.);

- the song about "The Battle ofMaldon" ("Песнь о битве при Мальдоне", конец 10-11в.в.).

 

Some lyric poems also date back to this period. They are not very long examples of Anglo-Saxon poetry:

- "The Wife's Lament" ("Сетования жены", 8в.) -the story tells of a wife who was belied & parted with her husband. And she laments about the injustice of her fate. Her lyric monologue is full of deep sorrow & grief;

- "The Husband's Message" ("Послание супруга");

- "The Wanderer" ("Странник") -it tells of a warrior who had to become a wanderer after his lord had died. And the past years of his life are full of sorrow.

These songs & poems are very emotional & the expressed feelings are deep & strong. Besides the unknown authors created bright pictures of the severe northern nature with its storming sea, dark woods... These poems were included into the manuscript "Exeter Book" ("Эксетерский кодекс") which dates back to the middle of the 11th c. And it is rather difficult to define the exact date of the poems' appearance.

- "Deor's Complaint" ("Сетования Деора",8в.) tells of a medieval singer, his misfortunes & looses. The bitterness & despair are felt in the poem.

Since the end of the 6 c. due to the wide spread of Catholicism all over England Christian church literature began to develop since (it was composed in Latin). The monasteries of Kent, Wessex, Northumbria were the centers of Medieval science & enlightenment. The activity of the following representatives of Christian religious poetr у in Anglo-Saxon was connected with monasteries - Caedmon (Кэдмон,7в.)& Cynewulf (Кюневульф,8 - начало 9 в.).

One of the most prominent writers of this time is Bede Venerabilis/Bede the Venerable (Беда Достопочтенный, 673-735г.г.). He was a writer, historian, scholar... Among his best known works are:

- "Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, 73 1" ("Церковная история английского народа"). This book includes valuable information about English history, Anglo-Saxon legends, etc. He was also the first author who dealt with works on philology:

- "De orphographia" ("Об орфографии");

- "De arte metrica" ("Об искусстве стихосложения"), etc.

 

The founder of literary prose in Anglo-Saxon is considered to be King Alfred the Great who was king of W e s s e x (848-901). He is famous for his translations of Latin works into Anglo-Saxon, his works on history & juridical issues. Naturally these works cannot be regarded as fiction (художественная литература). But nevertheless they influenced the further development of Anglo-Saxon prose greatly.


ANGLO - NORMAN PERIOD IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (THE 11 - 13th CENTURIES)

 

 

1 0 6 6 was a turning point in British history: in this year in the battle at Hastings the Norman king William, Duke of Normandy (later he got the name William the Conqueror) defeated the British army led by King Harold II. Since then the Norman invasion / conquest began. The Normans (they were the descendants of those tribes that a long time before their invasion into England had come to the north-west of France & absorbed the culture & language of that country) became lords while the Britons turned into their serfs. The Normans spoke F r e n с h , the Britons - Anglo-Saxon, & another language spoken in the country was Latin which was the language of the Roman Catholic church. Respectively there were three cultures & three literatures in the country.

 

FRENCH CULTURE & LITERATURE

 

"Norman" means "North-man". The Normans were, in fact, of the same blood as the Danes, but they had thoroughly absorbed the culture of the late Roman Empire, had been long Christianized, and spoke that offshoot of Latin we call Norman French. Thus their kingdom in France had a very different set of traditions from those of the country they conquered - Great Britain. One could sum it up by saying that the Norman way of life liked south - towards the Mediterranean, towards the sun, towards wine and laughter, while the Anglo-Saxon way of life looked towards the grey northern seas - grim, melancholy, heavy, humourless. And speaking about the French and Anglo-Saxon languages and cultures we could compare them as colour TV (French) and black-and-white TV (Anglo-Saxon).

