Norman Literature

The Normans were originally a hardy race of sea rovers inhabiting Scandinavia. In the tenth
century they conquered a part of northern France, which is still called Normandy, and rapidly
adopted French civilization and the French language. Their conquest of Anglo-Saxon England
under William, Duke of Normandy, began with the battle of Hastings in 1066. The literature
which they brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love and adventure,
in marked contrast with the strength and somberness of Anglo-Saxon poetry. During the three
centuries following Hastings, Normans and Saxons gradually united. The Anglo-Saxon speech
simplified itself by dropping most of its Teutonic inflections, absorbed eventually a large part of
the French vocabulary, and became our English language. English literature is also a
combination of French and Saxon elements. The three chief effects of the conquest were (1) the
bringing of Roman civilization to England; (2) the growth of nationality, i.e. a strong centralized
government, instead of the loose union of Saxon tribes; (3) the new language and literature.
State of Language and Literature
 Transformation from Old English to Middle English.
 Rejection of many Old English words, acceptance of several French words related to
hunting, luxury, arts, and war, and Latin words regarding religion, law, and science.
 Emphasis on feudalism and chivalry.
 The Church dominated daily life, socio-cultural practices, education and literature.
 Decline of literature: Normans & privileged – French; clergy & educated class -Latin
End rhyme was introduced in poetry
There are metrical or verse romances of French and Celtic and English heroes, like Roland,
Arthur and Tristram, and Bevis of Hampton. There are stories of Alexander, the Greek romance
of “Flores and Blanchefleur,” and a collection of Oriental tales called “The Seven Wise
Masters.” There are legends of the Virgin and the saints, a paraphrase of Scripture, a treatise on
the seven deadly sins, some Bible history, a dispute among birds concerning women, a love song
or two, a vision of Purgatory, a vulgar story with a Gallic flavor, a chronicle of English kings and
Norman barons, and a political satire.
GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. (d. 1154). Geoffrey’s Historia Regum Britanniae is
noteworthy, not as literature, but rather as a source book from which many later writers drew
their literary materials. The “History” is a curious medley of pagan and Christian legends, of
chronicle, comment, and pure invention,—all recorded in minute detail and with a gravity.
Shakespeare’s King Lear, Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, and Tennyson’s Idylls of the King were
founded on the work of this monk, who had the genius to put unwritten Celtic tradition in the
enduring form of Latin prose.
 A Welsh monk, collected and recreated legends
 Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britons): Complete history of
England – not literature but source for literature
  Character of Brut – according to legends he was the first king of England, founded
London
 Legends of Celtic tribe
 A curious mixture of pagan and Christian legends, chronicle, comment, and pure
invention
WORK OF THE FRENCH WRITERS. The French literature of the Norman period dealt with
the native legends and made them popular in England.
LAYAMON’S BRUT (c. 1200). This is the most important of the English riming chronicles,
that is, history related in the form of doggerel verse, probably because poetry is more easily
memorized than prose. The poem begins with the destruction of Troy and the flight of “AEneas
the duke” into Italy. Brutus, a greatgrandson of AEneas, gathers his people and sets out to find a
new land in the West. Then follows the founding of the Briton kingdom, and the last third of the
poem, which is over thirty thousand lines in length, is taken up with the history of Arthur and his
knights.
 Poet, priest, translator
 Layamon’s Brut: Not much space to Brut, other heroes – King Arthur, Robin Hood
 Traces culture of the Britons
 Traces the foundation of Britain back to Brutus
 Destruction of Troy and the flight of “Aeneas the duke” into Italy
 Voyages of Brutus
 Founding of the Briton kingdom
 History of Arthur and his knights that establishes a nationalistic trend
 Written in a loose alliterative style, sporadically deploying rhyme as well as
a caesural pause between the hemistichs of a line
Roman de la Rose (Guillaume de Lorris?)
 Modeled on Ovid’s Ars amatoria (c. 1 BC; Art of Love) composed in octosyllabic
couplets
 Dream allegory of the wooing of a maiden, symbolized by a rosebud, within the bounds
of a garden, representing courtly society
 Allegorical and philosophical concept of love
 Establishes a code of behaviour & romantic notion of fidelity, sets a value on chastity,
and orders a subordinate role for women
 Misogyny to worship of the beloved, from immorality to chastity
METRICAL ROMANCES. Love, chivalry, and religion are the major themes and literary
ideals of romance. There representation of knights and fair ladies, their perilous adventures and
tender lovemaking, their minstrelsy and tournaments and gorgeous cavalcades show the spirit of
the Middle Ages. The Normans first brought this type of romance into England, and so popular
did it become, so thoroughly did it express the romantic spirit of the time, that it speedily
overshadowed all other forms of literary expression.
Though the metrical romances varied much in form and subject-matter, the general type remains
the same,—a long rambling poem or series of poems treating of love or knightly adventure or
both. Its hero is a knight; its characters are fair ladies in distress, warriors in armor, giants,
dragons, enchanters, and various enemies of Church and State; and its emphasis is almost
invariably on love, religion, and duty as defined by chivalry. In the French originals of these
romances the lines were a definite length, the meter exact, and rimes and assonances were both
used to give melody. In England this metrical system came in contact with the uneven lines, the
strong accent and alliteration of the native songs; and it is due to the gradual union of the two
systems, French and Saxon, that our English became capable of the melody and amazing variety
of verse forms which first find expression in Chaucer’s poetry.
 Three great literary ideals: . Love, chivalry, and religion
 Knights and fair ladies: their perilous adventures and tender lovemaking, their minstrelsy
and tournaments and gorgeous processions
 Its hero is a knight; its characters are fair ladies in distress, warriors in armor, giants,
dragons, enchanters, and various enemies of Church and State; and its emphasis is almost
invariably on love, religion, and duty as defined by chivalry. (William J Long)
TYPES OF ROMANCES: three main divisions (but some say 4), according to subject (or the
so-called matter) of France, Rome, and Britain. The matter of France deals largely with the
exploits of Charlemagne and his peers, and the chief of these Carlovingian cycles is the Chanson
de Roland, the national epic, which celebrates the heroism of Roland in his last fight against the
Saracens at Ronceval. The matter of Rome consisted largely of tales from Greek and Roman
sources; and the two great cycles of these romances deal with the deeds of Alexander, a favorite
hero, and the siege of Troy, with which the Britons thought they had some historic connection.
The matter of England dealt with the stories of Bevis of Hampton, Guy of Warwick, Robin
Hood, etc.; Matter of Britain dealt with the exploits of Arthur and his Knights of the Round
Table There were many cycles of Arthurian romances, chief of which are those of Gawain,
Launcelot, Merlin, the Quest of the Holy Grail, and the Death of Arthur. The best of these
romances is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
 Illustrates two concepts important to medieval nobility: chivalry and courtly love, which
govern Sir Gawain’s behavior and decisions
 A plot about knights and their adventures
 Improbable, often supernatural, elements
 Conventions of courtly love
 Standardized characters (the chivalrous knight; the beautiful lady)
 Religious significance
 Reveals vestiges of paganism in a society dominated by Christianity
 Literary techniques typical of the alliterative revival