Extracts from Literature
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Extracts from Literature’
Orderic Vitalis regrets the passing of a society far more refined and advanced than that which supplanted it.
Many have portrayed the Norman Invasion of 1066 as a welcome injection of Continental sophistication into a rustic England, but that was not the opinion of Orderic Vitalis (1075-?1143) somewhat nearer to the action. He was inclined to acquit William himself, but regarded his French lieutenants as barbarians unworthy of the civilisation they had ruined.
When the Normans came in 1066 they deliberately destroyed English chant, the last survivor in Western Europe of a tradition five centuries old.
After the Norman Conquest of 1066, ambitious Norman clergymen lined up to do whatever King William wanted in exchange for preferment — and what William wanted was to eradicate English identity, bringing the country into line with the ways of the near Continent.
Milne felt that chess was a game deserving of its place in the gallery of sports, but also that it had a drawback.
A. A. Milne comes to the defence of chess, arguing that it is game deserving of as much respect as any of the more physically demanding sports. And yet, there is something about it which means that his enthusiasm rarely lasts more than a month or so.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle looks back on the reign of King William I.
When the editors of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gave their assessment of William the Conqueror (r. 1066-1087), they admitted that in his day England had been a powerful nation, and that there was good order at home. But the price was an intrusive government that taxed without mercy and had a file on everyone — a price the Chroniclers clearly thought too high.
Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, was kind to children and animals but Kings merited firmer handling.
Hugh of Avalon (?1135-1200) was a Frenchman from Burgundy who was appointed Abbot of the Charterhouse at Witham in the reign of Henry II. In 1186, he was raised to the See of Lincoln, where he gained a reputation for kindness towards the sick, to children and to animals, but Henry’s son Richard found that his indulgence did not extend to Kings.
Charles Dickens explains to the young men of Boston MA what it is that motivates him to write.
In February 1842, Charles Dickens gave a speech in Boston, Massachusetts, before such literary greats as George Bancroft, Washington Allston and Oliver Wendell Holmes. In reply to the Chairman’s toast, Dickens shared with the company of some two hundred guests his thoughts on what drove him to write.