British Literature
Course description: A survey of the most interesting British and American writers from the early years to the present. A Christian worldview of literature is taught in appreciating and critiquing literature.
Course Requirements
Course Readings through Norton Anthology Link
There will be an extensive amount of reading in this course. Links will be specified and assignments will be able to read and completed using the online link.
Summaries of all required readings will be one page in length and kept in your portfolio for end of course grading.
A Well Organized Portfolio
You will need a 3 ring binder to keep all assignments, course work, and printed materials. Please organize this neatly and make it easy for the professor to find your items.
One Creative Writing Project
This project will consist of an original creative writing project. Please construct your own 6-10 pages in length version of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” Please use authentic old English, and a similar rhyming pattern. The story line is up to you!
Tests and Quizzes
You will have 4 quizzes. They will be taken online through the Norton portal. You will email them to me - there will be an option for this while you are signing in to take the quiz. Your final exam will consist of a 10 page paper summarizing the history of British literature through the ages.
Lesson One Assignments:
Begin reading assignments on the Middle Ages.
You will begin with this link as introduction.
Please read the following pieces of English Literature from the Middle Ages.
Ancrene Riwle
Chronicles of England
Read Aelfric
Please write your summary of each reading topic for this week. The summary should cover each text that you read and give a brief 1-2 paragraph synopsis for each text the total summary should be at least one page per week. Each week you will be responsible to develop this summary covering the reading assignments for the week. Please designate a section in your portfolio for these summaries.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Lesson 2
Read an Introduction to King Arthur here.
Gawain's Dream
While they were sleeping, a wondrous and unforgettable vision came to each of them, one worthy of remembering and recounting because of its great significance. What Gawain saw in his sleep was a vision of himself in a meadow of green grass and many flowers. In the meadow there was a rack where one hundred and fifty bulls were feeding. The bulls were fierce, and all but three of them were spotted. One of the three was neither spotted nor pure white, but just slightly spotted. The others could not have been more white or more beautiful. The three bulls were tied together at the neck by strong and binding yokes. The bulls said, "Let's search for better pasture land than this." They left the meadow and went into the wasteland, where they stayed a long time. When they returned, many were missing. And those who came back were so thin and tired that they could barely stand. Of the three without spots, only one returned. When they reached the rack, strife broke out among them until the food supply waned and they had to disperse. . . .
[Hector also has a disturbing dream concerning his brother Sir Lancelot.]
Hector was so dismayed by this dream that he awoke in anger and then tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Sir Gawain, who could not sleep either, because his own dream had awakened him, heard Hector tossing about and asked, "Sir knight, are you asleep?"
"No. An extraordinary dream has awakened me."
"I too have been awakened by an amazing dream. And I won't be satisfied until I know the truth about it."
"And I will not be satisfied until I learn the truth about Sir Lancelot, my brother," said Hector. As they were talking, they saw a hand, visible up to the elbow and covered in red silk, come in through the chapel door. From the hand there hung an ordinary bridle, and in its fist a thick candle burned brightly. The hand passed in front of them, entered the chancel, and disappeared without their knowing where it went. Then they heard a voice that said, "Knights of little faith and meager trust, you lack the three things you have seen here, and that is why you cannot participate in the adventures of the Holy Grail." Gawain and Hector were speechless when they heard these words. They sat in silence for a long time, until Sir Gawain asked Hector, "Did you understand that?"
"I certainly did not," he said, "though I did hear it." "In God's name," said Gawain, "we have seen such things tonight, both while asleep and awake, that I think it best for us to seek out a hermit, a worthy man who will tell us the meaning of our dreams and the words we've heard. We will then do as he advises us. For to do otherwise, it seems to me, would be wasting our efforts, as we have done thus far." Hector agreed with this suggestion, and the two companions spent the rest of the night in the chapel without sleeping. Each one pondered the vision he had had. . . .
Understanding now why the knights had come to him, the hermit responded to Sir Gawain by saying, "In the meadow that you saw, there was a rack. We should understand the rack to be [156] the Round Table. For just as the rack has rods separating the compartments, the Round Table has columns separating each seat from the next. We should understand the meadow to be humility and patience, which remain always vigorous and strong. Because patience and humility could never be conquered, the Round Table was established upon them. And the chivalry it promotes has derived such force from the gentleness and brotherhood of knights that it too can never be defeated. This is why they say that the Round Table was founded upon humility and patience.
"One hundred fifty bulls were eating from the rack. If they had been in the meadow, their hearts would have remained in humility and patience. The bulls were prideful, and all but three of them were spotted. You should understand these bulls to be the members of the Round Table who, in their pride and lust, fell into such mortal sin that their sins could not be concealed within them, but were forced to the surface, making them spotted and stained as the bulls were, that is to say, vile and hideous.
"There were three unstained bulls, those without sin. Two were perfectly fair and pure, while the third had a trace of spots. The two perfect ones represent Galahad and Perceval, who are fairer and purer than anyone. They are fair indeed, being perfect in all virtues. And they are pure without blemish or stain, which is almost impossible to find in a human being. The third one, bearing the trace of a blemish, is Bors, who once lost his virginity. But since then he has made such amends through a life of chastity that his sin has been pardoned.
"The three bulls were attached at the neck; they are the three knights in whom virginity is so strongly rooted that they cannot lift their heads; that is to say, they are careful that pride does not enter into them. The bulls said, 'Let's search for better pasture land.' And the knights of the Round Table said at Pentecost, 'Let's go on the quest for the Holy Grail, so that we'll receive worldly honors and the heavenly food that the Holy Spirit sends to those who sit at the Table of the Holy Grail. That's where the better pasture lies. Let's leave this one behind and go there.'
'They left court and went into the wasteland, not the meadow. They departed without making confession, as one should do before entering into Our Lord's service. Neither did they set out in humility and patience, which are represented by the meadow, but they traveled through the waste and desolate land on a path where no fruit or flowers grow. That's the road to hell, where everything that is not right is destroyed. When they returned, many were missing; that is to say that not all returned because some died. And those who came back were so thin and weak that they could hardly stand; that is to say that those who will return will be so blinded by sin that they will have killed each other. That they will have no limbs to support them means that they will possess none of the virtues that keep a man from falling into hell. They will be filled with all kinds of uncleanliness and mortal sin. Of the three without stain, one will return and the other two will stay; that is to say of the three good knights, one will return to court, not for the food on the rack, but to tell of the good pasture that will be lost to those living in sin. The other two will stay away because they will find such sweetness in the food of the Holy Grail; they will never leave after having tasted it."
From The Death of Arthur
Driven by Sir Gawain's implacable desire to take revenge on Sir Lancelot for the slaying of Gawain's brothers in Lancelot's rescue of Guinevere (NAEL 8, 1.444-48), Arthur's army lays siege to Lancelot in his castle Joyous Garde. The single combat between Gawain and Lancelot is probably the most dramatic in Arthurian literature and is closer to the motif of blood revenge in epic than to the romance duel like the duel between Yvain and Gawain in Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain. In contrast, Lancelot's reluctance to finish off his old friend is in the chivalric tradition. The account in this episode of Gawain's magical strength has suggested to some scholars that Gawain was at some remote time a euhemeristic character, i.e., a Celtic solar deity, interpreted as a historical hero. The translation is by Norris J. Lacy.
The Battle between Gawain and Lancelot
Then there began between the two of them the most cruel and prodigious battle that two knights ever fought. Anyone who saw them dealing and receiving blows would know they were valiant men. The battle continued that way for a long time. . . .
If they had been as strong then as at the start of the battle, both of them would soon have been dead, but they were so exhausted that often their swords turned in their hands when they attempted to strike; and each of them had at least seven wounds so serious that the least of them would have killed any other man. But despite the pain they suffered from having lost a great deal of blood, they continued the battle until the hour of tierce [9 a.m.]. Then they had to rest, for they could no longer continue. Sir Gawain was the first to draw back and lean on his shield to catch his breath, and then Lancelot did the same. . . .
Thus were the two knights engaged in battle, and one of them was gaining the upper hand. But when Sir Gawain saw that it was noon, he called Lancelot back to battle as freshly as if he had not yet struck a single blow, and he attacked him so energetically that Lancelot was amazed and said to himself, "My word, this man must be a devil or a phantom, because when I let him rest, I thought he was exhausted from fighting, but now he's as fresh as if he hadn't struck a single blow in battle."
That is what Lancelot said about Sir Gawain, whose strength and vitality increased around noon; and he was telling the truth. But the phenomenon was not new: everywhere Gawain had ever fought, people saw that his strength increased around noon, and since some people consider that a lie, I will tell you how it happened.
The truth is that Sir Gawain was born in Orkney, in a city called Nordelone. When he was born, his father, King Lot, who was very happy, had him taken to a hermit who lived in a nearby forest. That holy man lived such a pure life that for his sake Our Lord performed miracles every day, healing the lame and making the blind see and doing many another miracle for love of this good man. The king sent the child to him because he did not want the child to be baptized by any hand other than his. When the holy man saw the child and learned who he was, he willingly baptized him and called him Gawain, for that was the name of the good man. And the child was baptized around the noon hour.
At the baptism, one of the knights who had brought the child said to the good man, "Sir, do a great service to the kingdom, and see to it through your prayers that when the child is of an age to bear arms, he will be more gifted than any other."
"To be sure, sir knight," said the good man, "grace comes not from me, but from Jesus Christ, and without him no grace can prevail. Nevertheless, if through my prayer this child could be endowed with greater gifts than other knights, that will be done. But stay here tonight, and tomorrow I'll be able to say what kind of man he will be, and how good a knight."
That night the king's messengers stayed there until morning, and when the holy man had sung Mass, he came to them and said, "Lords, I can say with certainty that this child will be more endowed with prowess than his companions, and as long as he lives, he won't be defeated around noon. He has been so blessed through my prayer that every day at noon (the hour when he was baptized), his power and strength will increase, wherever he is. And never will he be so beaten or exhausted that he won't feel refreshed and strengthened at that time."
It happened just as the holy man said, for every day, his power and strength increased around noon, regardless of where he was; as a result, he killed many valiant men and won many battles for as long as he bore arms. For when he happened to be fighting a powerful knight, he attacked him and pressed him as well as he could until noon, so that at that time the opponent was so exhausted that he could not continue. And when he wanted to rest, then Sir Gawain pressed him with all his power, for at that time he was valiant and swift; and he quickly overpowered him. And that is why many knights feared to do battle with him, unless it was after noon.
His grace and power had come to him through the prayer of the holy man, and they were evident that day when he fought the son of King Ban of Benoic. It was easy to see that before noon Sir Gawain was hard-pressed and near defeat, so that he needed to rest. But when his strength returned, as it customarily did, he leapt at Lancelot with such speed that everyone who saw him said that he was so quick and agile that he seemed not to have struck a single blow yet that day. Then he began to press Lancelot so hard that he drew blood from at least ten wounds; he was pressing him that way because he thought he could defeat him and thought that, if he failed to best him around noon, he would never do so. Thus he rained blows on Lancelot with his sharp sword, and Lancelot was dazed and in pain. . . .
Thus the battle lasted until past noon, with Lancelot being barely able to withstand Sir Gawain's attack and defend himself; but by doing that, he was able to rest a little and regain his strength and breath. As a result, he suddenly turned on Sir Gawain and struck him such a blow on the helmet that he made him stagger, and Gawain was so affected by the blow that it took all his strength to stay on his feet.
Then Lancelot began to strike him and deal great blows with his cutting sword and gain ground against him. Sir Gawain, who had only recently been at the peak of his strength and now saw himself in danger of being shamed if he could not defend himself, redoubled his efforts and called on all his prowess, because of his fear of death. He then defended himself so desperately that his exertion made him bleed from the nose and mouth, in addition to his other wounds, which were bleeding freely.
Thus the battle between the two knights continued until the hour of nones. By then, both were in such a bad state that their distress was obvious to everyone; and the place where they were battling was covered with links from hauberks and pieces of shields. But Sir Gawain was so weakened by his injuries that he expected nothing less than death. Nor was Lancelot so healthy that he would not have preferred to rest rather than fight, because Sir Gawain had pressed him so hard and so close that the blood flowed from his body in more than a dozen places. Had they been any other knights, they would already have been dead from their ordeal, but their hearts were so great that they would think they had accomplished nothing if they did not press on until one of them was killed or defeated and the other revealed as the victor.
The ordeal continued that way until the hour of vespers, and by that time Sir Gawain was so exhausted that he could scarcely hold his sword. And Lancelot, who was less exhausted and was still able to continue, struck him repeatedly, driving him back and forth on the field. Gawain, however, managed to resist him, protecting himself with what remained of his shield.
When Lancelot saw that he had him beaten, and all who were watching saw that his opponent no longer had the means to defend himself, he drew near Sir Gawain and said to him, "Oh, Sir Gawain, it would be proper to declare me innocent of the charge you made against me, because I've defended myself well against you until the hour of vespers; and by vespers, he who accuses another of a treacherous act should have proved his point and won his battle, and if not, he has by rights lost his case. Sir Gawain, I say this so that you can save yourself, because if you continue this battle, one of us is destined to die a vile death, and our kinsmen would be blamed for it. And so that I may make whatever amends [202] you might ask of me, I beg you: let's stop this battle."
Gawain said may God help him if he ever agreed to that. Instead, he said to Lancelot, "You can rest assured that one of us will die on this field."
