English Literature in Context PDF (2017)

From Anglo-Saxon ENGLISH runes to postcolonial rap – an invaluable student resource LITERATURE in Context SECOND EDITION Edited by P AU L P O P L AW S K I  English Literature in Context This is the second edition of En...

From Anglo-Saxon ENGLISH runes to postcolonial rap – an invaluable student resource LITERATURE in Context SECOND EDITION Edited by P AU L P O P L AW S K I  English Literature in Context This is the second edition of English Literature in Context, a popular textbook which provides an essential resource and reference tool for all English Literature students. Designed to accompany students throughout their degree course, it offers a detailed narrative survey of the diverse historical and cultural contexts that have shaped the development of English literature, from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day. Carefully structured for undergraduate use, the eight chronological chapters are written by a team of expert contributors who are also highly experienced teachers. Each chapter includes a detailed chronology, contextual readings of selected literary texts, annotated suggestions for further reading, a rich range of illustrations and textboxes, and thorough historical and literary overviews. This second edition has been comprehensively revised, with a new chapter on postcolonial literature, a substantially expanded chapter on contemporary literature, and the addition of over 200 new critical references. Online resources include: textboxes; chapter samples; study questions and chronologies. Formerly of the University of Leicester, where he was Director of Studies at Vaughan College and Senior Lecturer in English, Paul Poplawski now lives and works as an independent scholar in Austria. English Literature in Context PAUL POPLAWSKI General Editor v al e r i e all e n , Medieval English, 500–1500 a n d r e w h is c o c k , The Renaissance, 1485–1660 l e e m o r r iss e y , The Restoration and Eighteenth Century, 1660–1780 p e t e r j. ki t so n , The Romantic Period, 1780–1832 m a r ia f r awl e y , The Victorian Age, 1832–1901 paul poplawski , The Twentieth Century, 1901–1939 j o h n b r a n n i g a n , The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, 1939–2015 paul poplawski , Postcolonial Literature in English University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 4843/24, 2nd Floor, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, Delhi – 110002, India 79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107141674 10.1017/9781316493779 © Paul Poplawski 2017 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2017 Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow, Cornwall. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-107-14167-4 Hardback ISBN 978-1-316-50663-9 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents List of Illustrations page vii Notes on Contributors xii Preface xv Acknowledgements xix 1 Medieval English, 500–1500 v al e r i e all e n 1 Chronology 2 Historical Overview 11 Literary Overview 30 Texts and Issues 45 Readings 64 Reference 86 2 The Renaissance, 1485–1660 a n d r e w h is c o c k 98 Chronology 98 Historical Overview 105 Literary Overview 129 Texts and Issues 150 Readings 161 Reference 183 3 The Restoration and Eighteenth Century, 1660–1780 l e e m o r r iss e y 189 Chronology 190 Historical Overview 193 Literary Overview 218 Texts and Issues 236 Readings 251 Reference 269 v vi Contents 4 The Romantic Period, 1780–1832 p e t e r j. ki t so n 274 Chronology 274 Historical Overview 279 Literary Overview 293 Texts and Issues 313 Readings 333 Reference 352 5 The Victorian Age, 1832–1901 m a r ia f r awl e y 364 Chronology 365 Historical Overview 369 Literary Overview 387 Texts and Issues 413 Readings 440 Reference 457 6 The Twentieth Century, 1901–1939 paul poplawski 470 Chronology 471 Historical Overview 479 Literary Overview 496 Texts and Issues 507 Readings 519 Reference 532 7 The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, 1939–2015 john brannigan 541 Chronology 541 Historical Overview 550 Literary Overview 566 Texts and Issues 583 Readings 594 Reference 609 8 Postcolonial Literature in English paul poplawski 619 Chronology 620 Historical Overview 645 Literary Overview, Texts and Issues 665 Readings 685 Reference 702 Index 709 Illustrations 1 Medieval English, 500–1500 1 Anglo-Saxon England. Based on the map reproduced in The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, ed. Malcolm Godden and Michael Lapidge. Features added by Gary Zaragovitch page 14 2 ‘The sign of King William’ and ‘the sign of Queen Matilda’, marked by crosses. Detail from the Accord of Winchester 1072. Reproduced with permission from the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury 19 3 Wat Tyler killed by Lord Mayor Walworth in front of Richard II. Chroniques de France et d’Angleterre. S. Netherlands, c. 1460–80. By permission of the British Library. © The British Library Board, Royal 18 E f. 175 23 4 Henry II argues with Thomas Becket. From Peter of Langtoft’s Chronicle of England, c. 1300–25. By permission of the British Library. © The British Library Board, Royal 20 A. II, f. 7 29 5 The West-Saxon Gospel. 1000–50. Translation of Matthew 3.13. CCC MS. 140, f. 4v. By courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 33 6 Heaþosteapa Helm (The High Battle-Helmet) (Beowulf, 1245 [A]). Reconstructed from actual helmet in Sutton Hoo, early C.7th. Art Resource, NY. The British Museum, London 37 7 Harold swears an oath to William. Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry. C.11th. By special permission of the City of Bayeux 40 8 Map of York pageant stations. By permission of Meg Twycross 44 9 Mary bares her breast before Christ on behalf of sinners. Hereford Mappa Mundi. c. 1285. With the Permission of the Dean and Chapter of Hereford and the Hereford Mappa Mundi Trust. Copyright Mappa Mundi Trust and Dean and Chapter of Hereford Cathedral 47 10 The Desborough necklace. C.7th. Gold and garnet. The cross indicates that it belonged to a convert. © The Trustees of the British Museum 50 11 Gossiping women surrounded by demons. c. 1325–40. Window n.11. By permission of the Parochial Church Council of St Nicholas Parish Church, Stanford on Avon 56 12 Man defecates before praying nun. Romance of Alexander. French and English, C.14th–15th. MS. Bodl. 264, f. 56r. By courtesy of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford 60 13 Map of Maldon, Essex. By courtesy of Humphrey Berridge www.battleofmaldon.org.uk/index 65 14 Norman cavalry and English shieldwall. Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry. C.11th. By special permission of the City of Bayeux 68 15 The enclosing of a recluse. CCC MS. 79, f. 72r. c. 1397–1435. By courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 72 vii viii List of Illustrations 16 Map of Arthurian Britain. Copyright 1996 from The New Arthurian Encyclopedia (p. 2), ed. Norris J. Lacy. Reproduced by Permission of Routledge/Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc 76 17 Annunciation to the shepherds. Holkham Picture Bible. By permission of the British Library. © The British Library Board, Add. MS 47682, f.13 82 2 The Renaissance, 1485–1660 1 Isaac Oliver, A Miniature Depicting an Allegory of Virtue Confronting Vice, c. 1590 (detail). SMK Foto, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen 107 2 Lucas De Heere (1534–84), The Family of Henry VIII: an Allegory of the Tudor Succession. National Museums and Galleries of Wales 107 3 Van Dyck, c. 1632, Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria with Their Two Eldest Children. The Royal Collection © 2005, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 110 4 The Execution of Charles I, c. 1649–50. On loan to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, reproduced by permission of Lord Dalmeny 111 5 Title page from John Fitzherbert’s Here Begynneth a Newe Tract or Treatyse Moost Profitable for All Husbandmen (1532). By permission of the British Library. © The British Library Board, 522.f.23 between pages 112–13 116 6 A detail from Wenceslas Hollar’s engraving ‘Long View of London’ (1644). The attributions of ‘The Globe’ and ‘Beere Bayting’ are not accurate and should be reversed 134 7 Robert Greene’s The Third and Last Part of Conny-Catching, 1592. Reproduced by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California 136 8 Woodcut displaying an early modern print workshop from the title page of Edmund Reeve’s Twelve Rules Introducting to the Art of Latine (1620). By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library 139 9 Title page from the 1623 ‘First Folio’ of Shakespeare’s dramatic works. