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Timelines
Middle Ages Timeline
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Medieval Timeline
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410
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Politics
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Roman Occupation of England Ends
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Julius Caesar launched the invasion of Britain in 54 B.C.; the
Roman Emperor Claudius successfully subdued the British in 43 A.D.
Hadrian's Wall was built at the border of Scotland, and as in many
other places the Roman legions were followed by settlers, trade,
and infrastructure such as roads and cities settled by ex-soldiers.
The Romans withdrew finally in 410.
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597
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Culture
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St. Augustine's Mission
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A missionary from Rome, St. Augustine of Canterbury (not to be
confused with Augustine of Hippo) arrived in England in 597 with
forty monks. Augustine converted King Aethelbert, built a church
and established a monastery in Canterbury, and introduced a new
form of ecclesiastical organization. Augustine introduced the Roman
rite to England, which held a different date for Easter and
practiced an alternative form of baptism, and displaced the Celtic
rite after the Synod of Whitby in 663. Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales fictionalizes a 14th century pilgrimage to the Canterbury
Cathedral.
In the Anthology
On the Web:
In Images:
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c. 600
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Culture
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King Arthur First Mentioned
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The earliest reference to a warrior named Arthur occurs in the
Welsh poem "Gododdin," dated c. 600, though the tradition may go
back to the Battle of Mt. Badon in c. 540. Arthur again appears as
a Celtic warrior fighting against invading Saxons around 800. The
legend of King Arthur then gains stature in Geoffrey of Monmouth's
Historia (c. 1135) and Layamon's Brut (c. 1200),
which pictures Arthur as a national hero. The exploits of Arthur
and his knights are then extended and elaborated by Marie de France
and Chretien de Troyes in France, Wolfram von Eschenbach in
Germany, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Malory's
Morte Darthur in England.
In the Anthology
- Geoffrey of Monmouth. History of the Kings of
Britain
- Arthurian Romance: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight;
Malory's Morte Darthur
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c. 650
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Culture
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Ruthwell Cross
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An eighteen foot tall cross of stone carved with Christian
scenes preserved in a church courtyard in southern Scotland also
preserves part of the text of the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Dream of
the Rood" in runic text. Like the poem, the Ruthwell Cross combines
Latin (or Roman) inscriptions and Germanic (or Anglo-Saxon) texts
and images, thus displaying the interplay of cultures that made up
Anglo-Saxon England.
In the Anthology
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680
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Culture
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Abbess Hilda Dies
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Born in 614, this princess of Northumbria became a nun in 647
and founded the famous Whitby double monastery (housing monks and
nuns) in 657, with which the first English poet, Caedmon, later
affiliated himself. Her abbey hosted the Synod of Whitby (663) in
which the Roman rite was adopted in favor of the Celtic rite as the
norm for English religious practice.
On the Web:
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c. 700
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Culture
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Book of Kells |
The Book of Kells is widely regarded as one of the most
beautiful illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. A manuscript
of the four Gospels found at the ancient monastery in Kells,
Ireland, its distinctively Celtic designs are masterpieces both of
mathematical precision and aesthetic design.
In the Anthology
In Images:
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731
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Literature
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Bede's Ecclesiastical History
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Perhaps the most learned man in Europe during his time, the
venerable Bede wrote theological treatises, scientific tracts, and
historical accounts, the most important of which is his
Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Written in
Latin, the History is the most thorough source for English
history from 597 to 731. Notably, the earliest English poem,
"Caedmon's Hymn," is embedded in Bede's History. A lifelong
monk and admired for his piety and learning, Bede spent his life at
the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow and was canonized in
1899.
In the Anthology
- Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People
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899
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Politics
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King Alfred's Death
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Born in 849, Alfred the Great became king of the West Saxons in
871 and bought peace with the Vikings with the Danegeld or
land tax. After several years' peace, the Vikings continued their
raids along the English coast until defeated by Alfred at Edington
in 878. In the Old English poem "Judith," the struggle of the
Hebrew heroine against the pagan Holofernes and his army may
reflect the cultural tension between English settlers and Viking
incursions. In 886, after another treaty, England was divided into
two spheres of influence, the Danish and English, via the
Danelaw. The English controlled the south of England below a
border that ran roughly from the mouth of the Thames River
northwest across England.