Lancelot was greatly saddened by that, because he certainly did not want Sir Gawain to die by his hand; he had tried him so severely that he had learned that Gawain possessed far more prowess than he had thought that morning; and Lancelot loved good knights more than anyone in the world.
Then he went toward where he saw the king, and he said to him, "Sir, I asked Sir Gawain to stop this battle, because if we go on, one of the two of us will certainly be badly beaten."
When the king, who realized that Sir Gawain was being defeated, heard Lancelot's generous statement, he answered, "Lancelot, Gawain won't give up the fight if he doesn't want to, but you can abandon it if you wish, since the hour is past and you have accomplished what you set out to do."
"Sir," said Lancelot, "if I didn't think you would consider me a coward, I'd go away and leave Sir Gawain on the battlefield."
"I assure you," said the king, "you've never done anything for which I'd be more grateful than that."
"Then I'll leave, with your permission," said Lancelot.
"May God be with you," said the king, "and save you, for you are the best and most generous knight I've ever known."
The Middle Ages
Lesson 3
Read the Introduction to The First Crusade
Read the Chronicle of Rabbi Eliezer bar Nathan
En route to the Middle East, a band of crusaders commanded by Count Emicho of Leinigen massacred Jewish communities that had established themselves in the Rhineland cities of Speyer, Mainz, Worms, and Cologne. Efforts by local bishops and some neighbors to protect the Jews were largely ineffectual; other local inhabitants joined in the massacres. Three Jewish chronicles commemorate these events. Rabbi Eliezer bar Nathan (c. 1090–1170), the only one of the chroniclers about whom much is known, was a distinguished Talmudic scholar and author of religious poetry, who traveled widely in Europe. His account of the massacres is powerfully influenced by the elegiac poetry of the Old Testament and by the tradition of Jewish martyrdom.
[The Persecutions of 1096]
In the year [1096] * * * the year in which we anticipated salvation and solace, in accordance with the prophecy of Jeremiah: "Sing with gladness for Jacob" [Jeremiah 31.7] — this year turned instead to sorrow and groaning, weeping and outcry. Much hardship and adversity befell us, the like of which had not occurred in this kingdom from the time it was established till the present. All the misfortunes related in all the admonitions written, those enumerated in Scripture as well as those unwritten, befell us and our souls. Our sons and our daughters, our elders and our youth, our servants and our maidservants, our young and old alike were all stricken by this great vicissitude.
There arose arrogant people of strange speech, a nation bitter and impetuous, Frenchmen and Germans, from all directions. They decided to set out for the Holy City, there to seek their house of idolatry, banish the Ishmaelites, and conquer the land for themselves. They decorated themselves prominently with their signs, by marking themselves upon their garments with their sign — a horizontal line over a vertical one — every man and woman whose heart yearned to go there, until their ranks swelled so that the number of men and women, and children exceeded a locust horde; of them it was said: "The locusts have no king yet go they forth all of them by bands" [Proverbs 31.27].
Now it came to pass that as they passed through the towns where Jews dwelled, they said to themselves: "Look now, we are going to seek out our profanity and to take vengeance on the Ishmaelites for our messiah, when here are the Jews who murdered and crucified him. Let us first avenge ourselves on them and exterminate them from among the nations so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered, or let them adopt our faith and acknowledge the offspring of promiscuity."
When the Jewish communities learned of this, they were overcome by fear, trembling, and pains, as of a woman's travail. They resorted to the custom of their ancestors: prayer, charity, and repentance. They decreed fast days, scattered days as well as consecutive ones, fasting for three consecutive days, night and day. They cried to the Lord in their trouble, but He obstructed their prayer, concealing Himself in a cloud through which their prayers could not pass.
* * *
On the eighth day of Iyar, on the Sabbath, the foe attacked the community of Speyer and murdered ten holy souls who sanctified their Creator on the holy Sabbath and refused to defile themselves by adopting the faith of their foe. There was a pious woman there who slaughtered herself in sanctification of God's Name. She was the first among all the communities of those who were slaughtered. The remainder were saved by the local bishop without defilement.
* * *
On the twenty-third day of Iyar the steppe-wolves attacked the community of Worms. Some of the community were at home, and some in the court of the local bishop. The enemies and oppressors set upon the Jews who were in their homes, pillaging, and murdering men, women, and children, young and old. They destroyed the houses and pulled down the stairways, looking and plundering; and they took the holy Torah, trampled it in the mud of the streets and tore it and desecrated it amidst ridicule and laughter. They devoured Israel with open maw, saying: "Certainly this is the day that we hoped for; we have found, we have seen it" [Lamentations 2.16].
They left only a few alive and had their way with them, forcibly immersing them in their filthy waters; and the later acts of those thus coerced are testimony to this beginning, for in the end they regarded the object of the enemy's veneration as no more than slime and dung. Those who were slain sanctified the Name for all the world to see, and exposed their throats for their heads to be severed for the glory of the Creator, also slaughtering one another — man his friend, his kin, his wife, his children, even his sons-in-law and daughters-in-law; and compassionate women slaying their only children — all wholeheartedly accepting the judgment of Heaven upon themselves, and as they yielded up their souls to the Creator, they all cried out: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" [Deuteronomy 6.4].
Seven days later * * * those Jews who were in the court of the bishop were subjected to great anguish and the enemy dealt them what they had dealt the others, tormenting them and putting them to the sword.
* * *
There arose then a young man named Simha ha-Cohen. When he saw that they were bringing him to the house of their idolatry, he remained silent until he arrived there. When he arrived there, he drew a knife from his sleeve and slew a knight who was a nephew of the bishop. They immediately cut his body to pieces. And it is of him and his like that it is said: "They that love Him shall be as the sun when it goes forth in its might" [Judges 5.31].
For these righteous people do I wail and lament bitterly:
I keen, mourn, and lament over the extolled community;
In my heart there is wailing, for my wound is severe:
Clothed in horror is the sorrowful remnant,
For the great diadem of gold has fallen from their head.
Friends and beloved ones, the wicked have consumed —
My malevolent neighbors, who have struck at the heritage.
* * *
May the strength of their virtue, and their righteousness as well,
Stand their survivors in good stead forever and ever, Selah.
On the third of the week, the third of the month Sivan, a day of sanctification and abstinence for Israel in preparation for receiving the Torah — the community of Mainz, saints of the Most High, withdrew from each other in sanctity and purity, and sanctified themselves to ascend to God all together, young and old. Those who had been "pleasant in their lifetime . . . were not parted in death" >> note 5 [2 Samuel 1.23], for all of them were gathered in the courtyard of the bishop.
The enemy arose against them, killing little children and women, youth and old men, viciously — all on one day — a nation of fierce countenance that does not respect the old nor show favor to the young. The enemy showed no mercy for babes and sucklings, no pity for women about to give birth. They left no survivor or remnant but a dried date, and two or three pits, for all of them had been eager to sanctify the Name of Heaven. And when the enemy was upon them, they all cried out in a great voice, with one heart and one tongue: "Hear, O Israel," etc.
Some of the pious old men wrapped themselves in their fringed prayer shawls and sat in the bishop's courtyard. They hastened to fulfill the will of their Creator, not wishing to flee just to be saved for temporal life, for lovingly they accepted Heaven's judgment. The foe hurled stones and arrows at them, but they did not scurry to flee. Women, too, girded their loins with strength and slew their own sons and daughters, and then themselves. Tenderhearted men also mustered their strength and slaughtered their wives, sons, daughters, and infants. The most gentle and tender of women slaughtered the child of her delight.
Let the ears hearing this and its like be seared, for who has heard or seen the likes of it? Did it ever occur that there were one thousand 'Akedot >> note 6 on a single day? * * * But the heavens did not darken and the stars did not withhold their radiance! Why did not the sun and the moon turn dark, when one thousand three hundred holy souls were slain on a single day — among them babes and sucklings who had not sinned or transgressed — the souls of innocent poor people? Wilt thou restrain Thyself for these things, O Lord?
Sixty people were rescued on that day in the courtyard of the bishop. He took them to the villages of the Rheingau in order to save them. There, too, the enemy assembled against them and slew them all.
* * *
For the pious ones of Mainz I shall let out wailing like a jackal:
Woe is me for my calamity, severe is my wound, I declare:
"My tent has been pillaged and all my ropes have been broken:
my children have left me" [Jeremiah 10.20].
* * *
Avenge me, avenge the blood of Your Saints, O Lord my Master,
For naught can take their place. You have assured and told me —
I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged; and my dwelling is in Zion.
* * *
The news reached Cologne on the fifth of the month, the eve of Pentecost, and instilled mortal fear into the community. Everyone fled to the houses of Gentile acquaintances and remained there. On the following morning the enemies rose up and broke into the houses, looting and plundering. The foe destroyed the synagogue and removed the Torah Scrolls, desecrating them and casting them into the streets to be trodden underfoot. On the very day the Torah was given, when the earth trembled and its pillars quivered, they now tore, burned, and trod upon it — those wicked evildoers regarding whom it is said: "Robbers have entered and profaned it" [Ezekiel 7.22].
* * *
O God, will You not punish them for these acts? How long will You look on at the wicked and remain silent? "See, O Lord, and behold, how abject I am become" [Lamentations 1.11].
That very day they shed the blood of a pious man named Isaac. The enemy led him to their house of idolatry, but he spat at them, reviled and ridiculed them. Isaac did not desire to flee from his home, for he was happy and eager to accept the judgment of Heaven. They also slew a pious woman.
The rest were saved in the homes of acquaintances to which they had fled, until the bishop took them to his villages on the tenth of the month, to save them, and dispersed them in the several villages. There they remained until the month of Tammuz, anticipating death each day. They fasted daily, even on the two consecutive festive days of the New Moon of Tammuz, which that year occurred on Monday and Tuesday. They also fasted the following day.
On that day, the enemies marked with insignia [i.e., the cross], as well as those unmarked [i.e. members of the local population], came, for it was St. John's day. They all gathered in the village of Neuss. Samuel, the son of Asher, sanctified God's Name for all to behold, as did his two sons who were with him. After he and his sons were slain they defiled their bodies by dragging them through the muddy streets and trampling them. Then they hanged his sons at the entrance to his home in order to mock him. "How long, O Lord, will You be angry," etc. [Psalms 79.5].
* * *
For the sacred community of Cologne let me raise my voice in bitter lament:
For those who have martyred themselves in sanctification of the
Name let me wail and wander about to all the cities,
And clothe myself in sack and ashes, and drink bitter water;
And go to sing songs of lament on the mountains.
And let all the survivors mourn and grieve, all pure hearts,
For the holy community let them mourn forever.
May their death be a source of forgiveness and pardon for us.
Prepare hastily, mourning and wailing for the pious of Cologne.
William, archbishop of Tyre (c. 1130–1184 or 1185), wrote the major Latin source for later Western histories of the Crusades, describing events up to the time of Saladin's reconquest of Jerusalem from the Christians (1187). Born in the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem and educated both in the Middle East (the conquest of Jerusalem had attracted many Western scholars to the city) and in the West, William was a remarkable linguist. In addition to Latin, he knew French, Arabic, and Greek. Deeply involved in the political and ecclesiastical affairs of the Christian kingdoms established in the Middle East after the First Crusade, in writing his history William collected and drew upon earlier accounts of the crusades as well as upon his personal familiarity with the area. His chronicle, especially in a French translation, became the standard one for the Middle Ages. William Caxton, who introduced the printing press to England, translated William's history of the First Crusade from the French and published it in 1481 under the title Godeffroy of Boloyne, or The Siege and Conqueste of Jerusalem.
Europeans of the later Middle Ages looked back on the Conquest of Jerusalem as one of the most heroic events of all times, and Godfrey of Bouillon, who had been only one of the leaders, became, with Charlemagne and King Arthur, one of the three Christian Worthies. The following text is a modernized version of Caxton's translation. It confirms, in most respects, the facts of Ibn Al-Athir's History, though from a very different perspective.
The Taking of Jerusalem
The people of the duke Godfrey and the other barons which were with him, as I have said, fought with much asperity against their enemies on their side and delivered to them a very marvellous assault. They had done so much that their enemies waxed weary and wearily and slowly defended themselves. Our men had advanced, and had filled the moats and taken the barbicans in such wise that they came flush against the walls; therefore the defenders did not put up much resistance, except to shoot at times down from the walls or through loopholes. The duke commanded his people who were on the castle to set on fire the bundles of cotton and sacks of straw that they hanged against the walls. They carried out his command. Then a smoke arose so black and so thick that they could see nothing. The wind was northeast and blew upon the Turks that were at defense on the walls in such wise that they might not open their eyes nor their mouths, but of necessity they had to void the place they were supposed to defend. The valiant Duke Godfrey, who carefully attended to the work, perceived that they were departed. Then he commanded that they should diligently draw up two pieces of timber that had fallen down from the wall, as ye have heard before. This was done anon in such wise that the two ends of the two trees were laid upon the castle, and the two other ends upon the wall. Then he commanded that the side of the castle that could be lowered should be let down upon the two pieces of timber. And thus was the bridge made good and strong upon the timber of their enemies. The first that entered and passed by the bridge upon the walls was the Duke Godfrey of Bouillon and Eustace his brother with him. After these twain came two other knights that were also brethren, which also were fierce, noble, and hardy. The one was named Ludolf and the other Gilbert. They were born in Tournai. Anon there followed them a great number of knights and of people afoot, as thick as the bridge might sustain. Anon the Turks perceived that our men were entered into the town and saw the banner of the duke upon the walls. And they were routed and abandoned the towers and descended into the town, and put themselves into the straight and narrow streets to defend themselves. Our people saw that the duke and a great part of the knights were now entered and that they had taken I know not how many towers. They did not wait for any command but dressed ladders to the walls and went up. * * * This was upon a Friday about the ninth hour. It is a thing to be believed that our Lord did this by great significance, for on this day and about that hour he suffered a right cruel death on the cross in the same place for the redemption of man. Therefore the sweet Lord wanted that the people of his true pilgrims should get this town and deliver it out of servitude and thralldom of the heathen men and make it free to Christian men so that his service might be had therein and increased.
