A Brief History of the English Language and Literature Part 23

SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE. +1300-1372+. Physician; traveller; prose-writer.

+The Voyaige and Travaile+. Travels to Jerusalem, India, and other countries, written in Latin French and English (1356). The first writer "in formed English."

Edward II ascends the throne, 1307.

Battle of Bannockburn, 1314.

JOHN BARBOUR. Archdeacon of Aberdeen. +1316-1396+.

+The Bruce+ (1377), a poem written in the Northern English or "Scottish" dialect.

Edward III. ascends the throne, 1327.

+1350+

JOHN WYCLIF. +1324-1384+. Vicar of Lutterworth, in Leicesters.h.i.+re.

Translation of the +Bible+ from the Latin version; and many tracts and pamphlets on Church reform.

Hundred Years' War begins, 1338.

Battle of Crecy, 1346.

JOHN GOWER. +1325-1408+. A country gentleman of Kent; probably also a lawyer.

+Vox Clamantis+, +Confessio Amantis+, +Speculum Meditantis+ (1393); and poems in French and Latin.

The Black Death, 1349, 1361, 1369.

WILLIAM LANGLANDE. +1332-1400+. Born in Shrops.h.i.+re.

+Vision concerning Piers the Plowman+-- three editions (1362-78).

Battle of Poitiers, 1356.

First law-pleadings in English, 1362.

GEOFFREY CHAUCER +1340-1400+. Poet; courtier; soldier; diplomatist; Comptroller of the Customs: Clerk of the King's Works; M.P.

+The Canterbury Tales+ (1384-98), of which the best is the +Knightes Tale+. Dryden called him "a perpetual fountain of good sense."

Richard II. ascends the throne, 1377.

Wat Tyler's insurrection, 1381.

JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND. +1394-1437+. Prisoner in England, and educated there, in 1405.

+The King's Quair+ (= _Book_), a poem in the style of Chaucer.

Henry IV. ascends the throne, 1399.

+1400+

WILLIAM CAXTON. +1422-1492+. Mercer; printer; translator; prose-writer.

+The Game and Playe of the Chesse+ (1474)-- the first book printed in England; +Lives of the Fathers+, "finished on the last day of his life;" and many other works.

Henry V. ascends the throne, 1415.

Battle of Agincourt, 1415.

Henry VI. ascends the throne, 1422.

Invention of Printing, 1438-45.

+1450+

WILLIAM DUNBAR. +1450-1530+. Franciscan or Grey Friar; Secretary to a Scotch emba.s.sy to France.

+The Golden Terge+ (1501); the +Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins+ (1507); and other poems. He has been called "the Chaucer of Scotland."

Jack Cade's insurrection, 1450.

End of the Hundred Years' War, 1453.

GAWAIN DOUGLAS. +1474-1522+. Bishop of Dunkeld, in Perths.h.i.+re.

+Palace of Honour+ (1501); translation of +Virgil's aeneid+ (1513)-- the first translation of any Latin author into verse. Douglas wrote in Northern English.

Wars of the Roses, 1455-86.

Edward IV. ascends the throne, 1461.

WILLIAM TYNDALE. +1477-1536+. Student of theology; translator. Burnt at Antwerp for heresy.

+New Testament+ translated (1525-34); the +Five Books of Moses+ translated (1530). This translation is the basis of the Authorised Version.

Edward V. king, 1483.

SIR THOMAS MORE. +1480-1535+. Lord High Chancellor; writer on social topics; historian.

+History of King Edward V., and of his brother, and of Richard III+. (1513); +Utopia+ (= "The Land of Nowhere"), written in Latin; and other prose works.

Richard III. ascends the throne, 1483.

Battle of Bosworth, 1485.

SIR DAVID LYNDESAY. +1490-1556+. Tutor of Prince James of Scotland (James V.); "Lord Lyon King-at-Arms;" poet.

+Lyndesay's Dream+ (1528); +The Complaint+ (1529); +A Satire of the Three Estates+ (1535)-- a "morality-play."

Henry VII. ascends the throne, 1485.

Greek began to be taught in England about 1497.

+1500+

ROGER ASCHAM. +1515-1568+. Lecturer on Greek at Cambridge; tutor to Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, and Lady Jane Grey.

+Toxophilus+ (1544), a treatise on shooting with the bow; +The Scholemastre+ (1570). "Ascham is plain and strong in his style, but without grace or warmth."

Henry VIII. ascends the throne, 1509.

Battle of Flodden, 1513.

Wolsey Cardinal and Lord High Chancellor, 1515.

JOHN FOXE. +1517-1587+. An English clergyman. Corrector for the press at Basle; Prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral; prose-writer.

+The Book of Martyrs+ (1563), an account of the chief Protestant martyrs.

Sir Thomas More first layman who was Lord High Chancellor, 1529.

Reformation in England begins about 1534.

EDMUND SPENSER. +1552-1599+. Secretary to Viceroy of Ireland; political writer; poet.

+Shepheard's Calendar+ (1579): +Faerie Queene+, in six books (1590-96).