CHRONOLOGY
============================================================
=================
HISTORY | LITERATURE
------------------------------------------------------------
----------------- 912.  Northmen settle in Normandy | 1066.  Battle of Hastings.  William, |
king of England |
| 1086.  Domesday Book completed
1087.  William Rufus |
1093.  Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury |
| 1094(cir.).  Anselem’s Cur Deus Homo
1096.  First Crusade |
1100.  Henry I |
| 1110.  First recorded Miracle play in
| England (see chapter on the
| Drama)
1135.  Stephen |
| 1137(cir.).  Geoffrey’s History
1147.  Second Crusade |
1154.  Henry II |
1189.  Richard I. Third Crusade |
1199.  John |
| 1200 (cir.).  Layamon’s Brut
1215.  Magna Charta |
1216.  Henry III |
| 1225 (cir.).  Ancren Riwle
1230 (cir.).  University of Cambridge |
chartered |
1265.  Beginning of House of Commons. |
Simon de Montfort |
| 1267.  Roger Bacon’s Opus Majus
1272.  Edward I |
1295.  First complete Parliament |
| 1300-1400.  York and Wakefield.
| Miracle plays
1307.  Edward II |
| 1320 (cir.).  Cursor Mundi
1327.  Edward III |
1338.  Beginning of Hundred Years’ War |
with France |
| 1340 (?).  Birth of Chaucer
| 1350 (cir.).  Sir Gawain.  The Pearl
=======================================+====================
================

* * * * *

CHAPTER IV

THE AGE OF CHAUCER (1350-1400)

THE NEW NATIONAL LIFE AND LITERATURE

HISTORY OF THE PERIOD.  Two great movements may be noted in the complex life of England during the fourteenth century.  The first is political, and culminates in the reign of Edward III.  It shows the growth of the English national spirit following the victories of Edward and the Black Prince on French soil, during the Hundred Years’ War.  In the rush of this great national movement, separating England from the political ties of France and, to a less degree, from ecclesiastical bondage to Rome, the mutual distrust and jealousy which had divided nobles and commons were momentarily swept aside by a wave of patriotic enthusiasm.  The French language lost its official prestige, and English became the speech not only of the common people but of courts and Parliament as well.