The valiant duke Godfrey of Bouillon, the knights, and the other men of arms that were with him descended from the walls all armed into the town. They went together through the streets with their swords and spears in hand. All them that they met they slew and smote right down, men, women, and children, sparing none. There might no prayers nor crying of mercy avail. They slew so many in the streets that there were heaps of dead bodies, and one might not go nor pass but upon them that so lay dead. The men on foot went into other parts of the town in great bands, holding in their hands great poleaxes, swords, mallets and other weapons, slaying all the Turks that they could find, for they were the men of the world whom our men had greatest hate unto and gladliest would put to death. They were then come into the middle of the city. * * * I may not rehearse to you nor cannot the feats of every man by himself. But there was so much blood shed that the channels and gutters ran all with blood, and all the streets of the town were covered with dead men, in such a wise that it was great pity for to see, had it not been of the enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Into the inner part of the temple were fled the greater part of the people of the town because it was the most sovereign and royal part of the town. And the said place was fast shut and closed with good walls of towers and gates. But this availed them but little, for furiously Tancred, who led a great part of the host with him, ran thither and took it by strength and slew many therein. And it was said that Tancred found therein great possessions and gold, silver, precious stones, and cloth of silk. He made all to be borne away. But afterwards, when all was set to rest, he rendered all and made it all to be brought into the common. The other barons, who had searched the town and slain all the Turks that they encountered, heard say that within the cloister of the temple were fled all the remnant of their enemies. They all came together there and found that it was true. Then they commanded their men that they should enter into the place and put them all to death. And so they did. It was a well-fitting thing that the heathen men and false misbelievers, who had fouled and shamefully defiled [the place] with their mahometry and foul law of Mohammed, should pay there for their false rites and that their blood should also be shed where they had spread the ordure of miscreance. It was an hideous thing to see the multitude of people that were slain in this place. They themselves who had slain them were sorely annoyed to behold them thus, for from the sole of the foot to the heel was none other thing but blood. There was found that within the enclosure of the temple were slain 10,000 Turks, not counting them that lay in the streets and other places of the city. Then the common people of the pilgrims ran searching the lanes and narrow streets. When they found any of the Turks that had hid themselves, were it man or woman, anon he was put to death. The barons had devised before the town was taken that every man should have the house in the town that he took and seized first, and it should be his with all appurtenances. Wherefore it was so that the barons set their banners upon the houses that they had conquered. The lesser knights and men of arms, their shields; the men on foot set their hats and their swords in order to show the tokens that the houses were then taken and seized to the end that none other should come into it.
Read the Chronicle of Rabbi Eliezer bar Nathan
En route to the Middle East, a band of crusaders commanded by Count Emicho of Leinigen massacred Jewish communities that had established themselves in the Rhineland cities of Speyer, Mainz, Worms, and Cologne. Efforts by local bishops and some neighbors to protect the Jews were largely ineffectual; other local inhabitants joined in the massacres. Three Jewish chronicles commemorate these events. Rabbi Eliezer bar Nathan (c. 1090–1170), the only one of the chroniclers about whom much is known, was a distinguished Talmudic scholar and author of religious poetry, who traveled widely in Europe. His account of the massacres is powerfully influenced by the elegiac poetry of the Old Testament and by the tradition of Jewish martyrdom.
[The Persecutions of 1096]
In the year [1096] * * * the year in which we anticipated salvation and solace, in accordance with the prophecy of Jeremiah: "Sing with gladness for Jacob" [Jeremiah 31.7] — this year turned instead to sorrow and groaning, weeping and outcry. Much hardship and adversity befell us, the like of which had not occurred in this kingdom from the time it was established till the present. All the misfortunes related in all the admonitions written, those enumerated in Scripture as well as those unwritten, befell us and our souls. Our sons and our daughters, our elders and our youth, our servants and our maidservants, our young and old alike were all stricken by this great vicissitude.
There arose arrogant people of strange speech, a nation bitter and impetuous, Frenchmen and Germans, from all directions. They decided to set out for the Holy City, there to seek their house of idolatry, banish the Ishmaelites, and conquer the land for themselves. They decorated themselves prominently with their signs, by marking themselves upon their garments with their sign — a horizontal line over a vertical one — every man and woman whose heart yearned to go there, until their ranks swelled so that the number of men and women, and children exceeded a locust horde; of them it was said: "The locusts have no king yet go they forth all of them by bands" [Proverbs 31.27].
Now it came to pass that as they passed through the towns where Jews dwelled, they said to themselves: "Look now, we are going to seek out our profanity and to take vengeance on the Ishmaelites for our messiah, when here are the Jews who murdered and crucified him. Let us first avenge ourselves on them and exterminate them from among the nations so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered, or let them adopt our faith and acknowledge the offspring of promiscuity."
When the Jewish communities learned of this, they were overcome by fear, trembling, and pains, as of a woman's travail. They resorted to the custom of their ancestors: prayer, charity, and repentance. They decreed fast days, scattered days as well as consecutive ones, fasting for three consecutive days, night and day. They cried to the Lord in their trouble, but He obstructed their prayer, concealing Himself in a cloud through which their prayers could not pass.
* * *
On the eighth day of Iyar, on the Sabbath, the foe attacked the community of Speyer and murdered ten holy souls who sanctified their Creator on the holy Sabbath and refused to defile themselves by adopting the faith of their foe. There was a pious woman there who slaughtered herself in sanctification of God's Name. She was the first among all the communities of those who were slaughtered. The remainder were saved by the local bishop without defilement.
* * *
On the twenty-third day of Iyar the steppe-wolves attacked the community of Worms. Some of the community were at home, and some in the court of the local bishop. The enemies and oppressors set upon the Jews who were in their homes, pillaging, and murdering men, women, and children, young and old. They destroyed the houses and pulled down the stairways, looking and plundering; and they took the holy Torah, trampled it in the mud of the streets and tore it and desecrated it amidst ridicule and laughter. They devoured Israel with open maw, saying: "Certainly this is the day that we hoped for; we have found, we have seen it" [Lamentations 2.16].
They left only a few alive and had their way with them, forcibly immersing them in their filthy waters; and the later acts of those thus coerced are testimony to this beginning, for in the end they regarded the object of the enemy's veneration as no more than slime and dung. Those who were slain sanctified the Name for all the world to see, and exposed their throats for their heads to be severed for the glory of the Creator, also slaughtering one another — man his friend, his kin, his wife, his children, even his sons-in-law and daughters-in-law; and compassionate women slaying their only children — all wholeheartedly accepting the judgment of Heaven upon themselves, and as they yielded up their souls to the Creator, they all cried out: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One" [Deuteronomy 6.4].
Seven days later * * * those Jews who were in the court of the bishop were subjected to great anguish and the enemy dealt them what they had dealt the others, tormenting them and putting them to the sword.
* * *
There arose then a young man named Simha ha-Cohen. When he saw that they were bringing him to the house of their idolatry, he remained silent until he arrived there. When he arrived there, he drew a knife from his sleeve and slew a knight who was a nephew of the bishop. They immediately cut his body to pieces. And it is of him and his like that it is said: "They that love Him shall be as the sun when it goes forth in its might" [Judges 5.31].
For these righteous people do I wail and lament bitterly:
I keen, mourn, and lament over the extolled community;
In my heart there is wailing, for my wound is severe:
Clothed in horror is the sorrowful remnant,
For the great diadem of gold has fallen from their head.
Friends and beloved ones, the wicked have consumed —
My malevolent neighbors, who have struck at the heritage.
* * *
May the strength of their virtue, and their righteousness as well,
Stand their survivors in good stead forever and ever, Selah.
On the third of the week, the third of the month Sivan, a day of sanctification and abstinence for Israel in preparation for receiving the Torah — the community of Mainz, saints of the Most High, withdrew from each other in sanctity and purity, and sanctified themselves to ascend to God all together, young and old. Those who had been "pleasant in their lifetime . . . were not parted in death" >> note 5 [2 Samuel 1.23], for all of them were gathered in the courtyard of the bishop.
The enemy arose against them, killing little children and women, youth and old men, viciously — all on one day — a nation of fierce countenance that does not respect the old nor show favor to the young. The enemy showed no mercy for babes and sucklings, no pity for women about to give birth. They left no survivor or remnant but a dried date, and two or three pits, for all of them had been eager to sanctify the Name of Heaven. And when the enemy was upon them, they all cried out in a great voice, with one heart and one tongue: "Hear, O Israel," etc.
Some of the pious old men wrapped themselves in their fringed prayer shawls and sat in the bishop's courtyard. They hastened to fulfill the will of their Creator, not wishing to flee just to be saved for temporal life, for lovingly they accepted Heaven's judgment. The foe hurled stones and arrows at them, but they did not scurry to flee. Women, too, girded their loins with strength and slew their own sons and daughters, and then themselves. Tenderhearted men also mustered their strength and slaughtered their wives, sons, daughters, and infants. The most gentle and tender of women slaughtered the child of her delight.
Let the ears hearing this and its like be seared, for who has heard or seen the likes of it? Did it ever occur that there were one thousand 'Akedot >> note 6 on a single day? * * * But the heavens did not darken and the stars did not withhold their radiance! Why did not the sun and the moon turn dark, when one thousand three hundred holy souls were slain on a single day — among them babes and sucklings who had not sinned or transgressed — the souls of innocent poor people? Wilt thou restrain Thyself for these things, O Lord?
Sixty people were rescued on that day in the courtyard of the bishop. He took them to the villages of the Rheingau in order to save them. There, too, the enemy assembled against them and slew them all.
* * *
For the pious ones of Mainz I shall let out wailing like a jackal:
Woe is me for my calamity, severe is my wound, I declare:
"My tent has been pillaged and all my ropes have been broken:
my children have left me" [Jeremiah 10.20].
* * *
Avenge me, avenge the blood of Your Saints, O Lord my Master,
For naught can take their place. You have assured and told me —
I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged; and my dwelling is in Zion.
* * *
The news reached Cologne on the fifth of the month, the eve of Pentecost, and instilled mortal fear into the community. Everyone fled to the houses of Gentile acquaintances and remained there. On the following morning the enemies rose up and broke into the houses, looting and plundering. The foe destroyed the synagogue and removed the Torah Scrolls, desecrating them and casting them into the streets to be trodden underfoot. On the very day the Torah was given, when the earth trembled and its pillars quivered, they now tore, burned, and trod upon it — those wicked evildoers regarding whom it is said: "Robbers have entered and profaned it" [Ezekiel 7.22].
* * *
O God, will You not punish them for these acts? How long will You look on at the wicked and remain silent? "See, O Lord, and behold, how abject I am become" [Lamentations 1.11].
That very day they shed the blood of a pious man named Isaac. The enemy led him to their house of idolatry, but he spat at them, reviled and ridiculed them. Isaac did not desire to flee from his home, for he was happy and eager to accept the judgment of Heaven. They also slew a pious woman.
The rest were saved in the homes of acquaintances to which they had fled, until the bishop took them to his villages on the tenth of the month, to save them, and dispersed them in the several villages. There they remained until the month of Tammuz, anticipating death each day. They fasted daily, even on the two consecutive festive days of the New Moon of Tammuz, which that year occurred on Monday and Tuesday. They also fasted the following day.
On that day, the enemies marked with insignia [i.e., the cross], as well as those unmarked [i.e. members of the local population], came, for it was St. John's day. They all gathered in the village of Neuss. Samuel, the son of Asher, sanctified God's Name for all to behold, as did his two sons who were with him. After he and his sons were slain they defiled their bodies by dragging them through the muddy streets and trampling them. Then they hanged his sons at the entrance to his home in order to mock him. "How long, O Lord, will You be angry," etc. [Psalms 79.5].
* * *
For the sacred community of Cologne let me raise my voice in bitter lament:
For those who have martyred themselves in sanctification of the
Name let me wail and wander about to all the cities,
And clothe myself in sack and ashes, and drink bitter water;
And go to sing songs of lament on the mountains.
And let all the survivors mourn and grieve, all pure hearts,
For the holy community let them mourn forever.
May their death be a source of forgiveness and pardon for us.
Prepare hastily, mourning and wailing for the pious of Cologne.
Read about William of Tyre, from A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea
William, archbishop of Tyre (c. 1130–1184 or 1185), wrote the major Latin source for later Western histories of the Crusades, describing events up to the time of Saladin's reconquest of Jerusalem from the Christians (1187). Born in the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem and educated both in the Middle East (the conquest of Jerusalem had attracted many Western scholars to the city) and in the West, William was a remarkable linguist. In addition to Latin, he knew French, Arabic, and Greek. Deeply involved in the political and ecclesiastical affairs of the Christian kingdoms established in the Middle East after the First Crusade, in writing his history William collected and drew upon earlier accounts of the crusades as well as upon his personal familiarity with the area. His chronicle, especially in a French translation, became the standard one for the Middle Ages. William Caxton, who introduced the printing press to England, translated William's history of the First Crusade from the French and published it in 1481 under the title Godeffroy of Boloyne, or The Siege and Conqueste of Jerusalem.
