Brit: -1500 Flashcards
When does St. Jerome complete the Vulgate, Latin translation of the Bible that becomes standard for the Roman Catholic Church?
Ca. 405
What year do the Romans conquer the Britons?
43
When does Constantine the Great reign, causing Christianity to become the official religion of the Roman Empire?
307-37
What year does St. Patrick begin his mission to convert Ireland?
432
When does the Anglo-Saxon conquest of the Britons begin?
Ca. 450
What year does Boethius write his Consolation of Philosophy?
523
What year does St. Augustine of Canterbury begin his mission to Kent, beginning the conversion of Anglo-Saxons to Christianity?
597
When is Caedmon’s Hymn written, and what is this work’s most outstanding historical distinction?
Ca. 658-80; earliest poem recorded in English
What year does Bede complete Ecclesiastical History of the English People?
731
It’s plausible that Beowulf was being composed around what time period, approximately?
? Ca. 750
When do the first Viking raids on England begin?
Ca. 787
When is the reign of King Alfred?
871-99
When is the (unique) manuscript of Beowulf (and Judith) created?
Ca. 1000
What year does William I conduct a Norman conquest of southern England? What is the linguistic impact of this conquest?
1066; establishes French-speaking ruling class in England
When do the crusades happen?
1095-1221
When does Geoffrey of Monmouth compose his (Latin) History of the Kings of Britain? What is perhaps the most outstanding impact of this text, in terms of both literary and political history?
Ca. 1135-38; it gives pseudohistorical status to Arthurian and other legends
When does (future king) Henry II marry Eleanor of Aquitaine? What is the geopolitical impact of this marriage?
1152; brings vast French territories to the English crown
What year marks the end of Peterborough Chronicle, the last branch of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle?
1154
What is the earliest extant poem recorded in English, and when was it written?
Caedmon’s Hymn; Ca. 658-80
Marie de France used Breton sources to compose a series of poems about courtly love in Anglo-Norman French. What is the name of this work, and approximately when does it appear to have been written?
Lais; ? Ca. 1165-80
When is Chretien de Troyes writing chivalric romances about knights of the Round Table?
Ca. 1170-91
What year is Archbishop Thomas Becket murdered by knights in Canterbury Cathedral, causing such a public outcry that it was necessary for Henry II to do public penance? What was the king’s dispute with Becket?
1170; Becket wanted the clergy to be subject to ecclesiastical rather than secular juries
It’s plausible Layamon’s Brut was composed when?
? Ca. 1200
What year was St. Francis of Assisi born?
1182
It’s plausible the Ancrene Wisse was composed during what time?
? Ca. 1215-25
Name the two most (?) significant events to occurr in 1215, in terms of political and cultural impact.
King John seals Magna Carta, guaranteeing baronial rights; Fourth Lateran Council revamps church structure
When is Dante Alighieri writing the Divine Comedy?
Ca. 1304-21
Around when is Giovanni Boccaccio active as a writer in Naples and Florence?
Ca. 1340-74
Around when is Francis Petrarch active as a writer?
Ca. 1340-74
When does the Hundred Years’ War begin and end?
Ca. 1337-1453
Under which monarchs is the Hundred Years’ War ongoing?
Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI
What year does the Black Death ravage Europe?
1348
What year is English first used in law courts and Parliament?
1362
When is Julian of Norwich writing her Book of Showings?
1373-93
When does Chaucer make his first journey to Italy?
1372
During what time is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight written? Who wrote it?
Ca. 1375-1400; author unknown
From what year do we have the earliest record of a cycle drama being performed in York?
1376
When is Piers Plowman (B-text) composed? Who wrote it?
1377-79; William Langland
When do followers of John Wycliffe begin the first complete translation of the Bible into English?
Ca. 1380
The short-lived People’s uprising takes control of London in what year?
1381
When does Chaucer compose Troilus and Criseyde?
Ca. 1385-87
When is Chaucer working on The Canterbury Tales?
Ca. 1387-99
When is John Gower composing Confessio Amantis?
Ca. 1390-92
When is Richard II deposed by his cousin, who succeeds him as Henry IV?
1399
When is Richard II murdered?
1400
When is John Lydgate active?
Ca. 1410-49
When does Thomas Hoccleve compose My Compleinte?
Ca. 1420
What year does Henry V defeat the French at Agincourt?
1415
What year is the York Play of the Cruxifixion written/performed?
Ca. 1425
What year do the English burn Joan of Arc at Rouen?
1431
When is Margery Kempe writing The Book of Margery Kempe?
Ca. 1432-38
When is the Wakefield mystery cycle, Second Shepherds’ Play, being performed?
Ca. 1450-75
When do the Wars of the Roses begin and end?
1455-85
When is Sir Thomas Malory in prison / working on Morte D’Arthur?
Ca. 1470
When is Robert Henryson active?
Ca. 1475
What year does William Caxton set up the first printing press in England?
1476
Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, one of the first books printed in English, is printed in what year? Who prints it?
1485; William Caxton
What year does the earl of Richmond defeat the Yorkist king, Richard III, at Bosworth Field? This earl succeeds Richard under what name? And which dynasty does he found?
