Norman speech habits. A third phase begins with the loss of the continental provinces by
King John in 1204. Deprived of their continental fiefs, the Anglo-Norman barons identify
increasingly with their English counterparts, with whom there has been much
intermarriage, and the linguistic tide slowly but inexorably turns in favor of English.
There is evidence that English is already the dominant vernacular even among the upper
classes in the early 13th century, but Anglo-Norman remains a convenient lingua franca
for administrative purposes, having a much wider currency than Latin and the advantage
of being understood by the literate in all parts of the kingdom at a time when dialectal
differences make English unsuited to this task. In literature, the fateful step is taken by
Chaucer in the latter part of the 14th century, when he chooses English as his vehicle of
expression. His contemporary John Gower writes chiefly in French, but already a literary
French greatly influenced by continental models and far removed from the heavily
anglicized patterns of Anglo-Norman in its decline. When Henry Bolingbroke assumes
the crown of Richard II in 1399, he is the first monarch since Edward the Confessor (d.
1066) to use the English language for everyday discourse.
Several problems arise in determining what comprises Anglo-Norman literature. Some
continental texts, such as the Vie de saint Alexis and the Chanson de Roland, are
preserved in manuscripts executed by Anglo-Norman scribes. Others, such as Wace’s
Roman de Brut and Benoît de Sainte-Maure’s Chronique des ducs de Normandie, were
written at the behest of Henry II and other powerful figures in the Anglo-Norman
regnum, or were intended to engage their attention, but these are Anglo-Norman neither
in language nor in place of origin. Marie de France represents something of a grey area.
She claims to be “from France” but appears to have written most if not all of her work in
England, and her language shows some slight insular influence.
From its beginnings in the early years of the 12th century, with the “scientific”
Cumpoz and Bestiaire of Philippe de Thaün and Benedeit’s highly imaginative Voyage de
saint Brendan, to the prose and poetry of John Gower in the latter half of the 14th
century, Anglo-Norman literature has been distinguished by its variety, its richness, and
its originality. That it differs in some respects from continental literature of the same
period is hardly surprising, since it sprang from another soil and was fed by different
streams. Like the dialect itself, it was a graft from a very different culture. Patronage
plays a significant role in its development, and the disparate tastes and requirements of
the various patrons, Normans, Angevins, Anglo-Normans, and Anglo-Angevins, clerical
and lay, exerted a marked influence on the form and content of the works commissioned
by them, or written to court their favor. The “didactic” and “practical” quality of much
Anglo-Norman literature has frequently been cited. The principal genres are the
chronicle, the romance, the saint’s life, and what might loosely be termed moral
literature. There are no chansons de geste as such, and until the ballades of John Gower at
the end of the Anglo-Norman literary period there is little evidence of a strong lyric
tradition. What has survived is often political rather than personal in inspiration and
accords with what has been seen as the Anglo-Norman predilection for affairs of state
and lineage over those of the heart.
Chronicles. The earliest surviving chronicle in French is the Anglo-Norman Estoire
des Engleis (ca. 1140) by Gaimar, who makes it clear that this is the second part of a
tripartite structure involving a history of the ancient Britons (commonly referred to as a
Brut), a history of the English, and a contemporary history from the time of the Conquest.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 68