Middle English Literature

by

Paul Battles

• LAST MODIFIED: 24 July 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846719-0206

Introduction

The Middle English period extends from approximately 1100–1150 to 1450–1500. The term “Middle English” was borrowed from historical linguistics, which divides English into three phases: Old English, with its highly inflected grammar; Modern English, where only vestigial inflections remain; and Middle English, which witnessed the change. Thus, the Middle English period (and its literature) has more often been defined by its transitional status than by its intrinsic features; it is difficult to make valid generalizations about texts written over a period of four centuries. The most common approach, therefore, has been to subdivide the corpus into an early and a late period, with 1350 as watershed. Early Middle English texts do not form a unified literary tradition; works do not frequently reference one another, they do not use a uniform style, and they are not concerned with the same topics. One reason for this is the Norman Conquest. Before 1066, English had enjoyed authorized status as the language of record for government and major institutions. After the Battle of Hastings, this role was filled by Latin and Anglo-Norman French. Written English was still cultivated in regional centers, but it did not return to official status until 1362, when the Statute of Pleading made English the language of the law courts. In the twelfth century, more literary patrons commissioned works in French than English; Anglo-Norman literature flourished, culminating in works such as the Lais of Marie de France and Thomas of Britain’s Tristan (both c. 1160). The situation changed in the thirteenth century, with important Middle English texts being produced: Laȝamon’s Brut (c. c.1200); The Owl and the Nightingale (c. 1250); verse romances such as King Horn, Havelok the Dane, and Sir Orfeo (c. 1250–1300); and religious and secular lyrics (from c. 1225). In the late Middle English period, starting in the 1360s, English reestablished itself as the dominant literary language. In addition to Geoffrey Chaucer, other notable authors include the anonymous poet of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl, William Langland, John Gower, and Julian of Norwich. In the post-Chaucerian period of 1400 to 1500, major figures include John Lydgate, Margery Kempe, Sir Thomas Malory, and William Caxton. In addition to the chronological approach, other ways to analyze Middle English literature include focusing on notable authors, verse forms, genres, or themes, or by using a particular theoretical lens.

General Overviews and Reference Works

Middle English literature is blessed with readable guides by experts. Burrow 2008 is an excellent introduction. For readers interested in Old English literature as well, Pearsall 1977 is the best choice. Gray 2015 focuses on popular culture and literary genres. The remaining titles listed are reference works, of which the most important is the Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500.

• Burrow, J. A. Medieval Writers and Their Work: Middle English Literature 1100–1500. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

  A revised edition of a classic work that first appeared in 1982, this book remains the best introduction to Middle English literature. It has five chapters: “The Period and the Literature,” “Writers, Audiences, and Readers,” “Major Genres,” “Modes of Meaning” (which largely concerns allegory), and “The Afterlife of Middle English Literature.”

• Edwards, A. S. G., ed. Companion to Middle English Prose. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2004.

  Collects eighteen essays on authors and genres, arranged in a generally chronological order. As is the case with most literary companions, the individual chapters offer a diverse range of perspectives, approaches, and critical methods, and individual contributors do not necessarily engage each others’ arguments. Despite these limitations, The Companion to Middle English Prose is an excellent resource for both beginning and advanced students of the subject. It gathers in one volume discussions of The Ancrene Wisse; Richard Rolle; Walter Hilton; Nicholas Love; Julian of Norwich; Margery Kempe; Mandeville’s Travels; anonymous devotional writings; sermon literature; historical writing; Wycliffite prose; prose romances; scientific, medical, and utilitarian prose; saints’ lives; Reginald Pecock and Sir John Fortescue; private letters; and William Caxton and his successors.

• Gray, Douglas. Simple Forms: Essays on Medieval English Popular Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.

  DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198706090.001.0001

  A stimulating overview of Middle English popular literature: texts that have roots in oral tradition, that were intended to have broad appeal, and that employ a stylistic register lower than that of the courtly works. It is organized by genre, with the following chapters: “Folk Literature? Popular Literature?”; “Notes on Popular Culture”; “The Ocean of Story: Narrative Forms—Myth, Epic, and Heroic Lay”; “Ballads”; “Popular Romances”; “Folk Tale; Folk Tale into Art”; “Sage, Tale, Legend”; “‘Merry Tale,’ Animal Tale, and Fable”; “Proverb”; “Riddle”; “Satire”; “Song and Drama.”

• Lambdin, Laura Cooner, and Robert Thomas Lambdin, eds. A Companion to Old and Middle English Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.

