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Old English-- 449-1066
Beowulf is one of the oldest Old Enghlish epic poems/work known and is one of the most important works of Old Enghlish. The poem of Beowulf was "a story of the supernatural as well as a record of Anglo-Saxon history. Because there was little literacy and few books in Medieval England, scops were the key to recording history. " csis.pace.edu/grendel/projf20004d/History.html -
Goths, Angles, Saxons, Jutes. "They came when Vortigern, a 5th century king of the Britons, invited them to help fight the Picts and the Scots." faculty.winthrop.edu
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Bede, The Venerable- Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ‘Ecclesiastical history of the English people’(main historical source of Old English period)
"He was an accurate and reliable observer and compiler of historical information and it is to him that we know of when and how the initial Germanic invasion of Britain took place." www.uni-due.de -
Middle Eng. (c. 1100 - c. 1500)
This period spanned for 1100 through the fifteenth century, "The historical events that shaped English literature during this period were equally monumental and many."
- http://paws.wcu.edu 1054: End of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
1066: Battle of Hastings -
"King John signs the Magna Carta ("Great Charter"), a critical document in the long historical process leading to the rule of constitutional law in the English-speaking world."
helped create peace, and freedom in church.
- www.e-teachingonline.com -
Francesco Petrarca
Italian scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, one of the earliest humanists, studied the classics and wrote in both
Italian and Latin. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance. One of his works:The Great Triumphs Wikipedia
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John Gower-
"Mirroir de l'Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis, three long poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which are united by common moral and political themes. " www.poemhunter.com/ -
William Lanlend- Piers Plowman, "is an allegorical poem in unrhymed alliterative verse, regarded as the greatest Middle English poem prior to Chaucer. It is both a social satire and a vision of the simple Christian life." http://www.poemhunter.com
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Geoffrey Chaucer- The Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame, the Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde, The Canterbury Tales (first book written in english language) www.poemhunter.com
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the black plaugue;
'12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The people who gathered on the docks to greet the ships were met with a horrifying surprise-"
As known it spreaded and '20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population" were hit by the disiase and died. there were rumors of the disease but didn't know the disease would come to so suddenin just a ship. www.history.com -
"Early Renaissance, mostly in Italy, bridges the art period during the fifteenth century, between the Middle Ages and the High Renaissance in Italy."
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"Humanism:
Illustrated the Spirit of the Renaissance (a literary movement
that began in 14th Century Italy.)
1. Concerned themselves, not with religious matters, but with
everyday human problems.
2. Drew inspiration from classical civilization - eagerly seeking,
studying, and publicizing ancient Greek and Roman manuscripts.
3. Revived interest, chiefly among educated people, in literatureand writing."
- www.hudson.k12.mi.us -
Printing press: Encourages Literature
1. ca. 1450: printing with movable type was invented by a
German, Johan Gutenberg.
2. During the Middle Ages books had to be hand copied (time
consuming and expensive) on parchment (goat skin).
3. 12th Century: Europeans discovered paper from the Moslems.
4. Impact: printing tremendously increased output and accuracy and decreased the cost.
- www.hudson.k12.mi.us/ -
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
'An Italian, who lived for a while near Florence,
was a scholar of law, philosophy, Greek, Latin,
Hebrew, and Arabic. He spoke in praise of the dignity of human.'
- www.hudson.k12.mi.us literary works: Oratio de hominis dignitate, Conclusiones nongentae( a work of nine hundred theses covering a vast array of philosophical, theological, and esoteric topics that Pico had published in late 1486), Apologia, (etc.)
- www.oxfordbibliographies.com -
Thomas More (1478-1535)
* An Englishman, he wrote Utopia, a book about an ideal country
that was free from war, injustice, poverty, and ignorance.
- www.hudson.k12.mi.us "Sir Thomas More, venerated by Roman Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist."
- Wikipedia -
"Neoclassical" refers to the increased influence of Classical literature upon these centuries. The Neoclassical Period
is also called the "Enlightenment" due to the increased reverence for logic and disdain for superstition. The period
is marked by the rise of Deism, intellectual backlash against earlier Puritanism, and America's revolution against
England."
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Ælfric-Catholic Homilies, Lives of the Saints,Latin grammar Colloquium,
"His Colloquium was intended to improve knowledge of Latin among his pupils." www.uni-due.de -
Alfred, King- "Alfred was also concerned with the reform of monastic life and had a number of translations made which are importants monuments of (early West-Saxon) Old English." www.uni-due.de
