A Review of the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales Part One

                                       

                                         When that April with his showres soote
                                         The Droughte of March hath perced to the roote,
                                         And bathed every veine in swich licour
                                         Of which vertu engendered is the flowr;
                                         When Zephyrus eek with his sweete breath
                                         Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
                                         The tender croppes and the young sonne
                                         Hath in the Ram his halves cours yronne
                                         And smale fowles maken melodye
                                         That sleepin all the night with open ye
                                         So priketh hem Nature in hir corages
                                         Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
                                         And palmers for to seeken straunge strondes
                                         To ferne hales, couthe in sondry londes;
                                         And especially from every shire ende
                                         Of England to Canterbury they wende,
                                         The holy blissful martyr for to seek
                                         That hem hath holpen whan that they were seke. ...




The Canterbury Tales begins with a long prologue about a knight, squire, and various other characters, most notably the Wife of Bath, whom is described in much detail for her several marriages and appearance. The knight is spoken of honorably, with mention of his experience in the Crusades. The Canterbury Tales portrays a scene in which pilgrims are on their way to Canterbury, to honor the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket.


A Knight ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the time he first began,
To riden out, he loved chivalrye,                                                       

Trouthe and honour, freedom and curteisye.
Ful worthy was he in his lodres werre,
And therto hadde riden, no man ferre,
As well as in Christendom as hethenwise,
And every honoured for his worthinesse....


Various different characters are described in this prologue. Often with humor, Chaucer lays out satire about crooked characters that are on this pilgrimage, while the knight standing out as the noble one of the company. In the story, characters of the church are portrayed as some good and some bad. The Wife of Bath may not hold an office in the church, but she is full of corruption nonetheless. The Monk is spoken well of, though the Friar is not. The knight, the squire, the yeoman, the nun, also known as the prioress, and the oxford scholar are all described in the prologue. But for theological implications from the text, the description of the pardoner may best suit us to Chaucer's religious faith.

 One has to wonder some of the theological implications found in The Canterbury Tales. Some have claimed that Chaucer was a Lollard, such as historian Norman F. Cantor *. Evidence for Chaucer's Lollardly usually includes his befriending of several Lollard knights, and the fact that he was a student of Wycliffe. Chaucer is also negative towards the friar in the prologue, which is interesting as John Wycliffe came to oppose the existence of many friar orders.  Internal evidence from Chaucer's text may also be used including his satire towards corruption of indulgences as found in The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. Here, the pardoner uses pig bones as portrayal of saint bones.

This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex,
But smoothe it heeng as dooth a strike of flex;
By ounces heenge his lokkes that he hadde,
And therwith he his shulders overspradde,
By thinne it lay, by colpens, oon by oon;
But had for jolitee wered he noon,
For it was trussed up in his walet:
Him thoughte he rood al of the new jet.

Dischevelee save his cappe he rood all bare
Swiche glaring yen hadde he as an hare
A vernicle had he sowed upon his cappe,
His walet biforn him in his lappe,
Breteful of pardon, come from Rome al hoot.
A voice he had as smal as hath a goot;
No beerd had he, ne never sholde have;
As smoothe as it were late yshave:
I trowe he were a gelding or a mare.
But of his craft, fro Berwik into Ware,
Ne was ther swich another pardoner,
For in his he hadde a gobet of the sail
That Sainte Peter hadde whan that he wente
Upon the see, til Jesu Crist him hente.
He had a crois of laton, ful of stones,
And in a glass he had pigges bones,
But with thise relikes whan that he foond
A poor person dwelling upon lond, ...


