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