many documents of great historical value. GECF- history had already been commenced before the Conquest. Their writers were churchmen, and mostly of the Saxon race; and, with a few exceptions, they confined themselves to the history of England. Passing over the more than doubtful work ascribed to INGULPHUS, Abbot of Croyland (A. D. 1075-1109), and its continuation (to A. D. 1118), we have a History of the Norman Conquest by WII LIAM OF POITIERS, a follower of the Conqueror, extending from A. D. 1035 to A. D. 1067; but the beginning and end are lost; we know that it came down to A. D. 1070. FLORENCE OF WORCESƒEK (2. A. D. 1118) compiled a chronicle from the Creation to the year of his death, chie ly from the Jazon Chronicle, and the Chronology of Marianus Scotus, a German monk. EADMER'S (d. A. D. 1124) history is chiefly a monument to the fame of Anselm. ORDERICUS VITALIS (b. A. D. 1075, near Shrewsbury, d. after A. D. 1143), wrote an Ecclesiastical History in thirteen books, from the Creation to the latter year. The best of all these chroniclers is WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY (about A. D. 1140), who dedicated his history to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, natural son of Henry I. It is in two It is in two parts; the Gesta Regum Anglorum, in five books, from the landing of Hengist and Horsa to A. D. 1120, and the Historia Novella, in three books, down to A. D. 1142. The work is written in the spirit and manner of Bede. He also wrote a Life of Wulfstan, a history of the English Bishops, and other works. His contemporary, HENRY OF HUNTINGDON (d. after A. D. 1154), also a worthy follower of Bede, though inferior to William, wrote a History of England, from the landing of Julius Cæsar to the accession of Henry II. (A. D. 1154). To the eight books of the history he added his other works, forming four more, the last consisting of his Latin poems. GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH (d. A. D. 1154) also inscribed to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, his Historia Britonum, which professes to be a translation of an old British chronicle brought over from Brittany by Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, in nine books: it relates the legendary story of the British xings, from Brutus, the great-grandson of Besides the writings of these chroniclers (and sev. Æneas, to the death of Cadwallader, son of Cad-eral almost as important might be named), we nave wallo, in A. D. 688. The lively Welshmam keeps a mass of public rolls and registers, beginning with his country's traditions free from those rationaliz- Domesday Book; but these official docuinents harding attempts, which "spoil a good poem, without ly belong to literature. making a good history;" and he provided for the romance writers some of their best stories, among the rest, that of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. His work was abridged by ALFRED or ALURED OF BEVERLEY, and continued by CARADOO OF LANCARVAN to A. D. 1154. The latter work is only known in a Welsh version, which has been translated into English. Another learned Welshman, GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS (Gerald Barry, b. about A. D. 1146, d. A. D. 1223), wrote topographical works on Wales and Ireland, an account of his own life, and many other works, including Latin poems. He was about the most. vigorous and versatile author of his time. 3. The frequent resort of Englishmen to the University of Bologna gave an impulse to the study of Civil Law, which excited the emulation of the great masters of the Common Law, and so produced, towards the end of the twelfth century, the first great treatise on the laws of England, the Tractatus de Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ, by the chicf justiciary, RANULF DE GLANVIL (d. A. D. 1190). 4. The Letters of the leading churchinen of the age, besides the value of their matter, afford man, good specimens of Latin composition. Beginning with Lanfranc and Anselm the series comes down to THOMAS A BECKET and STEPHEN LANGTON, but by far the most valuable for their matter, and AILRED OF RIEVAUX, in Yorkshire (b. A. D. the most interesting for their literary excellence, 1109, d. A. D. 1166), has left an admirable account are those of John of Salisbury and Peter of Blois, of the Battle of the Standard (A. D. 1138), and which reveal to us much both of the political and several theological works. ROGER DE HOVEDEN the scholastic history of the latter half of the twelfth (1. e. of Howden, in Yorkshire) continued Bede's century. The letters of ROBERT GROSSETESTE History