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library 148 10 Woodcut from Foxe’s Acts and Monuments illustrating the martyrdom of William Tyndale. Reproduced by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, California 149 11 Elizabeth I Receiving Dutch Emissaries, c. 1585. Staatliche Museen Kassel 151 12 Miniature by Nicholas Hilliard, Young Man against a Flame Background. V & A Images 158 13 Illustration depicting the Moghul emperor Jahangir preferring a Sufi sheikh to kings (including James I), c. 1615–18. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC: Purchase – Charles Lang Freer Endowment, Fl9 42.15a 162 14 Woodcut image of the island of Utopia from the 1518 Basle edition of More’s Utopia. Bielefeld University Library 165 15 Copy of a drawing of the Swan Theatre originally made in 1596 by Johannes De Witt. University Library, Utrecht 171 16 Nicholas Hilliard’s famous miniature of an Elizabethan lover, entitled Young Man among the Roses. V & A Images 178 3 The Restoration and Eighteenth Century, 1660–1780 1 Hogarth, The South Sea Scheme (1721). London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 203 2 Canaletto, view of St Paul’s Cathedral, façade (c. 1747). London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 206 3 Hogarth, Harlot’s Progress, Plate I (1732). London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 207  List of Illustrations ix 4 Hogarth, Idle Prentice Executed at Tyburn (1747). London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 208 5 Hogarth, Gin Lane (1751). London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 209 6 Ranelagh Gardens, interior. London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 210 7 Ranelagh Gardens, exterior. London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 210 8 Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill, exterior 212 9 Greenwich, Royal Naval Hospital. From Vitruvius Britannicus 216 10 Greenwich Hospital, Painted Hall, James Thornhill 217 11 [Vanbrugh,] General Plan of Blenheim. From Vitruvius Britannicus 220 12 Hogarth, Masquerades and Operas, or The Taste of the Town (1724). London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 227 13 Royal Exchange (c. 1750). London Metropolitan Archives, City of London 244 14 Plan of a slave ship, 1808. By permission of the British Library. © The British Library Board, C.71.b.27 title page 247 15 Francis Hayman, Robert Clive and Mir Jaffar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757 (c. 1760). © National Portrait Gallery, London 250 4 The Romantic Period, 1780–1832 1 Industrial Revolution: Joseph Wright (1734–97), An Iron Forge, 1772, from an engraving made in 1773 by Richard Earlom (1743–1822). © 2016 Derby Museums Trust. 281 2 Frontispiece of George Adams, An Essay on Electricity, Explaining the Theory and Practice of that Useful Science; and the Mode of Applying it to Medical Purposes (London, 1799). St Andrews University Library 286 3 James Gillray, Un petit Souper à la Parisienne: or A Family of Sans Cullotts refreshing after the fatigues of the day (H. Humphry, 1792). Reproduced from The Works of James Gillray from the Original Plates (London, 1819). By permission of University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections 290 4 Barbauld, Hymn VIII, Hymns in Prose for Children. Author’s copy. 292 5 James Gillray, New Morality, or The promised Installment of the High Priest of the Theophilanthropes, with the Homage of Leviathan and his Suite. By permission of University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections 296 6 Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare (1782). Detroit Institute of Art 298 7 ‘Britannia Press’. Print Studio, Dundee Contemporary Arts 299 8 Frontispiece to The Poetical Works of Lord Byron (London, 1859) 306 9 Picturesque image of a Scottish landscape from William Gilpin’s Observations on Several parts of Great Britain, particularly the High-lands of Scotland, relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty. Third edition (London, 1808). By permission of University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections 318 10 Sublime image: John Martin, Manfred on the Jungfrau (1837). Photo © Birmingham Museums Trust 320 11 Blake, ‘Newton’. Tate Gallery 322 12 Oriental Image: Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh (1817). Author’s copy 329 13 William Blake, ‘The Little Black Boy’ from Songs of Innocence and of Experience. © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 331 14 Tintern Abbey from William Gilpin, Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, &c. Fourth edition (London, 1800). Author’s copy 334 15 Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility. Author’s copy 339 16 ‘A Turkish Female Slave’ by John Cam Hobhouse. St Andrew’s University Library 345 17 Frontispiece and title page to the English Standard Novels edition of Frankenstein (1831) 348 x List of Illustrations 5 The Victorian Age, 1832–1901 1 Queen Victoria. Courtesy of the Library of Congress 370 2 New Poor Law poster. Reproduced by permission of the National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey 373 3 ‘Centre Transept, Crystal Palace.’ London, 1855. Reproduced with permission of The British Library. © The British Library Board, Tab.442.a.5, page 67 379 4 Great Exhibition Supplement / Illustrated London News. Courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, George Washington University Libraries 385 5 ‘Kaye’s Worsdell’s Vegetable Restorative Pills’. Courtesy, Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz 386 6 Frontispiece to the first edition of The Pickwick Papers, with an illustration by ‘Phiz’ (Hablot Browne). Courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, George Washington University Libraries 390 7 ‘Two scenes from the Canterbury Tales’, produced by William Morris’s Kelmscott Press. © The British Library Board, C.43.h.19, Plates 272–3 391 8 Kate Greenaway. Marigold Garden: Pictures and Rhymes. London, New York: George Routledge and Sons, 1885. Frontispiece. Courtesy of the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware 392 9 ‘Mudie’s Select Library’. Courtesy, Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz 394 10 Isabella and the Pot of Basil (1867–8) by William Holman Hunt. DAM# 1947–9. Reproduced with the permission of the Delaware Art Museum 405 11 The Yellow Book. Volume I. April 1894 (London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1894). Front cover design by Aubrey Beardsley. Courtesy of the Mark Samuels Lasner Special Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 409 12 ‘The Little London Girl’. This illustration and poem, both by Kate Greenaway, appeared in Marigold Garden: Pictures and Rhymes (London, New York: George Routledge and Sons, 1885). Courtesy of the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware 421 13 Darwin cartoon, ‘Monkeyana’, which appeared in Punch in 1861. London, 1861. Reproduced with permission of the British Library. © The British Library Board, P.P.5270.ah.206 425 14 ‘The Rhodes Colossus’, drawn by Linley Sambourne, which appeared in Punch in 1892. Reproduced with the permission of Punch, Ltd. www.punch.co.uk 429 15 Found. Rossetti. DAM# 1935-27. Reproduced with permission of the Delaware Art Museum 435 16 ‘Oscar Wilde at Bow Street’. Colindale, Front Page no. 1627. Reproduced with permission of the British Library. © The British Library Board, Illustrated Police News Law-Courts and Weekly Record, 20 April 1895 (front page). 