On the other hand, concerning Chaucer's Christian faith {which is universally recognized}, we see the fact that the knight was a Crusader, and that the characters are on a pilgrimage may indicate that Chaucer was a Roman Catholic rather than a Lollard, as some of the Lollards attacked the practices of Crusading and Pilgrimages. Further, where Chaucer does use satire towards the Roman Church, some contest the claims of him being a Lollard by their own claim that he was actually trying to win the Lollards back to the Roman Church by defending Catholic practices while criticizing corruption. The 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia used Chaucer's friendship with an anti-Lollard Dominican as evidence that he was a Catholic *2. 
As to my thoughts on the text, I recently reread this in The Nortan Anthology of English Literature. The Prologue sets up enough wit and humor to get many readers interested in the stories that are ahead of it. I find much of Chaucer's humor to be hilarious, and love his use of wit and satire throughout the tales.  I have more to analyze about this text in the future, so these are just some thoughts for now. For now though, it is particularly interesting to reflect on insights the prologue gives up not only to The Canterbury Tales, but to Chaucer himself.
 The Knight's Tale, being the first of The Canterbury Tales, is a story about two knights that fight over a maiden by the name of Emily. It is interesting to note that The Knight's Tale was actually written prior to The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, and simply added into its canon. William Shakespeare would later retell the story in his play with John Fletcher, The Two Noble Kinsmen.
Further Sources: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor, The No Fear Canterbury Tales, Introduction to English Literature by Jan Anderson and Laurel Hicks.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshy lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. 
1 Peter 2: 11-12
* 1 Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor
* 2 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03642b.htm

 
                                           
                                           

The Feudal System, Well it Might be better than you Think

  The purpose of this post is not to explain the Feudal System, but discuss good and bad aspects of it to those that are already familiar with it. There is much indeed to be said, and one post can only touch on the basics.  What is commonly refereed to as the Feudal System, was widespread and common throughout the Middle Ages. There was much confusion after Emperor Charlemagne's empire fell. As barbarian kingdoms ransacked the eastern weaker kingdoms of Christendom, a new system was needed to defend the people. The Feudal System was established to protect people within one culture and kingdom or another from outside attack. The more one understands the Feudal System, the more we understand the context of Middle English Literature.

         Although feudalism had existed for centuries, it was brought to England after the Norman Conquest and established by King William I.

 In the Feudal System, freemen and slaves lived on a lord's land by paying him rent, while slaves owned no land of their own. Serfs, the lowest in power of society, were slaves {some scholars would say they were not slaves} to the lord of the land. Although serfs were bound to the land they worked on, and were a type of slave to their lord, they actually had more legal rights than did many that were the victims of the modern slave trade. Serfs originally payed his rent for his land not in money but in labor. With the limited rights Serfs had though, one advantage they had over slaves: serfs were supposed to be protected by the lord {though there was no authority to enforce this}. In fact, it was expected that the lord or his brothers or sons of his land defend the people.  Though Serfs had legal rights to sue against the lord in court, the lord was usually both the party and judge of the affair. Serfs had little chance against the bigger guys in power, and had a less of success chance in France than in England.

While it is true that much abuse came out of the Feudal System, this was less so in England. For example, many serfs could not marry serfs on another lord's land without their lord's granting permission, and if they did their marriage would be unrecognized. According to Coughton, this fact did possibly not apply to England ''where some of the most oppressive feudal burdens do not seem to have grown up, but certainly on the continent.'' * While originally serfs could not marry serfs on different lands at all, it became the eventual custom throughout Europe that this was permissible by the lord's permission. Serfs usually had to pay a fine for marrying someone outside of the land they worked on, though this could be exempted by cases such as when the lord had illegitimate children with one of the peasant women. Like slaves, Serfs had to work the entire day without rest.
How did the Roman Catholic Church feel about the issue of slavery throughout the Middle Ages? Coughton discusses that many of the church fathers did not condemn slavery. In fact, Gregory the Great owned thousands of slaves. Coughton, an Anglican by religion, and a historian, was critical of Roman Catholicism in many aspects. He speaks of how the popes were involved in many affairs throughout Europe, though having never once in the Middle Ages worked to abolish slavery.  Many monks owned slaves. Coughton claims Pope Leo XIII claimed the opposite of what actually happened historically. Whereas Pope Leo had taught that the Medieval Church had fought for the freedom of slaves, Coughton says this is contrary to historical facts. Coughton does claim that Thomas Aquinas took his view of slavery from Aristotle, and saw the institution of slavery as a negative force. Coughton then goes through history, to show that many Catholic theologians all the ways through the seventeenth century, actually accepted the institution of slavery. Perhaps most significant, not only does Coughton reveal that many past popes supported slavery, but that it was Catholic nations which began the negro-slave trade. He also discusses that while Pope Paul III and some Jesuits opposed the slavery of Indians on the North American frontier, that the pope did nothing to free slaves within his own country, and that actually, the Jesuits did nothing to stop slavery of the Negro. He makes the claim that the Quakers were the first Christian group to totally opposes slavery.
In relation to Roman Catholicism, it is interesting that many of the abolitionist of the American Civil War were actually anti-Catholic as they saw Catholicism as firmly opposed to the abolition of slavery. Many of the Abolitionist were Arminian Postmillennialist. On the other hand, most Irish Roman Catholics that fought for the Union didn't care at all about the freedom of African American slaves, and a number of slave plantation owners were Roman Catholics.

