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Historians argue about how adults behaved towards children in the early modern period. For our purposes, one thing seems clear ; it is difficult to identify any cultural product that was specifically aimed at children. Children made up part of a series of audiences which were broadly differentiated by social function, and cultural workers - clerics or artisans - would attempt to address each or all of these audiences as the occasion arose. A sermon might make reference both to classical motifs, for the educated, and to folk-themes for the vulgar, while ecclesiastical sculptors and painters might similarly include elements intended to maintain a sense of social cohesion. Histories would include stirring tales and love stories. Riddles and conundrums were commonplace. A child could find pleasures and instruction just as could the adult.

Moral Instruction

The Exempla

It is with the invention of printing, and particularly after the development of a distributive network for relatively cheap reading matter - the chapbooks, carried from town to village by the chapmen or travelling salesmen - that we see printers and publishers beginning to aim at more specific markets. But the cultural material that they use - the themes, narratives and rhetorical devices upon which they call - were, at the first, drawn from what had gone before. It may help, then, to look briefly at the kind of cultural entertainments that were current prior to the popularization of the book.

First, we should not forget that the Church was at the very centre of social life. Men and women of the time lived their religion most thoroughly, and priests and preachers were sensitive to the need to make their sermons and homilies interesting to their flock. Jacques de Vitry, one of the great Parisian preachers, argued that " It is necessary to employ a great many proverbs, historical stories and anecdotes, especially when the audience is tired and begins to get sleepy." To this end, clerics like Vitry would use stories - known as exempla - to illustrate - exemplify - the moral points that they wished to make. These tales would often draw on popular folk-themes, including magic and miracles. Look, for instance, at the following tale, taken from an XIIIe English collection :

A bishop was blind. One day, the day of the Resurrection of Our Lord, he was sitting apart in the cloisters, repeating his prayers to himself, when he heard the footsteps of a young man approaching. He called out to the youngster, and asked him to tell him what the news of the world was, to which the fellow replied that the rumour - a very good rumour indeed - was that the Lord was Risen from the Dead. So pleased was the bishop with this reply, that he called out ; "Oh, now that is a very good rumour indeed, and may the Lord be praised for it. I thank thee with all my heart". Now it so happened that, some time later, the bishop had a benefice to bestow, and he decided to give it to the young man who had brought him the Good News. So he summoned him, and offered him the gift, saying that it was to thank him for telling him the Good Rumour. The young man was properly grateful.

A little later, the Mother of Our Lord appeared to the bishop while he was asleep. She praised his generosity towards the young man, and, squeezing her breast with her hand, caused some drops of milk to fall upon the sleeping man's eyes. When he awoke, he found that he could see. 1

Another, longer, tale comes from a collection compiled by Caesar of Heisterback, also in the XIIIe. In this tale, we find a number of folk-lore elements, including the test/trial, the magic garment, the token of identity, and a journey through the air :

CONCERNING GERARD, A KNIGHT, WHOM THE DEVIL CARRIED IN A MOMENT FROM THE CHURCH OF ST. THOMAS IN INDIA TO HIS OWN COUNTRY

Caesar of Heisterbach, Dist. VIII, Cap. LIX. (Vol.II, p.131ff)

In a village which is called Holenbach there lived a certain knight named Gerard. His grandsons are still living, and hardly a man can found in that village who does not know the miracle which I am king to tell about him. He loved St. Thomas the Apostle so ardently and honored him so especially above the other saints that he never refused any pauper seeking alms in the name of that one. Moreover he was accustomed to offer to the saint Many private services, such as prayers, fasts and the celebration of masses.

One day, by the permission of God, the devil, the enemy of all good men, knocking at the knight's gate, in the form and dress of a pilgrim, sought hospitality in the name of St. Thomas. He was admitted with all haste and, since it was chilly and he pretended to be catching cold, Gerard gave to him his own fur cape, which was not badly worn, to cover himself with when he went to bed. When the next morning he who had seemed a pilgrim did not appear, and the cape was sought and not found, his wife in anger said to the knight, " You have often been deceived by wanderers of this kind and yet You persist in your superstitions But he replied calmly, "Do not be disturbed, St. Thomas will certainly make good this loss to us."

The devil did this in order to provoke the knight to impatience on account of the loss of his cape, and to extinguish in his heart his love for the Apostle. But what the devil had prepared for his destruction redounded to the glory of the knight; by it the latter was incited the more strongly, the former was confused and punished. For after a little time Gerard wanted to go to the abode of St. Thomas, and when he was all ready to start, he broke a gold ring into two pieces before the eyes of his wife, and joining them together in her presence, gave one piece to her and kept the other himself, saying, "You ought to trust this token. Moreover, I ask you to wait five years for my return, and after that you can marry any one you please." And she promised.

He went on a very long journey and at length with great expense and very great labor reached the city of St. Thomas the Apostle. There he was saluted most courteously by the citizens and received with as great kindness as if he had been one of them and well known to them. Ascribing this favor to the blessed Apostle he entered the oratory and prayed, commending himself, his wife, and all his possessions to the saint. After this, remembering the limit fixed, and thinking that the five years ended on that very day, he groaned and said, "Alas! my wife will now marry some other man." God had delayed his journey on account of what is to follow.