439 17 The title page to Bleak House, with illustrations by Hablot Browne (‘Phiz’) (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1853). Reproduced with permission of the British Library. © The British Library Board, Dex.287, title page 444 18 The illustrated title page to Goblin Market and Other Poems (Cambridge: Macmillan, 1862). Courtesy of the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, on loan to the University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware 448 6 The Twentieth Century, 1901–1939 1 ‘Progress’: cartoon by George Morrow (Punch 1910). Reproduced with the permission of Punch, Ltd. www.punch.co.uk 479  List of Illustrations xi 2 Balloon race, Ranelagh, 1906. © Topical Press Agency / Stringer 481 3 Soup queue, 1906 485 4 Sylvia Pankhurst and police escort, 1912 486 5 The British Worker, 12 May 1926, and the British Gazette, 13 May 1926: newspaper front pages announcing the end of the General Strike. University of Leicester Library Special Collections 492 6 Granada Cinema, Tooting, 1931. © Topical Press Agency / Stringer 495 7 ‘No comfort at all’: war widow, 1917 508 8 The Book, 1913, by Juan Gris: cubist painting 516 9 Advertisements, 1921. University of Leicester Library Special Collections 521 Images 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 reproduced courtesy of Getty Images 7 The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, 1939–2015 1 London in the Blitz 552 2 Atomic bomb devastation in Nagasaki, 1945 554 3 The Beatles receiving the MBE award 558 4 Tony Blair on Remembrance Sunday, 2005, with Margaret Thatcher looking over his shoulder. © ADRIAN DENNIS / Staff 560 5 Victory in Europe (VE) Day celebrations, 1945. © Picture Post / Stringer 567 6 Authors shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, 2012. © AFP / Stringer 574 7 The Penguin edition of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which was ruled to be not obscene by a jury at the Old Bailey in 1960. © J. Wilds / Stringer 576 8 Harold Pinter in his study, 1983. © Express / Stringer 580 9 Tony Ray-Jones, ‘Brighton Beach, 1966’ © National Museum of Photography, Film & Television. Image ref. 10452878 585 10 Woman reads as baby sleeps, about 1949. Copyright National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, NMPFT: Collections Reference Number: 1997-5002_10754 589 11 The Empire Windrush, bringing Caribbean immigrants to England in 1948 591 12 Poster for the film 1984, based on Orwell’s novel 597 All the above images courtesy of Getty Images 8 Postcolonial Literature in English 1 Map of the British empire in the 1930s. Adapted from P. J. Marshall, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire (Cambridge University Press, 1996), endpaper; and Simon C. Smith, British Imperialism 1750–1970 (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 2 646 2 Government House, Calcutta, 1805. © The British Library Board. (Maps.K.Top.115.46-b.) 654 3 Maps showing the partition of Africa in c. 1887 and in 1914. Adapted from P. J. Marshall, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 73 658 4 Empire Marketing Board poster, 1927. Reproduced with permission of The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey 661 5 Present-day map of Africa 664 6 Amerigo Vespucci ‘discovers’ America. A print from c. 1589–93 by Theodoor Galle after an engraving by Jan van der Straet. Amsterdam Rijksmuseum 682 7 Present-day map of the Caribbean. Adapted from David Crystal, English as a Global Language. 2nd edn (Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 38 684 Notes on Contributors is Professor of Literature at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City v al e r i e all e n University of New York. She was educated at Trinity College Dublin, and taught in Scotland and Florida before moving to New York. Recent publications include a co-edited collec- tion, Roadworks: Medieval Britain, Medieval Roads (Manchester University Press, 2016), and essays on Chaucer, Nicholas Love, Old English compensation law, medieval piety, Margery Kempe, and the Bayeux Tapestry. john b r a n n i g a n is Professor of English in University College Dublin. His publications include Literature, Culture and Society in Postwar England, 1945–1965 (2002), Orwell to the Present: Literature in England, 1945–2000 (2003), Pat Barker (2005), and Archipelagic Modernism: Literature in the Irish and British Isles, 1890–1970 (2015). m a r ia f r awl e y is a professor of English at George Washington University, where she teaches courses in nineteenth-century British literature and directs the University Honors Program. She is the author of three books: A Wider Range: Travel Writing by Women in Victorian England, Anne Brontë and, most recently, Invalidism and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Britain. In addition, she has prepared an edition of Harriet Martineau’s Life in the Sick-Room for Broadview Press. She is currently working on a variety of projects related to Victorian literary and medical history and is also writing a book titled Keywords of Jane Austen’s Fiction. andrew h is c o c kis Professor of English Literature at Bangor University, Wales and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Institut de recherches sur la Renaissance, l’Age Classique et les Lumières (IRCL), Université Paul Valéry III, Montpellier. He is English Literature editor of the academic journal MLR, series co-editor of Arden Early Modern Drama Guides and a Fellow of the English Association. He has published widely on English and French early modern literature and his most recent monograph is Reading Memory in Early Modern Literature (Cambridge University Press). p e t e r j. ki t so n is Professor of English at the University of East Anglia. He has taught and published widely in the field of Romantic period literature and culture and is the author of Forging Romantic China: Sino-British Cultural Exchange, 1760–1840 (2013), Romantic Literature, Race and Colonial Encounter (2007) and (with D. Lee and T. Fulford), Romantic Literature, Science and Exploration in the Romantic Era: Bodies of Knowledge (2004). He is also the editor (with D. Lee) of the multi-volume editions of Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation: Writings from the British Romantic Period (1999) and (with T. Fulford), Travels, Explorations and Empires: Writings from the Era of Imperial Expansion 1770–1835 (2001–2). He has served as the Chair and President of the xii  Notes on Contributors xiii English Association (2004–10) and President of the British Association for Romantic Studies (2007–11) and has held fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust, the AHRC, The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, The Huntington Library, and the Australian National University. l e e m o r r iss e y , Professor and Chair of English at Clemson University, is the author of From the Temple to the Castle: An Architectural History of British Literature, 1660–1760, and of The Constitution of Literature: Literacy, Democracy, and Early English Literary Criticism. He is the editor of The Kitchen Turns Twenty: A Retrospective Anthology, and Debating the Canon: A Reader from Addison to Nafisi, and Associate Editor of the three-volume Encyclopedia of British Literature, 1660–1789. His work has been published in New Literary History, College Literature, Women’s Writing, and Shakespeare. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the National University of Ireland-Galway, and a McCarthy Fellow at Marsh’s Library, Dublin. Preface Don’t want your drum and trumpet history – no fear … Don’t want to know who was who’s mistress, and why so-and-so devastated such a province; that’s bound to be all lies and upsy-down anyhow. Not my affair. Nobody’s affair now. Chaps who did it didn’t clearly know … What I want to know is, in the middle ages Did they Do Anything for Housemaid’s Knee? What did they put in their hot baths after jousting, and was the Black Prince – you know the Black Prince – was he enamelled or painted, or what? I think myself, black-leaded – very likely – like pipe-clay – but did they use blacking so early? (H. G. Wells, Tono-Bungay (1909), p. 214) As Edward Ponderevo’s rambling comments from Wells’s novel humorously illus- trate, literature regularly asks questions about history and about the processes by which historical knowledge and understanding are shaped. What is somewhat less common is to see historical questions asked of literature – questions, for example, such as how and why particular types of literature should emerge from particular sets of historical circumstances. The academic study of literature usually takes for granted the idea that literature should function as a critical reflection on people and society in history, and on the ways in which people make historical sense of their lives, but it often glosses over the fact that literature (in both its material and sym- bolic aspects) is itself always actively part of the historical process and inextricably bound up with its surrounding historical contexts. There has certainly been a growing trend among critics and scholars in recent years to place increased emphasis on the precise historical contextualisation of liter- ature, and this trend has to some extent been reflected within degree programmes in English. However, it remains the case that undergraduate literature students often have only a fairly limited sense of relevant historical contexts, and this is partly because of the relative dearth of appropriate and accessible study materials within this field. By its very nature, relevant historical information for the whole sweep of English literature tends to be widely scattered in a number of different sources, and, in any case, historical information of itself does not necessarily illuminate lit- erary study without further interpretation and contextualisation