The Western tradition as well as its literary history is divided into periods or ages. History of Western Civilization is mainly divided into three: the Classical Age, the Middle Age and the Modern age. Among these periods, the Middle Ages or the Medieval Period is again sub divided into three- Early Middle Age spanning from the decline of Western Roman Empire to the eleventh century. Early Middle Age is also widely referred to as the Dark Ages by many historians for many reasons. High Middle Age as well as Late Middle Age comes between the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries. This paper aims to read the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages with brief notes on the European life and society then, main events and main literary figures representing the age.
THE CLASSICAL AGE
The Classical period which is the earliest among the division of Western tradition, spans approximately from 1200 B.C.E. to 455 C.E. and this period is again sub divided into three. The Classical period is believed to have begun with the Homeric or the Heroic period from 1200 B.C.E. to 800 B.C.E. Greek classicism flourished between 800 to 200 B.C.E. with its writers, playwrights and philosophers like Aesop, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euripides, and Sophocles. The most influential classical theorists in Western culture are Plato and Aristotle. Later developments in classical theory and criticism build on the ground- breaking works of these Greek classicists, Plato, and Aristotle. Greek classicism gave way to Roman power when Rome conquered Greece in 146 CE. Playwrights of this time include Plautus and Terence. After nearly 500 years as a Republic, Rome became a dictatorship under Julius Caesar and finally into a monarchial empire under Caesar Augustus in 27 CE and this later period is known as the Roman Imperial period. Roman writers included Ovid, Horace, and Virgil. Horace, even though distantly followed Plato and Aristotle. Marcus Aurelius and Lucretius were prominent among Roman philosophers and Roman rhetoricians included Cicero and Quintilian. The classical theorists represent a wide range of opinions about literature and its significance developed over a millennium, from about fifth century B.C.E. to the fifth century C.E.
Very little is known about the earliest inhabitants of Britain who belonged mainly to two long periods. The first being the inhabitants of Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age who used implements and weapons made of rough stone, lived in caves and supported themselves by hunting and fishing. They might have flourished in the islands 30,000 years ago. The next set of people were Neolithic men or men of the New Stone Age who used more polished stone weapons and implements and did agriculture. The Stone Ages were followed by Metal Ages. The Bronze Age is believed to have begun about 2,000 years before Christ and it was in later Neolithic period that bronze came to be used. The Bronze Age was succeeded by an Iron Age. Clear demarcations cannot be drawn between these ages as these ages are very long and overlapping.
During this time appeared Iberians from Africa. Stonehenge, a pre-historic stone circle of standing stones is believed to have built by them. They were defeated and driven to the north-west of the country by the Celtic tribes. There were several tribes among them and Great Britain owes the name to one such Celtic tribe called ‘Brythons’ or ‘Britons’. The Celtic-Britons were followed by the Romans. The imperial Romans conquered and ruled the islands for three and a half centuries (43 A.D. - 410 A.D.). Britain was a Roman province first to fifth century, Even though Julius Caesar, the Roman general and statesman came to Britain in 55 B.C. and conquered it the next year obtaining nominal subjugation of the Celtic rulers, the complete conquest of Britain were left to his successors. Julius Caesar’s Commentaries is the earliest written record of Britain available. Emperor Claudius started the systematic conquest of the country in 44 A.D. The Roman occupation of Britain was a military occupation as a result of which the Romans established Pax Romana or Roman Peace in their provinces. Urbanisation, Latinisation, Colonisation and Christianity followed as Britain became part of the Roman Empire. In 407, the Roman legions were withdrawn to protect Rome.
THE DARK AGES
The Dark Ages is a historical periodisation that designates the time span from the collapse of Western Roman Empire in the fifth century to the eleventh century. The term 'dark ages' is used originally for the earliest part of Middle Ages, which emphasizes the cultural and economic deterioration that supposedly occurred in Western Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire. The term "Dark Age" which derives from the Latin saeculum obscurum was used because of the backward systems and beliefs that prevailed in that time. And also the lack of written history of the time made the future historians and writers to denote the period so. The concept of a Dark Age originated with the Italian scholar Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) in the 1330s to denounce the Latin literature of that time. Since the 20th century, it is frequently applied to the earlier part of the era, the Early Middle Ages and the term is used to refer to the transitional period between Roman times and the High Middle Ages.
