Brut. Norman dynasty, Old English literature also passed away: the last entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is for 1154. For half a century the literary voice of the English people was almost silent. The merry Englishman still sang old folk songs and probably composed new ballads; but, so far as we know, Latin and French were the only languages employed by literary men during the reigns of Henry II and Richard I. English Layamon's literature reappeared, however, about 1205, when Layamon, a priest from the Severn valley (Worcestershire), wrote a rhyming chronicle in the tongue of the people. Layamon's Brut is a confused, inartistic production made up largely of Celtic legends; nevertheless, it is an important landmark in the history of English thought and culture. A few years later another important literary document Ormulum. saw the light: the Ormulum, a rhyming almanac and religious handbook by Orm, a priest who lived somewhere in the Midlands. It was Orm's purpose to give an English version of the passages from the Gospels that the church had appointed as a part of the service on each particular Sunday or church holiday, and to add a little sermon to each. Ten thousand lines of this strange production still exist. The 108. The Middle English Language. For the student of the English language the awkward verses of Layamon and Orm are of inestimable value, as they serve to show Changes in the English how the language had developed in the preceding language. century. Great changes had come over the English idiom in the twelfth century: the grammar had become simplified, largely by the loss of inflections in which the AngloSaxon was rich. Certain changes in the vowel sounds of the language had also begun to appear. A and e, which in Saxon times were sounded as in modern German, have become changed to their present sound values; ï, o, and u have in many cases The shifting of shifted to ī, u, and ou respectively. Thus häl, vowel sounds. mïn, dō, and hus, have become hale, mine, do, and house. In many instances the changes have not followed this rule and in many other cases the old sounds have remained. NATIONAL THEMES IN LITERATURE 125 Some of the Old English vowel sounds have disappeared entirely. This development was not completed before the sixteenth century; but some of the changes can be traced back to the twelfth. There had also been changes in the vocabulary: in the writings of Orm, who lived in the old Danelaw, there is evidence of a considerable borrowing from the Danish. It is surprising to find that neither of these two poems shows much French influence on the English. Apparently the changes came from growth within the language itself and not from foreign influences. 109. The Chroniclers: Matthew Paris. The Paris. The English spirit is apparent even among the men who wrote their thoughts in Latin. A little later than Layamon and Orm came Matthew Paris, the greatest historical writer of the English middle ages, who gathered into a lengthy chronicle all that he could learn of the British and English past. In the middle ages history was written chiefly in the monasteries: the monks had leisure, they knew the art of writing, and they had access to books. A short distance north of London was the great monastery of Saint Albans, the wealthiest and most important monastic foundation on the island. It had among its officials a Matthew historiographer; and in the reign of Henry III Paris. Matthew Paris held this important post. This famous monk also wrote the happenings of his own day; and his words betray much indignation when he writes of the inroads of the aliens, whether churchmen or seculars. Matthew Paris condemns abuses wherever he finds them, and in his criticism he spares neither king nor pope. 110. National Themes in Literature. The national tendency is also seen in the choice of literary themes, whether the writing was in English or not. In the eleventh century a literary revival had appeared on the Continent which The new litercontinued in the romances of the French trouba- ary movement in England and dours and the German minnesingers of the twelfth on the Conticentury. The English literary movement of the nent. thirteenth century doubtless got its impulse from France and was, therefore, not wholly national. But it is to be noted that such time-honored subjects as the Trojan war, the deeds of Alexander, Cæsar, and Charlemagne were at this time beginning to give place to subjects that were English or at least British: King Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan and Iseult, the Holy Grail, King Horn, Havelock the Dane, Alfred the Great, and Richard the Lion-heart became favorite subjects among the English romancers of the thirteenth century. Havelock the Dane and King THE UNIVERSITIES: OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE 127 Horn were probably Danish viking chiefs; but the more important of the themes mentioned were Celtic and belonged to the Celtic lands of Wales and Cornwall. It was believed at one time that King Arthur's bones rested in a church at Glastonbury. According to legend Glastonbury was also the British home of the Holy Grail. Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea. King Arthur and Queen Guinevere are said to be buried in the Glastonbury cemetery. Saint Dunstan was one of the abbots of this abbey; the same honor is claimed for Saint Patrick. From a photograph by W. H. Dudley. 111. The Universities:1 Oxford and Cambridge. An important factor in this nationalistic development was the English university. Oxford became a university in the Oxford and twelfth century, in the days of Henry II, though Cambridge. an important school had existed there somewhat earlier. Cambridge was founded in the thirteenth century, in the days of Henry III. It was during the latter reign, too, that arrangements were made for the accommodation of stu- The college dents in colleges. A college was a group of build- system. ings where the students ate, slept, studied, and worshiped; it 1 Cheyney, Nos. 111-114. 2 Tuell and Hatch, No. 23. would therefore have a dormitory, a dining hall, a library, and a chapel. The first of these colleges is said to have been Merton College, founded by Bishop Merton of Rochester toward the close of the reign of Henry III. About the same time the wealthy Balliol family founded and endowed Balliol College. In those same years a group of students at Cambridge were formed into an association that later grew into the college of Peterhouse. In time the colleges became the most characteristic feature of English university life. 112. Medieval Science: Roger Bacon. The universities were still chiefly devoted to theological study, but other subjects, such as law, also flourished. The sciences were scarcely Medieval science. in existence as yet, for the medieval mind feared to investigate nature, as that might mean searching out the secrets of God, which, it was believed, He guarded jealously; or it might mean coming into contact with the forces of Satan, whose control in this evil world was thought to be quite extensive. However, such men as Robert Grosseteste were not to be deterred from any form of study; and Roger Bacon. Grosseteste's younger contemporary, Roger Bacon,1 was a true scientist with wonderful insight. He looked forward to a time when the secrets of nature should all be known, when carriages should be self-propelling, and men should sail the air as well as the sea. Roger Bacon soon came to be regarded as a dangerous character; the pope withdrew his right to teach at Oxford and soon afterwards he was sent to prison, where he spent many years, though superior knowledge of nature was his only crime; but to his contemporaries the science of physics was very much like magic, which, it was agreed, was of evil origin. 113. The Friars in England. The great scientist belonged to a new religious order of the monastic type, the Franciscan friars. During the years of the interdict in England, an Italian layman, Francis of Assisi, was gathering a small band of followers and organizing them into a monastic brotherhood, whose great purpose should Franciscans and Dominicans. 1 Robinson, Nos. 78-79. 2 2 Gardiner, 190-191. |