INTRODUCTION
Angles and Saxon conquered the England, which
we known today in 5th and 6th centuries and the Roman
Empire started to decline. Later Christian missionaries were formed and they
start to taught English to write in 7th century. First, the English
wrote law-codes and then the poems. Heroic poetry of Christian kind is the most
principal heritage of Old English literature, especially Beowulf the Elegies. Anglo-Saxon is the ancestor of modern English,
scholars also called it as an Old English. Mainly they had four dialects
–Northumbian, which was the first to produce literature, Mercian – Midland’s
language, Kentish- language of the South-east and West Saxon is the King
Alfred’s language which is the standard Old English form. Beowulf is the oldest epic with more than three thousand line,
which gives us an interesting picture of the life of the Anglo Saxons of this
period.
Then the Viking movement began in late eighth
century AD .As a result, later there were three kingdoms in Canute’s Empire,
the son of Denmark king Sweyn –Denmark, Norway and England. Then Norman
conquered the England, which we known today . Feudalism was prominent at the
period of the Norman conquest .K.M Abraham argued that it is an epoch-making
event in British history .massive immigration of Normans into England is the
significant after effect of Norman conquest. Normans were polished than
English. Normans enriched the English life because of their polished qualities.
Introduction of the Norman brand feudalism is one of the important
socio-political outcome of the Norman conquest .Most significant impact of
Norman conquest is the change brought about in English language .Anglo-Saxons
were banished from the circle of society .Learned people adopted French as the
official language . As a result Anglo-Saxon is reduced into merely a written
langage. The Church used Latin but French by government.
DARK AGE
Early
Middle Age of European history is known as Dark Age, which emphasis the
cultural and economic decline of Western Europe following the decline of Roman
Empire in fifth century AD. Later historians were expand the term ,which refer
to the transitional period between the Roman times and the High Middle Ages,
that is the period between 11th and 13th century . The idea of the Middle Age was put forward by
Italian humanist thinkers .They demark
their period from previous one by the revival and rediscovery of classical
scholars. The early age of middle age is known as Dark Age due to the lack and
scarcity of history. Bertrand Russell notes that Church’s liberation from
feudal aristocracy was “one of the causes of the emergence of Europe from the
dark ages” (HWP ,305) . Historians
restricted the Middle Age starts from the time composition of Beowulf , that is from 725 AD to the
time when Caxton published his first book in 1474 AD. Even though there is no
clear cut division between the Middle Age and the Classical Age.
Roman Catholism was religious faith widespread
in Western Europe at this Middle Age. Early Middle age after the fall of Roman
Empire witnessed a setback to various social, political and economic primitivisms.
Dark Age reflects the ill effect of this setback. The term Dark Age was first
used by Petrarch, an Italian scholar. Evolving tradition of Christianity,
social and political outline of the Germanic tribe, the heritage of classical
world and contact with Islamic civilization etc. are the factors contributed to
the development of Middle Age. Among these factors Christianity is the most
crucial one.
Christianity was recognized as the official
religion of Roman Empire by 381. But Christian doctrine was not fully
formalized in this early Middle Age. Jerome is one of the greatest Christian
thinkers of this period. He had translated Bible from its original languages
into Latin. Even though German tribe conquered the Roman Empire, they retain
Latin as the means of communication. At
this period Latin was the diction of law and scholarship. Writers of this
period such as Petrarch and Boccaccio are affected by the traditions of the
Latin Middle Age.
Monasticism was one of the fundamental aspects
of Christianity which is rooted in early Christian asceticism. Germanic people
were another factor contributed in the fall of Roman Empire. Anglo-Saxons,
Goths, Vandals and Scandinavians are included in the Germanic people. They
revolted against the Empire and conquered the city. But their political, legal
and economic structures were primitive in nature, which integrate with the
legacy of the Empire and then it leads into feudal system .During this time famine
and disease were widespread and commerce and industry were retarded .Carolus
Magnus ,one of the significant figure in this period who establish an Empire
and centralizing law and government .Notion and literature of the Dark age was
developed within the religious and feudal contexts.
“The
intellectual currents of the early Middle Ages were driven by two broad
factors: the heritage of classical thought, and the varying relation of
developing Christian theology to this heritage” (Habib, 154).
Neo-Platonist is one of the significant
scholars of this early Middle Age. Both poetry and history gained acceptance
whereas Church opposed to drama and visual arts, associated with idolatry for a
long time. St. Augustine is a prominent philosophical figure of this period. The
general movement of the Middle Age
according to Edward Albert is “the rise
of the religious orders, their early enthusiasm, and their subsequent decline;
the blossoming of chivalry and the spirit of romance, bringing new sympathy for
women and the poor” (Albert, 20). The text written in the old period is in
the West Saxon dialect whereas the text in the Middle Age reappears in the
particular dialect of author. Poetry is the major work of this period, which
used in various field as history, divinity, and science .Most of the authors of
the period are clerics.
The literature written in this Middle English
language in the period of twelfth century to fifteenth is known as Middle
English literature. Printing press carries a significant role in regularities
of language. Religious, Courtly love and Arthurian are the three main
categories of the Middle English Literature. But Chaucer’s most works are
outside of these categories. Ormulum
and Havelock the Dane are example to early
Middle English Literature. At the later period of Middle Age begin from
fourteenth century onwards witnessed a re-emerge of the major works of English
literature, Chaucer’s works, Pearl poet’s Pearl, Patience and Cleanness etc are included in it .
According to K.M Abraham “in middle ages education and learning are declined. The position of
women deteriorated. They were regarded as inferior to men .In these respects
also the period was really dark” (p.64).