Europeans of the later Middle Ages looked back on the Conquest of Jerusalem as one of the most heroic events of all times, and Godfrey of Bouillon, who had been only one of the leaders, became, with Charlemagne and King Arthur, one of the three Christian Worthies. The following text is a modernized version of Caxton's translation. It confirms, in most respects, the facts of Ibn Al-Athir's History, though from a very different perspective.
The Taking of Jerusalem
The people of the duke Godfrey and the other barons which were with him, as I have said, fought with much asperity against their enemies on their side and delivered to them a very marvellous assault. They had done so much that their enemies waxed weary and wearily and slowly defended themselves. Our men had advanced, and had filled the moats and taken the barbicans in such wise that they came flush against the walls; therefore the defenders did not put up much resistance, except to shoot at times down from the walls or through loopholes. The duke commanded his people who were on the castle to set on fire the bundles of cotton and sacks of straw that they hanged against the walls. They carried out his command. Then a smoke arose so black and so thick that they could see nothing. The wind was northeast and blew upon the Turks that were at defense on the walls in such wise that they might not open their eyes nor their mouths, but of necessity they had to void the place they were supposed to defend. The valiant Duke Godfrey, who carefully attended to the work, perceived that they were departed. Then he commanded that they should diligently draw up two pieces of timber that had fallen down from the wall, as ye have heard before. This was done anon in such wise that the two ends of the two trees were laid upon the castle, and the two other ends upon the wall. Then he commanded that the side of the castle that could be lowered should be let down upon the two pieces of timber. And thus was the bridge made good and strong upon the timber of their enemies. The first that entered and passed by the bridge upon the walls was the Duke Godfrey of Bouillon and Eustace his brother with him. After these twain came two other knights that were also brethren, which also were fierce, noble, and hardy. The one was named Ludolf and the other Gilbert. They were born in Tournai. Anon there followed them a great number of knights and of people afoot, as thick as the bridge might sustain. Anon the Turks perceived that our men were entered into the town and saw the banner of the duke upon the walls. And they were routed and abandoned the towers and descended into the town, and put themselves into the straight and narrow streets to defend themselves. Our people saw that the duke and a great part of the knights were now entered and that they had taken I know not how many towers. They did not wait for any command but dressed ladders to the walls and went up. * * * This was upon a Friday about the ninth hour. It is a thing to be believed that our Lord did this by great significance, for on this day and about that hour he suffered a right cruel death on the cross in the same place for the redemption of man. Therefore the sweet Lord wanted that the people of his true pilgrims should get this town and deliver it out of servitude and thralldom of the heathen men and make it free to Christian men so that his service might be had therein and increased.
The valiant duke Godfrey of Bouillon, the knights, and the other men of arms that were with him descended from the walls all armed into the town. They went together through the streets with their swords and spears in hand. All them that they met they slew and smote right down, men, women, and children, sparing none. There might no prayers nor crying of mercy avail. They slew so many in the streets that there were heaps of dead bodies, and one might not go nor pass but upon them that so lay dead. The men on foot went into other parts of the town in great bands, holding in their hands great poleaxes, swords, mallets and other weapons, slaying all the Turks that they could find, for they were the men of the world whom our men had greatest hate unto and gladliest would put to death. They were then come into the middle of the city. * * * I may not rehearse to you nor cannot the feats of every man by himself. But there was so much blood shed that the channels and gutters ran all with blood, and all the streets of the town were covered with dead men, in such a wise that it was great pity for to see, had it not been of the enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Into the inner part of the temple were fled the greater part of the people of the town because it was the most sovereign and royal part of the town. And the said place was fast shut and closed with good walls of towers and gates. But this availed them but little, for furiously Tancred, who led a great part of the host with him, ran thither and took it by strength and slew many therein. And it was said that Tancred found therein great possessions and gold, silver, precious stones, and cloth of silk. He made all to be borne away. But afterwards, when all was set to rest, he rendered all and made it all to be brought into the common. The other barons, who had searched the town and slain all the Turks that they encountered, heard say that within the cloister of the temple were fled all the remnant of their enemies. They all came together there and found that it was true. Then they commanded their men that they should enter into the place and put them all to death. And so they did. It was a well-fitting thing that the heathen men and false misbelievers, who had fouled and shamefully defiled [the place] with their mahometry and foul law of Mohammed, should pay there for their false rites and that their blood should also be shed where they had spread the ordure of miscreance. It was an hideous thing to see the multitude of people that were slain in this place. They themselves who had slain them were sorely annoyed to behold them thus, for from the sole of the foot to the heel was none other thing but blood. There was found that within the enclosure of the temple were slain 10,000 Turks, not counting them that lay in the streets and other places of the city. Then the common people of the pilgrims ran searching the lanes and narrow streets. When they found any of the Turks that had hid themselves, were it man or woman, anon he was put to death. The barons had devised before the town was taken that every man should have the house in the town that he took and seized first, and it should be his with all appurtenances. Wherefore it was so that the barons set their banners upon the houses that they had conquered. The lesser knights and men of arms, their shields; the men on foot set their hats and their swords in order to show the tokens that the houses were then taken and seized to the end that none other should come into it.
Lesson 4
Widsith
Widsith is an alliterative poem of 142 lines (slightly abridged here) that provides a kind of inventory of the peoples and characters, both historical and fictitious, who comprise the world of early Germanic literature — most of which is lost to us. There is a brief introduction to its speaker, a prototypical Germanic scop who provides what was probably a mnemonic list of tribes and rulers, followed by a résumé of the tribes and courts he has visited, interspersed with praise and rewards he has received for his performances. It closes with a brief comment on the importance and fame of poets like Widsith.
Although the poem is primarily a catalog, Widsith opens a window — or rather a peephole — on the oral tradition of Germanic poetry. Like so many of the brief allusions to stories in Beowulf — for example, the feud between the Danes and the Heathobards or the story about Offa's taming of his haughty bride — the poem tantalizes and frustrates the modern reader with the desire to know more about the tales known to Widsith's audiences. We have italicized names that also occur in Beowulf.
The translation is by S. A. J. Bradley from Anglo-Saxon Poetry (London: J. M. Dent, 1982).
Widsith spoke forth, and unlocked the treasury of his words, he who had traveled through most of the peoples, nation and tribes upon the earth; many a time on the floor of the hall he had received some commemorative treasure. His family were sprung from the Myrgingas, and he had in the first instance gone with Ealhild, the beloved weaver of peace, from the east out of Anglen to the home of the king of the glorious Goths, Eormanric, the cruel troth-breaker. He began then to say many things.
"I have heard tell about many men ruling over nations. Every prince ought to live ethically — one man governing the land in succession to the other — who presumes to receive its princely throne. . . .
"Attila ruled the Huns, Eormanric the Goths, Becca the Baningas, Gifica the Burgundians, Caesar ruled the Greeks and Cælic the Finns, Hagena the Holmrygas, and Heoden the Glommas, Witta ruled the Swabians, Wade the Hælsingas, Meaca the Myrgingas, Mearchealf the Hundingas. Theodoric ruled the Franks, Thyle the Rondingas, Breoca the Brondingas, Billing the Wernas. Oswine ruled the Eowan and Gefwolf the Jutes; Finn son of Folcwalda the tribe of the Frisians. Sigehere ruled the Sea-Danes for a very long while, Hnæf the Hocingas, Helm the Wulfingas, Wald the Woingas, Wod the Thuringians, Sæferth the Secgan, Ongendtheow the Swedes, Sceafthere the Ymbras, Sceafa the Longbeardan, Hun the Hætwere and Holen the Wrosnas. . . .
"Offa ruled Anglen, Alewih the Danes, who was the most spirited of all those people; he did not, however, accomplish heroic achievements beyond those of Offa, for of these men Offa, being in his youth, first conquered the greatest of kingdoms. No one contemporary with him made a greater heroic achievement in battle. With his lone sword he defined a frontier against the Myrgingas at Fifeldor. From then on the Angles and the Swabians maintained it as Offa had conquered it.
"Hrothwulf Hrothgar, nephew and uncle, kept peace together for a very long while, after they had driven off the tribe of the Wicingas and humiliated the vanguard of Ingeld and cut down the host of Heathobardan at Heorot.
"Thus I journeyed through many foreign lands throughout this spacious earth. Good and evil I experienced there; separated from family, distant from noble kinsmen, I served far and wide. I can sing, therefore, and tell a tale, and mention before the assemblage in the mead-hall how royal benefactors have been generously kind to me. . . .
"And I was with Eormanric for quite a while, where the king of the Goths was graciously kind to me. He, the ruler of the city-dwellers, gave me a collar in which there was six hundred coins' worth of pure gold, counted by shillings. This I gave to Eadgils, my lord and protector, to keep when I arrived home as a reward to the beloved man because he, the lord of the Myrgingas, gave me land, the ancestral home of my father. And then Ealhhild, Eadwine's daughter, the queen of the people, gave me another. Her praise extended through many lands, whenever I was to say in song where below the sky I best knew a queen ornate with gold, bestowing gifts. Whenever Scilling and I with clear eloquence upraised a song before our victorious lord and my voice rang out melodiously and loud to the lyre, then many people high-mettled of mind, those who were well informed, have said they never heard better singing. . . .
"I have always found it to be so in my journeying, that the man most acceptable to the country's inhabitants is the one to whom God gives the government of the people to uphold for the time that he lives here."
So the people's entertainers go wandering fatedly through many lands; they declare their need and speak words of thanks. Always, whether south or north, they will meet someone discerning of songs and unniggardly of gifts who desires to exalt his repute and sustain his heroic standing until everything passes away, light and life together. This man deserves glory; he will keep his lofty and secure renown here below the heavens.
Grettir’s Saga
The Old Icelandic Grettir's Saga (c. 1325) contains analogues of Beowulf's fights with both Grendel and Grendel's mother. A literary analogue is a story that bears similarities to another story, suggesting a common cultural background, even though the two are independent of one another and may be widely separated, as here, in place and time. Beowulf is an epic poem in an elevated style with a slow and stately movement; Grettir's Saga is prose, reading like a novel and moving swiftly with a lot of dialogue and action. The two heroes, except for their uncommon strength, are also very different. Beowulf, who rids a king of a pair of superhuman monsters and who eventually becomes the king of his own people, belongs to the nobility. Grettir is an Icelandic farmer's son with a sharp tongue and antagonistic disposition, who is constantly getting into trouble and finally is killed as an outlaw by one of his enemies. More as a challenge than as an act of generosity, and in spite of warnings, Grettir determines to spend the night in the house of Thorhall, a wealthy farmer whose entire district is being terrorized by a revenant from the dead. The latter is Glam, a big, powerful, and extremely surly man, recently arrived in Iceland. Thorhall hires Glam as a shepherd only because Thorhall's farm is haunted and he can get no one else to work for him. On Christmas Eve Glam is missing. When his body is found, it "was dark-blue in color and swollen up to the size of an ox." He has evidently been killed in a violent struggle with the other monster; the latter now disappears only to be replaced by Glam. This being is not a ghost but a reanimated corpse, one of the walking dead with all its physical powers. Thorhallstead is a far cry from Heorot; nevertheless, what happens there bears interesting resemblances to Beowulf's fight with Grendel.
The translation is by Denton Fox and Hermann Pálsson from Grettir's Saga (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974)
Grettir rode over to Thorhallsstead and the farmer welcomed him warmly. He asked Grettir where he was going, and Grettir said he would like to spend the night there, if the farmer didn't mind. Thorhall said he would be very grateful if Grettir stayed. "But lately few people have found it desirable to spend any time here. You must have heard about our trouble, and I shouldn't like you to come to grief because of me. Even if you manage to get safely away yourself, I know for certain that you will lose your horse, for no one who comes here can keep his horse safe."
Grettir said that horses were easy enough to get, if anything should happen to his. Thorhall was delighted that Grettir was staying and received him with open arms. They stabled Grettir's horse and put a strong lock on the door, and then they went to bed. The night passed and Glam did not come to the house.
Thorhall said, "Your visit has certainly brought about an improvement here, for Glam has been in the habit of straddling the roof or breaking the doors every night, as indeed you can see clearly for yourself."
Grettir said, "This can mean only one of two things: either Glam will resume his old habit very soon, or else he will give it up for more than one night. So I'm going to stay another night and see what happens."
Then they went to Grettir's horse, and he had not been tampered with. The farmer thought that every sign was pointing the same way. Grettir stayed for the second night, and the thrall did not come to the house. The farmer thought this very promising, and went to look at Grettir's horse, but this time the stable had been broken into, the horse dragged out through the door, and every bone in its body broken apart.
Thorhall told Grettir what had happened, and said that he should save his own life. "You are sure to die if you wait for Glam," he said. Grettir answered, "The very least I can have in return for my horse is to get a glimpse of the thrall."
The farmer said that it would do him no good to see Glam. "For he does not look like any human being," he said. "But every hour that you are willing to spend here is a great comfort for me."
