A Literary History of the English People | Page 4

the Christian idea--Beginnings of the new faith--Heathen
survivals--Convents and schools--Religious kings and
princes--Proselytism, St. Boniface 60

II. Latin Culture.--Manuscripts--Alcuin, St. Boniface, Aldhelm, Æddi,
Bede--Life and writings of Bede--His "Ecclesiastical History"--His
sympathy for the national literature 65
III. Christian Poems.--The genius of the race remains nearly
unchanged--Heroical adventures of the saints--Paraphrase of the
Bible--Cædmon--Cynewulf--His sorrows and despair--"Dream of the
Rood"--"Andreas"--Lugubrious sights--The idea of
death--Dialogues--Various poems--The "Physiologus"--"Phoenix" 68
IV. Prose--Alfred the Great.--Laws and charters--Alfred and the Danish
invasions--The fight for civilisation--Translation of works by St.
Gregory, Orosius (travels of Ohthere), Boethius (story of
Orpheus)--Impulsion given to prose--Werferth--Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles--Character of Alfred. 78
V. St. Dunstan--Sermons.--St. Dunstan (tenth century) resumes the
work of Alfred--Translation of pious works--Collections of
sermons--Ælfric, Wulfstan, "Blickling" homilies--Attempt to reach
literary dignity. End of the Anglo-Saxon period 88
BOOK II.
THE FRENCH INVASION.
CHAPTER I.
BATTLE.
I. The Invaders of the Year 1066.--England between two
civilisations--The North and South--The Scandinavians at
Stamford-bridge. The Normans of France--The army of William is a
French army--Character of William--The battle--Occupation of the
country 97
II. England bound to Southern Civilisations.--Policy of
William--Survey of his new domains--Unification--The successors of
William--Their practical mind and their taste for adventures--Taste for

art--French families settled in England--Continental possessions of
English kings--French ideal--Unification of origins--Help from
chroniclers and poets--The Trojan ancestor 104
CHAPTER II.
LITERATURE IN THE FRENCH LANGUAGE UNDER THE
NORMAN AND ANGEVIN KINGS.
I. Diffusion of the French Language.--The French language
superimposed on the English one--Its progress; even among "lowe
men"--Authors of English blood write their works in French 116
II. The French Literature of the Normans and Angevins.--It is animated
by their own practical and adventurous mind--Practical works:
chronicles, scientific and pious treatises 120
III. Epic Romances.--The Song of Roland and the Charlemagne
cycle--Comparison with "Beowulf"--The matter of Rome--How
antiquity is translated--Wonders--The matter of
Britain--Love--Geoffrey of Monmouth--Tristan and Iseult--Lancelot
and Guinevere--Woman--Love as a passion and love as a ceremonial
125
IV. Lays and Chansons.--Shorter stories--Lays of Marie de
France--Chansons of France--Songs in French composed in England
141
V. Satirical and Ironical Works.--Such works introduced in
England--The pilgrimage of Charlemagne--The "Roman de Renart," a
universal comedy--Fabliaux--Their migrations--Their aim--Their
influence in England 146
CHAPTER III.
LATIN.
I. The Ties with Rome.--William I., Henry II., John--Church lands--The

"exempt" abbeys--Coming of the friars--The clergy in Parliament--Part
played by prelates in the State--Warrior prelates, administrators,
scavants, saints 157
II. Spreading of Knowledge.--Latin education--Schools and
libraries--Book collectors: Richard of Bury--Paris, chief town for Latin
studies--The Paris University; its origins, teaching, and
organisation--English students at Paris--Oxford and
Cambridge--Studies, battles, feasts--Colleges, chests, libraries 166
III. Latin Poets.--Joseph of Exeter and the Trojan war--Epigrammatists,
satirists, fabulists, &c.--Nigel Wireker and the ass whose tail was too
short--Theories: Geoffrey of Vinesauf and his New Art of Poetry 176
IV. Latin Prosators--Tales and Exempla.--Geoffrey of
Monmouth--Moralised tales--"Gesta Romanorum"--John of
Bromyard--"Risqué" tales, fables in prose, miracles of the Virgin,
romantic tales--A Latin sketch of the "Merchant of Venice"--John of
Salisbury; Walter Map--Their pictures of contemporary manners 181
V. Theologians, Jurists, Scientists, Historians.--The "Doctors"; Scot,
Bacon, Ockham, Bradwardine, &c.--Gaddesden the
physician--Bartholomew the encyclopædist--Roman law and English
law--Vacarius, Glanville, Bracton, &c. History--Composition of
chronicles in monasteries--Impartiality of chroniclers--Their idea of
historical art--Henry of Huntingdon, William of Malmesbury, Matthew
Paris--Observation of manners, preservation of characteristic anecdotes,
attempt to paint with colours--Higden, Walsingham and others 193
CHAPTER IV.
LITERATURE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
I. Pious Literature.--A period of silence--First works (pious ones)
copied, translated or composed in English after the
Conquest--Sermons--Lives of saints--Treatises of various sort--"Ancren
Riwle"--Translation of French treatises--Life and works of Rolle of
Hampole 204

II. Worldly Literature.--Adaptation and imitation of French
writings--The "Brut" of Layamon--Translation of romances of
chivalry--Romances dedicated to heroes of English origin--Satirical
fabliaux--Renard in English--Lays and tales--Songs--Comparison with
French chansons 219
BOOK III.
ENGLAND TO THE ENGLISH.
CHAPTER I.
THE NEW NATION.
I. Fusion of Races and Languages.--Abolition of the presentment of
Englishery, 1340--Survival of the French language in the fourteenth
century--The decline--Part played by "lowe men" in the formation of
the English language--The new vocabulary--The new prosody--The
new grammar--The definitive language of England an outcome of a
transaction between the Anglo-Saxon and the French language 235
II. Political Formation.--The nation coalesces--The ties with France and
Rome are loosening or breaking--A new source of power,
Westminster--Formation, importance, privileges of Parliament under
the Plantagenets--Spirit of the Commons--Their Norman
bargains--Comparison with France 248
III. Maritime Power; Wealth and Arts.--Importance of the English trade
in the fourteenth century--The great traders--Their influence on State
affairs--The English, "rois de la mer"--Taste for travels and adventures.
Arts--Gold, silver and ivory--Miniatures and
enamels--Architecture--Paintings and tapestries--Comparative comfort
of houses--The hall and table--Dresses--The nude--The cult for beauty
255
CHAPTER II.
CHAUCER.

The Poet of the new nation 267
I. Youth of Chaucer.--His London life--London in the fourteenth
century--Chaucer as a page--His French campaigns--Valettus cameræ
Regis--Esquire--Married life--Poetry à la mode--Machault, Deguileville,
Froissart, Des Champs, &c.--Chaucer's love ditties--The "Roman de la
Rose"--"Book of the