The Dark age in Britain span from the Anglo- Saxon conquest to the Norman Conquest. The Dark Age is 'dark' only because we lack extensive historical material about the period between 407 A.D. when Romans marched away from Britain to the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Anglo-Saxons took the place vacated by Romans when the Roman Emperor Honorius left Britain in 410 A.D. to defend his land from the attacks of Germanic tribes. The Anglo-Saxons who were originally the inhabitants of Sleswick and the surrounding areas between Germany and Denmark and belonged to the Low German branch of Teutonic family conquered Britain and became the dominant people of the land. They were thorough barbarians and where ignorant of Roman civilization. Rise of seven kingdoms or Heptarchy happened during the time and this system produced the greatest English rulers, King Alfred the Great who established Wessex as the most powerful kingdom and promoted the growth of an English identity. England owes her name to the Anglo- Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity in the 7th century and a network of monasteries and convents were built across England. In the 8th and 9th centuries England faced fierce Danish or Viking attacks, and the fighting lasted for many decades.
The Anglo- Saxons all talked Old English. This Old English or the Anglo-Saxon belongs to the low Germanic branch of the Teutonic family. It was an inflectional language and had about four dialects. A rich artistic culture flourished under the Anglo-Saxons, producing epic poems such as Beowulf. Beowulf believed to have written between the year 700 and 900 and nothing is known about its author. This epic poem with 3,182 lines tells the story of a warrior prince, Beowulf from Sweden who helps the king of Danes to kill a monster and its mother. At last Beowulf dies of a mortal wound, pronouncing a warrior prince, Wiglaf as his successor. Beowulf has a subject matter of Scandinavian saga which embodies the ideal of English courage and nobility. Caedmon who lived in the seventh and Cynewulf from the eighth century are two Old English poets known to us and both focused on biblical themes. Caedmon's 'Hymn' is considered as the first English poem. 'Juliana', 'The Fate of the Apostles', 'Christ', 'Elene', 'The Husband's Message', 'The Wife's Complaint, 'The Wanderer' and 'The Dream of the Rood' were some of the poems by Cynewulf. 'The Dream of the Rood' which is considered Cynewulf's masterpiece is a dream- vision poem in which the poet comes to communicate with a speaking Rood or Cross. Other poems of the period include 'Widsith' (wide wanderer), 'Genesis', Exodus', 'Daniel', and 'Christ and Satan'. A prominent prose writer of the period was Venerable Bede (673-735) who was a monk. He was the first English historian, but he wrote in Latin. His Latin work Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) provided much information of the era. A Celtic cleric Gildas wrote the Ruin of Britain in about 550 and it described the destruction wrought by Anglo- Saxons. King Alfred was a great scholar and he himself rendered Pastoral Care of Pope Gregory the Great into Anglo- Saxon. He was the first one to form English prose. And it was during his reign the famous Anglo- Saxon Chronicle, a history of England from the Roman invasion to 1154 began to be written.
THE MIDDLE AGES
In European history, the Middle Ages, or Medieval period, lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Medieval period is subdivided into the Early, the High, and the Late Middle Ages of which the Early Middle Age is referred to as the Dark Age. In 1330s the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre- Christian times as antique or ancient and to the Christian period as niva or new. Leonardo Bruni added a third period to Petrarch's two- 'Middle Ages' first appeared in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season. The alternative term 'medieval' derives from medium (middle) and aevum (ago).
