Chapter 6 Medieval British Society, 1066–1485 - Lyceum Books

142 Part II Norman Britain
thought during its fi nal fl ourishing in the fourteenth century. Often criticized as
an arid intellectual exercise with scant relationship to real life, scholasticism at its
best did stretch the horizons of the human mind and provide a tightly reasoned
intellectual framework for Christian belief.
Legal studies also became institutionalized during the later Middle Ages, not in
the universities but in the Inns of Court. These foundations sprang up in London,
near the royal courts of justice, during the late fourteenth and early fi fteenth centuries.
Practicing lawyers had chambers in the four great Inns (Gray’s Inn, the Inner
and Middle Temples, and Lincoln’s Inn). Students were able to take meals with
them, attend lectures, and assist barristers in their work. By the end of the Middle
Ages the Inns of Court really constituted a third, specialized university. Like Oxford
and Cambridge they retain many of their early traditions even today.
The three ancient universities of Scotland—St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen—were
founded during the fi fteenth century. A few Scottish students were
also drawn to Balliol College, Oxford (as the college’s name suggests). Wales had no
university, though a number of Welshmen went to Oxford. Surprisingly, Ireland had
no university until Trinity College, Dublin, was established in 1592. There had been
an attempt to found a university in Dublin during the early fourteenth century, but
it came to nothing.
Chaucer and the English Language
Linguistic developments in the fourteenth century are of crucial importance in
the history of the English tongue. During the fi rst three centuries after the Norman
Conquest, English was little used as a written language. The church kept its records
in Latin, and the Chancery, the law courts, and Parliament used French—often a
bastardized form, sometimes called “law French.” Not until the second half of the
fourteenth century was English recognized as a serious literary language, in no way
inferior to French or Latin.
The language in use during the later Middle Ages is referred to as Middle English.
Although it is not easy for twenty-fi rst-century students to read, since it includes
both vocabulary and word forms that are different from our own, it is the
direct ancestor of modern English.
More than any other single person, Geoffrey Chaucer may be credited with
establishing the position of Middle English. Chaucer was a major fi gure in politics
as well as literature. The son of a London wine merchant, he received patronage
and government offi ce from Edward III, Richard II, John of Gaunt, and Henry IV;
he served abroad as an ambassador and at home as a fi nancial administrator and
member of Parliament. The most famous of his several writings, and the one most
important in the formation of the English language, was the Canterbury Tales,
completed about 1390. Here Chaucer used the form of English spoken in London,
which came to dominate the dialects common in other parts of the country. The
tales of the individual pilgrims making their way to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket