The age of
Chaucer, which encompassed the second half of the fourteenth century, was a time of major change
in Chaucer's England and in Europe as a whole. Chaucer's famous workis evidence of one of these
changes, namely writing in the vernacular, which is often associated with modern
literature.
But larger forces were changing as well, many of which may be
characterized as essentially modern. European kingdoms, notably England and France, began to
consolidate into what might be called nation-states, with strong bureaucracies and the ability
to collect taxes and marshal large military forces. The period also saw the decline of serfdom,
especially in England, where severe losses to the workforce due to the Black Death enable
agricultural laborers to negotiate wages.
Finally, the period saw increased
criticism of the Catholic Church, due to corruption and especially the absurdity of the
Babylonian Captivity and the Western Schism. One tangible critique of the Church emerged in
Chaucer's England itself, where John Wyclif translated the Bible into English, a heresy to the
medieval Church. A less tangible manifestation was the emergence of a secular spirit, one form
of which was humanism.
In summation, while Chaucer's age was still decidedly
medieval, it also saw many of the changes that historians associate with early modern
Europe.
No comments:
Post a Comment