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    Middle Age

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    Muhammad Saad
    The document outlines the changes in language, society, and literature between the Old English and Middle English periods in Britain. After the Norman Conquest, Old English was replaced by Norman French as the official language, though English survived among common people. By the 14th century, English re-emerged as the dominant language in a different form called Middle English. Feudalism replaced the king-retainer structure of Anglo-Saxon society, establishing a hierarchy of clergy, nobility, and peasants. Religious and chivalric literature were prominent genres during this time, including stories of saints, mystery and morality plays, and Arthurian romances. Geoffrey Chaucer was a prominent late 14th century writer who authored The Canterbury

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    Middle Age

    Uploaded by

    Muhammad Saad
    38 views3 pages
    The document outlines the changes in language, society, and literature between the Old English and Middle English periods in Britain. After the Norman Conquest, Old English was replaced by Norman French as the official language, though English survived among common people. By the 14th century, English re-emerged as the dominant language in a different form called Middle English. Feudalism replaced the king-retainer structure of Anglo-Saxon society, establishing a hierarchy of clergy, nobility, and peasants. Religious and chivalric literature were prominent genres during this time, including stories of saints, mystery and morality plays, and Arthurian romances. Geoffrey Chaucer was a prominent late 14th century writer who authored The Canterbury

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    The document outlines the changes in language, society, and literature between the Old English and Middle English periods in Britain. After the Norman Conquest, Old English was replaced by Norman French as the official language, though English survived among common people. By the 14th century, English re-emerged as the dominant language in a different form called Middle English. Feudalism replaced the king-retainer structure of Anglo-Saxon society, establishing a hierarchy of clergy, nobility, and peasants. Religious and chivalric literature were prominent genres during this time, including stories of saints, mystery and morality plays, and Arthurian romances. Geoffrey Chaucer was a prominent late 14th century writer who authored The Canterbury

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    38 views3 pages

    Middle Age

    Uploaded by

    Muhammad Saad
    The document outlines the changes in language, society, and literature between the Old English and Middle English periods in Britain. After the Norman Conquest, Old English was replaced by Norman French as the official language, though English survived among common people. By the 14th century, English re-emerged as the dominant language in a different form called Middle English. Feudalism replaced the king-retainer structure of Anglo-Saxon society, establishing a hierarchy of clergy, nobility, and peasants. Religious and chivalric literature were prominent genres during this time, including stories of saints, mystery and morality plays, and Arthurian romances. Geoffrey Chaucer was a prominent late 14th century writer who authored The Canterbury

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Outline

    Introduction

    Language

    Society

    Literature

    Religious literature

    Chivalric Literature

    Prominent Figures

    The world about which Chaucer wrote was a very different world from that which Produced Beowulf.
    Developments in language, new structures in society, and Changes in how people viewed the world and
    their place in it produced literature Unlike the heroic literature of the Old English period.

    After the Norman Conquest in 1066, Old English was suppressed in records and Official venues in favor
    of the Norman French language. However, the English Language survived among the conquered Anglo-
    Saxons. The peasant classes spoke Only English, and the Normans who spread out into the countryside
    to take over Estates soon learned English of necessity. By the 14 th century, English reemerged as The
    dominant language but in a form very different from Anglo-Saxon Old English. Writers of the 13 th and
    14th centuries described the co-existence of Norman French And the emerging English now known as
    Middle English.

    In the Middle Ages, the king-retainer structure of Anglo-Saxon society evolved into feudalism , a method
    Of organizing society consisting of three estates:Clergymen, the noblemen who were granted fiefs by
    the King, and the peasant class who worked on the fief.Medieval society saw the social order as part of
    the Great Chain of Being , the metaphor used in the Middle Ages to describe the social hierarchy
    believed to Be created by God. Originating with Aristotle and, in the Middle Ages, believed to be
    ordained by God, the idea of Great Chain of Being, or Scala Naturae, attempted to Establish order in the
    universe by picturing each Creation as a link in a chain beginning with God at the Top, followed by the
    various orders of angels, down through classes of people, then Animals, and even inanimate parts of
    nature. The hierarchical arrangement of Feudalism provided the medieval world with three estates, or
    orders of society: the Clergy (those who tended to the spiritual realm and spiritual needs), the nobility
    (those who ruled, protected, and provided civil order), and the commoners (those Who physically
    labored to produce the necessities of life for all three estates).However, by Chaucer’s lifetime (late 14 th
    century), another social class, a merchant Middle class, developed in the growing cities. Many of
    Chaucer’s pilgrims represent The emerging middle class: the Merchant, the Guildsmen, and even the
    Wife of Bath.

    Because the Church and the concept of chivalry were dominant factors in the Philosophy of the Middle
    Ages, these two ideas also figure prominently in medievalLiterature.
    Religious literature

    Religious literature appeared in several genres:

    • devotional books

    ◦ books of hours [collections of prayers and devotionals, often

    Illuminated]

    ◦ sermons

    ◦ psalters [books containing psalms and other devotional material,Often illuminated]

    ◦ missals [books containing the prayers and other texts read during

    The celebration of mass throughout the year]

    ◦ breviaries [books containing prayers and instructions for Celebrating mass]

    • hagiographies [stories of the lives of saints]

    • medieval drama

    ◦ mystery plays [plays depicting events from the Bible]

    ◦ morality plays[plays, often allegories, intended to teach a moral Lesson]

    In Britain, chivalric literature, particularly the legends Of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round
    Table,Flowered in the medieval romance, a narrative, in either prose or poetry,Presenting a knight and
    his adventures. The word romance originally indicated Languages that derived from Latin (the Roman
    language) and is not related to Modern usage of the word to signify romantic love. Instead a medieval
    romance Presents a knight in a series of adventIn Britain, chivalric literature, particularly the legends of
    King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table,flowered in the medieval romance , a narrative, in either
    prose or poetry,presenting a knight and his adventures. The word romance originally indicated
    languages that derived from Latin (the Roman language) and is not related to modern usage of the word
    to signify romantic love. Instead a medieval romance presents a knight in a series of adventures (a
    quest) featuring battles, supernatural elements, repeated events, and standardized characters, repeated
    events, and standardized characters Elements, repeated events, and standardized characters.

    Geoffrey chaucer is one of the prominent figure of middle age , he wrote rhe canterbury tales.

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