Here Warren Scheer reads the very beginning of Geoffrey Chaucer’s great poem, “The Canterbury Tales” as it was written in Middle English.
WARREN SCHEER:
Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heath…
STEVE EMBER: Chaucer wrote that poem in the late thirteen hundreds. It was written in the language of the people. The rulers of Britain at that time still spoke the Norman French they brought with them in ten sixty-six.
The kings of Britain did not speak the language of the people until the early fourteen hundreds. Slowly, Norman French was used less and less until it disappeared.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The English language was strongly influenced by an event that took place more than one thousand four hundred years ago. In the year five ninety-seven, the Roman Catholic Church began its attempt to make Christianity the religion of Britain.
The language of the Catholic Church was Latin. Latin was not spoken as a language in any country at that time. But it was still used by some people.
Latin made it possible for a church member from Rome to speak to a church member from Britain. Educated people from different countries could communicate using Latin.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25