Not that the conquering Normans were irresponsible or inefficient (qualities which, wrongly, people often associate with the southern races). William the Conqueror made a thorough job of taking over the country, and had everything neatly inventoried - down to the number of deer in the forests, so it was said - and this inventory carried the frightening name of Domesday Book. So the first piece of Norman writing in England is a catalogue of the King's property, for William saw himself as the owner of the country. He owned the land and everything in it, but granted land to the nobles who had helped him achieve his conquest, and so set up that feudal system which was to transform English life. Feudalism may be thought of as a sort of pyramid, with the king at the apex and society ranged below him in lower and lower degrees of rank, till at the base you have the humblest order of men, tied to working on the land, men with few rights. Few rights, but yet rights, for one of the characteristics of feudalism was responsibility working two ways - up and down. The barons were responsible to the King, but the King had his responsibilities towards them too, and so on down to the base of the pyramid.

With the coming of the Normans (with their laws, their castles, knowledge of the art of war), the Anglo-Saxons sank to the position of abjectness which killed their culture and made their language a despised thing. The state language of the country was French, not Anglo-Saxon. All the official institutions also carried out their work in French.

 

The Normans came from France where culture & literature were influenced by the culture & literature of the southern French province Provance. This region was already highly developed in the 11th century both in cultural & economic spheres. And their literature was an example to follow for the whole France, because it was an expression of a new type of the one opposed to the ascetic religious literature & morals. The troubadours (трубадуры), the singers who went from palace to palace, sang the exquisite feelings of knights. And their attempt to express the depth of feelings & emotions in their songs was very important for further development of literature at large. They created a picture of an ideal knight but in reality knights were very often far from being ideal & perfect people.

So, gradually appeared chivalrous (рыцарская) poetry in the courts of feudal nobles. And as the Normans came from France they brought their culture & literature with them. The genres they brought were chivalrous poetry (рыцарская поэзия) & the romance (рыцарский куртуазный роман).

The 12th century was the period when these genres were flourishing in Britain. At first romances were brought from France but gradually Normans began to take Celtic legends for composing them. Among the first writers who introduced these genres into English literature were the following ones: Wace (Вас) with his romances "Brut" ("Брут") & "Rom an de Rou" ("Роман о P у " ) (this romance tells of a Scandinavian Viking Rollo by name, his reign, his heirs, etc. The author tried to be very precise when describing various battles, deeds & feats of the Normans which finished with their invasion of Britain); Robert de Borron with his "Joseph d'Arimathie" ("Иосиф Аримафейский"); Mary the French (Мария Французская) with her "Chevrefueille" ("Жимолость") in which she tells the legend about Tristan & Isoud (Тристан и Изольда). All of these writers began to take Celtic legends for the plots of their romances, the stories about King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table and many others.

At first romances were written in French as it was the language of the nobles at that time & the official language of the country at large. But by & by romances in Anglo-Saxon began to appear.

 

The first romances in English appeared in the 13th c. The earliest of them was "King Ногп"("КорольГорн") (1225). Then followed "TheLay ofHavelok" ("Песнь о Гавелоке"), "Sir Beves of Hamptoun" ("Бевис Гемптонский")& "Guy of Warwick" ("Гай из В a p в и к a " ). At the end of the 14th century appeared the most famous romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" ("Сэр Гавейн и Зелёный р ы ц а р ь " ). In this work the most characteristic features of the romance are most vividly reflected. The personages are knights who regard their dignity as the most valuable thing in the world. So are the Knights of the Round Table, King Arthur & the Green Knight who once appeared in the court. The main conflict of the story is dedicated to the Code of Chivalry (рыцарский кодекс чести): a true knight was supposed to be brave, just, honest, strong-willed, loyal (devoted to his Lord, his Lady & his cause (своему делу, занятию)). Such traits as cowardice, meanness, disloyalty, treachery, weak will were considered to be shameful. It happens so that Sir Gawain breaks his word & as a result he feels a great deal of repentance. Here is the main conflict of the story. The story takes its tale from the myths of the Round table and tells of the knight Gawain and his curious encounter with the Green Knight, a giant who, having had his head cut off by Gawain, calmly picks it up, tucks it under his arm and walks off. But he had made a compact that after a year he should deliver a return blow, at the Green Chapel where Gawain undertakes to meet him. On the way there Gawain stays at a castle and is subjected to many various temptations by the lord's wife. He resists them, but when the lord of the castle proves to be the Green Knight, Gawain conceals from him the girdle of invulnerability the lady had given him. The Green Knight had himself planned the temptations, and because of the one deception Sir Gawain is given a blow which, however, only slightly wounds him, his merit in resisting the main temptations being sufficient to save him from receiving a fatal blow. The romance is written in the language which shows little Norman influence.