One can of course choose to argue whether slavery is theologically right or wrong. Such a debate, divided many over their interpretations of Holy Writ. throughout the American Civil War. Whichever of these two views however one takes, one cannot ignore obvious historical facts that historian Coughton covers in the book, The Medieval Village.
By the end of the Middle Ages, the slave trade had ended in England, France and Germany.

Historian Norman F. Cantor seems to present a more anti-slavery history of Catholicism than did Coughton. According to Cantor, slavery had declined since the fifth century due to criticism from Christianity. He also traces the history of slavery more to the conquest of the Muslims than to the Catholics. Cantor discusses how the Church only allowed Eastern pagans to be slaves to the Christians. Before the ninth century, slaves were allowed to grow crops on their own land, and while having little more rights than previous, this paved the way for more economic independence of the Medieval peasantry. Lords pushed peasants to work by the use of religion and intimidation by the threat of arms.
Serfdom would not decline until the thirteenth century. Its decline came largely from the Black death,wars and other events that caused feudal lords to have less power over their subjects.

Sometimes people get the idea that The Feudal System was a terrible form of government that gave nobility all power while some peasants had no rights. This picture of the past has especially been painted by many Americans that portray the United States of America as the perfect land of liberty and justice.  In reality, medieval peasants under The Feudal System had more rights than African American slaves did in colonial America under the laws of The United States. The Supreme Court Case of Dred Scott vrs. Sanford for instance, gave slaves no legal rights. This case is not alone. It took until the end of the American Civil War to abolish slavery in America, while slavery had already been abolished by the British Empire earlier in the 19th century. So much for the view that America has always supported freedom, while the British have only been out for power!
 The picture blow is a diagram of The Feudal System being briefly explained.

Many of the ideas that formed America came from Medieval England. The Magna Charta restored many English rights that had been lost previously in the Feudal System, and Anglo-Saxon law was inspirational to the ideas that formed The United States. While The Feudal System was certainly not perfect, it did protect many of its people from barbarians and other dangers in the days that it existed. It is important Americans give the motherland credit for many of the liberties that they enjoy today.
In the next post, I will address peasant life before the Norman Conquest, showing that peasants in pre-1066 England actually had more rights than those after the Norman Conquest.

 


 * The Medieval Village pp. 79 by G. G. Coulton. 

Further Sources: Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, The Medieval Village by G. G. Coulton, Streams of Civilization Volume I, The Middle Ages: A Watts Guide for Children edited by William Chester Jordan,  The Church in History by B. K. Kuiper, The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor, The Usborne Traveler Book of Knights and Castles by Judy Hindley. 

Thoughts on Hamlet Part I

                                             To be, or not to be, that is the question?

Years ago, my mother read Shakespeare's Hamlet to me. This has always been one of my favorite stories. Although I wanted to read it again for many years, I just recently got around to doing that.
While I will get into the plot some other time, I would like to discuss some themes today.
 Hamlet is often considered Shakespeare's greatest work. The No Fear Shakespeare Series, which I have often used for reading Shakespeare, includes the archaic early modern English, and updated English, side by side.

