Chapter 15

THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

I. Decline.--Chaucer's successors--The decay of art is obvious even to them--The society for which they write is undergoing a transformation--Lydgate and Hoccleve 495

II. Scotsmen.--They imitate Chaucer but with more freedom--James I.--Blind Harry--Henryson--The town mouse and the country mouse--Dunbar--Gavin Douglas--Popular ballads--Poetry in the flamboyant style 503

III. Material welfare; Prose.--Development of the lower and middle class--Results of the wars--Trade, navy, savings. Books of courtesy--Familiar letters; Paston Letters--Guides for the traveller and trader--Fortescue and his praise of English institutions--Pecock and his defence of the clergy--His style and humour--Compilers, chroniclers, prosators of various sort--Malory, Caxton, Juliana Berners, Capgrave, &c. 513

IV. The Dawn of the Renaissance.--The literary movement in Italy--Greek studies--Relations with Eastern men of letters--Turkish wars and Greek exiles--Taking of Constantinople by Mahomet II.--Consequences felt in Italy, France, and England 523

Index 527