Historical Background of the Middle English Period 
Historical Background of the Middle English Period
“Historical Background of the Middle English Period” Plan. 1. The problem of periodization. The role of the Middle English Period in the history of English language. 2. The influence of the Scandinavian invasions. 3. The Norman Conquest. 4. Early Middle English dialects. Neighborhood of three languages in England. 5. Written records of the M. E. P. 6. Late M. E. P. 7. Development of English dialects and the rise of London dialect. The historical development of a language is a continuous,
uninterrupted process without sudden breaks or rapid transformations.
Therefore any periodisation imposed on language history by linguists, with
precise dates, might appear artificial. There are some periodizations of
the history of English language. The author of the first scientific
historical phonetic and grammar of En. Language. H. Sweet suggested the
periodization that corresponds to the morphological structure of different
centures. He called the Old English Period – ‘The period of full endings ‘,
the M. E. P. – ‘The period of reduced endings’ , the New En. P. – ‘The
period of lost endings.’ But this periodization is not full because it is
not quite right to devide the logical features, but phonological or
syntactical ones (they were not mentioned in the periodization.) So, thus I
consider that any periodization is based on some principles, but can’t
touch all the sides of the language. One of the prominent and well-known English scientists Henry Sweet
worked out several periodisations of the history of English language. He
suggested to single out the period of transition and to subdivide the
transitional stage between the Old and the Middle English Periods cover
1100-1200. H. Sweet reckoned 1200 to be the limning of the Middle English
based on morphological phenomena the Middle English Period is considered to
le the Period of Levelled English. Another periodization is extralinguistical. It’s based on the
historical events, which influenced on the English language. I must notice
that this one is the most traditional. The commonly accepted traditional
periodization divides English language history into three periods: Old
English, Middle English and New English with boundaries attached to
definite dates and historical effects affecting the language. Old English
is connected with the German settle in Britain (5th century) and with the
beginning of writing (7th century) and ends with the Norman Conquest
(1066). Middle English begins with Norman Conquest end ends on the
introduction of printing (1475). The Middle English period itself may be
also divided into two smaller ones – Early Middle English and Late Middle
English. Early Middle English covers the main events of the 14th century. It
is the stage of greatest dialectal divergence caused by the feudal system
and by foreign influences-Scandinavian and French. The dialectal division
of present-day English owes its origin to this period of history. Great
changes of the language took place at all the levels, especially in lexis
and grammar. Later 14th till the end of the 15th century is a time known as Late
or Classical Middle English. This period umbra’s the age of Chaucer, the
greatest English medieval writer and forerunner of the English Renaissanu,
and is characterized by restoration of English to the position of the state
and literary language and by literary flourishing, which has a stabilizing
effect on language, so that the rate of linguistic changes was slowed down.
At the same time the written forms of the language developed and improved. The Old English period in the history of the language corresponds to
the position of the state and literary language corresponds to the
transitional stage from the slave-owning and tribal system to the feudal
system in the history of Britain. In the 11th century feudalism was already
well established. According to a survey made in the late 11th c. slaves and
freemen were declining classes. The majority of the agricultural population
(and also of the total population, which amounted to about 2.000.000
people) was bound to their lord and land. Under natural economy,
characteristre of feudalism, most of the things needed for the life of the
lord and the villain were produced on the estate. Feudal manors were
separated from their neighbors by tells, local feuds, and various
restrictions concerning settlement, traveling and employment. These
historical conditions produced a certain influence on the development of
the language. In Early M.E. the differences between the regional dialects grew.
Never in history, before or after, was the historical background more
favorable for dialectal differentiation. The main is the dialectal division
in England, which survived in later ages with some slight modification of
the feudal stage of British history. In the age poor communication dialect boundaries often coincided with
geographical barriers such as rivers, mashes, forests, and mountains, as
these barriers would hinder the diffusion of linguistic features. In addition to economic, geographical and social conditions,
dialectal differences in Early M.E. were accentuated by some historical
events, namely the Scandinavian invasions and the Norman Conquest. Though the Scandinavian invasions of England are dated in the Old
English period, there effect on the language is particularly apparent in
M.E. Eventually the Scandinavians were absorbed into the local population
both ethnically and linguistically, because new settlers and the English
intermarried and intermixed; they lived close together and didn’t differ
either in social rank or in the level of culture and customs; they
intermingled the more easily as there was no linguistic barrier between
them. The increased regional differences of English in the Scandinavian
influence in the areas of the heaviest settlement the Scandinavians
outnumbered the Anglo-Saxon population, which is attested by geographical
names. In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Cumberland-up to 75 per
cent of the place-names is Danish or Norwegian. Altogether more than 1.400
English villages and towns bear names of Scandinavian origin (with the
element “thorp” meaning “village”, e.g. Woodthorp, Linthorp; “toft”, “a
piece of land”, e. g. “Brimtoft”, “Lowestoft”). Probably, in many districts
people became bilingual, with either Old Norse or English prevailing.