 A long play, many dramatizations on stage or in film have been made about this classic work over the years. Sometimes, Shakespeare's Hamlet is considered the greatest work of English Literature after the Authorized Version of the Holy Bible.
Mortality and madness, truth and thoughts, revenge and deception are common themes throughout this work. Again and again, we are left to debate so many key features of the story such as whether or not Hamlet is mad or knows what he is doing.
The Lion King has sometimes been called the greatest film based on this play, with Scar being akin to Claudius, and Simba to Hamlet. Other film adaptions based on Hamlet have starred Lawrence Olivier, Mel Gibson, and Kennath Branagh, all at different points playing the title character.
Religious themes are to be found in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Some have found a connection between Roman Catholicism and the ghost, whereas Hamlet himself exemplifies Protestantism.

                                                         I am thy father's spirit
                                                         Doomed for a certain term to walk the night
                                                         And for the day confined to fast in fires
                                                         Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
                                                         Are burned and purged away. But that I am forbid
                                                         To tell the secrets of my prison house,
                                                         I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
                                                         Would harrow up that soul, freeze thy sound blood
                                                         Make thy two eyes, like starts, start from the spheres,
                                                         Thy knotted and combined locks to part
                                                         And each particular hair to stand on end,
                                                         Like quills upon the fearful porpentine.
                                                         But this eternal blazon must not be.
                                                         To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, oh, list
                                                         If thou didst ever thy dear father love.

In the passage above, the spirit of Hamlet's father is referring to Purgatory.
While Hamlet's father was Roman Catholic, it seems Hamlet himself was Protestant. Hamlet is spoken of in the play as being a student at Wittenberg, where Martin Luther greatly contributed to the Protestant Reformation.
There has been a debate going on for centuries if Shakespeare was a Catholic or Protestant. Some understand the playwright to have not been devout towards either view.
It has been said that every line in Hamlet is profound. No surprise, given all the literary criticism upon its text.




Some further Sources: Hamlet: Barnes and Noble Shakespeare by Jeff Dolven, No Fear Shakespeare Hamlet, https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analyzing-William-Shakespeares-Hamlet-from-a-Religious-Context, https://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_08.01.09_u,

What it Means to Analyze and Interpret Literature Part I

Last year, I passed a course in this subject so I will share some things here I have learned in the past year on and longer on this subject. Analyzing literature can be a hard task. Plot and Theme are not the same, with the latter being the message of the story whereas the former being how the characters interact with each other throughout. Understanding texts has more to do than even close reading. Understanding the linguistics of a story, its principal themes, its historical context and its purpose are important for readers to pick up on by reading any text. Today, many interpret The Bible or The Koran or The Constitution of the United States of America or Homer's the Iliad, without understanding the contexts of these stories.  It seems only logical to me for instance, to interpret Scripture as it was understood in first century eyes rather than twenty-first century eyes. I'm sure many would disagree. After all, religions that came about thousands of years later would know more about Christ than the historical teachings of Judaism or Christianity {I'm using satire}. Yes, I am getting into theology by saying this, and won't say any more of this here.
The more we understand about the writer behind particular works, the more we will understand the writing. Debates over whether Chaucer was a Lollard or a Catholic or if Shakespeare was a Catholic or a Protestant are important in helping us understand not only these men, but also the moral and religious themes of their works.
Some now see John Milton's Paradise Lost as sympathy with the devil's rebellion against God. But really? I mean, let's be serious. Milton was a Puritan. Why would he sympathize with the devil's rebellion? Such a claim seems truly against his own religious worldview.   
Understanding the difference between high and low comedy is at least one basic in understanding humor in literature. Also, that comedy doesn't have to be funny, though it can often be ironic, or satire. I have never heard someone say Dante's Divine Comedy is funny, if anything, it is dark, and brooding to its readers.
Denotation is often the dictionary understanding of a word. Connotation, in contrast, is often the emotional understanding that accompanies certain words.
Assonance sees the repetition of vowel sounds. Consonance sees the repetition of consonant sounds. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds within words. Repetition often just repeats the same word or phrase in a sentence, poem, etc.
When we watch movies about Cindarella and then explain it to others, we are giving a summary of the story. Of course, summary is not the same as theme. A theme of Cindarella would be dreams, though the summary would be much more. When we analyze and interpret literature, we find out parts in stories that point to the general or multilayered themes of the text.
Careful reading comprehension is important to understanding written works. This is never more true, than with dealing with poetry. Doctor Octopus said wisely in Spider Man 2 that reading T. S. Eliot is more complex than advanced science. Writing down notes about the text, as well as keeping a finger under every line one reads, can vastly improve one's reading comprehension. At the same time, discipline makes improvement, and the more one reads, probably the easier it will be to understand most texts.
Literature is usually divided into three groups: Poetry, Drama, Prose. It is important that readers familiarize themselves with all these forms of writing. I think most people will find Poetry the hardest of these. Drama is usually meant to be performed whereas prose and poetry to be read.
Rhyme Verse, Free Verse, Blank Verse are important terms for readers to know. Rhyme Verse has internal rhyme within the lines or sentences, and a often a rhyming pattern in the stanzas.  Free Verse has stanzas, but no formal rhyme at all. Blank Verse has internal rhyme only.
Allusion, not illusion, refers to other literary work, like when Hamlet references events in Virgil's The Aeneid. Illusion, on the contrary, is the stuff magicians do when they deceive our eyes by tricks of magic.
I have only got started! Much more to come!