In addition to this political consolidation, Alfred is best
known for his efforts to establish education for the court and
church, which led to the development and dissemination of
Anglo-Saxon prose works. Alfred himself famously translated Gregory
the Great's Pastoral Care and Boethius's
Consolation of Philosophy from Latin into Anglo-Saxon.
During his later life, Alfred continued to fight the Danes and his
military exploits and personal piety led to his heroic stature and
title of Alfred the Great.
In the Anthology
- Bishop Asser, Life of King Alfred
- Alfred, Preface to Gregory's Pastoral Care
In Images:
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c. 1000
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Literature
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Beowulf Manuscript
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The manuscript that records the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf
(Cotton Vitellius A. xv) is usually dated c. 1000, although the
story itself is probably two hundred years older. Detailing the
struggles of England's Germanic forebearers, particularly the
Danish king Hrothgar, Beowulf combines pre-Christian and
Christian elements in Beowulf's epic battles against Grendel,
Grendel's Mother, and a fierce dragon. Beowulf's heroics in the
face of mortal danger insure his social status and the sole
surviving manuscript preserves Beowulf's literary immortality.
The "heroic code" structuring the values of Germanic culture are
highlighted throughout Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poetry: the
comitatus or band of fierce and loyal warriors who follow a
tribal lord are rewarded with treasure and status while the
disloyal are shamed. The crucifixion of Jesus is imbued with this
ethos in The Dream of the Rood. Exile, whether through loss of a lord or
shame in the face of the community, was one of the worst fates an
Anglo-Saxon could suffer, as in The Wanderer, while
even the families and loved ones, particularly the wives of those
killed or lost, as in Wulf and Eadwacer and the Wife's
Lament, also suffered. This sense of separation, loss, and
exile pervades Old English poetry and gives it a funerary or
elegiac tone.
In the Anthology
- Beowulf
- Dream of the Rood
On the Web:
In Images:
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1066
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Politics
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Norman Invasion
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The death of Edward the Confessor initiated a struggle for the
throne in England between Harold of Wessex and the allied Harald
Hardrada and Earl Tostig. Wessex was victorious at the battle of
Stamford Bridge, but William, Duke of Normandy and feudal vassal of
the King of France, crossed the English Channel, landed at Pevensey
on September 28, 1066, and defeated King Harold, the former Earl of
Wessex, on October 14, to begin the Norman Conquest. William had
himself crowned King of England on Christmas Day.
That a vassal of the French King became King of England
initiated a political struggle between England and France that
lasted hundreds of years. The influx of French customs and
practices forever changed English language and literature. The
Norman Conquest traditionally marks the end of the Anglo-Saxon or
Old English period and initiates the era known as Middle English,
in which French language and continental traditions shape the
development of English politics, culture, and literature.
In the Anthology
- The Middle Ages; Before the Norman Conquest; After the Norman
Conquest
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
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1075
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Politics
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Investiture Controversy
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In opposition to the authority of local rulers, Pope Gregory VII
declared sole papal authority to appoint bishops to their
ecclesiastical office and to depose secular rulers who opposed this
papal right. The Investiture Controversy, which refers to the
question of who has the authority to "invest" or appoint bishops
and archbishops to their positions, is seen most potently in
England in the quarrel between Henry II and Thomas Becket, who
became the most popular saint in medieval England and whose shrine
is the destination of the Canterbury Pilgrims.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer, The General Prologue to the Canterbury
Tales
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1087
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Politics
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Domesday Book |
As the old saying goes, there are only two things in the world
that cannot be avoided: death and taxes. The Domesday Book
("doom" being an old term for "judgment") was William the
Conqueror's monumental economic survey of his new kingdom. The
king's representatives went to each "hundred" or county subdivision
and described each parcel of land, recorded its past and present
owners, and listed the population on that land—all for the
purpose of assessing taxes. One of the most important sources for
understanding England during the Conquest years and even after, the
Domesday Book was completed in an astonishing two years.
In the Anthology
- The Middle Ages Introduction
On the Web:
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1095
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Politics
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First Crusade
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In response to Islamic persecution of Christian pilgrims to
Palestine, Pope Urban II called for a holy war to free the Holy
Land and especially Jerusalem from the "infidels" (and enable
pilgrims from western
Europe to travel to the fabled east) in a famous speech at the
Council of Clermont in 1095. Urban II's battle cry was spread
throughout Europe by wandering preachers like Peter the Hermit, and
those who "took the cross" to join the Crusade were promised full
penance (or forgiveness of sins). The Crusaders took Jerusalem in
1099, founding the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose last holding,
the port city of Acre, fell again to Islam in 1291. While the
Crusading movement persisted until the 13th century, only the First
Crusade achieved the announced spiritual aims of Urban, while the
greater impact of the Crusades was in the territorial and material
effects on the countries involved.