Besides due to the contacts and mixture with O Seand, the Northern dialects
(chiefly North Umbrian and East Mercian) had acquired lasting and something
indelible Scandinavian features. We find a large admixture of Scandinavian
words in Early M.E. records coming from the North East whereas contemporary
text from other regions are practically devoid of Scandinavian borrowings. In later ages the Scandinavian element passed into other regions. The
incorporation of the Scandinavian element in the London dialect and
Standard English was brought about by the changing linguistic situation in
England: the mixture if the dialects and the grooving linguistic
unification. Soon after Canute’s death (1042) and the collapse of his empire the
old Anglo-Saxon line was restored but their reign was short-lived. The new
English king, Edward the Confessor (1942-1066), who had been reared in
France, brought over many Norman advisors and favorites; he distributed
among them English lands and wealth to the considerable resentment of the
Anglo-Saxon nobility and church hierarchy. He not only spoke French himself
but insisted on it being spoken by the nobles at his court. William, Duke
of Normandy, visited his court and it was rumored that Edward appointed him
his successor. In many respites Edward paved the for Norman infiltration
long before the Norman Conquest. However, the government of the country was
still in the hands of Anglo-Saxon feudal lords, headed by the powerful Earl
Godwin of Wessex. In 1066, upon Edward’s death, the Elders of England proclaimed Harold
Godwin king of the English. As soon as the news reached William of
Normandy, he mustered a big army by promise of land and plunder (one third
of his soldiers were Normans, other, mercenaries from all over Europe) and,
with the support of the Pope, landed in Britain. In the battle of Hastings, fought in October 1066, Harold was killed
and the English were defeated. This date is commonly known as the date of
the Norman Conquest, though the military occupation of the country was not
completed until a few years later. After the victory of Hastings, William
by passed London cutting it off from the North and made the William of
London and the bishops at Westminster Abbey crown him king. William his
barons laid waster many lands in England, burning down villages and
estates. They conducted a relentless campaign of subjugation, devastated
and almost depopulated Northumbria and Mercia, which tried to rise against
the conquerors. Huge stone Norman castles if earthen forts and wooden
stockades, built during the campaign, soon replaced scores. Most of the
lands of the Anglo-Saxon lords passed into the hands of the Norman barons,
William’s own possession comprising about one third of the country. The
Normans occupied all the important ports in the church, in thee government
and in the army. Following the conquest hundreds of people from France crossed the
Channel to make their home in Britain were also dukes of Normandy and,
about a hundred years later, took possession of the whole western half of
France, thus bringing England into still closer contact with the continent.
French monks, tradesmen and craftsmen flooded the southwestern towns, so
that not only the higher nobility but also much of the middle class was
French. The Norman Conquest was not only a great event in British political
history but also the greatest single event in the history of the English
language. Its earliest effect was a drastre change in the linguistic
situation. The Norman Conquerors of England had originally come from
Scandinavia. About one hundred and fifty years before they scized the
valley of the Scine and settled in what was henceworth known as Normandy.
They were swiftly assimilated by the French and in the 11th century came to
Britain as French speakers and bearers of French culture. They spoke the
Northern dialect if French, which differed in some points from Central,
Parisian French. Their tongue in Britain is often reffered to as ‘Anglo-
French’ or ‘Anglo-Norman’, but may just as well be called French, since we
are less concerned here with the distinction of French dialects than with
the continuous French influence upon English, both in the Norman period of
history and a long while after the Anglo-Norman language had ceased to
exist. In the early 13th c., as a result of lengthy and inefficient wars
with France John Lackland lost the French provinces, including the dukedom
of Normandy. Among other consequences the loss of the lands in France cut
off the Normans in Britain from France, which speeded up the Anglo-France,
which speeded up the decline of the Anglo-French language. The most immediate consequence of the Norman domination in Britain
is to be seen in the wide use of the French language in many spheres of
life. For almost free hundred years French was the official language of
administration: it was the language of the king’s court, the law courts,
the church, the army and the castle. It was also every day language of many
nobles, of the higher clergy and of many townspeople in the South. The
intellectual life, literature and education were in the hands of French-
speaking people; French, alongside Latin, was the language of writing.