from A, D, 782 to A. D. 1202, tran.cribing | have been edited by Mr. Luard, 1861; and the work of John of Salisbury are thoroughly analyzed in | merit, and containing interesting allusions to conthe monograph ‹f Dr. Schaarschmidt, Leipzig, 1862. temporary history. His overstrained lament for 5. Latin Poetry was cultivated as an elegant ac- Richard's death is satirized by Chaucer even while complishment by the men of learning, as Lawrence addressing him as of Durham, Henry of Huntingdon, John of Salisbury, John de Hauteville, and others. But & more natural, though irregular school was formed under the influence of the minstrels, the application of whose accentual system of verse to Latin, in defiance of quantity, gave rise to the Leonine Verse, which was used for epigrams, satires, and also for the hymns of the Church. The term Leonine describes specifically verses rhymed as well as accentual; but both forms are common. Leonine verse was naturalized in Europe by the end of the eleventh century. It was applied to hymnology by St. Bernard, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Pope Innocent III.; and every one is familiar with some of the finest of these hymns, as the Dies Iræ and Stabat Mater. (See the Hymni Ecclesiæ, Oxon. 1838. A curious instance of its use in England is furnished by the epitaph on Bede, the first line of which "Continet hæc theca Bedæ venerabilis ossa," was transformed by later ingenuity into "Continet hæc fossa Bedæ venerabilis ossa." A further stage of license is seen in the frivolous Macaronic Poetry, which abounds not only in Latin words of the strangest formation, but in mixtures of different languages, as in the following example, in Latin, French, and English, belonging to the early part of Edward II.'s reign (Marsh, p. 247): “O Gaufride, dear maister soverain." One of the last and best examples of the regular Latin poetry is the work of JOSEPHUS ISCANUS (Joseph of Exeter, d. about A. D. 1210) De Bollo Trojano, which was so popular as to be used in schools with the classic poets. He also wrote: Latin poem entitled Antiocheïs, on Richard's expedition to Palestine. But the whole style was doomed to extinction before a more vigorous rival than the Leonines- the vernacular poetry which sprang up in imitation of the French minstrelsy and it had almost disappeared by the middle of the thirteenth century. II. The ANGLO-NORMAN FRENCH LITERATURE was, as already observed, chiefly in poetry, and the production of laymen, whether the professional minstrels, or knights and even kings, who deemed it a gentlemanly accomplishment to sing as well as act the deeds of chivalry. RICHARD CŒUR DE LION (d. A. D. 1199) was the type of the latter class; and the style he cultivated and patronized was that of the Troubadors (see the text). Every one knows the legend of the discovery of the place of his captivity by his tenson with the minstrel Blondel, and his sirvente against his barons, composed in prison, has come down to us with a few other fragments.* (See the great work of Raynouard on Provençal Poetry). But the great mass of the poetry which the Normans brought in was "Quant homme deit parleir, videat quæ verba lo- that of the Trouvères. It may be arranged in four quatur, Sen covent aver, ne stultior inveniatur. Quando quis loquitur, bote resoun reste therynne, Derisum patitur, ant lutel so shall he wmne;and so on. "This confusion of tongues," adds Mr. Marsh, "led very naturally to the corruption of them all, and consequently none of them were written or spoken as correctly as at the period when they were kept distinct." But the Leonine, as indeed also the regular verse, was chiefly used for satire, especially by the secular clergy and by laymen against the regular clergy and the vices of the age. Here is one example: "Mille annis jam peractis Fel in corde, fraus in factis." It was employed also for all manner of light and popular pieces. The earliest known writer in this style was HILARIUS, a disciple of Abelard, and probably an Englishman, who flourished about A. D. 1125. A mass of such poetry, probably by various writers, is ascribed to WALTER MAPES, or MAP, Archdeacon of Oxford under Henry II., under the general title of Confessio Golix, Golias being the type of loose livers, especially among the clergy. Map also wrote in regular Latin verse, and in prose De Nugis Curialium. He was an author, too, in Anglo-Norman poetry and prose, chiefly on he legends of Arthur. Altogether he seems to have been one of the most active minds of the age. The regular Latin writers were up in arms against the Leonines. GEOFFREY VINSAUF, already noticed as