Chaucer's Knight in the General Prologue to the Canterbury
Tales is depicted as having returned from military
expeditions to the East, and medieval travelers like Sir John
Mandeville gave often fanciful accounts of eastern lands and
customs.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer, The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; Wife
of Bath
- Margery Kempe
On the Web:
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12th Century
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Literature
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The Tain |
The chief work of the Ulster cycle of Irish heroic narratives,
this ancient legend was copied into the Book of Leinster in
the twelfth century. As handed down in the Book, The
Tain still recalls the oral
tradition, captured in its vernacular composition. Abounding with
magical weapons and fantastic beasts, the legend also bears witness
to Ireland's pagan past, which the country's poets continued to
celebrate in the Christian era.
In the Anthology
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1120
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Literature
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History of Kings of England |
The Gesta Regum Anglorum, by William of Malmesbury, one of the
earliest and most important histories of England, narrates English
history from the Saxon conquest to 1127 and incorporates earlier
traditions concerning King Arthur as part of English history.
Geoffrey of Monmouth's later Historia Regum Britanniae
recounts the founding of Britain and compiles further traditional
stories related to King Arthur's reign.
In the Anthology
- Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain
On the Web:
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1154
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Culture
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The Peterborogh Chronicle |
The Peterborogh Chronicle, a version of the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, is a series of (usually) yearly descriptions of
important events throughout England that began in the late 9th
century. Because it spans more than a century, The Peterborogh
Chronicle's entries record linguistic changes as the English
language moves from Anglo-Saxon to the French-influenced Middle
English.
In the Anthology
On the Web:
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1170
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Politics
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Thomas Becket Murdered
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Henry II, King of England, and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of
Canterbury, once dear and trusted youthful companions, quarreled
(among other things) over the right of the church or the state to
try priests for criminal acts. In a fit of rage, Henry II was
supposed to have said, "Who will rid me of this troublesome
priest?" Four Norman knights believed this to be the king's command
to kill Becket, which they did in Canterbury Cathedral. Becket was
quickly made a saint by Pope Alexander III in 1173, and Henry II
did public penance at the cathedral for his crime (and died in
1177). Later, Becket's shrine at Canterbury was the destination of
Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims, as detailed in the General
Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Becket is Chaucer's "holy
blissful martyr" in the General Prologue.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer, General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
On the Web:
In Images:
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1170-80
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Literature
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Marie de France's Lais
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Little is known of Marie de France's life, and what is known is
inferred from her writings. She wrote in Old French, dedicated her
Lais to a King Henry and a rendition of Aesop's
Fables to a Count William. This likely puts her in the court
of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane. Henry and particularly Eleanor
sponsored a vibrant and literate court culture, and put Marie in
contact with Chrétien de Troyes, one of the greatest writers
of Arthurian romance, and other writers who were sponsored by
Eleanor. The fifteen Lais, are short narrative poems
incorporating Celtic themes, folk elements, and courtly values.
They depict love in all its guises—from the elevated to the
base, all in the context of "courtly love," the convention of the
faithful knight who seeks the favor of his lady fair. Marie is
thought to have died c. 1200.
In the Anthology
- Marie de France, Lais
- Arthurian Romance
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13th Century
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Literature
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Tale of Taliesin
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Taliesin was a great bard regarded as the founder of Welsh
poetry. Probably composing his poems in the generation after King
Arthur, Taliesin's reputation survived to become itself the subject
of many legends. The Tale of Taliesin extends these stories
and gives insight into the nearly supernatural role of the
poet-prophet in pagan Welsh culture. The witty tale delightfully
interweaves these ancient elements with Old Testament prophecy and
Roman myth.
In the Anthology
On the Web:
- Taliesin Web
http://camelot.celtic-twilight.com/poetry/taliesin1.htm
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1215
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Politics
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Magna Carta Signed
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The founding document of British constitutional history, the
Magna Carta or "Great Charter" was signed by King John,
under pressure from barons and clerics, at Runnymede in June 1215.
