G.M Trevelyan - SHE - Chapter I
[alert-success] CHAUCER'S ENGLAND
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[alert-primary] Field, Village and Manor House [/alert-primary]
[alert-primary] Field, Village and Manor House [/alert-primary]
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Geoffrey Chaucer, lived
during the time of King Edward III from 1340 to 1400. In Chaucer's England, the
modern and the mediaeval start to mix for the first time. England also starts
to become its own country and is no longer just an extension of Franco-Latin
Europe. The Saxon and French words finally came together to form the
"English tongue," which is now being used in schools and courts.
A Nation in the Making:
Chaucer’s well-known
masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, shows how people lived and what they did in
his time. Chaucer spent a lot of time at court, so he knew a lot about the
culture of mediaeval France. When he set the pattern for modern English poetry,
he did so using forms and metres from France and Italy, where he had been on
business. Even so, he found a new way to speak English. Other characteristics
of the new-born nation were expressed in Langland's religious allegory, Piers
the Plowman.
Chaucer’s work tells the
story of how the English nation was formed in the midst of a tornado of
revolts, revivals, and revelations. During Chaucer's time, England began to
have a national, racial, and linguistic identity.
Open Field and Strips
The strips or
"lands" were separated from each other by moveable hurdles instead of
fences. The farmers split up these large "fields" into smaller
pieces. The first Anglo-Saxon settlers came up with this method of farming. The
peasants who farmed were a self-governing group, but they were serfs to the
lord of the manor. They were not allowed to leave their land by law. On certain
days of the year, they had to pay for their field services.
Medieval Farming
The Anglo-Saxons were the
first people to start farming. It went on until the modern system of enclosure.
This democratic peasant farming was taken away by the power of the feudal
system.It was getting worse quickly and painfully. From the 1200s to the 1400s,
feudal lords had a lot of power.
Results of the Black Death:
The Black Death in 1348
and 1349 sped up the change. It's kind of like of plague which killed almost
one-third of the population. Some villages were completely destroyed. Instead
of a lack of land, there was a lack of people willing to work.
Statuses of Labourers:
Many landlords stopped
farming their own land and rented it out to a new type of farmer called a
"yeoman." Some manors in rural areas where people got rich by selling
wool gave rise to new classes of well-off yomen. The more people they had and
how well they did set the tone for New England for hundreds of years.
The Social Rising of 1381:
The fight for freedom in
manors and farms made it possible for the Peasants' Revolt to happen in 1381. It
originated from an unpopular poll-tax. People rose up against the corrupt local
government. The peasants took over the manors and abbeys and burned down the
Charters and manor rolls. Some murders took place. The
extravagance and corruption of the king and his court were fully exploited by
Wat Tyler, Jack Straw and John Ball, under whose leadership the people rose in
open revolt against the king and his tyranny. This led to Wat Tyler's death in
the end.
English Freedom:
During this period, the
church had failed to fulfil its spiritual mission. Wycliffe, who was a scholar
at Oxford, criticised the clergy for their "Caesarian
self-importance" and their desire for power. Wycliffe has been called
"the Morning star of the Reformation," because he was the first and
most important scholar to attack the Church from the inside by questioning
everything it had come to believe about itself.
Armed Forces of the Crown (1337-1453):
Edward Ill's claim to the
French throne started the Hundred Years' War which lasted from 1337 to 1453: Edward
III gave up his claim to be the king of France. But Edward's victory did not
mean the end of the war with France. It was fought for more than a hundred
years. At Crecy, Poiters, and Agincourt, England won in a very impressive way.
But in 1453, it lost the Hundred Years' War.
The Poet-Poacher:
English poetry was born
during the time of Chaucer. During Chaucer's time, poetry continued to grow and
reach a level that had never been reached before. Chaucer, John Gower, and
William Langland were the most well-known poets of this time. Spencer is known
as the father of poetic diction because it didn't exist before his time.
Luxury and Trade:
With much luxury, came
much comfort and new habits of life that have lasted. The families ate
fashionable meals in private. The French nobles who were captured during the
war were the honoured guests in England. When French culture came to England,
it caused the English culture to change. As luxury went up, commerce grew and
refinement spread through the same ways.
Conclusion
Chaucer's England was full of wars, plagues, social
problems, and religious unrest. When the Manorial system fell apart, the feudal
roof of society was gone. The first wave of Modernism hit England during the
time of Chaucer.
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