  This volume contains nineteen chapters, each on a literary genre. While some chapters treat exclusively Old English texts (e.g., ch. 17, “Riddles”), and others only Middle English ones (e.g., ch. 16, “The Middle English Parody/Burlesque”), most discuss works of both periods. There are chapters on the following topics: “Old English and Anglo-Norman Literature”; “Religious and Allegorical Verse”; “Alliterative Poetry in Old and Middle English”; “Balladry”; “The Beast Fable”; “Breton Lay”; “Chronicle”; “Debate Poetry”; “Medieval English Drama”; “Dream Vision”; “Epic and Heroic Poetry”; “The Epic Genre and Medieval Epics”; “Hagiography, Homiletic, and Didactic Literature”; “The Middle English Parody/Burlesque”; “Riddles”; “Romance”; and “Visions of the Afterlife.”

• Pearsall, Derek. Old and Middle English Poetry. London: Routledge, 1977.

  Still an excellent introduction to medieval English poetry, especially for readers who want to have some cultural and historical context for understanding the precedents of Middle English literature. Following three chapters on Old English verse, five discuss Middle English poetry: “Poetry in the Early Middle English Period,” “Some Fourteenth-Century Books and Writers,” “Alliterative Poetry,” “Court Poetry,” and “The Close of the Middle Ages.”

• Scanlon, Larry, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Literature, 1100–1500. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

  This companion is more ambitiously conceived than most, and it has also proven more influential. Newcomers, however, may find it less accessible than comparable works. Its eighteen chapters are organized in two parts. Eight provide background information: Part 1: “Contexts, Genres, and Traditions”; “Reinventing the Vernacular: Middle English Language and Its Literature,” “Textual Production and Textual Communities”; ten focus on “Religious Writing: Hagiography, Pastoralia, Devotional and Contemplative Works”; “Romance”; “Dialogue, Debate, and Dream Vision”; “Drama”; “Lyric”; and “Lollard Writings.” Thereafter, ten chapters focus on important 14th- or 15th-century writers, including William Langland, The Gawain Poet, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, Julian of Norwich, Thomas Hoccleve, John Lydgate, Margery Kempe, Sir Thomas Malory, and Robert Henryson.

• Severs, J. Burke (Vols. 1–2), Albert E. Hartung (Vols. 3–10), and Peter G. Beidler (Vol. 11), eds. A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500. 11 vols. New Haven, CT: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1967–2005.

  The eleven volumes of A Manual of the Writings in Middle English total 4,361 pages. Each chapter contains a discussion and summary of the relevant work, genre, or author in question, critical evaluations, and a bibliography. Though the earlier volumes are dated, they are still well worth consulting. The following topics are covered: 1: Romances; 2: The Pearl Poet; Wyclif and His Followers; Translations and Paraphrases of the Bible and Commentaries; Saints’ Legends; and Instructions for Religious; 3: Dialogues, Debates, and Catechisms; Thomas Hoccleve; and Malory and Caxton; 4: Middle Scots Writers; The Caucerian Apocrypha; 5: Dramatic Pieces; Poems Dealing With Contemporary Conditions; 6: Carols; Ballads; John Lydgate; 7: John Gower; Piers Plowman; Travel and Geographical Writings; Works of Religious and Philosophical Instruction; 8: Chronicles and Other Historical Writing; 9: Proverbs, Precepts, and Monitory Pieces; English Mystical Writings; Tales; 10: Works of Science and Education; Sermons and Homilies; and 11: The Lyrics of MS Harley 2253.

• Solopova, Elizabeth, and Stuart D. Lee. Key Concepts in Medieval Literature. Palgrave Key Concepts. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

  DOI: 10.1007/978-1-137-08346-3

  This volume is especially useful for advanced undergraduates, beginning graduate students, or those coming to Middle English from other disciplines. It contains four sections: “Introductory Key Concepts”; “Old English”; “Middle English”; and “Approaches, Theory, and Practice.” Each section contains short essays about a particular topic, followed by a summary in 3–5 bullet points, and brief bibliographical references. “Middle English” covers twenty topics organized in a roughly chronological sequence, from “The Old English Literary Tradition after the Norman Conquest” to “William Caxton.” “Approaches, Theory, and Practice” discusses topics such as language, translation, meter, genres, editorial practices, and theoretical approaches.

• Wallace, David, ed. The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

  A historically oriented introduction to Middle English literature with very broad coverage. Contains thirty-one chapters, grouped into five sections: “After the Norman Conquest” (six chapters establishing linguistic, cultural, and literary contexts from 1066 on); “Writing in the British Isles” (five chapters, covering Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England, and London, respectively); “Institutional Productions” (six chapters, on monasteries, fraternal orders, schools, courts, popular movements, and the Bible); “After the Black Death” (six chapters on fourteenth-century texts); and “Before the Reformation” (eight chapters on post-1400 texts).