 

As it has already been mentioned the bases for the Norman romances were different works by Norman poets (in French), who used Celtic & Danish legends having reworked them according to the demands of the chivalrous literature.

Actually the most famous romances in English literature were those about King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table. There were romances both in English & French which told of King Arthur who was a half legendary hero from Celtic legends who might have lived in the 6th c. been the leader of the Celts in their struggle against the Saxons. King Arthur was the main hero of a great number of medieval stories. His image united a large cycle (цикл) of the romances, which were transformed changed during different historical epochs. The following English romances were composed on the basis of the legends about King Arthur: "Arthur" ("Артур"), "Arthur and Merlin" ("Артур и Мерлин"), "Launcelot of the Lake" ("Ланцелот Озёрный"), etc. Such stories were popular among common people too. There is even a belief that one day King Arthur will come back again.

King Arthur was the son of the English King Urther P e n d r a g о n . On the advice of Wizard Merlin he was brought up not at home but in the court of Lord Ector. When Pendragon died there was a great contest: the participants had to pull out Pendragon's magic sword E x с a 1 i b u r out of the stone. The winner was to become a new king of the country. Arthur was the only one who managed to do it, so he became the heir to the throne. Some romances also tell us of Arthur's marriage with Lady Guinevere, of the famous castle of С a m e 1 о t where Arthur lived & where his brave knights gathered in a large hall at the Round T a b 1 e, of their deeds & feats. In many romances not only Arthur himself but the knights are also the protagonists of the stories (such as Launcelotofthe Lake who is supposed to have had a love affair with Lady Guinevere; S i r Gawain; Perceval who was one of the best knights, etc.). Alongside with the king & the knights Wizard Merlin & Morgana le Fay act (фея Моргана). Arthur's death is also described in the romances: Arthur had a son Mordred by name. Mordred wanted to be the king of the country & when Arthur was away he announced him dead. When Arthur came back there was a fight between them. Mordred was killed but Arthur himself was mortally wounded. Before he died he asked to throw his sword into the sea & there is a legend that one day he will return to get it back.

In the 60s of the 15th c. Thomas Malory (about 1417-1471) collected, systematized & rearranged the romances about King Arthur. Inl469 he retold their contents in the book " M о r t e d ' A r t u r " (from French - "Death of Arthur"). It was published in 1485 by the famous publisher С a x t о n & was a great success. This book was one of the most prominent books of the 15th c. Malory managed to rearrange the romances so perfectly that the best features of the popular French & English romances were preserved. Besides, the author introduced a lot from himself into the stories.

The plot of King Arthur's story was later used many times by different writers: Edmund Spencer in the 16 c, John Milton, Robert Southey, Walter Scott, Alfred Tennyson in the 19th c, William Morris, etc. Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" ("Янки при дворе короля Артура", 19th с.) is a parody on the stories about King Arthur. A contemporary English writer Mary Stuart/ Stewart wrote a tetralogy about King Arthur's life: "The Crystal Cave" ("Хрустальная п e щ e p a" ), " T h e Hollow Hills" ("Полые холмы"),"ТЬе Last Enchantment" ("Последнее очарование").

