Anglo-Norman Period (1100-1500)

The Normans, who were residing in Normandy (France) defeated the

Anglo-Saxon King at the Battle of Hastings (1066) and conquered England.
The Norman Conquest inaugurated a distinctly new epoch in the
literary as well as political history of England. The Anglo-Saxon authors
were then as suddenly and permanently displaced as the Anglo-Saxon king.
The literature afterwards read and written by Englishmen was thereby as
completely transformed as the sentiments and tastes of English rulers. The
foreign types of literature introduced after the Norman Conquest first
found favour with the monarchs and courtiers, and were deliberately
fostered by them, to the disregard of native forms. No effective protest was
possible by the Anglo-Saxons, and English thought for centuries to come
was largely fashioned in the manner of the French. Throughout the whole
period, which we call the Middle English period (as belonging to the Middle
Ages or Medieval times in the History of Britain) or the Anglo-Norman
period, in forms of artistic expression as well as of religious service, the
English openly acknowledged a Latin control.

It is true that before the Norman Conquest the Anglo-Saxons had a body of
native literature distinctly superior to any European vernacular. But one
cannot deny that the Normans came to their land when they greatly needed
an external stimulus. The Conquest effected a wholesome awakening of
national life. The people were suddenly inspired by a new vision of a
greater future. They became united in a common hope. In course of time
the Anglo-Saxons lost their initial hostility to the new comers, and all
became part and parcel of one nation. The Normans not only brought with
them soldiers and artisans and traders, they also imported scholars to
revive knowledge, chroniclers to record memorable events, minstrels to
celebrate victories, or sing of adventure and love.

The great difference between the two periods—Anglo-Saxon period and

Anglo-Norman period, is marked by the disappearance of the old English
poetry. There is nothing during the Anglo-Norman period
like Beowulf or Fall of the Angels. The later religious poetry has little in it to
recall the finished art of Cynewulf. Anglo-Saxon poetry, whether derived
from heathendom or from the Church, has ideas and manners of its own; it
comes to perfection, and then it dies away. It seems that Anglo-Saxon
poetry grows to rich maturity, and then disappears, as with the new forms
of language and under new influences, the poetical education started again,
and so the poetry of the Anglo-Norman period has nothing in common the
Anglo-Saxon poetry.
The most obvious change in literary expression appears in the vehicle
employed. For centuries Latin had been more or less spoken or written by
the clergy in England. The Conquest which led to the reinvigoration of the
monasteries and the tightening of the ties with Rome, determined its more
extensive use. Still more important, as a result of foreign sentiment in court
and castle, it caused writings in the English vernacular to be disregarded,
and established French as the natural speech of the cultivated and the high-
born. The clergy insisted on the use of Latin, the nobility on the use of
French; no one of influence saw the utility of English as a means of
perpetuating thought, and for nearly three centuries very few works
appeared in the native tongue.
In spite of the English language having been thrown into the
background, some works were composed in it, though they echoed in the
main the sentiments and tastes of the French writers, as French then was
the supreme arbiter of European literary style. Another striking
characteristic of medieval literature is its general anonymity. Of the many
who wrote the names of but few are recorded, and of the history of these
few we have only the most meagre details. It was because originality was
deplored as a fault, and independence of treatment was a heinous offence
in their eyes.
(a) The Romances
The most popular form of literature during the Middle English period
was the romances. No literary productions of the Middle Ages are so
characteristic, none so perennially attractive as those that treat
romantically of heroes and heroines of by-gone days. These romances are
notable for their stories rather than their poetry, and they, like the drama
afterwards, furnished the chief mental recreation of time for the great body
of the people. These romances were mostly borrowed from Latin and
French sources. They deal with the stories of King Arthur, The War of Troy,
the mythical doings of Charlemagne and of Alexander the Great.
(b) The Miracle and Morality Plays
In the Middle English period Miracle plays became very popular. From
the growth and development of the Bible story, scene by scene, carried to
its logical conclusion, this drama—developed to an enormous cycle of
sacred history, beginning with the creation of man, his fall and banishment
from the Garden of Eden and extending through the more important
matters of the Old Testament and life of Christ in the New to the
summoning of the quick and the dead on the day of final judgment. This
kind of drama is called the miracle play—sometimes less correctly
the mystery play—and it flourished throughout England from the reign of
Henry II to that of Elizabeth (1154-1603).
Another form of drama which flourished during the Middle Ages was
the Morality plays. In these plays the uniform theme is the struggle
between the powers of good and evil for the mastery of the soul of man.
The personages were abstract virtues, or vices, each acting and speaking in
accordance with his name; and the plot was built upon their contrasts and
influences on human nature, with the intent to teach right living and
uphold religion. In a word, allegory is the distinguishing mark of the moral
plays. In these moral plays the protagonist is always an abstraction; he is
Mankind, the Human Race, the Pride of Life, and there is an attempt to
compass the whole scope of man’s experience and temptations in life, as
there had been a corresponding effort in the Miracle plays to embrace the
complete range of sacred history, the life of Christ, and the redemption of
the world.
(c) William Langland
One of the greatest poets of the Middle Ages was William Langland, and
his poem, A Vision of Piers the Plowman holds an important place in English
literature. In spite of its archaic style, it is a classic work in English
literature. This poem, which is a satire on the corrupt religious practices,
throws light on the ethical problems of the day. The character assumed by
Langland is that of the prophet, denouncing the sins of society and
encouraging men to aspire to a higher life. He represents the dissatisfaction
of the lower and the more thinking classes of English society, as Chaucer
represents the content of the aristocracy and the prosperous middle class.
Although Langland is essentially a satiric poet, he has decided views on
political and social questions. The feudal system is his ideal; he desires no
change in the institution of his days, and he thinks that all would be well if
the different orders of society would do their duty. Like Dante and Bunyan,
he ennobles his satire by arraying it in a garb of allegory; and he is
intensely real.
(d) John Gower (1325?—1408)
Gower occupies an important place in the development of English
poetry. Though it was Chaucer who played the most important role in this
direction, Gower’s contribution cannot be ignored. Gower represents the
English culmination of that courtly medieval poetry which had its rise
in France two or three hundred years before. He is a great stylist, and he
proved that English might compete with the other languages which had
most distinguished themselves in poetry. Gower is mainly a narrative poet
and his most important work is Confession Amantis, which is in the form of
conversation between the poet and a divine interpreter. It is an
encyclopaedia of the art of love, and satirises the vanities of the current
time. Throughout the collection of stories which forms the major portion
of Confession Amantis, Gower presents himself as a moralist. Though Gower
was inferior to Chaucer, it is sufficient that they were certainly fellow
pioneers, fellow schoolmasters, in the task of bringing England to
literature. Up to their time, the literary production of England had been
exceedingly rudimentary and limited. Gower, like Chaucer, performed the
function of establishing the form of English as a thoroughly equipped
medium of literature.