of its own – and students often need guidance with this. There are many helpful general histories of English literature, of course, and these can go some way towards providing such guidance, but they usually deal mainly with the ‘internal’ development of literature through the ages and only briefly, if at all, with the broader historical contexts which have helped to shape that development. At the other end of the spectrum, there xv xvi Preface are also many useful books of specialised historical literary criticism which deal in close detail with specific periods, and these are certainly valuable resources for a focused historical understanding of literature. However, broad-based books dedi- cated to introducing students to the systematic study of literature in context, with historical and literary material relevant to all periods of literature, are very few and far between, and it is this particular gap in provision for students that the present book seeks to address. English Literature in Context has been written and designed specifically for under- graduates to provide a detailed and accessible source of contextual reference mat­ erial to support the study of English literature from the Middle Ages to the present. The book offers a wide-ranging introduction to the key historical and cultural con- texts in which literature has been produced through the ages and it explores the complex interactions between literature and its contexts through focused discus- sions of particular literary trends, movements, texts and issues within each period. Each chapter of the book provides a comprehensive overview of one broad period of English literature, outlining important historical and literary events and examining the ways in which the diverse social, economic, political and cultural aspects of the period have informed its literary activity. To consolidate and enhance the reader’s understanding of the period and its literature, a range of illustrations and ‘break-out’ textboxes also feature in each chapter. As indicated above, the book has been written as an introductory text for under- graduates and, in particular, the authors have tried to maintain a clear, lively and accessible style of writing without any assumption of prior specialist knowledge on the part of the reader. At the same time, however, we hope that the book’s detailed treatment of particular trends, texts and contexts within each period will make it suitable as a source of reference and stimulus for more advanced study too. It should perhaps be noted that the authors are all experienced teachers of literature with a clear grasp of the learning needs of students as they progress through degree pro- grammes in English, and the book has been designed to cater flexibly for those needs. Using This Book The chapters of the book have a common structure of five main sections which move the focus gradually from the general to the particular as they each develop the dia- logue between history and literature, contexts and texts. These five sections are as follows: i. Historical Overview ii. Literary Overview iii. Texts and Issues iv. Readings v. Reference In each chapter, the ‘Historical Overview’ is preceded by a brief introductory par- agraph and a chronology which covers the period in question, listing all major his- torical and cultural events alongside key literary developments. Among other things, the chronologies are intended to provide a quick reference guide to the literature and history of each period and to enable readers to make some critical observations  Preface xvii of their own about the period, both before and after reading the main part of the related chapter. The first two sections then lay narrative foundations for each chap- ter by broadly surveying the historical and literary trends of the relevant period and by drawing attention to key points of conjunction between the two. The third section, ‘Texts and Issues’, looks more closely at such points of conjunction and expands on the interrelations between texts and contexts by considering some of the dominant issues or themes which can be seen to permeate the period, both in its literature and in its broader social and cultural contexts. The ‘Readings’ section then narrows the focus further by providing short contextualised readings of a small group of repre- sentative texts from the period. In their attention to textual and contextual detail, these critical readings are intended to draw together specific elements of the preced- ing historical, literary and thematic overviews while also serving as practical exam- ples of how to discuss individual texts in close relation to their historical contexts. The final ‘Reference’ section in each chapter provides readers with structured and annotated suggestions for further reading and research, as well as full references for all works cited in the main text. This section has three main subsections which are common to all chapters – A: Primary texts and anthologies of primary sources; B: Introductions and overviews; and C: Further reading. Within the common broad structure outlined above, there are different types of emphasis from chapter to chapter and many individual variations in how material is organised within each of the five main sections (and it should be noted that Chapter 8, which is not defined solely by period, has a somewhat different nature from the other chapters and diverges from the standard pattern above by treating sections ii and iii together). These variations reflect the different characteristics of each particu- lar period (including their differences in length) as well as the different interests of individual authors – for, while we have aimed at a certain degree of standardisation of style and structure across chapters, we have wanted to avoid a narrow uniformity and have done our best to retain a clear sense of our own individual voices, along with a lively feel for the distinctiveness of our periods. It should be made clear that the focus of the book is primarily on literature from the United Kingdom and that American literature and other literatures in English are not dealt with in any detail by seven of the book’s eight chapters (the exception is Chapter 8 which, while also not discussing American literature, provides a broad introduction to postcolonial literature in English). Having said that, variable histori- cal circumstances over the centuries inevitably mean that authors have had to make their own critical judgements for their specific periods as to how narrowly or broadly to apply the book’s main focus and how far to trace literary developments and influ- ences beyond the United Kingdom at any particular point. Similarly, although sev- eral chapters touch on critical questions about how we define and delimit literary periods in the first place, and also about how we decide on what constitutes a rele- vant historical context, we have not felt it appropriate in a practically oriented book like this to dwell too much on such matters. We certainly want readers to reflect on these things for themselves, and we have tried in our discussions to retain a degree of flexibility and open-endedness to encourage this, but, equally, in organising our material we have each had to make some clear-cut decisions and selections – and in xviii Preface the main these have been guided by a pragmatic sense of the broad requirements of undergraduate studies in English and of the sorts of literary traditions, periods and texts that are widely taught and studied in universities and colleges around the world. We are aware, of course, that there is no neat consensus on such matters and that English degrees are as many and various as the institutions which offer them, but we hope our coverage is sufficiently broad and balanced to meet the require- ments of at least some parts of most degree programmes. It should be stressed, more- over, that much of the discussion in the book (especially in the ‘Texts and issues’ and ‘Readings’ sections) is only intended to be illustrative of a general approach to the study of literature in its historical contexts. We are by no means trying to prescribe particular programmes of study of our own, or indeed to narrow the possibilities of analysis and interpretation to the ones presented here. Our hope is simply that we can provide a firm foundation for historically contextualised literary study, along with sufficiently stimulating examples of such study to encourage readers to make their own critical explorations in this field according to their own circumstances and interests. For this second edition of English Literature in Context, a completely new chapter has been added on the important field of ‘Postcolonial literature in English’, while the book’s existing chapter on contemporary literature has now been substantially revised and expanded to bring the story up to the present date. The ‘Reference’ sec- tions of all the chapters have been carefully reviewed, revised and updated to reflect the latest developments in the subject for each different period, and, as a result, over two hundred new items have been added to the book’s annotated lists of critical ref- erences. In order to make space for all this extra material without unduly increasing the physical size of the book, a number of selected textboxes from the first edition have not been reprinted here but have instead been moved to the book’s accompa- nying website, which should also be consulted for a range of other relevant online resources (see www.cambridge.org/poplawski2). Apart from Chapter 7, the substance of most of the other original chapters remains largely unchanged here from the first edition, although there have been some small additions and amendments to the text of Chapter 4 and a slightly more extensive revision of the text of Chapter 1. Sources for all quotations and references are cited in abbreviated form in the main text and full details of such citations can be found in the relevant ‘Reference’ section at the end of each chapter. For ease of orientation within that section, citations are always keyed to its various subsections (A, Bi, Cii, etc.) – for example: Stephen Constantine, Unemployment in Britain between the Wars, pp. 1–2 [Bi] Acknowledgements First edition The editor and contributors would like to thank current and former colleagues at Cambridge University Press for their invaluable support and encouragement throughout the whole period of this book’s planning, development and production. In particular, we would like to thank Rachel de Wachter and Sarah Stanton for ini- tiating the project; Pat Maurice and Juliet Davis-Berry for their help in planning and developing the book’s overall design; Paul Stevens for his help with shepherding the illustrations; our wonderfully sharp-eyed copy-editor, Margaret Berrill, who made innumerable and invaluable improvements to the book in its later stages; Mike Leach for the index and Alison Powell for efficiently steering us through the final produc- tion process; Sarah Stanton again for overseeing the whole project from beginning to end; and last, but certainly not least, Rebecca Jones for her detailed editorial and organisational work throughout, and for her enthusiastic good cheer in helping us to bring the book to completion. Second edition For this second edition, we have again received wonderful support from colleagues at Cambridge University Press and we would once more like to give them our warm- est thanks. We are particularly grateful to Sarah Stanton for proposing the new edi- tion in the first place and for setting it firmly on its way, and to Rosemary Crawley for her superbly efficient editorial direction thereafter and for seeing the whole proj- ect smoothly through to publication. We are also indebted to Valerie Appleby for her invaluable groundwork in the initial planning of the edition; to Martin Thacker for his eagle-eyed, insightful and thoroughly engaged copy-editing of the text; to Isobel Cowper-Coles and to Tim Mason for their friendly administrative help; to Chantal Hamill for the book’s new index and to Caroline Mowatt for her careful management of the final production process. We would, in addition, like to take this opportunity to record our deep gratitude to the many readers, students, teachers and scholars who have kindly provided feedback on the book at different stages in its development from its initial inception through to this second edition. As editor, I would like to thank the other contributors for their professionalism and support throughout the many years we have worked together on this book, and for their great perseverance and friendly good humour in the face of my seemingly end- less requests for revisions, additions, amendments, corrections and ‘just one more thing’! I would like to express my love and gratitude to my wife, Angie, for her great xix xx Acknowledgements perseverance and support throughout this time. My love and thanks also go to the rest of my family for their support over the years and especially to my grandchildren, Poppy, Oscar and Charlie, for keeping me (literally) on my toes. I am grateful to the University of Leicester for granting a period of study leave during which I undertook some of the initial research and writing for Chapter 6 – and grateful, too, to Cynthia Brown for helpful advice on the illustrations for that chapter. Susan Reid gave generously of her time to read and comment on a draft of Chapter 8, and I am indebted to her for many helpful suggestions. My thanks are also due to David Cox for his excellent maps. For helping to inform the whole of my contribution to this book, I thank all the students and colleagues I have worked with in the past for making my contexts for the study of literature so congenial. Valerie Allen would like to thank Ares Axiotis and Michael Sargent for help with her chapter. John Brannigan would like to thank colleagues and students at University College Dublin, especially the teaching team and students of Literature in Context who have given very valuable feedback on this volume. He would also like to thank Professor Tony Roche, for a fruitful discussion of Larkin; Professor Andrew Carpenter for sup- porting a period of research leave which helped with the completion of the chapter for the first edition; and Dr Fionnuala Dillane, for many insightful conversations about the relationship between this volume and teaching undergraduate English. He would also like to acknowledge the love, support, distractions and replenishments afforded by his wife, Moyra, and three children, Conor, Owen, and Laura. Maria Frawley would like to thank her research assistants from the George Washington University Honors Program, Liza Blake and Taylor Asen, for their gener- ous help both with researching material for her chapter and for reading portions of the chapter in draft. Andrew Hiscock is grateful to the many colleagues with whom he has discussed his chapter and he wishes particularly to thank Professor Tony Claydon (Bangor University), Professor Heather Easterling (Gonzaga University) and Dr Ceri Sullivan (Cardiff University) for their invaluable advice and comments. Peter J. Kitson would like to thank his colleague at the University of Dundee, Dr David Robb, for help with the photography for his chapter and also Rebecca Jones for her advice and help with the illustrations. Lee Morrissey gratefully acknowledges Clemson University’s College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities Research Grants for supporting his contribution to this book. 1 Medieval English, 500–1500 VALERIE ALLEN What should we call this period of ‘medieval literature’ that straddles nearly a millen- nium and two languages? The ‘Dark’ and ‘Middle Ages’ (of which ‘medieval’ is simply the Latinate form), were terms applied retrospectively and pejoratively by writers in the seventeenth century to describe the period between classical and Renaissance learning; the ‘medievals’ generally perceived themselves as modern, sometimes even corruptly sophisticated in comparison to earlier, simpler days. ‘Literature’ is equally problematic, not existing as a word in English until the fourteenth century. For most of the period, that body of writing containing what we now call ‘literature’ encompassed without division texts that today we categorise as religious, historical, legal and medical. Furthermore, how do we name a period that so lacks internal coherence? It moves from a Germanic tribal economy to late Old English feudalism, to the ‘high’ feudalism of the Normans, to the emergence of the state bureaucracy, centrali- sation of power, and urban economy that brought England to the eve of its pre- cociously early capitalism. It starts at a moment when the essentially urbanised experience of guild-organised mystery plays is inconceivable, and ends at a time when Old English heroic poetry is largely unintelligible both culturally and lin- guistically. Taking this medieval period as a discrete historical epoch in its own right, we must ask what its literature distinctively meant. History and literature are divided in modern disciplinary parlance and then united in an artificial synthesis imposed on a body of medieval writing that recognised no such distinction in the first place. Literature is not some constant that progresses unchanged through the eras; its very meaning changes according to the epoch in which it occurs. We must ask what made its dominant genres – heroic poetry, romance, saint’s life, mystery play – assume the form they did when they did. We must consider the possibility that literature as we understand it today simply does not map onto the medieval landscape of poetic and scribal production. To read medieval literature well is thus to read medieval literature historically. 