These romances are not only magic by nature, they also contain religious elements. For example, the story "The Quest for the Holy Grail" ("Поиски чаши святого Грааля") (it was one of the reasons for crusades, but it was very difficult to find the cup as only a morally ideal & perfect person could see it).

Although English & French romances of this cycle have very much in common, the French ones are much more elaborate & exquisite. The theme of refined love obtains the major place in them. English romances work on the same legends, have the same plot, but they preserve epic & heroic bases which were characteristic of the ancient legends themselves. The real life of the time is much better & deeper reflected in them, including violence, rough morals & dramatism.

 

Another romance which was a most famous at the time was the one about Tristan & Isoud-" Tristan et Isolde". There are several variations of the romance. One of them was adopted by V a g n e r in his opera.

Tristan was a son of King of Cornwell Mark by name. Once Tristan was badly wounded in a battle & went to be treated to the Irish Queen Isoud. There he met her daughter - Princess Isoud of the Golden Hair (Изольда Златовласка). He was cured & came back home. A bit later his father Mark asked Tristan to go to Ireland to win the princess for him (сосватать за него принцессу), for Mark. Before Tristan & Isoud left for Cornwell Queen Isoud gave her daughter's maid some love potion (любовное зелье). It was to be given to Isoud of the Golden Hair & King Mark on the day of their wedding to bind them in an unending love. But Tristan & the princess drank it on their way to Cornwell by mistake & fell in love with each other. Yet Isoud of the Golden Hair had to marry King Mark & Tristan had to leave for France where he married Isoud of the White Hands (Изольда Белорукая). Once he was mortally wounded & asked to send for his beloved, for Isoud of the Golden Hair. If she was coming there was supposed to be a white flag on the ship, if not - a black one. But although the flag was white Tristan's wife said that it was black & Tristan died without seeing his beloved.

 

 

LATIN CULTURE & LITERATURE

 

The main genre of Latin fiction was the genre of vision (видение). All works of this kind had much in common: they described the author's dream & were very moralizing & didactic. For example, a vision was likely to start like this: one day the author fell asleep & had a dream in which either God told him to do something & it was a good thing or the author might witness some events that taught him & us something good.

In the 11 - 12th c.c. Latin works on history of Great Britain were widespread. One of the most prominent among them is "Historia Britonum, 1 132 - 1 137 " ("История бриттов") by Geoffrey of Monmouth (Гальфрид Монмаутский). This work was very important for the further development of medieval literature. It contained the earliest mentioning of the Celtic legends of King Arthur. It is here where we for the first time get acquainted with King Arthur, wizard Merlin, Morgana le Fay, Queen Guinevere, and the brave Knights of the Round Table. These legends will later become one of the major sources of the plot in the chivalrous poetry & romances in French & in Anglo -Saxon then. It is also here that we get acquainted with the first version of the story about King Lear & his daughters.

In the 12 - 13th c.c. also began to appear works of satirical character, for example, the 5 volumes of "De nugis curialium" ("О забавных разговорах придворных" )by Walter Map who was a chaplain in the court of King Henry II & was well acquainted with the morals & customs of the court. This book is written in the form of jokes & anecdotes. Besides a lot of folk stories are included into the book: sagas, legends, songs, etc. This work remained a source of plots for other writers for a very long time. Actually on the one hand this work can be regarded as an entertaining one, but on the other hand it contains a great deal of satire against mundane (светский) & church circles.

There was one more satirical phenomenon in Latin literature of the time - the so called Goliardic poetry. These songs were sung & composed by vagantes (от латинского "бродячие") who belonged to the lowest layer of clergymen. There was a myth that somewhere lived an archbishop Goliya ( Г о л и я ) by name who was the author of the songs but actually they were composed by the vagantes themselves. In these works they sang (воспевали) all the joys of life: women, wine, good food, etc. And a great number of these songs were a kind of parody on the Catholic cult & religious songs. In fact all the mentioned works were written in Latin but gradually Latin was replaced by Anglo-Saxon in this Goliardic poetry.