Transcript Intro to Chaucer and the Tales

14th century England.
Chaucer: introduction
Middle England Values

Gentilesse/Gentil:




Trouthe/Trewe:




Refinement and courtesy resulting from good breeding
A function of social class to a certain extent
gentil is related to the modern term gentleman
1. fidelity, loyalty; 2. pledge, promise
cf. modern English, to "pledge one's troth," meaning to
agree to marry
It is more than simply the idea of truthfulness or trueness
to one's word.
Courtly love and knightly behavior
Courtly Love (wrap up)




Modeled on the feudal relationship between a knight
and his liege lord
Idealized sort of relationship (could not exist within
the context of "real life" medieval marriages)
The audience for romance was perfectly aware that
these romances were fictions
Capellanus's "Art of Courtly Love“: a satire mocking
the conventions of courtly love
Stages in Literary Development





Translated incompletely the Roman de la Rose and
Wrote some short poems before 1360
The Book of the Duchess is a dream vision and an
elegy at once.
Translated the Consolation of Philosophy of
Boethius, which influenced him profoundly
The House of Fame: first typically Chaucerian work
After 1370 the Italian influence on Chaucer’s work
became major in his poetry: The Parliament of
Fowls, Troilus and Criseyde.
Chaucer (1343-1400): Social
background




Born in a well-to-do bourgeois family in London,
1343.
Commoners who were advancing in wealth and
social prestige
Excluded from the aristocracy by birth, and from the
country gentry by their city occupations
They were somewhere in between: the beginning of
the English middle class.
Chaucer: Career Path





Teenage: a page in the household of Prince Lionel
(son of King Edward III)
His 1st great patron was John of Gaunt (5th son of
the king): the most powerful nobleman in England.
Received offices, grants of money, and other
privileges for his services from successive kings,
Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV.
Sent on diplomatic missions to Flanders, France and
Italy
Became a public man but of modest importance
Formal and informal education




His development: summed up as comprised in three
stages, French, Italian and English.
Embedded the first translation of a Petrarch sonnet
into English.
Other models were Boccaccio and Dante. The
influence was not directly exercised through Italy,
but via the French.
His latest stories have no direct originals and in their
humour and freedom anticipate the typically English
temper.
The Middle Ages – Norman
Invasion





1066 – Duke William of Normandy
One-day long battle
Defeated and killed King Harold of England
William felt entitled to the English throne (Edward,
previous king, left no heirs)
Combined Norman emphasis on law and order with
Anglo Saxon democracy and culture
Feudalism

Caste system (social class)
Military system
Property system
System of social behavior

Top of the Ladder: William the Conqueror




Barons, vassals, lower vassals, landless knights, serfs
City Classes


Eventually many people left the country and
moved to the cities
City classes not defined by the feudal system


Upper, middle, lower
Middle class = merchant class who could afford
what they wanted
Crusades & Hundred Years’ War

Crusades:




Series of religious wars to
spread Christianity
throughout Europe
Struggle against Muslims
Ultimately a failure
Europe benefited from
contact with higher
civilization of Middle East

Hundred Years’ War




Battles between
England and France
Lasted over 100 years
(1337-1453)
Feud stemming from
Norman Invasion
Militarily unsuccessful
for Britain; did increase
sense of nationalism
The Black Death: historical
consequences





People died without last rites and without having a
chance to confess their sins.
There were not enough workers left to work the land
It has been estimated that 40% of England's priests
died in the epidemic.
The Church authority was questioned
The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was one result of the
social tension caused by the adjustments needed
after the epidemic.
Black Death




Highly contagious plague
Spread through cities from fleas of infested rats
Killed 1/3 of people in England
Gave more power to people in lower classes


Caused labor shortage
Lower class workers willing to work could negotiate
wages and working conditions
The Canterbury Tales: Background






One of the landmarks of English literature.
Had a continuous history of publication.
Chaucer did not complete the entire Canterbury
Tales as designed.
Tales structured so that each pilgrim would tell four
tales (only completed twenty-four tales).
Dramatic illusion of the tellers within a framework
of tales: double fiction
Include romantic adventures, fabliaux,
hagiographies, bestiaries, religious allegories, a
sermon
Martyrdom of Sir Thomas a Becket




Thomas was a Norman who had great power in
England as well as Catholic church (prime minister
and Archbishop)
Sided with the Pope rather than the King
King Henry II (half joking) said he wanted Thomas
put to death
Henry’s knights killed Thomas in the cathedral at
Canterbury
Martyrdom of Sir Thomas a Becket

Saint Thomas the Martyr



Made a saint and martyred by a cult following who
opposed the king
People made pilgrimages to Canterbury to honor
Saint Thomas’s memory
The Canterbury Tales are a fictional collection of
stories from a group of people making this
pilgrimage to Canterbury
Glossary 1: Fabliau







Short, humorous and typically bawdy poem.
Abounded as elements of poetry in France of the 12th and
13th centuries.
Appeared in English some 100 years later.
Deals for the most part with domestic comedy full of
sexual innuendo of the merchant and middle classes.
Some of the motifs are from oriental sources.
Involve a lovers' triangle, trickery designed to gain
favours from a desired woman most likely married or
otherwise unavailable (too young etc.).
Trickery designed to delude an ageing or otherwise
undesirable husband to clear the way for a lover.
Glossary 2: Hagiography






The study of saints.
Refers literally to writings on the subject of holy persons:
biographies of ecclesiastical and secular leaders.
Focus on the lives of men and women canonized by the
Christian Church
Other religions such as Buddhism and Islam create and
maintain hagiographical texts concerning saints and other
individuals believed to be imbued with the sacred.
The related term hagiology refers to the study of saints
collectively, without focusing on the life of an individual
saint.
The term "hagiography" has also come to be used as a
pejorative reference to the works of contemporary
biographers and historians whom critics perceive to be
uncritical and even "reverential" in their writing.
Glossary 3: Bestiary






A compendium of beasts
Made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that
described various animals, birds and even rocks.
The natural history and illustration of each beast were usually
accompanied by a moral lesson.
This reflected the belief that the world itself was literally the
Word of God, and that every living thing had its own special
meaning (the pelican, which was believed to tear open its
breast to bring its young to life with its own blood, was a
living representation of Jesus).
Also a reference to the symbolic language of animals in
Western Christian art and literature.
Particularly popular in England and France around the 12th
century and were mainly compilations of earlier texts.
Next Time Assignment

The General Prologue









What was the purpose of a medieval pilgrimage?
Who is the "holy blisful martyr" ?
Why is he of interest to the pilgrims?
How many pilgrims are there?
How is this helpful to Chaucer in his ambition to show his art as a
poet?
Which pilgrims represent new classes?
Which figures are painted in a positive or in a negative light?
What seems to be Chaucer's attitude toward the Church?
What is the role of Chaucer the pilgrim within this group?