1 2 Medieval English, 500–1500 Chronology Key AS Anglo-Saxon, the collective term for the inhabitants of England after the immigration of the Germanic tribes from the fifth century. The name comes from the two most populous tribes, the Angles and the Saxons. Used more precisely, the term is distinguished from the native Britons, inhabiting the island prior to invasion, and from the Danes, who invaded from the eighth to eleventh centuries. f l. ‘Flourished’. IF Insular French, referring to the predominantly Norman-influenced dialect of French that developed in England after 1066. Also refers broadly to any French written in England. L. Latin, the language of learning and of the Church; in use continuously throughout the medieval period and across western Europe. ME Middle English, referring to the English language from the thirteenth to late fifteenth centuries. English from the twelfth and late eleventh centuries is transitional, and can be understood as either late OE or early ME. OE Old English, referring to the conglomeration of dialects used in England from the earliest written vernacular (roughly early seventh century) until the Norman invasion. Most OE writing is in the West-Saxon dialect. OF Old French, language of continental France, as distinct from its insular counterpart, Insular French. Unless designated otherwise, all texts are in English (whether Old or Middle). Note There is often a lag between when a work was composed and the date of its earliest surviv- ing manuscript. Anglo-Saxon poetry is particularly vulnerable to this kind of delayed date of record. The Dream of the Rood, for example, is known to have existed in some form by the late seventh century, but the manuscript in which it exists dates from some three hundred years later. HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE 449 Bede’s date for arrival of Germanic mercenaries. King Arthur possibly a British resistance leader fighting the invaders Late C. 5th / Gildas, The Ruin of Britain (L.), source for Bede early C. 6th 597 St Augustine brings Roman Christianity (and script) to Kent c. 602–3 Æthelbert, king of Kent, first Anglo-Saxon ruler to Æthelbert establishes written law, first known OE convert writing (preserved only in later manuscripts) 616 Edwin (–633), king of Northumbria, converts to Christianity c. 625 Sutton Hoo ship burial c. 632 Penda (–655), pagan king of Mercia 635 Cynegisl, first West-Saxon king baptised 642 Oswald, king of Northumbria, killed by Penda 643 Earliest original date for Widsith and Deor (in Exeter Book, c. 950), although a later date is more likely  Chronology 3 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE 656 Mercia converts to Christianity 657 (–680) ‘Cædmon’s Hymn’, and possibly Genesis A, Exodus and Daniel (in Junius manuscript, c. 950) 664 Synod of Whitby establishes supremacy of Roman Christianity 674 Monastery of Monkwearmouth founded. Bede educated there as child within the decade c. 678 English Christian missions to the Continent Earliest original date for Beowulf, latest ninth century; also Battle of Finnsburgh 682 Monastery of Jarrow founded near Monkwearmouth 687 Death of St Cuthbert 688 Ine (–726), king of Wessex, establishes law code c. 698 Lindisfarne Gospels (L.); Dream of the Rood 730 (–750) Ruthwell Cross 731 Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People (L.) 757 Offa (–96), king of Mercia c. 782 Poetic elegies, including: Wanderer, Seafarer, Wife’s Lament and Ruin (all in Exeter Book, c. 950) 780s Alcuin of York teaches and writes in Charlemagne’s court 793 First Danish invasions. Monastery at Lindisfarne sacked 796 fl. Nennius, History of the Britons (L.); early reference to historical Arthur c. 800 Four remaining kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East ‘Cynewulf’ poems (from runic signature): Juliana, Anglia, Wessex Christ II (in Exeter Book, c. 950), Fates of the Apostles, Elene (in Vercelli Book, c. 950). OE riddles c. 851 Genesis B 869 Danes kill Edmund, king of East Anglia Edmund venerated as saint 871 Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, then of Anglo-Saxons Possible date of Andreas 875 York becomes separate Scandinavian kingdom 878 Defeat of Danish leader Guthrum at Edington (Wilts.). Treaty of Wedmore. Guthrum baptised c. 880 Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons. Boundaries of Danelaw Alfredian law-code and translations. Anglo-Saxon established: Dane and Englishman given equal legal Chronicle begun value (or wergild) 899 Edward the Elder, son of Alfred, king of Anglo-Saxons 924 Æthelstan, son of Edward, king of Anglo-Saxons, then of English (927) 937 Battle of Brunanburh: Æthelstan defeats Norsemen and Battle of Brunanburh recorded as poem in Scots Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 939 Edmund, first king to succeed to all England 946 King Eadred, brother of Edmund c. 950 Exeter Book (–c. 1000), Vercelli Book (containing earliest homilies), Junius manuscript. Beowulf manuscript probably late tenth or early eleventh century 955 King Eadwig, son of Edmund 959 Edgar, brother of Eadwig, king of England Monastic Benedictine Revival Dunstan (–988), Archbishop of Canterbury 961 Oswald (–992), Bishop of Worcester, Archbishop of Oswald major figure in Benedictine Revival York from 971 4 Medieval English, 500–1500 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE 963 Æthelwold (–984), Bishop of Winchester, teacher of Wulfstan and Ælfric, translates Rule of St Benedict (L.) into OE; writes Regularis Concordia (L.), standardising monastic, liturgical observance c. 971 Blickling Homilies, anonymous 975 King Edward ‘the Martyr’, son of Edgar His murder in 978 lamented by Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Byrhtferth of Ramsey and Wulfstan (1014); venerated as a saint 978 Æthelræd II, ‘the Unready’, half-brother of Edward the Martyr c. 980 Second wave of Viking invasion (–1066) 985–7 Abbo of Fleury at Ramsey; commemorates death of Edmund (d. 869) c. 991 Apollonius of Tyre, only OE romance, in manuscript with Wulfstan’s homilies 990–2 Ælfric, Catholic Homilies 991 Battle of Maldon. Danegeld first paid Battle of Maldon composed within twenty years c. 996 Ælfric, Lives of the Saints 997 Byrhtferth of Ramsey, Life of St Oswald (L.) (Archbishop of York, d. 992) c. 998 Ælfric, Latin Grammar in OE, Colloquy (L.), and Old Testament translations and paraphrases 1011 Byrhtferth of Ramsey’s Enchiridion, scientific treatise 1013–14 Swein Forkbeard, king of Denmark, deposes Æthelræd 1014 Æthelræd reinstated Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, ‘“Wolf’s” Sermon to the English’ Sermo Lupi ad Anglos 1016 King Edmund Ironside, son of Æthelræd and Ælfgifu; defeated by (Danish) Cnut; murdered same year King Cnut; king of Denmark from 1018 1035–7 Kingdom divided between Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut, sons of Cnut by different mothers 1037 King Harold Harefoot 1040 King Harthacnut 1042 King Edward the Confessor, son of Æthelræd II and Emma of Normandy 1066 Harold II 1066 Battle of Hastings: William of Normandy defeats Harold Song of Roland (OF) allegedly sung to the Normans before battle. Earliest record of poem dates from twelfth-century IF version 1066 William I 1070–1 Hereward the Wake, rebellion in East Anglia 1086 Domesday land survey completed. Oath of Salisbury: main landowners swear fealty to William 1087 William II, son of William I 1096–9 First Crusade. William II attends. Jerusalem stormed 1099 1100 Henry I, son of William I (–1125) Gesta Herewardi, L. translation of (lost) English account of outlaw Hereward the Wake 1125 William of Malmesbury, L. writings, including History of the Kings of the English and Life of St Dunstan 1128 First Cistercian abbey in England (order founded 1098 in reaction to Benedictine opulence) c. 1133 Henry of Huntingdon, History of the English (L.)  