a chronicler, addressed to Pope Innocent OL, & regular poem, De Nova Poetria, of great | classes: (1.) Romances, relating cniefly to these four cycles of legends:- Charlemagne and his Paladins, of whom the Norman minstrel Taillefer is said to have sung at Hastings; † Arthur and his Knights, founded on the legends of Wales and Brittany; Cœur de Lion, his exploits and sufferings; and Alexander of Macedon, the chief poem of this cycle (the Alexandreïs, A. D. 1184) giving its name to the Alexandrine Verse;-(2.) The Fabliaux, or Metrical Tales of Real Life, often derived from the East;-(3.) Satires, of which the Esopian fable was a common form, as in that tale common to Europe, Reynard the Fox; and (4.) The Metrical Chronicles. Of these last a most important example is the Brut d'Angleterre of WACE (d. after A. D. 1171), who also wrote, in French, the Roman de Rou (Romunce of Rollo). His Brut, borrowed from Geoffrey of Monmouth, became the source of the Brut of Layamon (see below). Though this French poetry is of great importance in our literature, as it furnished both subjects and models for later English poets, there are few of its writer. whose names require special mention. We have religious and moral poems in French of a very early date; and the universally accomplished ROBERT GROSSETESTE, Bishop of Lincoln, wrote in this as well as other styles. GEOFFREY DE VINSAUF composed metrical chronicles in French as well as Latin; and he had a rival in BENOIT DE *The sirvente was a piece for one performer, the tenson a duet between two. + There is a question, however, whether his song was of the Paladin Roland, or of Rollo, the founde of the Norman line. ST. MAUR (f. A. D. 1180), author of the Romance, such as the Song of Canute, as he rowed past Ely, of Troy and Chronicle of the Dukes of Normandy. | recorded by the monk of Ely, who wrote abou GEOFFREY GAIMAR (about A. D. 1148) wrote a A. D. 1166; the Hymn of ST. GODRIO (d. A. D. Chronicle of the Anglo-Saxon Kings. THOROLD | 1170), and the Prophecy, said by various chroni was the author of the Roman de Roland, and a clers to have been set up at Here (A. D. 1189). But Roman d'Alexandre is ascribed to THOMAS OF three chief works may be chosen as most characterKENT, who is variously placed in the twelfth and|istic of the language of the Semi-Saxon period. fourteenth centuries. The Roman de la Rose, imitated by Chaucer, is the earliest French work of the thirteenth century. Other favorite romances were Havelok the Dane, the Gest of King Horn, Beans of Hampton, and Guy of Warwick. Most of ine authors of these works were native Englishmen, though they wrote in French, which had become almost the sole vehicle of popular literature. The Prose Versions of the Romances in Norman French were written chiefly by Englishmen. The most important series was formed by those of Arthur, containing the Roman de St. Graal (or Holy Cup), the Roman de Merlin, the Roman de Lancelot, the Quête du St. Graal, and the Roman de la Mort Arthus; with a sequel, in two parts, the Roman de Tristan (or Tristrem). The chief writer was WALTER MAPES (already mentioned); but the St. Graal, Merlin, and second part of Tristan, were by ROBERT DE BARRON, and the first part of the Tristan by LUCES DE GAST. A digest of these romances, made by Sir Thos. Malory, who was alive under Edward IV., has been edited by Mr. Wright, from the last black-letter edition of 1634, under the title of "La Mort d'Ar- | thure. The History of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table," London, 1858. (1.) LAYAMON's Brut, or Chronicle of Britain, of which there are two texts, one much earlier than the other. The title of "the English Ennius," formerly applied to Robert of Gloucester, may now fairly be transferred to Layamon. He tells us that he was a priest of Ernley, near Redstone, on the Severn (probably Lower Arley), and that he compiled his work partly from a book in English by St. Bede, which can only mean the translation of the Historia Ecclesiastica ascribed to Alfred, partly from one in Latin by St. Albin and Austin, and partly from one made by a French clerk, named Wace, and presented to Eleanor, queen of Henry II. He seems, however, to have followed only Bede in the story of Pope Gregory and the English slaves at Rome; his second authority appears to be but a confused reference to the Latin text of the Historia Ecclesiastica; and his work was really founded upon the Brut of Wace, already noticed. This he amplified from 15,300 lines to 32,250, partly by paraphrasing, partly by inserting speeches and other compositions, such as the Dream of Arthur, which show much