The day passed, and when the people went to bed, Grettir did not take off his clothes, but lay down on the bench opposite the farmer's bedcloset. He covered himself with a shaggy fur cloak, wrapping one end of it around his feet and the other around his head in such a way that he could see out through the neck-hole. The front bench-board was strong, and Grettir put his feet against it. The entire frame of the outer door had been broken away, and a crude hurdle tied carelessly in its place. The wooden partition, which before had separated the hall from the entrance passage, was also broken away, both below and above the crossbeam. All the beds had been moved out of place, and the house seemed rather uninviting. A light was kept burning in the hall throughout the night.
When about a third of the night had passed, Grettir heard a great noise outside. Someone seemed to be climbing the house and then straddling the rooftop above the hall, and beating his heels against the roof so that every beam in the house was cracking. This went on for a long time, and then it was as if someone was climbing down from the roof, and coming to the door. Then the door was opened, and Grettir saw the thrall stretching his head through it, and the head was hideously huge, with enormous features.
Glam moved slowly, and when he was inside the door he stretched himself up to his full height so that he towered up to the rafters. He turned towards the hall, laid his arms on the crossbeam, and stretched his head into the hall. The farmer did not utter a single sound, for he thought that the noise outside had been quite enough. Grettir lay still and did not move at all.
Glam noticed a heap lying on the bench, so he crossed the hall and pulled hard at the cloak, but Grettir braced his feet against the beam and did not budge. Glam pulled at the cloak a second time, and much harder, but the cloak did not move at all. The third time Glam seized hold of the cloak with both hands and pulled at it so violently that Grettir was forced up from the bench, and then they tore the cloak in two between them.
Glam looked at the torn piece he held in his hand and wondered who could have pulled so hard against him. At that moment Grettir leapt under his arms, grasped him around the waist, and clasped him as hard as he could, hoping to bring him down. But the thrall gripped his arms so tightly that he was forced to break away. Grettir kept retreating from one bench to the other, and they started breaking up the beams and smashing everything that was in their way. Glam wanted to get outside, but Grettir braced his feet against anything he could, and yet Glam succeeded in dragging him out of the hall. Then they had a fierce struggle, for the thrall wanted to force Grettir out of the house, but Grettir realized that, difficult as it was to deal with Glam inside, it would be even worse in the open, and so he struggled with all his might against being dragged outside.
Glam was now using all his power, and when he reached the vestibule he pulled Grettir towards him. Grettir realized that he could resist no longer, and so he flung himself violently into the thrall's arms and at the same time braced his feet against a half-sunken boulder that stood in the entrance. Glam had been striving hard to pull Grettir his way, so he was unprepared for this. He fell backwards and crashed out through the door, his shoulders catching the lintel so that the roof was torn apart, both the rafters and the frozen roof-sods, and as he fell on his back out of the house, Grettir landed on top of him.
Outside the moonlight was bright but intermittent, for there were dark clouds which passed before the moon and then went away. At the very moment when Glam fell, the clouds cleared away, and Glam glared up at the moon. Grettir himself once said that that was the only sight he ever saw which frightened him. Then, because of exhaustion and the sight of Glam rolling his eyes so fiercely, Grettir was overcome by such a faintness that he could not draw his short sword, and so he remained there lying closer to death than to life.
Glam, who was endowed with more power for evil than any other revenant, then spoke the following words:
"You have been very determined to meet me, Grettir, but it will hardly surprise you if you do not get much luck from me. I will tell you this: you have acquired by now only half of the strength and vigor which you were destined to get if you had not met me. I cannot take away from you what you already have, but I can see to it that you will never be stronger than you are now, and yet you are strong enough, as many will find to their cost. Up until now your deeds have brought you fame, but from now on outlawry and slaughter will come your way, and most of your acts will bring you ill luck and misfortune. You will be made an outlaw and forced to live by yourself. I also lay this curse on you: you will always see before you these eyes of mine, and they will make your solitude unbearable, and this shall drag you to your death."
As soon as Glam had spoken these words the faintness that had come over Grettir left him. He drew his short sword, cut off Glam's head, and placed it against his buttocks.
Then the farmer came outside. He had put on his clothes while Glam was making his speech, but had not dared to come anywhere near until Glam was laid low. Thorhall praised God and thanked Grettir warmly for vanquishing this unclean spirit. Then they set to work and burned Glam to ashes, gathered them into a skin bag, and buried them at a place far away from all paths of men and pastures of animals. After that they went back home. It was about daybreak, and Grettir lay down to rest, for he was very stiff.
Thorhall sent for men from the neighboring farms, and showed them and told them what had happened. All who heard about this deed were greatly impressed by it, and said that no man in the entire country was Grettir Asmundarson's equal in strength, in courage, or in accomplishments. Thorhall gave him fine gifts when he left, a good horse, and splendid clothes, for the ones he had been wearing were torn into tatters. They parted the best of friends.
From there Grettir rode over to As in Vatnsdale. Thorvald gave him a good welcome, and questioned him closely about his encounter with Glam. Grettir told him all about their dealings and said that this long struggle had been the greatest test of his strength he had ever experienced. Thorvald warned Grettir to restrain himself. "If you do that, all will go well with you, but otherwise you will have much bad luck."
Grettir said that this incident had done little to improve his temper, and that he had now much less control over himself than before, and found it more difficult to put up with any offences. He also said that he could notice one change: he had become so frightened of the dark that he did not dare go anywhere alone after nightfall, because all kinds of phantoms appeared to him then. It has since become a common saying that people who suffer hallucinations have Glam's vision, or that Glam has lent them his eyes.
Afterwards Grettir rode back home to Bjarg, and he stayed there for the rest of the winter.
Please take the Middle Ages multiple choice quiz and send to jt.gaddy at live dot com.
Widsith is an alliterative poem of 142 lines (slightly abridged here) that provides a kind of inventory of the peoples and characters, both historical and fictitious, who comprise the world of early Germanic literature — most of which is lost to us. There is a brief introduction to its speaker, a prototypical Germanic scop who provides what was probably a mnemonic list of tribes and rulers, followed by a résumé of the tribes and courts he has visited, interspersed with praise and rewards he has received for his performances. It closes with a brief comment on the importance and fame of poets like Widsith.
Although the poem is primarily a catalog, Widsith opens a window — or rather a peephole — on the oral tradition of Germanic poetry. Like so many of the brief allusions to stories in Beowulf — for example, the feud between the Danes and the Heathobards or the story about Offa's taming of his haughty bride — the poem tantalizes and frustrates the modern reader with the desire to know more about the tales known to Widsith's audiences. We have italicized names that also occur in Beowulf.
The translation is by S. A. J. Bradley from Anglo-Saxon Poetry (London: J. M. Dent, 1982).
Widsith
Widsith spoke forth, and unlocked the treasury of his words, he who had traveled through most of the peoples, nation and tribes upon the earth; many a time on the floor of the hall he had received some commemorative treasure. His family were sprung from the Myrgingas, and he had in the first instance gone with Ealhild, the beloved weaver of peace, from the east out of Anglen to the home of the king of the glorious Goths, Eormanric, the cruel troth-breaker. He began then to say many things.
"I have heard tell about many men ruling over nations. Every prince ought to live ethically — one man governing the land in succession to the other — who presumes to receive its princely throne. . . .
"Attila ruled the Huns, Eormanric the Goths, Becca the Baningas, Gifica the Burgundians, Caesar ruled the Greeks and Cælic the Finns, Hagena the Holmrygas, and Heoden the Glommas, Witta ruled the Swabians, Wade the Hælsingas, Meaca the Myrgingas, Mearchealf the Hundingas. Theodoric ruled the Franks, Thyle the Rondingas, Breoca the Brondingas, Billing the Wernas. Oswine ruled the Eowan and Gefwolf the Jutes; Finn son of Folcwalda the tribe of the Frisians. Sigehere ruled the Sea-Danes for a very long while, Hnæf the Hocingas, Helm the Wulfingas, Wald the Woingas, Wod the Thuringians, Sæferth the Secgan, Ongendtheow the Swedes, Sceafthere the Ymbras, Sceafa the Longbeardan, Hun the Hætwere and Holen the Wrosnas. . . .
"Offa ruled Anglen, Alewih the Danes, who was the most spirited of all those people; he did not, however, accomplish heroic achievements beyond those of Offa, for of these men Offa, being in his youth, first conquered the greatest of kingdoms. No one contemporary with him made a greater heroic achievement in battle. With his lone sword he defined a frontier against the Myrgingas at Fifeldor. From then on the Angles and the Swabians maintained it as Offa had conquered it.
"Hrothwulf Hrothgar, nephew and uncle, kept peace together for a very long while, after they had driven off the tribe of the Wicingas and humiliated the vanguard of Ingeld and cut down the host of Heathobardan at Heorot.
"Thus I journeyed through many foreign lands throughout this spacious earth. Good and evil I experienced there; separated from family, distant from noble kinsmen, I served far and wide. I can sing, therefore, and tell a tale, and mention before the assemblage in the mead-hall how royal benefactors have been generously kind to me. . . .
"And I was with Eormanric for quite a while, where the king of the Goths was graciously kind to me. He, the ruler of the city-dwellers, gave me a collar in which there was six hundred coins' worth of pure gold, counted by shillings. This I gave to Eadgils, my lord and protector, to keep when I arrived home as a reward to the beloved man because he, the lord of the Myrgingas, gave me land, the ancestral home of my father. And then Ealhhild, Eadwine's daughter, the queen of the people, gave me another. Her praise extended through many lands, whenever I was to say in song where below the sky I best knew a queen ornate with gold, bestowing gifts. Whenever Scilling and I with clear eloquence upraised a song before our victorious lord and my voice rang out melodiously and loud to the lyre, then many people high-mettled of mind, those who were well informed, have said they never heard better singing. . . .
"I have always found it to be so in my journeying, that the man most acceptable to the country's inhabitants is the one to whom God gives the government of the people to uphold for the time that he lives here."
So the people's entertainers go wandering fatedly through many lands; they declare their need and speak words of thanks. Always, whether south or north, they will meet someone discerning of songs and unniggardly of gifts who desires to exalt his repute and sustain his heroic standing until everything passes away, light and life together. This man deserves glory; he will keep his lofty and secure renown here below the heavens.
Grettir’s Saga
The Old Icelandic Grettir's Saga (c. 1325) contains analogues of Beowulf's fights with both Grendel and Grendel's mother. A literary analogue is a story that bears similarities to another story, suggesting a common cultural background, even though the two are independent of one another and may be widely separated, as here, in place and time. Beowulf is an epic poem in an elevated style with a slow and stately movement; Grettir's Saga is prose, reading like a novel and moving swiftly with a lot of dialogue and action. The two heroes, except for their uncommon strength, are also very different. Beowulf, who rids a king of a pair of superhuman monsters and who eventually becomes the king of his own people, belongs to the nobility. Grettir is an Icelandic farmer's son with a sharp tongue and antagonistic disposition, who is constantly getting into trouble and finally is killed as an outlaw by one of his enemies. More as a challenge than as an act of generosity, and in spite of warnings, Grettir determines to spend the night in the house of Thorhall, a wealthy farmer whose entire district is being terrorized by a revenant from the dead. The latter is Glam, a big, powerful, and extremely surly man, recently arrived in Iceland. Thorhall hires Glam as a shepherd only because Thorhall's farm is haunted and he can get no one else to work for him. On Christmas Eve Glam is missing. When his body is found, it "was dark-blue in color and swollen up to the size of an ox." He has evidently been killed in a violent struggle with the other monster; the latter now disappears only to be replaced by Glam. This being is not a ghost but a reanimated corpse, one of the walking dead with all its physical powers. Thorhallstead is a far cry from Heorot; nevertheless, what happens there bears interesting resemblances to Beowulf's fight with Grendel.
The translation is by Denton Fox and Hermann Pálsson from Grettir's Saga (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974)
Grettir's Fight with Glam
Grettir rode over to Thorhallsstead and the farmer welcomed him warmly. He asked Grettir where he was going, and Grettir said he would like to spend the night there, if the farmer didn't mind. Thorhall said he would be very grateful if Grettir stayed. "But lately few people have found it desirable to spend any time here. You must have heard about our trouble, and I shouldn't like you to come to grief because of me. Even if you manage to get safely away yourself, I know for certain that you will lose your horse, for no one who comes here can keep his horse safe."
Grettir said that horses were easy enough to get, if anything should happen to his. Thorhall was delighted that Grettir was staying and received him with open arms. They stabled Grettir's horse and put a strong lock on the door, and then they went to bed. The night passed and Glam did not come to the house.
Thorhall said, "Your visit has certainly brought about an improvement here, for Glam has been in the habit of straddling the roof or breaking the doors every night, as indeed you can see clearly for yourself."
Grettir said, "This can mean only one of two things: either Glam will resume his old habit very soon, or else he will give it up for more than one night. So I'm going to stay another night and see what happens."
Then they went to Grettir's horse, and he had not been tampered with. The farmer thought that every sign was pointing the same way. Grettir stayed for the second night, and the thrall did not come to the house. The farmer thought this very promising, and went to look at Grettir's horse, but this time the stable had been broken into, the horse dragged out through the door, and every bone in its body broken apart.
Thorhall told Grettir what had happened, and said that he should save his own life. "You are sure to die if you wait for Glam," he said. Grettir answered, "The very least I can have in return for my horse is to get a glimpse of the thrall."
The farmer said that it would do him no good to see Glam. "For he does not look like any human being," he said. "But every hour that you are willing to spend here is a great comfort for me."