In essence, the nobility opposed the king's abuse of feudal power,
the church opposed his abuse of ecclesiastical offices, and all
parties protested the king's excessive taxation. The Magna
Carta, which achieved its final form in 1225, insured feudal
rights and baronial privileges, protects the rights of the king's
subjects, guaranteed church freedom and town customs, and gave
special liberties to London. Later legal practice founded in the
Magna Carta include constitutional supremacy over the
monarchy, the nascent rights of trial by jury, and habeas
corpus.
On the Web:
In Images:
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1215
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Culture
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4th Lateran Council
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Called by perhaps the most powerful medieval pope, Innocent III,
the Fourth Lateran Council convened in Rome to consolidate
Innocent's doctrinal and administrative ideology. Among the
provisions promulgated by Lateran IV, were the doctrine of
transubstantiation, an educational program based upon preaching, a
set of disciplinary codes for wayward clerics, and the call for
yearly confession at Easter. During Innocent II's papacy, the
Dominican and Franciscan monastic orders were first instituted, and
Innocent himself penned the influential treatise De contemptu
mundi (On the contempt of this world) which was widely read
throughout the medieval period.
In the Anthology
- Middle English Lyrics, Contempt of the World
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Culture |
Thomas Aquinas Dies |
Recognized as the greatest systematic theologian
of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225. In 1236 he
was sent to the University of Naples, where his achievement in the traditional
division of the liberal arts curriculum, the Trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (music,
mathematics, geometry, and astronomy) was quickly recognized. By 1243 he
had become a Dominican and arrived at the University of Paris in 1245 under
the tutelage of Albert the Great. The author of more than 60 works, Thomas's
greatest is the Summa Theologica, a rationally structured exposition
and summation of Christian theology and philosophy written in a question,
objection, and response format common to the discourse of medieval universities.
He was canonized in 1323.
On the Web:
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14th Century
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Literature
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Dafyd ap Gwylim
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Perhaps the greatest Welsh poet, Dafyd ap Gwylim drew
inspiration from the poetry of the continent as well as Wales. With
a self-deprecating persona often compared to Chaucer's, Daffyd
transformed the inherited conventions of love poetry. He also
emphasized his local setting and showed familiarity with the
originally Celtic Arthurian tradition. His intricate ornamental
style represented the height of Welsh poetic technique, which is
astonishingly complex.
In the Anthology
On the Web:
- A bibliography of Welsh history:
http://www.webexcel.ndirect.co.uk/gwarnant/hanes/historybibliography.htm
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1321
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Literature
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Dante's Death
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The first of the three great Italian poets of the Middle Ages,
Dante Alighieri is best known for one of the greatest works of
literature, the Divine Comedy. Born in Florence in 1265,
Dante was deeply embroiled throughout his life in the partisan
politics between the Guelphs (the pro-papal party) and the
Ghibellines (the pro-imperial party) until he was exiled from
Florence in 1302. Inspired by Beatrice (possibly Beatrice
Portinari), Dante studied the ancient classics and Provenal poetry.
He composed the Commedia in Italian, the common vernacular
tongue, rather than the traditional language of learning,
Latin.
The Commedia, with its 100 cantos, is more than 14,000
lines long in terza rima, and in it Dante recounts his
imaginary journey through Hell and Purgatory (led by the Roman epic
poet Virgil) and Heaven (led by Beatrice) to the Celestial
Jerusalem, as Chaucer's Parson calls it. The Commedia
seamlessly synthesizes medieval philosophy and theology with
contemporary events and figures in an allegorical epic of the
Christian soul's pilgrimage to God and salvation. An organizing
feature of The Book of Margery Kempe and The Travels of
Sir John Mandeville, the literal pilgrimage to a holy site
arises again in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and is
explicitly allegorized in the Parson's Prologue.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
- Parson's Prologue
- Literature of Travel: Marvels and Pilgrimages
On the Web:
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1347
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Culture
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Black Death
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Also known as the Bubonic Plague from the hugely swollen lymph
nodes or "buboes" of its victims, the Black Death occurred in two
forms: bubonic (or blood born) with hemorrhages that turn black;
and pneumonic (or air born) in which victims essentially drown in
their own fluids. According to many authorities, perhaps up to 50%
of the population of Europe and Asia was killed by the wave of
infection that began in Constantinople in 1334 and was spread by
returning Crusaders and sea-faring merchant vessels—or more
accurately, the fleas they carried. Wills recorded in London during
the winter of 1347-48 show how several generations of many families
died within weeks of each other. The ensuing labor shortage had
dramatic repercussions in England that led directly to the Statute
of Laborers in 1351 and later to the Peasant's Revolt.
