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Music, theatre and art

The 15th century witnessed a new wave of Robin Hood ballads. It was also the time of minstrels as English poetry was meant to be chanted and sung. The nobles were taught to play musical instruments, sing and dance. Even at a barber’s, an English lord or a knight might see a lute and take a few cords. Sometimes barbers invited musicians to attract more clients. Folk songs took the form of carols, or polyphonic songs. Polyphony greatly influenced the prominent English composer of the 15th century John Dunstable. The popularity and importance of music was so great that in the 16th century Oxford and Cambridge universities introduced the degrees of Doctor and Bachelor of Music.

Huge audiences were attracted by plays and performances of different kinds: mysteries and miracles, or plays about the miraculous things performed by saints. Another type of play was moralite where the characters were abstract ideas, such as Friendship, Death, Power, Kindness, Virtue, etc. These plays were performed in market squares and during town fairs. The performances were arranged and paid for by merchants and artisans. Already in the 15th century actors were professional.

In the 14th and 15th centuries the English art of portrait painting made a leap forward. The portraits acquired individual characters and features. The most famous work of art of the period is the portrait of Richard II painted in the 1390s. It shows a young man in royal attire whose face is not yet spoiled by power and passion. The portrait of Margaret Beaufort belonging to the second half of the 15th century, depicts a grieving young woman concentrated on her prayer.

The 14th and 15th centuries are known as the period of Pre-Renaissance in England.

 

  DO YOU KNOW THAT  
· When Richard I was taken prisoner, over half the price of his ransom was paid in wool. · Any book printed before 1501 is called an incunabula. · The first English book was printed in Bruges, Flanders. · Caxton was the first to introduce the use of the apostrophe as a norm.       ?  

 

 

ASSIGNMENTS (1)

 

 

Review the material of Section 1 and do the following test. Check yourself by the key at the end of the book.

Test 1

1. The Anglo-Saxon tribes were

a. the Angles; b. the Scots; c. the Britons; d. the Jutes.

2. The Romans lived in

b. villages; b. towns

3. The Tower of London was built by

a. the Normans; b. the Celts; c. the Romans.

4. The English “chester” (as in Manchester) comes from the ___ word “castra”.

b. Latin; b. Saxon; c. Norman.

5. The days of the week take their names from the names of ___ gods.

a. Germanic; b. Celtic; c. Roman.

6. Christianity was brought to England ___ 1066.

b. before; b. after.

7. The Venerable Bede wrote

a. the first Anglo-Saxon history; b. the first code of laws; c. the Bible in English.



8. “Beowulf” is a poem about the adventures of a ___ hero.

a. Scandinavian; b. Anglo-Saxon; c. Celtic.

9. William the Conqueror won the battle at

b. Waterloo; b. Hastings; c. Trafalgar.

10. The first registration of the population was held under

a. the Romans; b. the Danes; c. the Normans.

11. The first English printer was _____ .

a. Johannes Gutenberg; b. William Caxton; c. Geoffrey Chaucer

12. The process of evicting peasants and turning farmlands into pastures is known as the policy of _____ .

a. the open field; b. manufactures; c. enclosures

2. Get ready to speak on the following topics:

The first settlers on the British Isles. Stonehenge. The Celts on the British Isles; traces of Celtic culture in present-day Britain.

The Roman conquest of Britain. The impact of the conquest on the development of culture on the British Isles; traces of Roman culture in present-day Britain.

The Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain. The origin of the English language. The impact of Christianity on the Anglo-Saxon culture. Anglo-Saxon literature (Caedmon, the Venerable Bede, Beowulf).

The Scandinavian invasion of Britain, its impact on the political and cultural life of the country (Danelaw, King Canute). The role of King Alfred the Great in the history of Britain.

Distinctive features of the language in the Old English period. Celtic, Latin and Scandinavian borrowings in the English language. The history of English place-names.

The Norman conquest of Britain, its impact on the political and cultural life of the country. The Domesday Book. The first universities. Magna Carta and the beginning of Parliament. Thomas Becket. English literature of the 11th-13th centuries (Robin Hood, King Arthur). Changes in the language.

The economic development of England in the 14th-15th centuries. The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381; the abolition of slavery. The Hundred Years War. The Wars of the Roses. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. Changes in the language in the Middle English period. William Caxton.

 

III. Topics for presentations:

· The invasions of early Britain and their impact on the political, economic and cultural development of the country.

· The Norman Conquest and its impact on various spheres of life in England.

· England’s economic growth in the 14th-15th centuries.

 


Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1683


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