Early Beginnings:The Middle Ages

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, stories and poems were told

around the fires in cottages or sung in the great halls of castles…

Oral Tradition

Before actual physical books came stories – stories for all ages, told after a long hard day in the fields, as the family gathered around the fire in the dark. Stories served as medieval television.

Cottage vs. Castle Stories

• Where: Castles and great manor houses

• Who: Wandering minstrels or bards

• What: heroic tales about Beowulf or King Arthur

• Where: Cottages or medieval fairs

• Who: Simple folks• What: daily life –

farmers, woodcutters; beast tales about wolves, foxes and hens

Early Manuscripts

• Picture Bibles• Lesson books• Only for wealthy or teachers in monastery• Valuable: houses/lands exchanged for one

volume!! • Had 2 forms

– Dialogue between teacher/student (question & answer)

– Rhymed couplets (easy memorization)

Important People

• Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury: introduced question & answer approach

• Bede: translated/wrote 45 books for his students at the Jarrow monastery in England

• Anselm: Elucidarium

• Chaucer: Canterbury Tales

Important Books

• Elucidarium: book of general information for students (encyclopedia)

• Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans): sourcebook of stories for clergy– contained myths/fables/tales from places like

India

• Canterbury Tales: legendary stories/folktales

Printed Books

• Originated in China (175 A.D.)– Also had wood block printing (8th century)

• Gutenberg: movable metal type (1450’s) in Germany

• William Caxton: learned trade and brough it to England (1476)– Published 106 books– Expensive– Many owned books now!

Influence of Printing

• Textbooks alone

• Hornbooks– 15th Century– 2 x 5 inches– Battledore

After Hornbooks

• ABC books

• Primers– Book of hours for children– Henry VIII

Lasting Contributions

• Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

• Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur

• Education not entertainment

TIMELINE of EVENTS & PUBLICATIONSEVENTS:175 AD – Stone rubbings in China400 – 1400’s – Oral storytelling600’s – Early lesson Books700’s – China’s block printing1100’s—Elucidarium developed by Anselm1380-1420 – Western printing began in Holland1400’s – Hornbooks1450 – Gutenberg’s moveable metal type (press) in Germany1476 – Caxton’s printing press in Westminster1514 – alphabet added to a book of hours for children1600’s—Aldhelm introduces question/answer approach1600’s—Bede translates/writes 45 books

PUBLICATIONS:Early 1300’s – The Gesta Romanorum (deeds of the Romans) compiled1387 – Canterbury Tales1477 – A Book of Curtseye1481 – The Historye of Reynart the Foxe1484 – Aesop’s Fables1485 - Le Morte d’Arthur1584 - King Henry’s Primer

Assessment 1

Question:

List the different types of publications

Answers:

written

wood block printing

movable metal type

Assessment 1

Question:

List people and countries that published early literature

Assessment 2

Answers:

Gutenberg William Caxton

AnslemAldhelm

BedeChaucer

Assessment 2

Holland

Germany

Westminster

China

Question:

List well-known books from the early literature period discussed in class

Assessment 3

Answers:

Elucidarium

Canterbury Tales

Aesop’s Fables

Gutenberg Bible

Beowulf

Assessment 3