In the early Middle Ages or the Dark Age, The barbarian invaders, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Eastern Roman Empire—came under the rule of the Caliphate, an Islamic empire, after conquest by Muhammad's successors. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions. Monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. During the High Middle Ages, which began after AD 1000, the population of Europe increased as a result of technological and agricultural innovations which allowed trade to flourish and the Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yields to increase. Manorialism and feudalism were two of the ways of social organisation in the High Middle Ages. The Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from the Muslims. Some of the achievements of the period include the theology of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco Polo, and the architecture of Gothic cathedrals such as Chartres. The Late Middle Ages was marked by difficulties and calamities including famine, plague, and war, which significantly diminished the population of Europe; between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about a third of Europeans. Along with these, controversies of the Church and peasant revolts occurred in the kingdoms. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society marked the end of the Late Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period.
The beginning of the Middle Age in England is marked by the Norman Conquest in 1066 in the historic battle of Hastings in which Harold, the last of the Saxon kings, was defeated. As a result of this, William the Conquerer was made the king. The quarrel between the Church and the Crown had been a recurring phenomenon during this period. The quarrel reached its zenith when Henry 11 murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket for difference of opinions. Becket was hailed as a martyr and saint. Henry 11 was arrested and died in prison. England gave an active participation in the Crusades under Richard. The misrule of King John led to his signing of Magna Carta or the Great Charter in 1215. This great document is referred to as the "keystone of English liberties" and it paved way for the evolution of English parliament during the reign of King John and his successors Henry 111 and Edward 1.
The main event in the fourteenth century England was the outbreak of Hundred Years' War fought between England and France in 1338 and it lasted till 1453. The war which covered the reigns of five English caused much destruction to the nation. The Black Death of Europe visited and ravaged England in 1348- 49. It carried off about one third of English population and indirectly contributed to many events including the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.
The fifteenth century England witnessed the struggle between Lancastrians and Yorkists or the War of the Roses (1455- 1485) happened in England. It was during this period revolutionary changes took place which facilitated the beginning if the Modern Age. The geographical discoveries, the Renaissance, the Reformation, scientific inventions such as printing marked the end of Middle Ages in England. In England, the Modern Age began with the opening of Tudor despotism.
In England, during the Middle Ages education and learning declined. It was a period of Chivalry. The English universities of Oxford and Cambridge had their origin in the middle Age. The Church was the most powerful institution during this period and it had a tremendous influence on the people as well as on the government. The geographical discoveries including the discovery of the New World by Colombus in 1492 and Vasco da Gama's discovery of sea route to India in 1498 and the scientific inventions like the printing press, gunpowder, Mariner's compass etc. were the major events towards the end of the Middle Ages. European Renaissance or Humanism reached England with the advent of Tudor period. The movement was the revival of Greek and Latin classics which developed after the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453 in Italy. The Reformation was a religious movement which repudiated the Roman Catholic Church. It began in Germany during the sixteenth century. The movement was taken up by Wycliffe and Lollards in England.
During the Norman rule, Normans considered English as a barborous language, English caesed to be a literaty language and English became the tongue of the illiterate people. The government adopted Norman French as the official language, whereas the Church used Latin.In the later Middle Ages, revival of the English language happened in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as a result of the birth of nationalism.
Art, literature and science flourished during the Middle Ages. Very little English literature was produced in the Anglo- Norman in the period between 1066 and 1200. The Doomsday Bookwhich contains the great survey of land holders made by William the Conquerer provides a history of the Norman England. The situation changed with the beginning of the thirteenth century. Brut, a poem by Layamon who was a parish priest was written in 1205. This 30,000 line poem gives the legendary history of ancient Britain and it is considered as the first national epic in English. 'Ormullum' is a Middle English poem in a series of homilies by a priest named Orm in 1215. The only prose work o the Middle English is 'Ancren Riwle' or Rule of Anchoresses published in 1225 was a manual for nuns by an unknown author.
