• Music, theatre and art

The 15^th 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 15^th century John Dunstable. The popularity and importance of music was so great that in the 16^th 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 15^th century actors were professional.

In the 14^th and 15^th 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 15^th century, depicts a grieving young woman concentrated on her prayer.

The 14^th and 15^th 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)

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

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

2. The Romans lived in

2. villages; b. towns

3. The Tower of London was built by

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

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

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

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

1. Germanic; b. Celtic; c. Roman.

6. Christianity was brought to England ___ 1066.

2. before; b. after.

7. The Venerable Bede wrote

1. 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.

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

9. William the Conqueror won the battle at

2. 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