Middle English Literature

The English and England
Medieval writers from Bede, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Layamon to the
authors of fourteenth- and fifteenth-century romances, historical writings,
and religious works described England in sociological terms. This kingdom,
country, or nation, as Benedict Anderson observes of a later age, is here
already imagined as a community of humans that is “limited” and “sovereign”
even if its inhabitants are imprecise in answering where and when the entity
sometimes called England begins and ends, and even if they continually
speculate about its popular, regal, and heavenly sovereignty.

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Ranulf Higden’s Polychronicon is one of several chronicles written during
Edward III’s reign that contributed to a new consciousness about England
as a nation. Higden (ca. 1275–ca. 1360), a Benedictine at the abbey of St.
Werburgh’s in Chester, began his universal and encyclopedic history about
1327, revising and adding to it until his death. Famous during his lifetime,
his work survives in over 125 fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts,
and its popularity is also confirmed by John Trevisa’s English translation as
well as an anonymous fifteenth-century translation (both printed alongside
the Latin text in the Rolls Series). Trevisa finished translating the Polychronicon
in 1387, adding his own materials (see also “Friars,” p. 7, “Humors,” p. 14,
and “The English Language,” p. 259). Trevisa’s vernacular translation sur-
vives in 14 manuscripts, whereas some 118 complete or substantial manu-
scripts in Latin exist. Caxton and Wynkyn de Worde both printed redactions
of his text with further alterations.
The Great Papal Schism, which began in 1378 when Clement VII was
set up as antipope in Avignon against Urban VI in Rome, had disastrous
consequences not only for the Church, but also for hopes of peace between
England and France (see “Battle of Agincourt,” p. 46). The Council of
Constance, which met at the request of Emperor Sigismund in 1414–18,
began with relative agreement, in particular that four “nations” would be
able to vote: Italy, France, Germany, and England. However, in October
1416 the distinguished French cardinal, Pierre d’Ailly (1351–1420), called
into question the national divisions, arguing that the Roman Church was
comprised of four different divisions: French, German (which would in-
clude the English), Spanish, and Italian. He also cited another papal bull of
Benedict XII that Western Christendom was divided into 36 Benedictine
provinces of which only four encompassed Britain and one the sees of
Canterbury and York. Despite objections from the emperor, the French
kept the issue alive until March 1417, when Sigismund finally put a stop to
their attempt to reduce England’s representation. At the end of the month
Thomas Polton, an English notary, delivered the English response for the
record even though it was never publicly read at the Council.
Primary documents and further reading
Foedera: Conventiones, literae et cuiuscunque generis acta publica (1728) Vol. 9, ed.
T. Rymer. London: J. Tonson.
Fowler, D. C. (1994) “John Trevisa.” In M. C. Seymour (ed.) Authors of the Middle
Ages: English Writers in the Late Middle Ages, vol. 1, no. 2. Aldershot: Variorum.
The English and England
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Force and Order
Gransden, A. (1982) Historical Writing in England II: c. 1307 to the Early Sixteenth
Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Loomis, L. R. (1939) “Nationality at the Council of Constance: An Anglo-French
Dispute.” The American Historical Review 44: 508–27.
Taylor, J. (1966) The Universal Chronicle of Ranulf Higden. Oxford: Clarendon
Press.
Waldron, R. (1988) “John Trevisa and the Use of English.” Proceedings of the