K.M Abraham believed that the medieval period
was an age of Chivalry. The people of this age were thoroughly ignorant and superstitious.
The church enjoyed various privileges throughout the period. It was an age of faith. Numerous church,
abbey and chapels were built in this period.
K.M Abraham regarded that this
Age was spiritually blank. Middle Age is also the darkest period in the history
of the church. The pope was the spiritual head of Christendom at the medieval
period. Not only the church enjoyed the power but major portion of land was
under the control of church also. The church and the state were in hold
together.
PETRARCH
The idea of Dark Age is
associated with Petrarch and it is deliberate to an extensive criticism of the
character of Latin literature. He envisages the notion of a European Dark Age
from Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla’s Cycle
of Famous Men and Women. He was a
Christian writer; he had used the traditional metaphors. Petrarch viewed Roman
Empire and Classical period as expression of Italian greatness. Classical
antique was considered as dark because of the lack of Christianity. Petrarch
regarded the post Roman centuries as dark with compared to light Classical relic.
St. Augustine
St.
Augustine was a Benedictine monk, he was the first Archbishop of Canterbury .He
is considered as the founder of the English Church and an Apostle to the English.
He was influenced the tradition of both Roman Catholic and Protestant thought
than any other early Christian thinker .The philosophical amalgamation of
classical and Christian notions can be discern in his work . In his City of God, he developed his theology that human history as the
unfolding of a divine plan. Augustine reveals in his work Confession that the long and arduous process of his conversion
into Christianity. M. A.R Habib argued St.Augustine was “essentially defending
Christianity against those who attributed the sack of Rome by the Goths in 410
to the abandonment of the pagan deities” (157). Augustine regarded that only
God can revive the natural state of goodness in which man is created. Augustine
goes across an insecure balance between a Christian emphasis on truth and a
classical rhetorical consideration of style.
L ATER MIDDLE AGE
Early
middle age thinkers such as Augustine and Boethius had an influence upon the
later middle age also. Augustine’s view of human will and the need for divine
grace had an influence upon the later middle age. Stream of Criticism of early
medieval period were either continued or resurrected in this later middle age.
The convention of grammatical criticism and textual exegesis had been continued
from the classical era onwards. Allegorical criticism and exegesis of both
pagan and Christian texts also show such continuity .Neo-platonism , one of the
most important notion of early Middle Age shows a revival in twelfth century .
More than this continuity, later Middle Age witnessed the development of
intellectual movements such as various forms of humanism and scholasticism .This
period begins around 1050 and it witnessed to extensive progress on different
levels .The period shows an economic revival and the feudalism also achieve a
satisfactory position in this period .The society of the Age is mainly divided into
two – one is the landed aristocracy and Clergy and the other is a mass of peasants with diminutive
middle class of tradesman, crafts man and merchant.
Church
is one of the challenges in the structure of feudal power .In late antiquity
the Church had been integrated within the mechanism of imperial power. The
Church in feudalism was not only an autonomous institution but a source of
religious authority also. Various form of humanism deriving from the classical
grammatical tradition, heritage of Neo-Platonism and allegorical criticism and
scholastic movement etc are the historical developments set behind the
intellectual currents of the later middle Ages. Dante’s successors can be
considered as transitional figures like Petrarch and Boccaccio.
The
scholastic phase of medieval criticism highly influenced by Islamic
philosophers such as Ibn Rushd , marked a tendency to believe poetry as a
branch of logic rather than of grammar . Poetry is conceived as the faculty, a
technique for manipulating language rather than as a subject with its own
specific content. The scholastic phase
is followed by another set of humanistic currents start from Dante, which regarded
that the vernacular is a pertinent medium for great poetry .
St. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas
Aquinas is a greatest of the scholastic philosophers of the late middle age
.Aquinas’ philosophy consider primarily Aristotle as its basic but he was
influenced by the Neo-platonis, Augustine , Boethius and Cicero etc. Aquinas
was considered as the doctor of the church and his works were considered as an
expression of doctrine of Orthodox. He is famous with his two major woks ,
first one Summa contra Gentiles written
between 1259 and 1264 .Its essential purpose was to defend the truth of
Christianity in opposite to gentile, who did not accept the authority of the
scriptures . His work was in response to a controversy pioneered by the
invasion of Arab philosophy that he maintained the harmony of reason and revelation.
Aquinas believed the theology as a divine science in relation to which all
other component of human knowledge is in
hierarchal order. Boccaccio regard poetry as kind of inspired theology but
Petrarch saw it as both as a means of instruction and a vehicle of patriotism.
CONCLUSION
After
the fall of Roman Empire in fifth century Anglo Saxon conquered the England,
following years Northmen were also rule the land. Danes and Normans were the
north men who conquered the England, we known today. As result of Norman Conquest
a change brought about in English language, learned people adopted the Norman
French as the official language .This age followed by the Dark Age; an early
middle age .It is the period between 11th and 13th century.
An Italian scholar Petrarch associated with the term. St.Augustine, first
Archbishop is a significant figure of this Dark Age. The Christianity became
prominent in this period. It is an age of faith. At later middle age vernacular
language found a better place in poetry. Chaucer’s follow the vernacular
language in his most celebrated work the canter
BIBLIOGRAPHY
·
Habib M.A.R, A History of Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present, USA:
Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
·
Albert Edward, History of English Literature, Rev, Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2014
·
Nagarajan M S, English Literary Criticism and Theory Hyderabad:
Orient Blackswan, 2006.
·
Alexander Michael, A History of English Literature, Rev, New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
·
Abraham K.M, Social and Cultural History of Great Britain,
Kozha: Institute of Secularism , 2011 .
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