Task 4

Introduction

In this blog I will draw on some recurring themes, as well as similarities and links between people and stories that have been present throughout these blog posts and elaborate on these things with some further research. I will be focussing on several names that have come up frequently during my research process and their relationships to each other’s literature.

Aristocracy

As discussed in my first post, Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press in Germany circa the mid-1400s, was an aristocrat. As was Guillaume de Lorris, which is essentially all anyone knows about him other than the fact he wrote the first part of Le Roman de la Rose. Geoffrey Chaucer also came from a wealthy family who had steadily been improving their connection with royalty, and William Caxton was an apprentice at the age of eighteen to a man who went on to become the Lord Mayor of London. Caxton became a prosperous and influential merchant before turning to literature at around the age of 47.

I wanted to point out how the following people’s and places’ journeys intertwine and overlap in certain ways, or how their stories relate to, and how they were inspired by, one another, and also how their privileged beginnings enabled them to become educated, leading to the production of these books and manuscripts.

 

William Caxton (1422-1491)

Just as Johannes Gutenberg was the first printer in Germany, William Caxton was the first in England. Caxton was also a translator and publisher. In post two I wrote about the exhibition I attended called “The Mirror of the World” which was named after the first illustrated English book, an encyclopaedia, translated in 1481 by William Caxton. 

Image from here.

During the time he was copying “The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye” (mentioned in my post entitled “The Romance of the Middle Ages”) he wrote of similar experiences to the monks and scribes (see “The Art of Book Making in the Middle Ages”), saying that his “pen became worn, his hand weary, his eye dimmed” which in turn provoked him to learn printing. Caxton also printed many poems by Geoffrey Chaucer including “The Canterbury Tales”. 

 Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400) and 

Guillaume de Lorris (1200s)

Geoffrey Chaucer translated “Le Roman de la Rose” (see posts “Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond” and “The Romance of the Middle Ages”) which was written partly by Guillaume de Lorris circa 1225-30, and which evidently influenced Chaucer, as he adopted its dream-vision form consistently throughout his career. Both Chaucer and Guillaume de Lorris were influenced by the Roman poet Ovid, (mentioned in post “The Romance of the Middle Ages”).

Image from here.

Geoffrey Chaucer, Oxford University and King Edward III (1312-1377)

Oxford University’s Church of St Mary, in which the original Oxford library room still exists, tells us that ‘The Old Library’ attracted such people as the ones like the character ‘the Clerk of Oxenford’ from Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem “The Clerk’s Tale”, early in the 13^th century. The church describes the old library as containing ‘a small number of books chained to the desks’ which I recalled was common practise of the time, in my blog post “Myrrour of the Worlde”.

The 'neither large nor architecturally impressive' vestry at the Church of St Marys.

"The Old Library" built circa 1320.

 Images from here.

In “Bodleian Library and Oxford University: A Brief history” I mention that King Edward III praised Oxford University for its ‘invaluable contribution to learning’ in about the mid 1300s. It was actually around this time that Geoffrey Chaucer began having close ties with the King. In 1360, Edward III contributed to Chaucer’s ransom after he was captured during the siege of Reims and Chaucer was receiving regular income from Edward III all the way up to and throughout the 1370s.

Conclusion

It is obvious that literature was predominantly available to people and families who had made a name for themselves and were well off. Children were more likely to grow up being successful if they came from wealthy and successful families, because of the opportunities afforded to them both by the way of funds and the favourable light in which the public would have seen them. Printers and copiers were often commissioned by kings and nobility which meant the already privileged men became richer and increasingly well connected.

It seems as though there was a vibrant literary community which spanned continents and centuries. Everybody who was anybody had been heard of, and well educated people, like Geoffrey Chaucer, knew of all the publications worth knowing about.

I would be interested in investigating the subject of language among the literary community in the future. I know that William Caxton translated many works into French quite poorly and that he was criticised for it due to confusion by the readers. However, Chaucer appeared to be fluent in several languages. No doubt this privilege of knowledge was bestowed upon them due to their aristocratic roots, but I would be interested in knowing how they learned these languages - tutors, parents, self teaching, word of mouth? - and how they were so confident as to translate these works themselves, without perhaps being 'qualified' to do so. Also, I would be interested in seeing the evolution of the English language during medieval times as we know it was rapidly changing at this time and it was be interesting to note in what ways, and the progression of that.

References

 Architecture : the old library, The University Church of St Marys, viewed 2 June 2012, <http://www.university-church.ox.ac.uk/architecture.html>

Myrrour of the worlde, State Library of Victoria, viewed 2 June 2012, <http://www.mirroroftheworld.com.au/inspiration/printed/myrrour_of_the_worlde.php>

Geoffrey Chaucer 2012, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, viewed 2 June 2012, <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/108024/Geoffrey-Chaucer>

William Caxton 2012, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, viewed 2 June 2012, <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/100766/William-Caxton>

Guillaume de Lorris 2012, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, viewed 2 June 2012, <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/248711/Guillaume-de-Lorris>