The day passed, and when the people went to bed, Grettir did not take off his clothes, but lay down on the bench opposite the farmer's bedcloset. He covered himself with a shaggy fur cloak, wrapping one end of it around his feet and the other around his head in such a way that he could see out through the neck-hole. The front bench-board was strong, and Grettir put his feet against it. The entire frame of the outer door had been broken away, and a crude hurdle tied carelessly in its place. The wooden partition, which before had separated the hall from the entrance passage, was also broken away, both below and above the crossbeam. All the beds had been moved out of place, and the house seemed rather uninviting. A light was kept burning in the hall throughout the night.
When about a third of the night had passed, Grettir heard a great noise outside. Someone seemed to be climbing the house and then straddling the rooftop above the hall, and beating his heels against the roof so that every beam in the house was cracking. This went on for a long time, and then it was as if someone was climbing down from the roof, and coming to the door. Then the door was opened, and Grettir saw the thrall stretching his head through it, and the head was hideously huge, with enormous features.
Glam moved slowly, and when he was inside the door he stretched himself up to his full height so that he towered up to the rafters. He turned towards the hall, laid his arms on the crossbeam, and stretched his head into the hall. The farmer did not utter a single sound, for he thought that the noise outside had been quite enough. Grettir lay still and did not move at all.
Glam noticed a heap lying on the bench, so he crossed the hall and pulled hard at the cloak, but Grettir braced his feet against the beam and did not budge. Glam pulled at the cloak a second time, and much harder, but the cloak did not move at all. The third time Glam seized hold of the cloak with both hands and pulled at it so violently that Grettir was forced up from the bench, and then they tore the cloak in two between them.
Glam looked at the torn piece he held in his hand and wondered who could have pulled so hard against him. At that moment Grettir leapt under his arms, grasped him around the waist, and clasped him as hard as he could, hoping to bring him down. But the thrall gripped his arms so tightly that he was forced to break away. Grettir kept retreating from one bench to the other, and they started breaking up the beams and smashing everything that was in their way. Glam wanted to get outside, but Grettir braced his feet against anything he could, and yet Glam succeeded in dragging him out of the hall. Then they had a fierce struggle, for the thrall wanted to force Grettir out of the house, but Grettir realized that, difficult as it was to deal with Glam inside, it would be even worse in the open, and so he struggled with all his might against being dragged outside.
Glam was now using all his power, and when he reached the vestibule he pulled Grettir towards him. Grettir realized that he could resist no longer, and so he flung himself violently into the thrall's arms and at the same time braced his feet against a half-sunken boulder that stood in the entrance. Glam had been striving hard to pull Grettir his way, so he was unprepared for this. He fell backwards and crashed out through the door, his shoulders catching the lintel so that the roof was torn apart, both the rafters and the frozen roof-sods, and as he fell on his back out of the house, Grettir landed on top of him.
Outside the moonlight was bright but intermittent, for there were dark clouds which passed before the moon and then went away. At the very moment when Glam fell, the clouds cleared away, and Glam glared up at the moon. Grettir himself once said that that was the only sight he ever saw which frightened him. Then, because of exhaustion and the sight of Glam rolling his eyes so fiercely, Grettir was overcome by such a faintness that he could not draw his short sword, and so he remained there lying closer to death than to life.
Glam, who was endowed with more power for evil than any other revenant, then spoke the following words:
"You have been very determined to meet me, Grettir, but it will hardly surprise you if you do not get much luck from me. I will tell you this: you have acquired by now only half of the strength and vigor which you were destined to get if you had not met me. I cannot take away from you what you already have, but I can see to it that you will never be stronger than you are now, and yet you are strong enough, as many will find to their cost. Up until now your deeds have brought you fame, but from now on outlawry and slaughter will come your way, and most of your acts will bring you ill luck and misfortune. You will be made an outlaw and forced to live by yourself. I also lay this curse on you: you will always see before you these eyes of mine, and they will make your solitude unbearable, and this shall drag you to your death."
As soon as Glam had spoken these words the faintness that had come over Grettir left him. He drew his short sword, cut off Glam's head, and placed it against his buttocks.
Then the farmer came outside. He had put on his clothes while Glam was making his speech, but had not dared to come anywhere near until Glam was laid low. Thorhall praised God and thanked Grettir warmly for vanquishing this unclean spirit. Then they set to work and burned Glam to ashes, gathered them into a skin bag, and buried them at a place far away from all paths of men and pastures of animals. After that they went back home. It was about daybreak, and Grettir lay down to rest, for he was very stiff.
Thorhall sent for men from the neighboring farms, and showed them and told them what had happened. All who heard about this deed were greatly impressed by it, and said that no man in the entire country was Grettir Asmundarson's equal in strength, in courage, or in accomplishments. Thorhall gave him fine gifts when he left, a good horse, and splendid clothes, for the ones he had been wearing were torn into tatters. They parted the best of friends.
From there Grettir rode over to As in Vatnsdale. Thorvald gave him a good welcome, and questioned him closely about his encounter with Glam. Grettir told him all about their dealings and said that this long struggle had been the greatest test of his strength he had ever experienced. Thorvald warned Grettir to restrain himself. "If you do that, all will go well with you, but otherwise you will have much bad luck."
Grettir said that this incident had done little to improve his temper, and that he had now much less control over himself than before, and found it more difficult to put up with any offences. He also said that he could notice one change: he had become so frightened of the dark that he did not dare go anywhere alone after nightfall, because all kinds of phantoms appeared to him then. It has since become a common saying that people who suffer hallucinations have Glam's vision, or that Glam has lent them his eyes.
Afterwards Grettir rode back home to Bjarg, and he stayed there for the rest of the winter.
Please take the Middle Ages multiple choice quiz and send to jt.gaddy at live dot com.
Lesson 5
Read the Introduction to the Sixteenth Century
Read about Christopher Marlowe and the mystery surrounding his "accidental" death here and here.
Thomas Hariot
A briefe and true report
of the new found land of Virginia,
of the commodities and of the nature and man
ners of the naturall inhabitants: Discouered bÿ
the English Colony there seated by Sir Richard
Greinuile Knight In the yeere 1585. Which rema
=ined vnder the gouernment of twelue monethes,
At the speciall charge and direction of the Honou=
rable SIR WALTER RALEIGH Knight, lord Warden
of the stanneries Who therein hath beene fauoured
and authorised bÿ her MAIESTIE
:and her letters patents:
This fore booke Is made in English
By Thomas Hariot; seruant to the abouenamed
Sir WALTER, a member of the Colonÿ, and there
imploÿed in discouering.
CVM GRATIA ET PRIVILEGIO CÆS.MATIS SPECIALD
FRANCOFORTI AD MOENVM
TYPIS IOANNIS WECHELI, SVMTIBVS VERO THEODORI
DE BRY ANNO CD D XC.
VENALES REPERIVNTVR IN OFFICINA SIGISMVNDI FEIRABENDII
[3]
TO THE RIGHT
WORTHIE AND HONOV-
RABLE, SIR VVALTER RALEGH,
KNIGHT, SENESCHAL OF THE DVCHIES OF
Cornewall and Exeter, and L. Warden of the stannaries in Deuon
and Cornewall, T.B. wisheth true felicitie.
SIR, seeing that the parte of the Worlde, which is betwene the FLORIDA and the Cap BRETON nowe nammed VIRGINIA, to the honneur of yours most souueraine Layde and Queene ELIZABETZ, hath ben descouuerd by yours meanes. And great chardges. And that your Collonye hath been theer established to your great honnor and prayse, and noelesser proffit vnto the common [a 2] [4] welth: Yt ys good raison that euery man euertwe him selfe for to showe the benefit which they haue receue of yt. Theerfore, for my parte I haue been allwayes Desirous for to make yow knowe the good will that I haue to remayne still your most humble særuant. I haue thincke that I cold faynde noe better occasion to declare yt, then takinge the paines to cott in copper (the most diligent ye and well that wear in my possible to doe) the Figures which doe leuelye represent the forme aud maner of the Inhabitants of the sane countrye with theirs ceremonies, sollemne,, feastes, and the manner and situation of their Townes of Villages. Addinge vnto euery figure a brief declaration of the same, to that ende that cuerye man cold the better vnderstand that which is in liuely represented. Moreouer I haue thincke that the aforesaid figures wear of greater commendation, If somme Histoire which traitinge of the commodites and fertillitye of the rapport which Thomas Hariot hath lattely sett foorth, and haue causse them booth togither to be printed for to dedicated vnto you, as a thiuge which by reigtte dooth allreadye apparteyne vnto you. Therfore doe I creaue that you will accept this little Booke, and take yt In goode partte. And desiring that fauor that you will receue me in the nomber of one of your most humble seruantz, besechinge the lord to blese and further you in all yours good doinges and actions, and allso to preserue, and keepe you allwayes in good helthe. And so I comitt you unto the almyhttie, from Franckfort the first of Apprill 1590.
Your most humble seruant,
THEODORVS de BRY.
[5]
TO THE ADVEN-
TVRERS, FAVORERS, AND
VVELVVILLERS OF THE EN-
TERPRISE FOR THE INHABITTING
and planting in VIRGINIA.
SINCE the first vndertaking by Sir Walter Ralegh to deale in the action of discouering of that Countrey which is now called and known by the name of VIRGINIA; many voyages hauing bin thiter made at sundrie times to his great charge; as first in the yeere 1584. and afterwardes in the yeeres 1585. 1586. and now of late this last yeare of 1587. There haue bin diuers and variable reportes with some slaunderous and shamefull speeches bruited abroade by many that returned from thence. Especially of that discouery which was made by the Colony transported by Sir Richard Greinuile in the yeare 1585. being of all the others the most principal and as yet of most effect, the time of their abode in the countrey beeing a whole yeare, when as in the other voyage before they staied but sixe weekes; and the others after were onelie for supply and transportation, nothing more being discouered then had been before. Which reports haue not done a litle wrong to many that otherwise would have also fauoured & aduentured in the action, to the honour and benefite of our nation, besides the particular profite and credite which would redound to them selues the dealers therein; as I hope by the sequele of euents to the shame of those that haue auouched the contrary shalbe manifest: if you the aduenturers, fauourers, and welwillers do but either encrease in number, or in opinion continue, or hauing bin doubtfull renewe your good liking and furtherance to deale therein according to the worthinesse thereof alreadye found and as you shall vnderstand hereafter to be requisite. Touching which woorthines through cause of the diuersitie of relations and reportes, manye of your opinions coulde not bee firme, nor the mindes of some that are well disposed, bee setled in any certaintie.
I haue therefore thought it good beeing one that haue beene in the discouerie and in dealing with the natuall inhabitantes specially imploied; and hauing therefore seene and knowne more then the ordinaire: to imparte so much vnto you of the fruites of our labours, as that you may knowe howe iniuriously the enterprise is slaundered. And that in publike manner at this present chiefelie for two respectes.
First that some of you which are yet ignorant or doubtfull of the state thereof, may see that there is sufficiêt cause why the cheefe enterpriser with the fauour of her Maiestie, notwithstanding suche reportes; hath not onelie since continued the action by sending into the countrey againe, and replanting this last yeere a new Colony; but is also readie, according as the times and meanes will affoorde, to follow and prosecute the same.
Secondly, that you seeing and knowing the continuance of the action by the view hereof you may generally know & learne what the countrey is; & therevpon cõsider how your dealing therein if it proceede, may returne you profit and gaine; bee it either by inhabitting & planting or otherwise in furthering thereof.
And least that the substance of my relation should be doubtful vnto you, as of others by reason of their diuersitie: I will first open the cause in a few wordes wherefore they are [a 3] [6] so different; referring my selue to your fauourable constructions, and to be adiudged of as by good consideration you shall finde cause.
Of our companie that returned some for their misdemenour and ill dealing in the countrey, haue beene there worthily punished; who by reason of their badde natures, haue maliciously not onelie spoken ill of their Gouernours; but for their sakes slaundered the countrie it selfe. The like also haue those done which were of their confort.
Some beeing ignorant of the state thereof, nothwithstanding since their returne amongest their friendes and acquaintance and also others, especially if they were in companie where they might not be gainesaide; woulde seeme to know so much as no men more; and make no men so great trauailers as themselues. They stood so much as it maie seeme vppon their credite and reputation that hauing been a twelue moneth in the countrey, it woulde haue beene a great disgrace vnto them as they thought, if they coulde not haue saide much wheter it were true or false. Of which some haue spoken of more then euer they saw or otherwise knew to bee there; othersome haue not bin ashamed to make absolute deniall of that which although not by thê, yet by others is most certainely ãd there plêtifully knowne. And othersome make difficulties of those things they haue no skill of.
The cause of their ignorance was, in that they were of that many that were neuer out of the Iland where wee were seated, or not farre, or at the leastwise in few places els, during the time of our aboade in the countrey; or of that many that after golde and siluer was not so soone found, as it was by them looked for, had little or no care of any other thing but to pamper their bellies; or of that many which had little vnderstanding, lesse discretion, and more tongue then was needfull or requisite.
Some also were of a nice bringing vp, only in cities or townes, or such as neuer (as I may say) had seene the world before. Because there were not to bee found any English cities, norsuch faire houses, nor at their owne wish any of their olde accustomed daintie food, nor any soft beds of downe or fethers: the countrey was to them miserable, & their reports thereof according.
Because my purpose was but in briefe to open the cause of the varietie of such speeches; the particularities of them, and of many enuious, malicious, and slaûderous reports and deuises els, by our owne countrey men besides; as trifles that are not worthy of wise men to bee thought vpon, I meane not to trouble you withall: but will passe to the commodities, the substance of that which I haue to make relation of vnto you.