In the Anthology
- The Pardoner's Tale
- "Piers Plowman" And It's Time: The Rising of 1381
On the Web:
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1374
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Literature
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Petrarch Dies
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The second of three great Italian writers of the Middle Ages,
Francesco Petrarch was born in 1304 and spent his youth in Tuscany,
Avignon, and Bologna, where his writing skill won him wide
recognition. He wrote love poems—Sonnets—in
Italian rather than Latin for Laura, his inspirational muse.
Petrarch is widely acknowledged as one of the first, and perhaps
greatest, humanists who saw an essential difference between his own
era, as influenced by Classical Greece and Rome, and the period
just prior to his own. Commenting on medieval Latin texts, Petrarch
wrote that reading them was like walking through "tenebrae"
or darkness; hence, Renaissance Humanism gave the medieval period
the misnomer, the Dark Ages. Chaucer first translated a Petrarchan
sonnet into English (in Troilus and Criseyde), and Spenser,
Wyatt, and Surrey brought Petrarch into the court poetry of the
16th century.
In the Anthology
- Wyatt, Sonnets
- Surrey, Sonnets
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1375
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Literature
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Boccaccio Dies
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Born in 1313, the third of the great Italian poets, Giovanni
Boccaccio is best known for his vernacular work, The
Decameron. This collection of 100 urbane, humorous, and
sometimes bawdy tales set in the context of the Plague, influenced
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, as did Boccaccio's
Filostrato, whose subject matter Chaucer treated in
Troilus and Criseyde. In 1350 Boccaccio became friends with
Petrarch in Florence and took up classical studies like his friend.
This resulted in De casibus virorem illustrium (Concerning
famous men) and De mulieribus claris (Concerning famous
women), which were influential throughout Europe. His last major
work was his commentary on Dante's Inferno.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
On the Web:
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1375-1400
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Literature
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London Literary Culture Flourishes
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In the latter half of the 14th century, London was the home of
at least three, and possibly four, of the most important medieval
English poets: Chaucer, Gower, Langland, and possibly the anonymous
Gawain-Poet. John Gower composed three long poems, one each in
Latin (Vox clamantis), French, and English. Gower's English
Confessio Amantis ("the lover's confession"), a story
cycle arranged around the seven deadly sins, enjoyed wide
popularity and is known to have influenced Chaucer. The two poets
were likely friends. Langland's great allegorical dream vision,
Piers Plowman, also was widely distributed among London's
aristocratic and literary elite. Once thought to have composed in a
baronial court in northwest England, the Gawain-Poet, author of at
least four Middle English poems, including Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight and Pearl,
he has more recently been associated with the Cheshire coterie in
Richard II's court. That these four writers flourished at the same
time in 14th century London, a relatively small town by modern
standards, is a testament to the lively cosmopolitan and literate
culture of late medieval England.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer, Langland, Gawain
On the Web:
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1378
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Culture
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Great Schism
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The division in the Roman Catholic Church between 1378 and 1417,
known as the Great Schism, was more a matter of politics than
theology. From 1309 to 1378, the Papal court was located in
Avignon, France, rather than the traditional site in Rome. After
Gregory XI returned the Papacy to Rome in 1378, the Roman populace
rioted, fearing that the Papacy might be taken again to France, and
they demanded an Italian pope. Urban VI was elected Pope but his
election was soon annulled. After Urban VI refused to vacate the
Papacy in Rome, a new pope was elected, Clement VII, who returned
to Avignon in France. During the Great Schism, then, there were two
lines of popes (and even a third line for a time), one in France
and one in Rome. The Council of Constance, called by Holy Roman
Emperor Sigismund, resolved the Great Schism by electing a new
pope, Martin V, in 1417, deposing the others, and promulgating the
"conciliar theory" which said that even the pope is subject to
ecumenical church councils. Catholic authorities generally accept
the line of popes through Urban VI as canonical.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
On the Web:
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1381
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Politics
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Rising of 1381
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In the wake of the labor shortage caused by the Black Death in
1347-1348, Parliament passed the Statute of Laborers in 1351, which
set wages to pre-plague levels and prevented the working classes
from leaving their feudal domains to seek better work and pay. In
addition to this social ferment among the lower classes, the upper
classes resented the imposition of higher taxes. Led by Wat Tyler
and encouraged by the preaching of John Ball, rebels from
throughout the countryside converged upon London in 1381, burned a
number of important building—including the Tower of
London—killed the Archbishop of Canterbury, and confronted
Richard II, then only 14 years old. The king initially assented to
the rebels' demands but later revoked his agreement after the
rebellion was quashed by the Mayor of London's armed troops.
