Study Guide

I created a study guide for this unit. I also attended a study group with Whitney, Jordan, Cali and a couple other people. Here is the material I came up with:
Study Guide
Themes:
Invasion-
-Norman Invasion 1066
-changed: language, society (king, feudalism), economic (urbanization), fluid boundaries, architecture (Romanesque, infrastructure), Political (central leadership), Literary (new aesthetics, imported French literature, Arthurian tradition)
-Beowulf
Catholicism (monasticism, cathedral, clerical reform)
-Brought to England by Celtic missionaries and Augustine
-Beade’s Ecclesiastical History
-Elegies, The Seafarer
-The Dream of the Rood
-Beowulf, Christian or pagan text?
-example of influence of church with education (Cathedrals first universities), and literacy
-Middle English Lyrics, Adam lay ibounden, I sing of a Maiden (idolization of Mary)
-Julian of Norwich, Marjorie Kempe; religious figures also give key to understanding daily life of women
- Handbook, Apostle’s Creeds, Handlynne Symne: publications by the church either for clerical reform or to inspire religious devotion
-Chaucer: several religious figures that were mocked
-Catholic church in conflict with government for power (Henry II and Archbishop of Canterbury Benedict)
Social estate (aristocracy, clergy, peasant)
-Three estates:
1.Those who fight (aristocracy, knights, kings, lords)
2.Those who pray (clergy)
3.Those who work (peasantry)
-Order: King- Lords/Nobles (given a fiefdom)- vassals (Knights, peasants), centered around castle
-parallel to the church: Pope-Bishops/Cardinals-priests, centered around Cathedral
-Social classes best represented in Chaucer; poked fun at all of the classes
Rise of vernacular literacy
-Church wished to reach further into the lives of commoners through literature; less emphasis on clergy and monks understanding literature.
-Second Shepherd’s Play, evidence of vernacular literature, with plots that both entertain and teach about Christian events/morals
-Middle English lyrics also could be considered as a part of this rise, simple, easy to remember, and teach Christian morals; I sing of a Maiden
-The Dream of the Rood
Gift exchange and feudalism
-BEOWULF, multiple instances of the importance of gift giving; Hrothgar’s gifts after Beowulf defeats Grendel, symbolizes the formation of new bonds (more than just material gifts); Kennings, like ring-barer, emphasize importance of gift giving.
-Continued on throughout literature, Lanval
-Feudalism (described above), centered around gift-giving; King gives fief to lord, who in turn gives land to peasantry; peasantry then returns goods; protection given to peasantry
Comitatus and Monarchy
-Comitatus: Jordan’s page, Comitatus is devotion to a King by a warrior, seen in Beowulf, and in Lanval (speech given by Cornwall)
-However, there is a tension between the nobility and monarchy; also seen in Lanval
-Magna Carta 1215 represents the attempts to define that relationship
Travel & the Other (pilgrimage, crusade)
-The Wanderer, The Seafarer
-Beowulf; travel to receive glory, seek revenge
-Lanval; travel to nature to escape/encounter mystical elements
-Pilgrimages: Chaucer (pilgrimage acts as an equalizer), Marjorie Kempe
-Chaucer: Wife of Bath traveled-symbol of worldliness
-Crusades: used as an excuse to travel/develop new economic ties, also served as redemption for sins (like indulgences), Richard I
Education (monasticism, cathedral school, universities)
-handbook, Second Shepherd’s Play, etc.
Language!
-Old English: Elegies, Beowulf
-Kennings, sezura, alliteration (groups of 3), emphasis on nouns, guttural sounds
-Importance of Oral Tradition; dictated the kind of language used
-Middle English: Lyrics, Chaucer
-rhythym, more familiar, couplets
-Key Words from Chaucer Lines 1-18
shoures soote = showers sweet
droghte = drought
perced = pierced
veyne = vine
swich = such
eek = also
vertu = power
holt = wood
heeth = heath
Ram = sing for zodiac for early spring
Yronne = run
Foweles = bird
Priketh = excites
Corages = their hearts
Palmeres = pilgrims
Seken straunge strondes = seek strange shores
Ferne halwes = far-off shrines
Wende = travel
Genres:
Alliterative Verse: Beowulf, Elegies
Rhyme: Middle English Lyrics, Canterbury Tales, The Second Shepherd’s Play
Epic: Beowulf
Folklore: Beowulf
Romance: Lanval, The Knight’s Tale (Courtly Love, Cali’s page)
Wisdom Literature: Marjorie Kempe?
Elegy : Elegies, more meditative rather than mourning, questioning mortality, suffering
Pastoral : Second Shepherd’s Play
Satire: Canterbury Tales
Religious genres: Julian of Norwich, Marjorie Kempe, Ecclesiastical History, Dream of the Rood, Second Shepherd’s Play
Medieval Drama: Second Shepherd’s Play
Chronicles: gives reports on the state of events during 14th century, almost a kind of Newspaper