Multilingualism

Abstract

This chapter considers the relationship between Middle English literature and language in relation to other languages and literatures that were spoken, read, and written in medieval Britain from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. There are two aspects that deserve attention. The first is the production and export of Middle English texts in continental Europe, and the second is the currency of non-English languages and literatures in later medieval Britain. This chapter explores both these aspects. Regarding the first, I discuss some rare examples of Middle English written on the continent by non-native speakers of English (for example, ‘Bruder Hans’ and a Burgundian scribe who copied some lines of Lydgate), and I look ahead to the production of English books by printers in the Low Countries. Regarding the second aspect, I argue that scholarship on the multilingualism of medieval Britain needs to move beyond the trilingual model: English, Latin, and French. Of course, the importance of French and Latin is not in question: French remained vigorous as a living vernacular until around the middle of the fourteenth century and remained important as a literary language thereafter, though it disappeared in macaronic poetry. Latin never ceased to be a language of prestige, and, as I argue, it was also a spoken language in specific social settings. This chapter emphasises, however, the need to consider the other living languages of medieval Britain, some indigenous (the Celtic languages) and others brought to England by migrant communities such as the Italians and the Dutch. The case is made with specific reference both to famous literary figures, such as Chaucer and Caxton, and to the neglected written remains of Italian and Dutch immigrants.