imaginative power, and partly by the addition of many legends, from Welsh and other sources not used by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He makes several allusions to works in English which are now lost. The date of the completion of the work, usually assigned to the latter years of Henry II., should probably be brought below A. D. 1200, after John's accession. The style of the work bears Excepting some versions of portions of Scripture, these are the only important works in Anglo-Norman prose, till we come to the grand Chronicle of SIRE JEAN FROISSART, the liveliest picture which an imaginative historian ever drew of events wit-witness to Norman influence, both in the structure nessed for the most part by himself. Froissart was born at Valenciennes about A. D. 1337, but his Chronicle extends over the whole reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. (A. D. 1326-1400). He was also a great poet, and on his last visit to England (1396) he presented his poetical works to King Richard II. C. - SEMI-SAXON LITERATURE. The end of the Saxon Chronicle marks the close of the old Anglo-Saxon Language, as well as Literature; for the chronicler does not throw down his pen before he has begun to confuse his grammar and to corrupt his vocabulary with French words. The language dies out in literature, to appear again as almost a new creation, the basis of our English, but not at first in a finished form. The state of transition occupies two centuries, from about the accession of Henry II. (1154) to the middle of the Jeig of Edward III. (1350), when Chaucer rose. The compositions of this age can hardly be divided by any clear line of demarcation; but the first of the two centuries, to the middle of Henry III.'s reign, may be conveniently assigned to the SemiSaxon period, the second to the Old English. The writers in both dialects were for the most part translators and imitators of the Norman poets; and their works may be assigned to the same four head). There are, however, a few more original fragmenta | of the verse and the manner of the narrative, but not nearly so much as might have been expected from the translator of a French original. The earlier text has not fifty words of French origin, and both texts only about ninety. "We find preserved," says Sir F. Madden, "in many passage of Layamon's poem the spirit and style of the earlie Anglo-Saxon writers. No one can read his description of battles without being reminded of the Ode on Athelstan's victory at Brunanburgh." After noticing resemblances in grammar and languages, he adds, "A foreign scholar and poet (Grundtvig), versed both in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian literature, has found Layamon's beyond comparison the most lofty and animated in its style, at every moment reminding the reader of the splendid phraseology of Anglo-Saxon verse. It may also be added, that the colloquial character of much of the work renders it peculiarly valuable as a monument of the language, since it serves to convey to us, in ell probability, the current speech of the writer's time." (Preface, pp. xxìii., xxiv.) His verse also retains the alliterative structure of the Anglo-Saxon poetry mingled with the rhyming couplets of the French the former predominating. Besides alliteration, which consists in the sameness of initial consonants, Layamon uses the kindred device of assonance. that is, the concurrence of syllables containing the same vowel. The rhyming couplets are founded (na Dr. Guest has shown, History of English 1845; and the Legend of St. Catharine, edited by Mr. Morton for the Abbotsford Club, in 1841. D.-OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE. By the middle of the reign of Henry III. the lan Rhythms, vol. ii., pp. 114 foll.) on the Anglo-Saxon | Phillipps in 1838, and reprinted by Mr. Singer i rhythms of four, five, six, or seven accents, those of five and six being the most frequent. The important bearing of Layamon's dialect on the history of the formation of the English language is fully discussed by Sir F. Madden (Preface, pp. xxv.xxviii.), who concludes that "the dialects of the western, southern, and midland counties contrib-guage finally lost those inflectional and other pecu. uted together to form the language of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and consequently to lay the foundation of modern English. To the historIcal student the work is important as the last and fullest form of the old Celtic traditions concerning arly British history. (Layamon's Brut, &c., with • Literal Translation, Notes, and a Grammatical Glossary. By Sir