Although often called the "Peasants' Revolt," recent research has
shown that all strata of English life were involved. Consequently
many contemporary historians now refer to "the Rising of 1381"
rather than the "Peasant's Revolt."
In the Anthology
- Langland, Piers Plowman
- "Piers Plowman" And Its Time: The Rising of 1381
- The Anonimalle Chronicle: Wat Tyler
- Three Poems: John Ball
On the Web:
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1382
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Culture
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Wyclif Expelled from Oxford
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Born in c. 1328, the English reformer John Wyclif studied, and
later taught theology and philosophy, at Oxford University.
Wyclif's protests against clerical abuses of wealth and land;
advocacy of the English (rather than Latin) Bible; and critique of
the sacraments, particularly the doctrine of transubstantiation,
brought him into conflict with the church hierarchy. He was
condemned as a heretic in 1380, and his followers, called
"Lollards" (from the Latin for "weed"), were persecuted. Chaucer's
Parson is called a Lollard
by Harry Bailly, the Host, during the pilgrimage. Some Lollards,
including several of Chaucer's friends, were executed. The first
translation of the Bible into English was at the hands of Wyclif's
followers, and he is often seen as a predecessor to the Protestant
Reformation in Europe. Wyclif died in 1384.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
On the Web:
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1399
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Politics
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Richard II's Deposition
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Son of Edward III and nephew of John of Gaunt, Richard II was
born in 1367 and succeeded to the throne in 1376. In 1382, he
married Anne of Bohemia (who died in 1394) and began to assert his
independence from the group of nobles who wielded influence during
his minority. In a battle against the court of nobles imposed on
him by the Wonderful Parliament (1386) his supporters lost. The
king, threatened with deposition, had to submit to the Merciless
Parliament, in which his closest supporters were accused of treason
by five lords appellant, including the Duke of Hereford (a
Lancastrian, the future Henry IV). England was ruled by the lords
appellant until 1389, when Richard reasserted his authority with
the help of his powerful uncle, John of Gaunt. In 1397-1398,
Richard took his revenge on the appellants and had them banished or
executed. At John of Gaunt's death, Richard confiscated Lancastrian
estates but was forced to abdicate when the Duke of Hereford
gathered a force to oppose him during the king's expedition to
Ireland. The Duke of Hereford was crowned King Henry IV in
September 1399. Richard was imprisoned and probably murdered in
Pontefract Castle in 1400.
On the Web:
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15th - 16th Century
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Politics
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Mid-Scottish Wars
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In the late 15th and early 16th century, Scotland's
sophisticated court society inspired the powerful and
self-conscious poetry of William Dunbar, Robert Henryson, and Gavin
Douglas, often together called the "Makars" or "Scottish
Chaucerians." In this same period of their flowering, Scotland's
relations with England were ironic, marked, on one hand, by royal
alliance, and, on the other, by calamitous warfare.
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1400
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Literature
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Chaucer Dies
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The son of a vintner (wine merchant), Geoffrey Chaucer was born
in London in 1340 and served in several noble households as a young
man. He was captured in France on a military expedition in
1359-1360 but later ransomed by Edward III. In 1366 he married
Philippa Roet, who was lady-in-waiting to Edward III. In the 1360's
Chaucer was employed in various military and diplomatic missions to
France, Flanders, and Spain, and in 1372 and again in 1378 Chaucer
visited Italy, where he likely encountered the work of Petrarch and
Boccaccio. He then held a number of official positions as
Comptroller of Customs for the Port of London (1374-1386) and Clerk
of the King's Works (1389-1391). He later retired to the
country.