Chronology 5 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE 1135 Stephen, Henry I’s nephew, claims throne from Matilda, Henry’s daughter Intermittent civil war c. 1137 Geoffrey of Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain (L.); first sustained account of King Arthur c. 1140 Geoffrey Gaimar, Estoire des Engleis (IF), includes account of Havelok the Dane 1147–9 Second Crusade 1147 Ælred (–1167), Abbot of Rievaulx, later canonised. L. spiritual and historical works, including life of Edward the Confessor c. 1150 Play Mystère d’Adam (IF) probably composed in England 1153 Treaty of Winchester (or Wallingford): Stephen retains throne, Matilda’s son Henry heir 1154 Henry II, grandson of Henry I OE Peterborough Chronicle ends 1155 Pope allegedly grants Henry lordship of Ireland Wace, Roman de Brut (IF), based on Geoffrey of Monmouth, Roman de Rou (c. 1160) 1159 fl. John of Salisbury; L. treatises on political theory (Policraticus) and logical arts (Metalogicon) 1164 Constitutions of Clarendon: Henry seeks control over Church 1166 Assize of Clarendon: Henry lays foundation of trial by jury of English common law c. 1167 (–1170) Oxford halls of residence for English scholars Cnut’s Song, Poema morale, Proverbs of Alfred, founded; scholars previously had studied at University verses of St Godric, Paternoster poem (first use of of Paris extended rhyming couplets in English) 1169–71 Invasion of Ireland led by Richard of Clare (‘Strongbow’) 1170 Thomas Becket murdered after years of conflict with Approximate date for Vie d’Edouard le Confesseur Henry over jurisdiction of Church and state (canonised (IF) by the Nun of Barking 1173) 1174 Treaty of Falaise; William I of Scotland pays homage to Henry 1176 Assize of Northampton further increases administration of centralised royal justice c. 1177 Richard FitzNigel, Dialogus de Scaccario (L.), on methods of government. Nigel Wireker, Mirror of Fools (L.), satire on manners and clerical vices c. 1180 William Fitzstephen (L.). Life of Thomas Becket (includes account of London). Marie de France at English court; writes Fables and Lais (IF). Drama, La Seinte Resureccion (IF) 1180–6 John of Forde, Life of St Wulfric of Haselbury (L.) (d. 1154) 1181–92 Walter Map, Trifles of Courtiers (L.), satire of court life 1187 Jerusalem retaken by Saladin 1189–92 Third Crusade 1189 Richard I, son of Henry II; leads Crusade to Holy Land Approximate date for Owl and the Nightingale (1190) c. 1190 (–1225) Katherine Group (alliterative prose): Seinte Marherete, Seinte Iuliene, Seinte Katerine, Sawles Warde and Hali Meiðhad (MS. Bodley 34) La amon’s Brut, derived from Bede and Wace 6 Medieval English, 500–1500 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE c. 1196–8 William of Newburgh, History of English Matters (L.) 1199 John I, brother of Richard c. 1200 Marian lyrics. Ælfric’s Grammar transcribed Religious elegies: The Grave and Soul’s Address to the Body. Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria Nova (L.) 1202–4 Fourth Crusade 1204–6 Philip Augustus of France retakes Normandy, Anjou and other territories c. 1205 Ormulum, metrical paraphrase of gospels; develops unique phonetic spelling system 1209 Cambridge halls of residence established 1210 Roman de Waldef (IF), apparently based on an English source 1215 Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council: requires annual confession for Christians, and distinctive garb for Jews; clarifies doctrine of transubstantiation; establishes marriage as sacrament; increases penalties against heretics John signs Magna Carta, grants concessions to barons, liberties to towns Civil war; Prince Louis of France besieges Rochester 1216 Henry III, son of John, nine years old 1217 Jews to wear yellow badges marking alien status c. 1220 Ancrene Riwle (or Ancrene Wisse) 1221 Dominican (Blackfriars) order established in England; founded 1216 to combat heresy 1224 Franciscan friars (Greyfriars) in England c. 1225 ‘Wooing Group’, prose prayers to Christ: Wohung of Ure Lauerd, On Lofsong of ure Louerde, On Ureisun of ure Louerde 1227 Order of St Clare founded – female mendicants Henry III achieves majority 1228–9 Fifth Crusade 1230–1 Genesis and Exodus (metrical paraphrase of Old Testament books). Vices and Virtues (prose dialogue) 1235 fl. Matthew Paris, monk of St Albans, illustrated Chronicles (L.) 1237 Treaty of York, Anglo-Scottish borders fixed c. 1240 Curia Regis (King’s Grand Council of barons and Walter Bibbesworth, Tretiz (IF). Roman de Gui de prelates) as embryonic Parlement Warewic (IF) c. 1242 fl. Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietatibus Rerum (L.) (encyclopaedic treatise) 1248–54 Sixth Crusade c. 1250 First English (metrical) romances: King Horn, Floris and Blauncheflur. Physiologus (L.), allegorical interpretation of animal natures ‘Sumer is icomen in’, musical round for six voices  Chronology 7 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE 1258 Provisions of Oxford, Simon de Montfort attempts regulation of King’s finances 1259 Treaty of Paris. Henry III acknowledges French claim to territories in France c. 1260 (–1300) Robert of Gloucester, metrical chronicle of England 1264 Feast of Corpus Christi instituted 1265 Battle of Evesham, Simon de Montfort killed c. 1265 Duns Scotus (–1308), Scots philosopher of logic 1270 Seventh Crusade. Prince Edward attends 1272 Edward I, son of Henry III 1275 First formal meeting of Parliament Approximate date for English fabliaux, Dame Sirith, Fox and the Wolf c. 1280 South English Legendary, versified saints’ lives and miracles 1282–3 Edward invades Wales, establishes himself as ruler, proclaims son Edward Prince of Wales (1301) c. 1285 Hereford Mappa Mundi 1290 Jews expelled from England Statute (Quia Emptores) bars granting of new feudal rights (sub-infeudation), except by the Crown, and makes land held in ‘fee simple’ (fully ‘owned’) freely transferable c. 1290s? Of Arthour and of Merlin (in Auchinleck manuscript), non-alliterative romance Harrowing of Hell, semi-dramatic verse dialogue Metrical romances: Havelok the Dane, Arthour and Merlin, Kyng Alisaunder, Sir Tristrem, Amis and Amiloun 1297 Battle of Stirling Bridge, William Wallace defeats Edward; Wallace defeated at Falkirk (1298), executed 1305 c. 1300 Cursor Mundi, biblical poem Lay Folks’ Catechism Land of Cockaigne Richard Rolle (–1349), devotional writing (L. and vernacular) 1303 Robert Mannyng of Brunne, Handlyng Synne (verse translation of IF penitential treatise) 1307 Edward II, son of Edward I c. 1310? William of Palerne, early romance of Alliterative Revival. Lay le Freine 1314 Battle of Bannockburn, Robert Bruce defeats English; ends English control in Scotland 1315–17 Great famine 1320s The Simonie, protest poem on the evil times of Edward II’s reign 1320 Declaration of Arbroath: letter to pope from Scottish barons, declaring right to self-rule 1326–7 Edward II deposed and murdered Approximate date of Bevis of Hampton 8 Medieval English, 500–1500 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE 1327 Edward III, son of Edward II c. 1330 Auchinleck manuscript (London): large miscellany of religious and didactic poetry, including the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and A Pennyworth of Wit; romances, including: Sir Orfeo, Kyng Alisaunder, Floris and Blaunchefleur, Sir Degaré, Of Arthour and of Merlin, Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild Harley lyrics, large collection of lyrics, religious, amatory, satiric, political 1333 fl. Laurence Minot, political (particularly anti-Scots) verse 1337 Hundred Years’ War begins 1338 Robert Mannyng, Chronicle (translation of Peter of Langtoft’s IF Chronicle) 1340 Dan Michel of Northgate, Ayenbite of Inwit (Remorse of Conscience), Kentish prose translation of French confessional treatise 1340 (–1370) fl. Dafydd ap Gwilym, Welsh poet 1344 Richard of Bury, Philobiblon: L. treatise in praise of books 1346 Battle of Crécy 1348 Order of the Garter established 1348–50 Black Death, estimated population loss at one-third to one-half c. 1350 First paper-mill built in England Pride of Life, morality play Romances: Tale of Gamelyn, Athelston, William of Palerne, Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Sir Isumbras, Sir Eglamour of Artois, Octavian, Sir Amadace; Lybeaus Desconus; Joseph of Arimathie Richard Ledred, L. account of witch trial of Alice Kyteler, Kilkenny, Ireland 1350–1400 Romances, including Sege of Melayne, Emaré, Sir Gowther, Sir Firumbras, Sir Degrevant, Gest Historyale of the Destruction of Troy; Erle of Tolous 1351 Statute of Labourers fixes wages c. 1352 Winner and Waster, alliterative poem 1356 Battle of Poitiers 1360 Treaty of Brétigny, nine-year peace between England Pricke of Conscience, long devotional poem in and France rhyming couplets c. 1360 The Book of John Mandeville translated from IF 1361 Black Death Jean Froissart in England (–1367) 1362 English declared official language of law courts Approximate date, Piers Plowman, A-text c. 1370 (–1387) Geoffrey Chaucer, early writings: dream visions, translations, Troilus and Criseyde c. 1373 (–1393) Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (short and long versions) c. 