History of the English language and Literature

Lecture # 3 : Middle English

Peter Brown - modified by : Arlène PY

Let’s recap !

• Before Old English the people of Britain spoke ……………….

Celtic languages.
• Old English is the combination of the languages spoken by:
• the ……………….
Angles the ……………….
Jutes and the ……………….
Saxons

• Germanic
Those 3 groups were ……………………. tribes who invaded Britain in
5th
the ………….. century.

• inflections
Old English was quite complex because of its ………………
The Norman Invasion
1066 BCE

• Norman conquest of England was a

military invasion of England by
William the Conqueror in 1066.
• The conquest changed the English
language and culture
• The Bayeux Tapestry tells a story in
pictures about the Norman invasion
of Britain and the Battle of Hastings.
The Battle of Hastings
1066 BCE

• The Battle of Hastings took place on

the 14th October 1066.
• It was fought between William of
Normandy and King Harold
• The Normans got to Hastings by boat:
they sailed about 700 ships across the
English Channel.
• King Harold had an army of 5,000, and
most of the men were farmers, not William preparing his troops for battle
Bayeux Tapestry
soldiers.
 William the Conqueror

• William the Conqueror, Duke of

Normandy wants to be the next King of
England
• He engages in the Battle of Hastings
against King Harold
• William did not speak English when he
ascended the throne
Organising a new Kingdom
The Domesday book

Domesday Book = manuscript that collects:

• how much land there is
• who owns it
• what land is like / used for and who lives there
• how much it is worth
Organising a new Kingdom
A Feudal System

• King – owned all the land.

• Barons – king gave land to barons in return for
money and men for the army.
• Knights – barons gave some of their land to
knights if they promised to fight when needed.
• Peasants – knights gave a few strips of land to
the peasants and peasants had to share their Source: bbc.co.uk
produce with them.
Language of the Normans
Norman French or Anglo-Norman?
• Normans were of Norse / Viking origin, but had already spent 2 centuries in
Northern France.
• Normans abandoned Old Norse and adopted French - not a single Norse word
survived in Norman French.
• Norman French was quite different from the standard French of Paris of the
period, which is known as Francien.
• The differences between Norman French and Francien became even more
marked after the Norman invasion of Britain
• Norman French, now called Anglo-Norman French became the language of
the kings and nobility of England for more than 300 years.
 La Chanson de Roland
Carle li reis, nostre emperere magnes,
Set anz tuz pleins ad estét en Espaigne:
Tresque'en la mer cunquist la tere altaigne. Norman French

N'i ad castel ki devant lui remaigne;

Mur ne citét n'i est remés a fraindre
Fors Sarraguce, k'est en une muntaigne.

Charles the King, our Lord and Sovereign,

Full seven years hath sojourned in Spain,
Anglo-Norman
Conquered the land, and won the western main,
Now no fortress against him doth remain,
No city walls are left for him to gain,
Save Sarraguce, that sits on high mountain.
Norman language influence on English
The doublets
Anglo-Norman → Old English
Beef → Cow
Mutton → Sheep
Pork → Pig
Veal → Calf
Question → Ask
Royal → King
 Norman language influence on English
New suffixes Reduction of case inflection
• -ance Old English plural noun ending « -en »
• -ant (house/housen ; shoe/shoen)
• -ence disappeared in favour of « s » or « es »
• -ent
Because inflections disappeared, word
• -ity
order became more important to convey
• -ment meaning.
• -tion
 Norman language influence on English

Vocabulary and spelling

French and Old English combined French spelling replacing Old

: English letter pattern :
French « gentle » + « hw » → « wh »

Germanic « man » = « yogh » → « g » or « gh »

Middle English « gentleman »

The Anglo-Saxon under the Normans

Old English = language of

peasantry & lower classes

Anglo-Norman= language of
nobility & upper classes

Old English + Anglo-Norman=

Middle English
The Anglo-Saxon under the Normans

Humble trades kept Anglo-Saxon names

baker - miller - shoemaker…

Skilled trades adopted French names

mason - painter - tailor - merchant…
 Why did English survive language of the invaders?

Despite an 85% loss of Anglo-saxon words

• Anglo-Saxons outnumbered Normans

• Anglo-Saxon became « Normanised » but
Norman became « Anglicised »
• 100 year war (1337-1453) made French
language of the enemy
• Black Death
Plague doctor - fineartamerica.com
Middle English Literature

• Poem « The Owl and the

Nightingale » (around 1200)
• Poem « Brut » (around 1200)
• The Canterbury Tales (around 1380)
Middle English Literature

« The Owl and the Nightingale »

• A debate / a quarrel between two
birds about love, marriage, nesting
habits and manners
• Humorist tone
William the Conqueror’s impact on British History

A video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rrvrvPjN-0