Frederick Madden, K. H. l'ublished by the Soc. of Ant., 3 vols., 1847.) (2.) The Ancren Riwle (the Rule or Female Anchorites, i. e. Nuns) a code of monastic precepts, drawn up in prose by an unknown author, about the end of the twelfth century or beginning of the thirteenth, and edited for the Camden Society by the Rev. James Morton, 1853, is also most valuable for the history of our language. Its proportion of French words is about four times that of Layamon; the English is rude and the spelling uncouth. liarities which distinguish the Anglo-Saxon from the English; but it retains archaisms which suf ficiently distinguish it from the language of the present day to justify the title of Old English. Some regard the short proclamation of Henry III., in A. D. 1258, as the earliest monument of Old English, while others consider it as Semi-Saxon. It is printed and fully discussed by Marsh (Origin and History, &c., pp. 189, foll.). The Surtees Psalter stands also on the line dividing the two periods being probably not later than A. D. 1230. Among the chief literary works of this period is the metrical Chronicle of ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER, from the legendary age of Brutus to the close of Henry III.'s reign. The latter part, at all events. must have been written after A. D. 1297. The earlier part closely follows Geoffrey of Monmouth; but the old prose chronicler is more truly poetical than his metrical imitator. The verse is the long line (or couplet) of fourteen syllables, divisible into eight and six; its movement is rough and inharmonious. The Chronicle was printed from incorrect MSS., by Hearne, 2 vols. 8vo., Oxon., 1724; and this edition was reprinted in London, 1810. Short works by Robert of Gloucester, on the Martyrdom of Thomas à Becket and the Life of St. Brandar, were printed by the Percy Society in 1845. A collection of Lives of the Saints is also attributed to this author, whose works, though of small literary merit, are valuable for the light they throw on the progress of the English language. (3.) The Ormulum is so called by its author after his own name, ORM or ORMIN. It was a series of homilies in verse on the Lessons from the New | Testament in the Church Service, on an immense scale. The extant portion contains nearly 10,000 lines (or rather couplets) of fifteen syllables, only differing from the "common service metre" by ending with an unaccented syllable, and entirely free from the Anglo-Saxon alliteration. Apart from the peculiar system of spelling, to which the author attaches great importance, and which deserves study, its language differs far less than Layamon's from the English of the present dev. Written in the east or north-east (perhaps near 1 eterborough) the Ormulum occupies in the Anglian literature a place answering to that of the Brut in the Saxon; and it tends to prove that the former dialect was the first to throw off the old inflections. The work only exists in one MS. (in the Bodleian Library), which is thought to be the autograph; its handwriting, ink, and material, seem to assign it to the earlier part of the thirteenth century. The charac-lished, with the editions of Robert of Gloucester ter of the language, and the regular rhythm of the verse, however, lead some to place it decidedly after the middle of the thirteenth century, and therefore in the Old English period. The versification seems to be modelled on the contemporary Latin poetry. The language has a small admixture of Latin ecclesiastical words, with scarcely a trace of Norman French. "I am much disposed to believe," says Mr. Marsh (Origin and Histori, &c., p. 179), "that the spelling of the Ormuluun constitutes as faithful a representation of the oral English of its time as any one work could be at a period of great confusion of speech." The work has been edited with Notes and a Glossary, by R. M. White, D. D., 2 vols., Oxf. 1852. Other works in Semi-Saxon that have been printed are the Homily of St. Edmund, in Thorpe's | Analecta, the Bestiary and Proverbs falsely ascribed to King Alfred, in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, the Adgress of the Soul to the Body, printed by Sir Thomas | On a still larger scale is the metrical chronicle of ROBERT MANNYNG, or ROBERT OF BRUNNE, the last considerable work of the Old English period. It is in two parts. The first, translated from the Brut of Wace, reaches to the death of Cadwallader; the second, from the Anglo-Norman or Peter de Langtoft, comes down to the death of Edward I. (A. D. 1307). The second part only has been pub mentioned above. The work is evidently an imita tion of