Teaching was largely conducted in French and boys at school were taught to
translate their Latin into French instead of English. For all that, England never stopped being an English-speaking
country. The bulk of the population held fast to their own tongue: the
lower classes in the towns, and especially in the country-side, those who
lived in the Midlands and up north, continued to speak English and looked
upon French as foreign and hostile. Since most of the people were
illiterate, the English language was almost exclusively used for spoken
communication. At first the two languages existed side by side without mingling.
Then, slowly and quickly, they began to permeate each other. The Norman
barons and the French town-dwellers had to pick up English words to make
themselves understood while the English began to use French words in
current speech. A good knowledge of French would mark a person of higher
standing giving him a certain social prestige probably many people become
bilingual and had a fair command of both languages. These peculiar linguistic conditions could not remain static. The
struggle between French and English was bound to end ion the complete
victory of English, for English was the living language of the entire
people, while French was restricted to certain social spheres and to
writing. Yet the final victory as still a long way off. In the 13th c. only
a few steps were made in that direction. The earliest sign of the official
recognition of English by the Norman hinges was the famous Proclamation
issued by Henry 3 in 1258 to the councilors in Parliament. It was written
in three languages: French, Latin and English. The three hundreds years of the domination of French affected English
more than any other foreign influence before or after. The early French
borrowings reflect accurately the spheres of Norman influence upon English
life; later borrowings can by attributed to the continued cultural,
economic and political contacts between the countries. The French influence
added new features to the regional and social differentiation of the
language. New words, coming from French, could not be adopted
simultaneously by all the speakers if English; they were first used in some
varieties of the language, namely in the regional dialects of Southern
England and in the speech if the upper classes, but were unknown in the
other varieties of the language. The use of a foreign tongue as the state language, the diversity of
the dialects and the decline of the written form of English created a
situation extremely favorable for increased variation and for more
intensive linguistic change. The regional M.E. dialects had developed from respective OE dialects.
A precise map of all the dialects will probably never be made, for
available sources are scare and unreliable: localized and their approximate
boundaries have been determined largely by inference; for later ME the
difficulty lies in the growing dialect mixture. With these reservation the following dialect groups can be
distinguished in Early M.E. The Southern group included the Kentish and the South-Western
dialects. Kentish was a direct descendant of the O.E. Saxon dialects, - not
only West Saxon, but also East Saxon. The East Saxon dialect was not
prominent in OE but became more important in Early M.E., since it made the
basis of the dialect of London in the 12th and 13th c. Among the dialects
of this group the Gloucestes dialect and the London dialect may be
mentioned. The group of Midland (‘Central’) dialect – corresponding to the OE
Mercian dialect – is divided into West Midland and East Midland as two main
areas, with further subdivisions within: South-East midland and North-East
Midland, South-west Midland and North-West Midland. In M.E. the Midland
area became more diversified linguistically than the OE Mercian kingdom
occupying approximately the same territory: from the Thames in the South to
the Welsh-speaking area in the West and up north to the river Humber. The Northern dialect had developed from OE Northumbrian. In Early
M.E. the Northern dialects included several provincial dialects, e.g. the
Yorkshire and the Lancashire dialects, and also what later became known as
Scottish. In the course Early M.E. the area if the English language in the
British Isles grew. Fallowing the Norman Conquest the former Celtic
kingdoms fell under Norman recluse. Wales was subjugated in the late 12th
c. the English made their first attempts to conquest Ireland. The invaders
settled among the Irish and were soon assimilated, a large proportion of
the invaders being Welshmen. Though part of Ireland was ruled from England,
the country remained divided and had little contact with England. The
English language was used there alongside Celtic languages-Irish and Welsh
– and was influenced by Celtic.
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