English and Galician in the Middle Ages - Publicaciones ...

English and Galician in the Middle Ages:
A Sociohistorical Survey
Begoña Crespo García
ed, the eradication of the native tongue from the social panorama
of the Galician elite ran parallel to the decay of vernacular
literary production. Castilian pervaded all spheres of Galician
literature, including the relevant fi eld of lyric poetry. The
enchantment and splendour of those Cantigas (note 4) written
by Villasandino, Arcediago de Toro and Macías o Namorado
would become just a token of the past. The dark age of
Galician literature was to begin with the native authors’ refusal
to use the vernacular in their writings (Fernández del Riego,
1984). Speakers’ prejudice towards their mother tongue is attested
by the lack of written literature which, in turn, accounts
for the social status and level of usage of a language.
From a historical point of view, two events, a conquest and a
war, weakened the use of the vernaculars in the dominated
communities. However, despite this initial similarity which will
be crucial in the development of English and Galician, the
conditions under which these tongues evolve pave the way
for a divergent future development as table 1.2 below summarises:
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