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340- 1400) is the most prominent poet of the Middle Age who played a pivotal role in the shaping of the English language. His Troylus and Cryseyde is the first great narrative poem in English. This 8000 lined poem which narrates the love story of Troilus and Cressida was used by several later poets including Shakespeare and Dryden. Chaucer himself borrowed the theme from Boccaccio's Decameron and enriched it. 'Canterbury Tales' is considered as the masterpiece of Chaucer with about 17,000 lines in which the 29 pilgrims including Chaucer were to tell stories on the way and back from the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury. Originally Chaucer planned to narrate more than hundred stories, but he could complete only twenty four tales: two of them in prose and the rest in verse. He used heroic couplets and introduced iambic pentametre. His other works include The Parlement of Foules, The House of Fame and The Legende of Good Women. Chaucer is referred to as the father of English poetry. Many later poets wrote under the influence of Chaucer. The chief English Chaucerians were John Lydgate (1370- 1452) and Thomas Occleve (1368- 1450). The leading Scottish Chaucerians were King James 1 (1394- 1437), Robert Henryson (1430- 15060 and william Dunbar (1460- 1530).
William Langland (1330- 1400) and John Gower were great contemporaries of Chaucer. In Piers the Plowman, Langland attacked the abuses of his period, the greed and hypocrisy of the clergy and the tyranny of the ruling class. The dissatisfaction behind the Peasant's Revolt is expressed in the poem. Pier is identified with St. Peter in the end become the symbol of the righteous fearless peasant. In the fourteenth century, a new enre of secular kind ,the romance was developed and the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight of unknown authorship falls into this category.
The prominent prose writers of the late Middle Ages were John Wycliffe and Sir Thomas Malory. John Wycliffe known as the morning star of Reformation first made the English translation of the Bible. Malory's chief work is Morte d' Arthur (Death of Arthur). In this prose romance based on the arthurian legend, he worked mainly from French sources and French ideas. Translations in English from French and Latin became very popular during the age of Chaucer. Translations of the Bible, The Travels of John Mandeville, The Romaunt of the Rose by Chaucer etc.
Medieval liteary criticism spanned the course of a millennium (from the fifth through the fifteenth century). Medieval literary theories evolved as the interpretations of sacred texts, contains numerous documents related to the practices of reading and interpretation, to the theory of language, and to the nature and use of literature. Medieval writers explored how to read the Book of God's Word as a divinely authorized representation. During the Middle Ages, some concepts of classical poetics were preserved: the Platonian and Aristotelian conception of mimesis as well as Horace's decorum theory. The Middle Ages also supported the classical rhetorical tradition. Most of the medieval critics were priests or monks, they had to accomodate Pagan tradition with religion. Hugh of St. Victor, for instance, describes interpretation as the reflection, or imitation, of God's works in his words.
Medieval literary criticism is also divided into three periods. Early Middle Age critics include Boethius and Augustine who lived during the transition period from the classical age to the Middle Age. The Roman Manlius Serinus Boethius (480- 525) wrote De consolatione philosaphiae (The Consolation of Philosophy) while in prison in which he discusses on how the contemplation of God can reconcile us. Augustine was the greatest theorist of early Christendom. His works proved models on the issues of critical theory, interpretation, rhetoric etc. Venerable Bede, author of The Ecclesiastical History of English People as well as Isodore of Seville were prominent figures during the Dark Ages. Isodore of Seville's Etymologiae was an encyclopaedic work which discusses about many things including nature of poetic fiction, rhetoric etc. In the later Middle Ages, writings with humanist influence such as that of Dante and Boccaccio became strong. Thomas Aquinas (1225- 1274) who was an Italian priest was the proponent of natural theology. Dante Alighieri (1265- 1321), an Italian poet and author of Divine Comedy marked the shift from the sacred to the secular. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313- 1375), in his Genealogy of the Gentile Gods gives a manual of classical mythology with allegorical interpretations of pagan myths. He believed in liberty of thematic choice, distinguished fiction from lies and defended poetry.
Medieval Ages mainly signify the shift of importance from philosophy to religion. Medieval writings and criticisms were rooted in Christianity. The Dark Ages is the misnomer used to denote early Middle Ages. Middle Ages pose a contrast to the Classical ideas, which gets revival during the Renaissance or the early Modern period.
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