1374–9 John Gower, Mirour de l’Omme (IF) c. 1375 Northern Homily Cycle being expanded from early fourteenth-century version  Chronology 9 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE 1376 ‘Good’ Parliament attempts reform of court corruption John Barbour’s (Scots) poem, The Bruce John Wyclif preaches disendowment of clergy Black Prince dies 1377 ‘Bad’ Parliament, flat-rate poll tax Earliest record of York mystery plays Richard II, grandson of Edward III Approximate date of Piers Plowman, B-text 1378 Great Schism (–1417), rival popes in Rome and Avignon 1379 Income-differentiated poll tax John Wyclif, De Eucharistia (L.) (on transubstantiation) 1380 Flat-rate poll tax c. 1380 Cloud of Unknowing Romances: Apollonius of Tyre; Thomas Chestre, Sir Launfal; Athelston 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, now renamed Great Revolt University of Oxford condemns Wyclif’s teachings 1382 Complete translation of Bible into Middle English 1384 ME Speculum Vitae investigated for heresy c. 1385 Thomas Usk (d. 1388), Testament of Love John Gower, Vox Clamantis (L.) Sir John Clanvowe, Boke of Cupide c. 1386–90 John Gower, Confessio Amantis (ME) 1387 fl. John Trevisa, translates Polychronicon and On the Properties of Things c. 1387 Geoffrey Chaucer (–1400), Canterbury Tales 1388 ‘Merciless’ Parliament impeaches Richard’s advisers c. 1390 Piers Plowman, C-text Alliterative Parlement of the Thre Ages and St Erkenwald Alliterative Morte Arthure; The Awntyrs off Arthure 1390s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Patience, Cleanness Vernon manuscript, compilation of earlier vernacular religious works: Ancrene Riwle, Speculum Vitae, Walter Hilton’s Scale of Perfection, Piers Plowman A-text, Northern Homily Cycle, South English Legendary Siege of Jerusalem c. 1392 Earliest mention of Coventry plays c. 1395 Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede 1399 Richard deposed and murdered. Henry IV, cousin of (–1406) Richard the Redeless and Mum and the Richard II Soþsegger c. 1400 fl. John Mirk, Festial (sermons); verse treatise, Instructions for Parish Priests Early 1400s A Tretis of Miraclis Pleyinge, a Wycliffite tract criticising drama Castle of Perseverance 1400–9 Welsh rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr 1401 Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, establishes Lollard heresy inquisitions 1402 Thomas Hoccleve (–1421): Letter of Cupid, Regiment of Princes, ‘Lament for Chaucer’ 10 Medieval English, 500–1500 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE c. 1404–5 Christine de Pisan, OF works, including Cite des Dames c. 1405–10 Dives and Pauper, long prose dialogue on Ten Commandments 1409–15 The Lanterne of Light, anticlerical, Lollard treatise c. 1408 fl. John Lydgate (–c. 1438): Troy Book, Life of Our Lady, Siege of Thebes, Fall of Princes, Pilgrimage of the Life of Man, Mumming plays c. 1410 Edward, Duke of York, The Master of Game, hunting treatise Nicholas Love, Mirrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ 1413 Henry V, son of Henry IV c. 1413 Margery Kempe (–c. 1439), religious experiences and writings 1414 Sir John Oldcastle, Lollard revolt; executed 1417 1415 Battle of Agincourt 1418 (–c. 1509) Paston letters 1420 Treaty of Troyes. Henry acknowledged Duke of Normandy and heir to French throne c. 1422 Earliest record of Chester plays 1422 Henry VI, son of Henry V (nine months old) c. 1424 James I of Scotland, Kingis Quair 1428–9 Joan of Arc lifts siege of Orléans; turning point of Hundred Years’ War 1431 English burn Joan of Arc as witch in Rouen 1445 Osbern Bokenham, Legendys of Hooly Wummen 1449–51 English lose Normandy and Gascony 1450 Jack Cade’s rebellion c. 1450 Weddynge of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell, prose Merlin, prose Siege of Thebes, Ipomedon, Squyr of Lowe Degree, Turnement of Totenham Jacob’s Well, sermon collection 1450–70 The Prologue and Tale of Beryn 1453 Fall of Constantinople to Turks; Eastern Roman empire ends Hundred Years’ War ends; English retain only Calais 1455 First book printed in Europe using movable lead type – the 42-line Bible, printed in Mainz, Germany, by Johannes Gutenberg (c. 1400–68) 1455–85 Wars of the Roses c. 1456 William Dunbar (–c. 1513), Scots poet c. 1460 John Skelton (–1529) c. 1460–80 Floure and the Leaf; Assembly of Ladies 1461 Edward IV, House of York c. 1461 (–1500) Croxton, Play of the Sacrament 1461–82 The Freiris of Berwik, written in Scotland c. 1463 Sir John Fortescue, De Monarchia: The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy 1464 John Capgrave, Chronicle of England  Historical Overview 11 HISTORY AND CULTURE LITERATURE 1468 N-Town plays c. 1470 Sir Thomas Malory, Morte Darthur Morality plays: Wisdom, Mankind 1470–1 Henry VI briefly reinstated; deposed and murdered 1471; Edward IV resumes reign c. 1470–90 Scots poet Robert Henryson, Testament of Cresseid, Morall Fabillis of Esope, Orpheus and Eurydice c. 1473 Sir John Fortescue, On the Governance of England c. 1475 Gavin Douglas (–1522) c. 1477 Blind Harry, The Wallace 1477 William Caxton (c. 1420–91) introduces printing to Caxton’s printed works (–1485) include Reynard England the Fox, Canterbury Tales, Order of Chivalry, The Golden Legend, Morte Darthur, Eneydos 1483 Edward V, son of Edward IV, murdered Richard III, brother of Edward IV 1485 Battle of Bosworth Field; Henry VII c. 1485 Towneley plays (–c. 1530). Manuscript dates from mid-sixteenth century c. 1490 Sir David Lindsay (–1555), Scots poet 1497 Henry Medwall, Fulgens and Lucrece Historical Overview Introduction In a charter of 1058, Bishop Ealdred granted land in Worcestershire to his minister Dodda, with reversion to the bishopric after Dodda’s death (see box). The charter itself is written and signed in Latin, but instead of including a map, it describes the bound- aries in OE as a survey of the metes and bounds. Such a survey requires a walkabout, and in medieval England, these walkabouts around the community’s parishes were performed as public events still called today in places the ‘beating of the bounds’. The purposes of such occasions were multiple: verification of local testimony, whether oral or written; affirmation of the community’s spatial identity; and a chance to party. The name comes from a quite literal beating of the bounds, in which critical intersections and landmarks – trees, streams, large stones, etc. – would be whipped and beaten with sticks, as if to impress the division of the land into the earth itself. Custom alleges that the children of the parish would receive a dunking in the streams and other such untender reminders of where communities coexisted and divided; feasting, fighting and horseplay all marked occasions. In the later Middle Ages, these perambulations were often performed on Rogation Sunday in May, with prayers for blessing of people and the land itself. For a small rural parish, unable to afford dra- matic spectacles such as the Corpus Christi processions of York or Coventry, peram- bulations such as this were an occasion for a community to celebrate its own identity in a performance as theatrical as any play (Justice, Writing and Rebellion, pp. 165–7 [Ci]). 12 Medieval English, 500–1500 An Old English Land Charter Although we do not know whether the bounds of this eleventh-cen- Ðis is ðære twegra hida boc and anre gyrde æt tury charter would have been norðtune and ða feower æceras ðærto of ðære styfecunge into ðam twam hidan and ða mæde. beaten in this festive way, the sur- and ðone graf ðe þærto midrihte toligeð. and vey of the metes and bounds of ða ðry æceras mæde on afan hamme. þe sancte the land performs the boundaries oswald geaf bercstane into ðam lande. and ðiss rather than fixing them in a static synd þa land gemæro into ðam grafe. Ærost of ðære map as a cartographer would. dune andlang þære rode oð hit cymð beneoðan Secure boundaries were essen- stancnolle þanon ongerihte to cwenn hofoton. tial to the well-being and effective of cwenn hofoton benorðon þam mere þanon ongerihte eft up on þa dune. functioning of the community, for these people lived close to [This is the charter of the two hides [of land], and the land. The stealthy moving of one yardland at Northtown [Norton], and the four a boundary marker could result acres of that clearing land [belong] to the two hides, and the meadow, and the grove that [also] in a legal dispute that might sun- belongs to it; and the three acres of meadow in der the peace for years; Avarice or the Avon region that St Oswald added to the land Coueitise, one of the seven deadly for Bercstan. And these are the boundary lands sins, enacts itself in a man who [belonging] to the grove: First, from the hill and ploughs ano