In essence, Chaucer was a lifelong civil servant in the king's
employ, and he composed the literature for which he is so well
known during his off-duty hours. Chaucer's literary career is
usually divided into three periods: the French Period (to 1370),
which includes the Book of the Duchess and a portion of the
Romance of the Rose; the Italian Period (1370-c.1378), which
includes work modeled on Dante and Boccaccio like the House of
Fame, The Parlement of the Fowles, Troilus and
Criseyde, and a English translation of Boethius's
Consolation of Philosophy; and the English Period
(1378-1400) during which Chaucer composed his masterpiece, The
Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales uses the fiction
of a pilgrimage to depict a broad spectrum of 14th century English
life in the General Prologue and thence to organize a
variety of medieval tales, including fabliau, homily, hagiography,
dramatic monologue, and epic. In the interaction of the pilgrims in
the "links" between tales, Chaucer depicts the tensions of class,
status, and gender characteristic of his age. His depth and
facility at characterization have yielded some of the most
memorable characters in the English language, like the
transparently venal and ambiguously gendered Pardoner and the
irrepressible Wife of Bath. The traditional date of Chaucer's death
is October 25, 1400; he is buried in Westminster Abbey, the first
to be interred in Poet's Corner. Chaucer's work influenced a number
of other writers, especially the Scottish Chaucerians Dunbar and
Henryson, and, most notably, Edmund Spenser.
In the Anthology
- Parliament of Fowls
- Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
- Dunbar and Henryson
- Edmund Spenser
In Images:
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1415
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Politics
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Battle of Agincourt
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On October 25, 1415 Henry V of England defeated a much larger
French army in this pivotal battle of the Hundred Years' War
(1337-1453) between France and England. Henry's victory, which
forms the core of Shakespeare's Henry V, was due in large
part to Henry's use of (lower class) longbow men who could fire on
the slower, heavily armored (upper class) French knights, spelling
the beginning of the end of chivalric warfare, and enabling Henry
to capture much of France.
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c.1420
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Culture
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Julian of Norwich Dies
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As with many medieval authors, we know little of Julian of
Norwich except what can be deduced from her writings. As an
anchoress attached to St. Julian's church in Norwich (which still
stands today), Julian chose an ascetic form of religious devotion
in which, as part of a burial service, she vowed to remain the rest
of her life in a single room to devote herself to prayer and
contemplation. As a result of a severe illness at age 30, she
experienced a series of visions, whose meaning she spent the rest
of her life contemplating, and her wisdom attracted pilgrims from
across England. The result of her years of meditation, A Book of
Showings, exists in both a long and a short form and reveals a
profoundly personal, deeply learned, and intensely literate vision
of God.
Recognized as one of the greatest medieval English mystics,
Julian is equally a profound theologian whose understanding of
Jesus as mother is as revolutionary as it is sensible. At the end
of her Showings, Julian writes that God's purpose can be summed up
in a single word—love—and in the image of a loving
mother caring for her child, like that depicted in the Middle
English lyrics. This focus on the birth, life, sufferings, and
death of the human Jesus—and especially Jesus' relationship
with his mother Mary—is termed "affective piety" and can be
seen in The Book of Margery Kempe, other English mystical
writings, the Second Shepherds' Play, and a number of Middle
English lyrics.
In the Anthology
- Julian of Norwich
- English Mystical Writings
- Lyrics: "Adam Lay Ibounden," "I Sing of a Maiden," "In Praise
of Mary"
On the Web:
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c. 1438
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Culture
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Margery Kempe Dies
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The Book of Margery Kempe is the first autobiography in English, and it
details Kempe's attempts to live the spiritual life she had been
inspired to live through her visions of Jesus and Mary. Daughter of
the five time mayor of King's Lynn in Norfolk, Margery married John
Kempe, and after the difficult delivery of her first child she
suffered a breakdown that inspired the first of her visions.
Seeking to live a holy life, she entered into a chaste marriage
with her husband (not without some difficulty) and undertook a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There she had more visions of Jesus
and Mary in a tradition called "affective piety" or the
identification with the physical suffering and life of the human
Jesus. One example was her mystical marriage with Jesus, a claim
reinforced in anonymous contemporary lyrics like "Jesus, My Sweet
Lover." Her claim of direct inspiration, in the form of her visions
and the demonstrative emotion of her "cryings," put her in conflict
at times with fellow pilgrims, town folk, and the religious
authorities. She was accused of heresy and threatened with
imprisonment or worse.
However, in a moment of textual serendipity, Margery recorded
that she visited Julian of Norwich to determine, in effect, if her
experiences were true. Margery recorded the anchoress's response in
a manner that reflected Julian's own meditations on God's purpose:
"The Holy Ghost moveth never a thing against charity" (or selfless
love).
