Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/364

 266 General History of Europe By the middle of the thirteenth century, two hundred years after the Norman Conquest, English begins to look somewhat familiar. Chaucer (about 1340-1400) was the first great English writer whose works are now read with pleasure, although one is sometimes puzzled by his spelling and by certain words which are no longer used. This is the way one of his tales opens : A poure wydow somdel stope in age, Was whilom dwellyng in a narwe cotage, Bisyde a grove, stondyng in a dale. 436. French and Provengal. In the Middle Ages, however, French, not English, was the most important of the national languages of western Europe. In France a vast literature was produced in the language of the people during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries which profoundly affected the books written in Italy, Spain, Germany, and England. Two quite different languages had gradually developed in France from the spoken Latin of the Roman Empire. To the north French was spoken ; to the south Provengal. Very little in the ancient French language written before the year noo has been preserved. The West Franks undoubtedly began much earlier to sing of their heroes, of the great deeds of Clovis and Charles the Hammer. These famous rulers were, how- ever, completely overshadowed by Charlemagne, who became the unrivaled hero of medieval poetry and romance (326). It was believed that he had reigned for a hundred and twenty-five years, and the most marvelous exploits were attributed to him and his knights. He was supposed, for instance, to have led a crusade to Jerusalem. Such themes as these more legend than history were woven into long epics, which were the first written literature of the Prankish people. 437. Romances of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The famous Song of Roland, the chief character of which was one of Charlemagne's captains, was written before the First Crusade. In the latter part of the twelfth century the romances of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table