Периоды английской литературы. Карпова В.А. - 13 стр.

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      10. Themes or motifs in metrical romances:
                  a. Never recur.
                  b. Always recur.
                  c. Recur, though always as variations.
       In prose the Middle English Period was the period of Wycliffe's sermons
and his translation of the Bible, of Mandeville's “Travels”, of the medieval
chronicles, of prose romances, and, supremely, of Malory's Le Mort Darthur.
The fourteenth century was marked by wars, political and religious unrest, The
Black Death (1348-1350), and the rise of the Lollards.
       The spread of religious writings, which were popular with an increasingly
literate population, posed a threat to the Church. These books were for use in
private prayer and dealt with the death of Jesus Christ, the lives of the Saints and
the Virgin Mary. Private religious experience and the increase of knowledge
encouraged people to challenge the Church's authority.
       At the end of the fourteenth century new religious ideas appeared in
England which were dangerous to Church authority, and were condemned as
heresy. This heresy was known as “Lollardy”, a word which probably came
from a Latin word meaning “to say prayers”. One of the leaders of Lollardy was
John Wycliffe, an Oxford professor. He believed that everyone should be able to
read the Bible in English, and to be guided by it in order to save their soul. He
therefore translated it from Latin, finishing the work in 1396. He was not
allowed to publish his new Bible in English, and was forced to leave Oxford.
However, both he and the other Lollards were admired by those nobles and
scholars who were critical of the Church, its wealth and the poor quality of its
clergy. Henry IV was deeply loyal to the Church, and in 1401 introduced into
England for the first time the idea of executing the Lollards by burning.
       It is surprising that Wycliffe was not burnt alive for his attacks on
religious practices. After he was dead and buried, his bones were dug up again
and thrown into a stream which flows into the River Avon (which itself flows
into the River Severn);
                              The Avon to the Severn runs,
                                  The Severn to the sea,
                        And Wycliffe's dust shall spread abroad,
                                  Wide as the waters be.
       An important Middle English prose work, Le Morte Darthur [=Arthur's
Death], was written by Sir Thomas Malory. He wrote eight separate tales of
King Arthur and his knights but when William Caxton (the first person in
England to print books and other documents) printed the book in 1485 (after
Malory's death) he joined them into one long story. Caxton's was the only copy
of Malory's work until, quite recently (1933-4), a handwritten copy of it was
found in Winchester College. The first books produced by Caxton in England
were mainly of a leisure type to suit the needs of the new public. His first book
was the “Histories of Troye”; and “The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers”
(1477), Malory's “Le Morte Darthur” and Chaucer's poems, were all of this
class.
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