Anglo-Saxon Literature and the Norman French Period: 36 flashcards
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1. What period does Old English (Anglo-Saxon) literature cover?
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From the 7th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066.
2. How many Old English manuscripts survive, and how many are considered major?
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About 400 manuscripts survive; 189 are considered major.
3. Name the four major Old English manuscripts.
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The Junius manuscript, the Exeter Book, the Vercelli Book, and the Nowell Codex.
4. Which manuscript contains the epic poem Beowulf?
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The Nowell Codex.
5. What is the oldest extant work of literature in English?
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Cædmon's Hymn, from the 7th century.
6. What are the two main styles of Old English poetry?
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Heroic Germanic and Christian.
7. Who constructed the first widely accepted theory of Old English alliterative verse, and when?
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Eduard Sievers, in 1885.
8. What is a caesura in Old English verse?
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The pause that divides each verse line into two half-lines.
9. How many stressed syllables does each half-line of Old English verse have?
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Two stressed syllables per half-line.
10. What is a kenning? Give an example.
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A formulaic phrase describing one thing in terms of another — for example, the sea as 'the whale's road'.
11. What is litotes?
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Dramatic understatement employed for ironic effect.
12. Who was the scop?
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The Old English poet, sometimes accompanied by a harp.
13. Does more Old English prose or poetry survive?
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Prose survives in much greater quantity than poetry.
14. When does Old English prose first appear, and how long does it continue?
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It first appears in the 9th century and continues through the 12th century.
15. What did King Alfred the Great propose about education?
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That students be educated in Old English first, with those who excelled going on to learn Latin.
16. Who were the Normans originally descended from?
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The same stock as the Danes — Norse sea-kings (Baltic and North Sea pirates).
17. What language and culture did the Normans adopt after settling in northern France?
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They adopted the French language and culture.
18. What three languages made England trilingual after 1066?
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Latin, French (Anglo-French), and English.
19. Which language remained the language of the Church and scholars after the Conquest?
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Latin, down to the 16th century or later.
20. Which language became the language of the governing and upper social class after the Conquest?
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Anglo-French.
21. For how long did formal English writing almost cease after the Conquest?
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For more than a century; it made a new beginning about the year 1200.
22. What is the only important English document in the interval after the Conquest, and when does it end?
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The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, continued at Peterboro, ends in 1154.
23. What did the derived English metrical system adopt from French?
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Rime and identical line-length.
24. What did the derived English metrical system retain from Anglo-Saxon?
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Regularity of stress and alliteration as a subordinate device.
25. Which dialect became standard English, and what helped it win?
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The East Midland dialect, aided by London, Oxford, and Cambridge.
26. Whose appearance in the 14th century marked the victory of the East Midland form?
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Chaucer's.
27. What were the three dialect groups of Middle English?
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Southern, Midland (East and West), and Northern.
28. What effect did the Norman Conquest have on the English dialects?
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It restored the dialects to positions of equal authority, halting the progress of West Saxon toward supremacy.
29. What 16th-century event caused considerable manuscript losses?
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The Dissolution of the Monasteries.
30. When and with whom did scholarly study of Old English begin?
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In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, with Matthew Parker.
31. What were the main Old English dialects?
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Northumbrian, Mercian, Kentish, and West Saxon.
32. What did the Norman Conquest accomplish for Anglo-Saxon England racially?
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A racial rejuvenation — a fusion of Norman and Anglo-Saxon stock.
33. What did the Normans bring to England culturally?
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Love of song, chivalrous sports, rich clothing, finely-painted manuscripts, and noble architecture.
34. What happened to the greater part of the Saxon population under Norman lords?
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They were reduced to serfs bound to the land.
35. What two 13th–15th century events confirmed the fusion of the Norman and Saxon races?
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The loss of Normandy in the 13th century and the Hundred Years' War.
36. Name the seven major scriptoria of Anglo-Saxon England.
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Winchester, Exeter, Worcester, Abingdon, Durham, and two Canterbury houses.
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