The treatise where of for your more readie view & easier vnderstanding I will diuide into three speciall parts. In the first I will make declaration of such commodities there alreadie found or to be raised, which will not onely serue the ordinary turnes of you which are and shall bee the plãters and inhabitants, but such an ouerplus sufficiently to bee yelded, or by men of skill to bee prouided, as by way of trafficke and exchaunge with our owne nation of England, will enrich your selues the prouiders; those that shal deal with you; the enterprisers in general; and greatly profit our owne countrey men, to supply them with most things which heretofore they haue bene faine to prouide, either of strangers or of our enemies: which commodities for distinction sake, I call Merchantable.
In the second, I will set downe all the cõmodities which wee know the countrey by our experience doeth yeld of its selfe for victuall, and sustenance of mans life; such as is vsually fed vpon by the inhabitants of the countrey, as also by vs during the time we were there.
In the last part I will make mention generally of such other cõmodities besides, as I am able to remember, and as I shall thinke behoofull for those that shall inhabite, and plant there to knowe of; which specially concerne building, as also some other necessary vses: with a briefe description of the nature and maners of the people of the countrey.
Read about Christopher Marlowe and the mystery surrounding his "accidental" death here and here.
Explorers and the New World
Thomas Hariot
A briefe and true report
of the new found land of Virginia,
of the commodities and of the nature and man
ners of the naturall inhabitants: Discouered bÿ
the English Colony there seated by Sir Richard
Greinuile Knight In the yeere 1585. Which rema
=ined vnder the gouernment of twelue monethes,
At the speciall charge and direction of the Honou=
rable SIR WALTER RALEIGH Knight, lord Warden
of the stanneries Who therein hath beene fauoured
and authorised bÿ her MAIESTIE
:and her letters patents:
This fore booke Is made in English
By Thomas Hariot; seruant to the abouenamed
Sir WALTER, a member of the Colonÿ, and there
imploÿed in discouering.
CVM GRATIA ET PRIVILEGIO CÆS.MATIS SPECIALD
FRANCOFORTI AD MOENVM
TYPIS IOANNIS WECHELI, SVMTIBVS VERO THEODORI
DE BRY ANNO CD D XC.
VENALES REPERIVNTVR IN OFFICINA SIGISMVNDI FEIRABENDII
[3]
TO THE RIGHT
WORTHIE AND HONOV-
RABLE, SIR VVALTER RALEGH,
KNIGHT, SENESCHAL OF THE DVCHIES OF
Cornewall and Exeter, and L. Warden of the stannaries in Deuon
and Cornewall, T.B. wisheth true felicitie.
SIR, seeing that the parte of the Worlde, which is betwene the FLORIDA and the Cap BRETON nowe nammed VIRGINIA, to the honneur of yours most souueraine Layde and Queene ELIZABETZ, hath ben descouuerd by yours meanes. And great chardges. And that your Collonye hath been theer established to your great honnor and prayse, and noelesser proffit vnto the common [a 2] [4] welth: Yt ys good raison that euery man euertwe him selfe for to showe the benefit which they haue receue of yt. Theerfore, for my parte I haue been allwayes Desirous for to make yow knowe the good will that I haue to remayne still your most humble særuant. I haue thincke that I cold faynde noe better occasion to declare yt, then takinge the paines to cott in copper (the most diligent ye and well that wear in my possible to doe) the Figures which doe leuelye represent the forme aud maner of the Inhabitants of the sane countrye with theirs ceremonies, sollemne,, feastes, and the manner and situation of their Townes of Villages. Addinge vnto euery figure a brief declaration of the same, to that ende that cuerye man cold the better vnderstand that which is in liuely represented. Moreouer I haue thincke that the aforesaid figures wear of greater commendation, If somme Histoire which traitinge of the commodites and fertillitye of the rapport which Thomas Hariot hath lattely sett foorth, and haue causse them booth togither to be printed for to dedicated vnto you, as a thiuge which by reigtte dooth allreadye apparteyne vnto you. Therfore doe I creaue that you will accept this little Booke, and take yt In goode partte. And desiring that fauor that you will receue me in the nomber of one of your most humble seruantz, besechinge the lord to blese and further you in all yours good doinges and actions, and allso to preserue, and keepe you allwayes in good helthe. And so I comitt you unto the almyhttie, from Franckfort the first of Apprill 1590.
Your most humble seruant,
THEODORVS de BRY.
[5]
TO THE ADVEN-
TVRERS, FAVORERS, AND
VVELVVILLERS OF THE EN-
TERPRISE FOR THE INHABITTING
and planting in VIRGINIA.
SINCE the first vndertaking by Sir Walter Ralegh to deale in the action of discouering of that Countrey which is now called and known by the name of VIRGINIA; many voyages hauing bin thiter made at sundrie times to his great charge; as first in the yeere 1584. and afterwardes in the yeeres 1585. 1586. and now of late this last yeare of 1587. There haue bin diuers and variable reportes with some slaunderous and shamefull speeches bruited abroade by many that returned from thence. Especially of that discouery which was made by the Colony transported by Sir Richard Greinuile in the yeare 1585. being of all the others the most principal and as yet of most effect, the time of their abode in the countrey beeing a whole yeare, when as in the other voyage before they staied but sixe weekes; and the others after were onelie for supply and transportation, nothing more being discouered then had been before. Which reports haue not done a litle wrong to many that otherwise would have also fauoured & aduentured in the action, to the honour and benefite of our nation, besides the particular profite and credite which would redound to them selues the dealers therein; as I hope by the sequele of euents to the shame of those that haue auouched the contrary shalbe manifest: if you the aduenturers, fauourers, and welwillers do but either encrease in number, or in opinion continue, or hauing bin doubtfull renewe your good liking and furtherance to deale therein according to the worthinesse thereof alreadye found and as you shall vnderstand hereafter to be requisite. Touching which woorthines through cause of the diuersitie of relations and reportes, manye of your opinions coulde not bee firme, nor the mindes of some that are well disposed, bee setled in any certaintie.
I haue therefore thought it good beeing one that haue beene in the discouerie and in dealing with the natuall inhabitantes specially imploied; and hauing therefore seene and knowne more then the ordinaire: to imparte so much vnto you of the fruites of our labours, as that you may knowe howe iniuriously the enterprise is slaundered. And that in publike manner at this present chiefelie for two respectes.
First that some of you which are yet ignorant or doubtfull of the state thereof, may see that there is sufficiêt cause why the cheefe enterpriser with the fauour of her Maiestie, notwithstanding suche reportes; hath not onelie since continued the action by sending into the countrey againe, and replanting this last yeere a new Colony; but is also readie, according as the times and meanes will affoorde, to follow and prosecute the same.
Secondly, that you seeing and knowing the continuance of the action by the view hereof you may generally know & learne what the countrey is; & therevpon cõsider how your dealing therein if it proceede, may returne you profit and gaine; bee it either by inhabitting & planting or otherwise in furthering thereof.
And least that the substance of my relation should be doubtful vnto you, as of others by reason of their diuersitie: I will first open the cause in a few wordes wherefore they are [a 3] [6] so different; referring my selue to your fauourable constructions, and to be adiudged of as by good consideration you shall finde cause.
Of our companie that returned some for their misdemenour and ill dealing in the countrey, haue beene there worthily punished; who by reason of their badde natures, haue maliciously not onelie spoken ill of their Gouernours; but for their sakes slaundered the countrie it selfe. The like also haue those done which were of their confort.
Some beeing ignorant of the state thereof, nothwithstanding since their returne amongest their friendes and acquaintance and also others, especially if they were in companie where they might not be gainesaide; woulde seeme to know so much as no men more; and make no men so great trauailers as themselues. They stood so much as it maie seeme vppon their credite and reputation that hauing been a twelue moneth in the countrey, it woulde haue beene a great disgrace vnto them as they thought, if they coulde not haue saide much wheter it were true or false. Of which some haue spoken of more then euer they saw or otherwise knew to bee there; othersome haue not bin ashamed to make absolute deniall of that which although not by thê, yet by others is most certainely ãd there plêtifully knowne. And othersome make difficulties of those things they haue no skill of.
The cause of their ignorance was, in that they were of that many that were neuer out of the Iland where wee were seated, or not farre, or at the leastwise in few places els, during the time of our aboade in the countrey; or of that many that after golde and siluer was not so soone found, as it was by them looked for, had little or no care of any other thing but to pamper their bellies; or of that many which had little vnderstanding, lesse discretion, and more tongue then was needfull or requisite.
Some also were of a nice bringing vp, only in cities or townes, or such as neuer (as I may say) had seene the world before. Because there were not to bee found any English cities, norsuch faire houses, nor at their owne wish any of their olde accustomed daintie food, nor any soft beds of downe or fethers: the countrey was to them miserable, & their reports thereof according.
Because my purpose was but in briefe to open the cause of the varietie of such speeches; the particularities of them, and of many enuious, malicious, and slaûderous reports and deuises els, by our owne countrey men besides; as trifles that are not worthy of wise men to bee thought vpon, I meane not to trouble you withall: but will passe to the commodities, the substance of that which I haue to make relation of vnto you.
The treatise where of for your more readie view & easier vnderstanding I will diuide into three speciall parts. In the first I will make declaration of such commodities there alreadie found or to be raised, which will not onely serue the ordinary turnes of you which are and shall bee the plãters and inhabitants, but such an ouerplus sufficiently to bee yelded, or by men of skill to bee prouided, as by way of trafficke and exchaunge with our owne nation of England, will enrich your selues the prouiders; those that shal deal with you; the enterprisers in general; and greatly profit our owne countrey men, to supply them with most things which heretofore they haue bene faine to prouide, either of strangers or of our enemies: which commodities for distinction sake, I call Merchantable.
In the second, I will set downe all the cõmodities which wee know the countrey by our experience doeth yeld of its selfe for victuall, and sustenance of mans life; such as is vsually fed vpon by the inhabitants of the countrey, as also by vs during the time we were there.
In the last part I will make mention generally of such other cõmodities besides, as I am able to remember, and as I shall thinke behoofull for those that shall inhabite, and plant there to knowe of; which specially concerne building, as also some other necessary vses: with a briefe description of the nature and maners of the people of the countrey.
Lesson 6
Spiritual Violence and the Reformation
Religion during this time was a turbulent set of affairs. Henry VIII with his desire to part from the Catholic church in order to be supreme monarch and of course to divorce his wife had begun to lean more toward Protestantism, but by the 1540’s he again tried to align the church of England with Catholic doctrine. This caused many in the church to find themselves on precarious ground. Many that forsook the Catholic church and began to embrace Protestant teaching now found themselves being denounced and in danger of persecution. The confusion was compounded when upon Henry VIII death his daughter Mary took the throne. She was a staunch Catholic and thus England was thrust into another religious transition. During the 5 year reign of Queen Mary, there were hundreds of godly men and women who were martyred for their Protestant beliefs. Thus she received the name “Bloody Mary.” John Foxe’s book of Martyrs – originally called Acts and Monuments – was written about these brave souls that laid down their lives. The Protestant faith was not stamped out, but purified. After Queen Mary’s death her step sister Elizabeth would take the throne and once again Protestant beliefs would be given a measure of freedom.
This week’s assignment will be to read the introduction of Dissent, Doubt, and Spiritual Violence in the Reformation
Please also read the summary of William Tyndale’s 1530 translation here
John Foxe, from Acts and Monuments
In the 1540s, Henry VIII sought to return the English church to a doctrinally Catholic position, and Protestants were subjected to persecution. The outspoken Protestant Anne Askew, possibly denounced to the authorities by her estranged husband, was called in for questioning in 1545; the next year, she was tortured and burned at the stake. Askew's accounts of her two examinations were smuggled out of England and published in Germany by the reformer John Bale (1546–1547). The texts were later incorporated into John Foxe's Acts and Monuments (1563), better known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs. (For Foxe's account of the execution of Lady Jane Grey, see NAEL 8, 1.674.) Foxe's book, which in its final form recorded the persecution of English Christians from Roman Times to the reign of Mary Tudor, had an enormous influence on English Protestantism and on England's sense of itself as a nation. In 1570 the government ordered that Foxe's Acts be placed with the Bible in all cathedral churches.
[The First Examination of Anne Askew]
To satisfy your expectation, good people (sayeth she), this was my first examination in the year of our Lord 1545, and in the month of March. First Christopher Dare examined me at Saddlers' Hall, being one of the quest, and asked if I did not believe that the sacrament hanging over the altar was the very body of Christ really. Then I demanded this question of him: wherefore Saint Stephen was stoned to death. And he said he could not tell. Then I answered that no more would I assoil his vain question.
Secondly, he said that there was a woman which did testify that I should read how God was not in temples made with hands. Then I showed him the seventh and the seventeenth chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, what Stephen and Paul had said therein. Whereupon he asked me how I took those sentences. I answered that I would not throw pearls among swine, for acorns were good enough.
Thirdly, he asked me wherefore I said that I had rather to read five lines in the Bible, than to hear five masses in the temple. I confessed that I said no less. Not for the dispraise of either the Epistle or Gospel, but because the one did greatly edify me, and the other nothing at all. As Saint Paul doth witness in the 14th chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, where as he doth say: "If the trumpet giveth an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself to the battle?"