More on Medieval Studies

I have finally come to have a pretty good grip over the discipline of Medieval Studies. The discipline of Medieval Studies started at the undergraduate level in the 1960s, though its roots go back much earlier. G. G. Coulton was an Anglican historian that specialized in the Middle Ages. Fiercely, against Roman Catholicism he laid many of the foundations for what has become Medieval Studies. I own one of his books about Medieval home life which has some interesting history over what he considers to have been the pro-slavery history of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages in relation to how Peasants were treated. 
 Interest in the Middle Ages gained much momentum in the 1960s as hippies were influenced by the Troubadours. Music from the sixties and seventies also took much influence from the music of Medieval Times.
 Here in the state of Tennessee, majoring in Medieval Studies is only possibly at the undergraduate level. A Certificate in Medieval Studies can be achieved by students in similar departments at the graduate level at the University of Tennessee. There seems to currently be few graduate programs in Medieval Studies across the nation. 
 In recent years, Medieval Studies has become largely hijacked by leftist that demonize the period as the origins of intolerance towards Islam and the origins of White Supremacy. While some professionals in this field are not this way, many conservatives are becoming more and more the subject of criticism by their peers in these fields. For more on this, check out the book Middle Rages: Why the Battle for Medieval Studies Matters to America by Milo Yiannopoulos.
''Medievalist,'' is a broader term for those that major in Medieval Studies. Many history or English professors that specialize in the Middle Ages are also commonly called ''Medievalists.'' Even then, the definition of ''Medievalist seems'' to vary somewhat from one dictionary to the next. Sometimes the term is not academic but merely for anyone that studies or loves the Middle Ages.
 The future is unknown and up for grabs. However, I am settled on English not only as my undergraduate major, but probably for any further studies past that level.

Why the Iliad is Important for English Majors

So I recently finished Homer's The Iliad. This is a true western classic largely about Achilles, Hector and the Siege of Troy. I found it surprising that that the story ultimately has no beginning or end in terms of the Trojan War as the story starts and ends before the war begins or ends. Perhaps most striking, The Iliad does not even include the story of the Trojan Horse. The events of this long poem are largely covered in Olivia Coolidge's The Trojan War, which I actually prefer over Homer's The Iliad.
While The Iliad is important for Classic and Classical Study majors, it is important for English majors as well. It has tremendous influence on many English writers including Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, John Milton and many more! English majors then should read this book at least once as it had a tremendous influence upon past English Literature, and probably continues to do so today.
I usually don't post about literature of the Ancient or Classical World but about literature of Britain.  However, today I decided to write about The Iliad as it laid the foundations essentially for all of Western Literature. 
I have been reading Homer's The Odyssey for sometime. I personally prefer this sequel over its forberaer. While The Iliad is principally all about the Trojan War, The Odyssey I have found to not necessarily be a better story, but to be written more smoothly.  
I am a big fan of the Greco-Roman myths, and have used these stories for inspiration to my Medieval novels for years. One doesn't have to specialize in the Classical world to enjoy these great works by Homer.