Robert's, and of about equal literary merit. The language is a step nearer to modern English, the most important changes being the use of s for th in the third person singular, and the introduction of nearly the present forms of the feminine personal pronoun. The verse is smoother than that of Robert of Gloucester. The first part is in the eight syllable line of Wace; the second is partly in the same metre, and partly in the Alexandrine,. the heroic measure of the age. Far more interesting in themselves are the popula poems of this age, translated or imitated for the most part from the French, and belonging to the same classes of Romances, Fabliaux, and Satires, But there are some ballads and songs of genuine native origin, as early as the middle of the thirteenth century. Such are the story of the Norfolk peasant-boy, Willy Grice; the song beginning "Sumer is i-cumen in," the oldest to which the notes are added, and many of the pieces (including | referred to the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth political ballads) printed by Warton, Percy, Ritson, and Wrignt. One of the most pleasing of these poems is the Owl and Nightingale, a dispute between the two birds about their powers of song, consisting of about 1800 verses in rhymed octosyllabic metre. their popularity, besides being divided with the prose romances, yielded, at least among the educated classes, to the regular poetry of Chaucer and his school; but they only ceased to be generally writter after the beginning of the sixteenth. It was not til three hundred years later that Sir Walter Scott revived the taste for a kind of poetry, similar in form, but appealing to very different sentiments. Among the Minor Poems, other than Romances, are many imitations of the French Fabliaux, or Tales of Common Life. The Satires, both political and ecclesiastical, undoubtedly helped the progress of freedom under Henry III. and his successors, and prepared the way for Wickliffe, if they do no! rather exhibit a state of popular feeling demanding such a teacher. The chief authorities for these four periods are Wright, Biographia Britannica Literaria. Vol. I. The Anglo-Saxon Period, Lond. 1842; Vol. II. The Anglo-Norman Period, Lond. 1846; Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, first published in 1765; Warton, History of English Poetry, 1774, edited by Price, 3 vols. 8vo., Lond. 1840; Tyr The satirical poem, called the Land of Cockayne, which Warton placed before the reign of Henry II., is at least as late as A. D. 1300, and is clearly traced to a French original. It is somewhat doubtfully Bscribed, with other poems, to MICHAEL OF KILDARE, the first Irishnan who wrote verses in English. It is a satire upon the monks. That the That the Hetrical Romances should have been translated from the French, is a natural result of the fact, that French was the language of popular literature for some generations after the Conquest. Many of the legends were, indeed, British and Anglo-Saxon; but this may be accounted for by the affinity of the Britons and Armoricans, and the close connection between the Norman and the later Anglo-Saxon kings. Nor is it probable that the Trouvères should have missed many of these legends. Their poetry at first amused the leisure and enlivened the ban-whitt, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with Preliminaquets of the conquerors; but, as the two races became one, and as the Anglo-Saxon tongue died out, they began to be translated into the newformed language of the English people. The most popular of these, such as Havelok, Sir Tristram, Sir Gawaine, Kyng Horn, King Alesaunder, and Richard Cœur de Lion, may be referred to the beginning of Edward I.'s reign. They are followed by a series of poems by unknown authors, far too numerous to mention, down to and consid- | erably below the age of Chaueer, many of which are printed in the collections mentioned below. The change, by which these English Metrical | paage, 1862. Romances superseded the French originals, may be | ry Essays, 1775; Pinkerton, Scottish Poems, 3 vols. 1792; Herbert, Robert the Devylle, 1798; Ritson, Ancient Songs, and other collections; Ellis, George, Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances, 3 vols. 8vo. 1805; Wright, Political Songs of England from John to Edward II., 1839; the publications of the Roxburghe Club, the Bannatyne, Maitland, Abbotsford, and Camden Societies, the Society of Antiquaries, &c.; Chambers, Cyclopædia of English Literature; Craik, History of English Literature and the English Language, 2 vols., 1861; Marsh, Origin and History of the Enghai Lao i |