Fourthly, he laid unto my charge that I should say: "If an ill priest ministered, it was the Devil and not God." My answer was that I never spake such thing. But this was my saying: "That whatsoever he were which ministered unto me, his ill conditions could not hurt my faith, but in spirit I received nevertheless the body and blood of Christ." He asked me what I said concerning confession. I answered him my meaning, which was as Saint James sayeth, that every man ought to knowledge his faults to other, and the one to pray for the other.
Sixthly, he asked me what I said to the king's book. And I answered him that I could say nothing to it, because I never saw it.
Seventhly, he asked me if I had the spirit of God in me. I answered if I had not, I was but reprobate or cast away. Then he said he had sent for a priest to examine me, which was there at hand. The priest asked me what I said to the sacrament of the altar. And required much to know therein my meaning. But I desired him again to hold me excused concerning that matter. None other answer would I make him, because I perceived him a papist.
Eighthly, he asked me if I did not think that private masses did help souls departed. And [I] said it was great idolatry to believe more in them than in the death which Christ died for us. Then they had me thence unto my Lord Mayor and he examined me, as they had before, and I answered him directly in all things as I answered the quest afore. Besides this my Lord Mayor laid one thing unto my charge which was never spoken of me but of them. And that was whether a mouse eating the host received God or no. This question did I never ask, but indeed they asked it of me, whereunto I made them no answer but smiled. Then the Bishop's Chancellor rebuked me and said that I was much to blame for uttering the scriptures. For Saint Paul (he said) forbade women to speak or to talk of the word of God. I answered him that I knew Paul's meaning as well as he, which is, 1 Corinthians 14, that a woman ought not to speak in the congregation by the way of teaching. And then I asked him how many women he had seen go into the pulpit and preach? He said he never saw none. Then I said, he ought to find no fault in poor women, except they had offended the law. Then my Lord Mayor commanded me to ward. I asked him if sureties would not serve me, and he made me short answer, that he would take none.
Then was I had to the Counter, and there remained 11 days, no friend admitted to speak with me. But in the meantime there was a priest sent to me which said that he was commanded of the Bishop to examine me, and to give me good counsel, which he did not. But first he asked me for what cause I was put in the Counter. And I told him I could not tell. Then he said it was great pity that I should be there without cause, and concluded that he was very sorry for me.
Secondly, he said it was told him that I should deny the sacrament of the altar. And I answered him again that, that I had said, I had said. Thirdly, he asked me if I were shriven. I told him so that I might have one of these three, that is to say, Doctor Crome, Sir William, or Huntingdon, I was contented, because I knew them to be men of wisdom. "As for you or any other I will not dispraise, because I know ye not."
Then he said, "I would not have you think but that I or another that shall be brought you shall be as honest as they. For if we were not, ye may be sure, the king would not suffer us to preach."
Then I answered by the saying of Solomon, "By communing with the wise, I may learn wisdom: But by talking with a fool, I shall take scathe" (Proverbs 1).
Fourthly, he asked me if the host should fall, and a beast did eat it, whether the beast did receive God or no. I answered, "Seeing ye have taken the pains to ask this question I desire you also to assoil it yourself. For I will not do it, because I perceive ye come to tempt me." And he said it was against the order of schools that he which asked the question should answer it. I told him I was but a woman and knew not the course of schools. Fifthly, he asked me if I intended to receive the sacrament at Easter or no. I answered that else I were no Christian woman, and there I did rejoice, that the time was so near at hand. And then he departed thence with many fair words.
* * *
In the meanwhile he commanded his archdeacon to common with me, who said unto me, "Mistress, wherefore are ye accused and thus troubled here before the Bishop?"
To whom I answered again and said, "Sir, ask, I pray you, my accusers, for I know not as yet."
Then took he my book out of my hand and said, "Such books as this hath brought you to the trouble you are in. Beware," sayeth he, "beware, for he that made this book and was the author thereof was an heretic, I warrant you, and burnt in Smithfield."
Then I asked him if he were certain and sure that it was true that he had spoken. And he said he knew well the book was of John Frith's making. Then I asked him if he were not ashamed for to judge of the book before he saw it within or yet knew the truth thereof. I said also that such unadavised and hasty judgment is token apparent of a very slender wit. Then I opened the book and showed it to him. He said he thought it had been another, for he could find no fault therein. Then I desired him no more to be so unadvisedly rash and swift in judgment, till he thoroughly knew the truth, and so he departed from me.
John Foxe, from Acts and Monuments
The account of Anne Askew's death comes from Foxe's Acts and Monuments (1563).
[The Death of Anne Askew]
Hitherto we have entreated of this good woman, now it remaineth that we touch somewhat as touching her end and martyrdom. She being born of such stock and kindred that she might have lived in great wealth and prosperity, if she would rather have followed the world than Christ, but now she was so tormented, that she could neither live long in so great distress, neither yet by the adversaries be suffered to die in secret. Wherefore the day of her execution was appointed, and she brought into Smithfield in a chair, because she could not go on her feet, by means of her great torments. When she was brought unto the stake she was tied by the middle with a chain that held up her body. When all things were thus prepared to the fire, the King's letters of pardon were brought, whereby to offer her safeguard of her life if she would recant, which she would neither receive, neither yet vouchsafe once to look upon. Shaxton also was there present who, openly that day recanting his opinions, went about with a long oration to cause her also to turn, against whom she stoutly resisted. Thus she being troubled so many manner of ways, and having passed through so many torments, having now ended the long course of her agonies, being compassed in with flames of fire, as a blessed sacrifice unto God, she slept in the Lord, in anno 1546, leaving behind her a singular example of Christian constancy for all men to follow.
Once you have finished your reading of the Sixteenth Century please take the multiple choice quiz and send it to jt.gaddy at live dot com.
Lesson 7
Beginning 17th century review of literature please read the introduction of the themes for this period here
Choose 5 original texts within the Early 17th century and read them. You will notice them as you click on the topics in the left hand column and then scroll over texts a drop down box will appear with a listing of each available. List in your notes the choices that you made for Week 7 assigments.
As the 17th century began to extol the virtues of family life, advice books became popular.
_-_The_Bunch_Of_Grapes_(1868).jpg)
Advice books were very popular in the seventeenth century, as they are today, and they addressed many of the same topics as contemporary self-help books: how to have a good and happy marriage, how the household should be managed, the duties of the husband and especially the wife, and how to bring children up properly. Most advice books were written by men, often by clerics, and they served to reinforce social and political norms and expectations. A Godly Form of Household Government (1598), the often-republished manual by the Puritan ministers John Dod and Robert Cleaver, emphasizes the patriarchal nature of the family, the wife's necessary subjection, and the clear parallel between the order of the family and the order of the state.
***
A household is as it were a little commonwealth, by the good government whereof, God's glory may be advanced; the commonwealth, which standeth of several families, benefited; and all that live in that family may receive much comfort and commodity.
* * *
The husband his duty is, first, to love his wife as his own flesh. Then to govern her in all duties that properly concern the state of marriage, in knowledge, in wisdom, judgment, and justice. Thirdly, to dwell with her. Fourthly, to use her in all due benevolence, honestly, soberly, and chastely.
* * *
The wife, her duty is, in all reverence and humility, to submit and subject herself to her husband in all such duties as properly belong to marriage. Secondly, therein to be an help unto him, according to God's ordinance. Thirdly, to obey his commandments in all things which he may command by the authority of an husband. Fourthly and lastly, to give him mutual benevolence.
* * *
The husband ought not to be satisfied that he hath robbed his wife of her virginity, but in that he hath possession and use of her will, for it sufficeth not that they be married, but that they be well married, and live Christianly together, and very well contented. And therefore the husband that is not beloved of his wife, holdeth his goods in danger, his house in suspicion, his credit in balance, and also sometime his life in peril, because it is easy to believe that she desireth not long life unto her husband, with whom she passeth a time so tedious and irksome. * * * If she be not subject to her husband, to let him rule all household, especially outward affairs; if she will make her head against him, and seek to have her own way, there will be doing and undoing. Things will go backward, the house will come to ruin, for God will not bless where his ordinance is not obeyed. This is allowable, that she may in modest sort show her mind, and a wise husband will not disdain to hear her advice, and follow it also, if it be good. But when her way is not liked of, though it be the best way, she may not thereupon set all at six and seven, with "what should I labor and travail: I see my husband taketh such ways, that he will bring all to nothing." This were nothing else, but when she seeth the house falling, to help to pull it down faster.
* * *
He is reckoned worthy to rule a commonwealth that with such wisdom, discretion, and judgment doth rule and govern his own house, and that he may easily conserve and keep his citizens in peace and concord, that hath so well established the same in his own house and family. And on the other side, none will think or believe that he is able to be a ruler, or to keep peace and quietness in the town or city, who cannot live peaceably in his own house, where he is not only a ruler, but a King, and Lord of all.
The duty of the husband is to get goods; and of the wife, to gather them together and save them. The duty of the husband is to travel abroad to seek living; and the wife's duty is to keep the house. The duty of the husband is to get money and provision; and of the wife's, not vainly to spend it. The duty of the husband is to deal with many men; and of the wife's to talk with few. The duty of the husband is to be intermeddling; and of the wife, to be solitary and withdrawn. The duty of the man is to be skillful in talk; and of the wife, to boast of silence. The duty of the husband is to be a giver, and of the wife, to be a saver. The duty of the man is to apparel himself as he may; and of the woman, as it becometh her. The duty of the husband is to be lord of all; and of the wife, to give account of all. The duty of the husband is to dispatch all things without door; and of the wife, to oversee and give order for all things within the house. Now where the husband and wife performeth these duties in their house, we may call it a college of quietness. The house wherein these are neglected, we may term it a hell.
Choose 5 original texts within the Early 17th century and read them. You will notice them as you click on the topics in the left hand column and then scroll over texts a drop down box will appear with a listing of each available. List in your notes the choices that you made for Week 7 assigments.
As the 17th century began to extol the virtues of family life, advice books became popular.
Advice books were very popular in the seventeenth century, as they are today, and they addressed many of the same topics as contemporary self-help books: how to have a good and happy marriage, how the household should be managed, the duties of the husband and especially the wife, and how to bring children up properly. Most advice books were written by men, often by clerics, and they served to reinforce social and political norms and expectations. A Godly Form of Household Government (1598), the often-republished manual by the Puritan ministers John Dod and Robert Cleaver, emphasizes the patriarchal nature of the family, the wife's necessary subjection, and the clear parallel between the order of the family and the order of the state.
***
A household is as it were a little commonwealth, by the good government whereof, God's glory may be advanced; the commonwealth, which standeth of several families, benefited; and all that live in that family may receive much comfort and commodity.
* * *
The husband his duty is, first, to love his wife as his own flesh. Then to govern her in all duties that properly concern the state of marriage, in knowledge, in wisdom, judgment, and justice. Thirdly, to dwell with her. Fourthly, to use her in all due benevolence, honestly, soberly, and chastely.
* * *
The wife, her duty is, in all reverence and humility, to submit and subject herself to her husband in all such duties as properly belong to marriage. Secondly, therein to be an help unto him, according to God's ordinance. Thirdly, to obey his commandments in all things which he may command by the authority of an husband. Fourthly and lastly, to give him mutual benevolence.
* * *
The husband ought not to be satisfied that he hath robbed his wife of her virginity, but in that he hath possession and use of her will, for it sufficeth not that they be married, but that they be well married, and live Christianly together, and very well contented. And therefore the husband that is not beloved of his wife, holdeth his goods in danger, his house in suspicion, his credit in balance, and also sometime his life in peril, because it is easy to believe that she desireth not long life unto her husband, with whom she passeth a time so tedious and irksome. * * * If she be not subject to her husband, to let him rule all household, especially outward affairs; if she will make her head against him, and seek to have her own way, there will be doing and undoing. Things will go backward, the house will come to ruin, for God will not bless where his ordinance is not obeyed. This is allowable, that she may in modest sort show her mind, and a wise husband will not disdain to hear her advice, and follow it also, if it be good. But when her way is not liked of, though it be the best way, she may not thereupon set all at six and seven, with "what should I labor and travail: I see my husband taketh such ways, that he will bring all to nothing." This were nothing else, but when she seeth the house falling, to help to pull it down faster.
* * *
He is reckoned worthy to rule a commonwealth that with such wisdom, discretion, and judgment doth rule and govern his own house, and that he may easily conserve and keep his citizens in peace and concord, that hath so well established the same in his own house and family. And on the other side, none will think or believe that he is able to be a ruler, or to keep peace and quietness in the town or city, who cannot live peaceably in his own house, where he is not only a ruler, but a King, and Lord of all.
The duty of the husband is to get goods; and of the wife, to gather them together and save them. The duty of the husband is to travel abroad to seek living; and the wife's duty is to keep the house. The duty of the husband is to get money and provision; and of the wife's, not vainly to spend it. The duty of the husband is to deal with many men; and of the wife's to talk with few. The duty of the husband is to be intermeddling; and of the wife, to be solitary and withdrawn. The duty of the man is to be skillful in talk; and of the wife, to boast of silence. The duty of the husband is to be a giver, and of the wife, to be a saver. The duty of the man is to apparel himself as he may; and of the woman, as it becometh her. The duty of the husband is to be lord of all; and of the wife, to give account of all. The duty of the husband is to dispatch all things without door; and of the wife, to oversee and give order for all things within the house. Now where the husband and wife performeth these duties in their house, we may call it a college of quietness. The house wherein these are neglected, we may term it a hell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
