Volume 1 / Book 1 — BOOK I.—THE SOURCE
Henri Van Laun translation
BOOK I.—THE SOURCE
CHAPTER FIRST The Saxons
SECTION I.—The Coast of the North Sea 31 SECTION II.—The Northern Barbarians 34 SECTION III.—Saxon Ideas 46 SECTION IV.—Saxon Heroes 46 SECTION V.—Pagan Poems 53 SECTION VI.—Christian Poems 56 SECTION VII.—Primitive Saxon Authors 63 SECTION VIII.—Virility of the Saxon Race 71
CHAPTER SECOND The Normans
SECTION I.—The Feudal Man 73 SECTION II.—Normans and Saxons Contrasted 73 SECTION III.—French Forms of Thought 80 SECTION IV.—The Normans in England 87 SECTION V.—The English Tongue—Early English Literary Impulses 91 SECTION VI.—Feudal Civilization103 SECTION VII.—Persistence of Saxon Ideas108 SECTION VIII.—The English Constitution113 SECTION IX.—Piers Plowman and Wyclif119
CHAPTER THIRD The New Tongue
SECTION I.—The First Great Poet126 SECTION II.—The Decline of the Middle Ages127 SECTION III.—The Poetry of Chaucer128 SECTION IV.—Characteristics of the Canterbury Tales143 SECTION V.—The Art of Chaucer150 SECTION VI.—Scholastic Philosophy158