1485; Henry VII; Tudor dynasty
When is Everyman composed?
1510
When is the last recorded performance of mystery plays? (At Chester)
1575
In the medieval period, what is the generic title given to illustrative short stories and miracle stories, respectively? What was there purpose, in a sentence?
“Exempla and miracula; former provided narrative argument for avoiding particular sins or emulating certain virtues; latter aimed to impress reader/hearer with sense of wonder” (Broadview anth 22).
In a sentence or two, why did hagiographies become so popular in the 13th and 14th centuries?
Saints were regarded as protectors and intercessors, and the retelling of their lives was part of the effort to promote their cults and gain their assistance; their stories could also provide points of contact with the sacred, particularly since they came from many walks of life” (Broadview anth 22).
Morality plays blossomed during which two centuries? Name one morality play.
15th and 16th centuries; Mankind, The Castle of Perseverance, etc.
What did morality plays depict?
They depicted, in allegorical form, the struggles of a universal human figure, with personifications of virtue and vice. Their purpose was clearly didactic: to encourage devout individuals to consider their moral position and maintain a keen awareness of their souls (Broadview anth 26).
At the Archbishop of Canterbury’s council in 1382, some of the teachings of what Oxford theologian were declared heretical? What popular movement did this theologian start and lead?
John Wyclif; lollardy/lollardism
What text, written around the time John Wyclif and the Lollards were active, was highly critical of clerical and ecclesiastical shortcomings–though it was not generally regarded as heretical? Who wrote this work, and when?
Piers Plowman; William Langland, 1377-79 (B-Text)
Julian of Norwich’s theologically complex and deeply learned account of her divine “showings” was part of a flowering of vernacular religious writing in late fourteenth-century England. It also took part in a long tradition of women’s visionary literature in medieval Europe going back to what 12th-century German abbess?
Hildegard of Bingen
In late 14th-century England, authors like Richard Rolle and Walter Hilton wrote what kind of texts?
Vernacular religious writing
Name ten literary genres active in the medieval period.
E.g. hagiographies (saints’ lives), confessional manuals, fabliaux, exempla, miracula, mystery plays, morality plays, satirical poetry, courtly love poems, romances, recipes, spiritual/visionary autobiography or memoir, compilations of the above, etc.
Henry IV had to deal with a nationalist rebellion in Wales early in his reign. Who led this rebellion?
Owain Glyndwr (Owen Glendower)
The royal decree known as De heretico comburendo began the tradition in England of burning heretics at the stake. What year was this decree made, and what movement was it lashing back against?
1401; Lollardy/Lollardism
Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote his “Constitutions” in 1407-09. What is the purpose of this work?
To forbid the making or owning of Bibles in English and to set strict limits on acceptable religious composition in the vernacular.
In 1413 a number of Londoners tried to depose the new King Henry V. They were led by a Lollard. What was his name? What is the significance of his double condemnation as would-be usurper and convicted heretic?
Sir John Oldcastle; the double condemnation solidified the link many secular and church lords made between religious and worldly sedition.
Who led the English to victory at Agincourt, and what year did this battle take place?
Henry V; 1415
During the medieval period, Old English and French poetry employed different formal patterns. What are the key differences?
Old English poetry is alliterative and only counts stressed syllables, while the French poetry is rhyming and counts all syllables. OE lines must be interrupted by a caesura, while the French lines do not.
Name one of the latest surviving works deemed by scholars to have been written in Old English.
A section of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, added in Peterborough around 1154, and some late 12th-century copies of eleventh-century homilies and gospel translations.
After the flowering of rhymed, metrical, non-alliterative poetry like Chaucer’s and Gower’s in the 14th century, alliterative verse reappears in written form throughout much of England. Name two works that feature this resurrected verse form.
The Alliterative Morte Arthure, the Pearl, Langland’s Piers Plowman, etc.
What is a “bob and wheel”?
Common name for a metrical device most famously used by the Pearl Poet in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The feature is found mainly in Middle English and Middle Scots poetry, where the bob and wheel occur typically at the end of a stanza. The “bob” is a very short line, sometimes of only two syllables, followed by the “wheel,” longer lines with internal rhyme. There are at least forty known examples of bob and wheel use, but the origin of the form is obscure. It seems to predate the Pearl Poet. Bob and wheel is not used often in modern poetry.
What is “estate satire”?
A genre of writing from 14th Century, Medieval literary works. The three Medieval estates were the Clergy (those who prayed), the Nobility (those who fought) and lastly the Peasantry (those who labored). Extra information: These estates were the major social classes of the time and were typically gender specific to men, although the clergy also included nuns. Nevertheless, women were considered as a separate class in themselves,[1] the best-known example being Geoffrey Chaucer's Wife of Bath. Estates satire praised the glories and purity of each class in its ideal form, but was also used as a window to show how society had gotten out of hand. The Norton Anthology of English Literature describes the duty of estates satire: "They set forth the functions and duties of each estate and castigate the failure of the estates in the present world to live up to their divinely assigned social roles"