In the Anthology
- Julian of Norwich
- Margery Kempe
- Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale
- Lyrics: "Sweet Jesus," "My Sweet Lover"
On the Web:
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1453
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Politics
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Hundred Years' War Ends
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With England retaining control only of Calais, a major seaport
(which itself fell in 1558), the retaking of Bordeaux by France in
1453 spelled the end of the Hundred Years' War. With civil war (the
War of the Roses) consuming the time, attention, and resources of
the English crown, France was able to consolidate the gains to
retake the country. With the end of the Hundred Years' War, England
quit the dream of conquering France, so strenuously pursued by
Henry IV and V, and finally laid to rest the political conflict
arising from the Norman Conquest of England.
On the Web:
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1474
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Culture
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First Book Printed in English
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Born in c. 1421, William Caxton learned the printing trade in
Cologne in 1471-1471 and returned to Bruges in 1475, where he was
an emissary of the English court, and printed the first book in
English, The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. In 1477 he
set up shop in Westminster, where he printed the first of about 100
books, Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, the first
such book printed in England. Caxton himself translated a number of
the books he printed from French, Dutch, and Latin sources,
frequently edited manuscripts as in his edition of the
Canterbury Tales, and often provided prologues, epilogues,
and commentary along with the text. These supplementary materials
are themselves important artifacts documenting the cultural impact
of the introduction of printing and the transition from a
manuscript culture to a print culture. When Caxton died in 1491,
Wynkyn de Worde, his assistant at Westminster, took over the
printing press.
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1485
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Politics
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Battle of Bosworth Field
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Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, defeated and killed Richard III
at Bosworth and succeeded the throne as Henry VII, beginning the
Tudor reign in England and giving Shakespeare the raw material for
his play Richard III.
On the Web:
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1492
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Culture
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Columbus Sails
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A pivotal date in world history, in 1492 Columbus sailed
westward under the aegis of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of
Castile, who in this same year conquered Granada and expelled
Islamic rule from the Iberian Peninsula. Charles VII controlled
France, and Lorenzo de Medici, the Magnificent, died in Florence
and was succeeded by his son Piero.
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c. 1495
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Literature
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Everyman
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Illustrating the difficulty of defining exactly the boundary
between the "Medieval" and "Early Modern" Periods, the
quintessential "medieval" morality play Everyman (probably
derived from a Dutch play) is disseminated in England not in
manuscript form but as a printed text.
In the Anthology
- Medieval Cylce Drama, Second Play of the Shepherds
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Early 16th Century
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Literature
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Dunbar and Henryson
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William Dunbar wrote for the Scottish court, Robert Henryson for
the literate middle class. Versatile in his choice of genres
(allegories, parodies, bawdy satires, divine poems) and in his
choice of diction (Latinate, Germanic), Dunbar is the virtuoso of
the Makars. Most of Henryson's poetry is grim, such as his
Testament of Crisseid, but his chanson d'aventure,
Robene and Makyne, plays with courtly romance.
In the Anthology
On the Web:
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1509
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Politics
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Henry VIII
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The 18 year-old Prince of Wales succeeded his father as King
Henry VIII and married Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, in
1509 and reigned until 1547. The early years of his reign were
spent dealing with Continental politics through his minister Thomas
Wolsey. When Catherine failed to provide him a male heir, Henry
decided to divorce Catherine, under the pretext that the marriage
was illegal and marry Anne Boleyn. When Wolsey failed to win Pope
Clement VII's approval for the divorce, Henry began to agitate
against the Church in England. The king's new minister, Thomas
Cromwell, coordinated these efforts against the Church, although
the pope agreed to appoint Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of
Canterbury. When Cranmer declared Henry's marriage to Catherine
invalid, Clement VII excommunicated Henry. Henry became head of the
Church of England with the promulgation of the Act of Supremacy in
1534, and in the following years Henry seized church property,
ransacked English monasteries, and executed many of his enemies.
Jane Seymour gave birth to a son, who became Edward VI, and Anne
Boleyn gave birth to a girl, later to become Elizabeth I.
In the Anthology
- More, Utopia
- Skelton
- Wyatt and Surrey
On the Web:
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1517
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Culture
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The Reformation
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To protest the disingenuous sale of indulgences (forgiveness of
sins after death) as depicted in Chaucer's Pardoner's
Prologue, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the
Elector's Chapel at the University of Wittenberg on October 31,
starting the Reformation in Germany.
In the Anthology
- Chaucer, Pardoner's Prologue and Tale
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Back to Introduction
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