When he looked around in sorrow he saw the above mentioned demon walking about in his cape. And the demon said, "Do you know me, Gerard?" He said, it No, I do not know you, but I know cape." The demon replied, "I am he who sought hospitality from you in the name of the Apostle; and I carried off your cape, for which I have been severely punished." And he added, "I am the devil, and I am commanded to carry you back to your own house before nightfall, because your wife has married another man and is now sitting with him at the wedding banquet." Taking him up, the devil crossed in part of a day from India to Germany, from the east to the west, and about twilight placed him in his own house without injury

Entering his own house like a stranger, when he saw his own wife eating with her spouse, he drew near and in her sight taking out the half of the ring, he sent it to her in a cup. When she saw it, she immediately took it out and joining it to the part given to her she recognized him as her husband. Immediately jumping up she rushed to embrace him, proclaiming that he was her husband Gerard and saying good-bye to her spouse. Nevertheless, out of courtesy Gerard kept the latter with him that night. In this as in the preceding miracle it is sufficiently evident how much the blessed Apostles love and glorify those who love them. 2

Some exempla are very short indeed, consisting of only a few lines of text, while others, as you can see, are of the length of a folk-tale. Collections were made for the use of preachers, who would adapt them to the moral of the day. A good sermon would provide not only spiritual matter, but also entertainment of a more earthly nature.

The 'Gesta Romanorum'

One source of moral fables, related to the exempla, put together in England during the fourteenth century - written in Latin, but translated into English in the 15thC - was the so-called 'Gesta Romanorum' or Acts of the Romans. This collection of tales, ostensibly presented to teach the Christian ethic, for each story was rounded off with a little moral, was very popular through all the later Middle Ages. Often enough, the relationship between the story and the moral attached to it was obscure, but the tales themselves provided readers and listeners with a great deal of amusement. You will find one of them here - a short tale of a popular nature, illustrating (male) beliefs about the nature of women. Another tale shows many of the elements of the folk-tale. Later writers made much use of them - for example, here is the tale upon which Shakespeare based King Lear. (He also took the business with the casket in 'The Merchant of Venice' from the same source).

Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs'

One constant source of moral teaching throughout Europe was the well-lived life ; collections of lives of the Saints abound, and the stories - often borrowing elements from wonder-tales - were well-known to all. In England, you would find in every church two books ; one was, of course, the Bible, while the other, by John Foxe, entitled 'History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church' (better known as the 'Book of Martyrs') was an account of all the martyrs of the Church, starting with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The early stories are often embellished with folk elements ; the following example relates a story for which one finds several precursors in Greek and Roman mythology :

Agatha, a Sicilian lady, was not more remarkable for her personal and acquired endowments, than her piety; her beauty was such, that Quintian, governor of Sicily, became enamored of her, and made many attempts upon her chastity without success. In order to gratify his passions with the greater conveniency, he put the virtuous lady into the hands of Aphrodica, a very infamous and licentious woman. This wretch tried every artifice to win her to the desired prostitution; but found all her efforts were vain; for her chastity was impregnable, and she well knew that virtue alone could procure true happiness. Aphrodica acquainted Quintian with the inefficacy of her endeavors, who, eraged to be foiled in his designs, changed his lust into resentment. On her confessing that she was a Christian, he determined to gratify his revenge, as he could not his passion. Pursuant to his orders, she was scourged, burnt with red-hot irons, and torn with sharp hooks. Having borne these torments with admirable fortitude, she was next laid naked upon live coals, intermingled with glass, and then being carried back to prison, she there expired on February 5, 251 'Acts etc.', Ch. 2. (3)

as does the following, with a plot-line waiting for Shakespeare :

Theodora, a beautiful young lady of Antioch, on refusing to sacrifice to the Roman idols, was condemned to the stews, that her virtue might be sacrificed to the brutality of lust. Didymus, a Christian, disguised himself in the habit of a Roman soldier, went to the house, informed Theodora who he was, and advised her to make her escape in his clothes. This being effected, and a man found in the brothel instead of a beautiful lady, Didymus was taken before the president, to whom confessing the truth, and owning that he was a Christian the sentence of death was immediately pronounced against him. Theodora, hearing that her deliverer was likely to suffer, came to the judge, threw herself at his feet, and begged that the sentence might fall on her as the guilty person; but, deaf to the cries of the innocent, and insensible to the calls of justice, the inflexible judge condemned both; when they were executed accordingly, being first beheaded, and their bodies afterward burnt.

Foxe's collection was, first and foremost, a weapon in the Protestant cause, a cudgel with which to belabour Rome and papistry.

Thus far our history of persecution has been confined principally to the pagan world. We come now to a period when persecution, under the guise of Christianity, committed more enormities than ever disgraced the annals of paganism. Disregarding the maxims and the spirit of the Gospel, the papal Church, arming herself with the power of the sword, vexed the Church of God and wasted it for several centuries, a period most appropriately termed in history, the "dark ages." The kings of the earth, gave their power to the "Beast," and submitted to be trodden on by the miserable vermin that often filled the papal chair, as in the case of Henry, emperor of Germany.

Fox himself had been forced to flee from England during the reign of Mary, and it was while in exile that he wrote the first edition of his book, it culminating in an account of the judicial murders of numerous men and women under the 'bloody Queen'. The history at this point makes grim reading ; we follow the martyrs one after another into the flames and watch them burn, the author sparing no detail.

Yet this book was most enthusiastically recommended for children's reading by schoolmasters and other figures of authority. And one finds among the martyrs a number of children.

John Bunyan's book for Boys and Girls

The advent of printing, and then of a system of circulation which put reading material within the reach of a large number of English homes (it is now believed that many more people learned how to read in the 16th and 17th centuries than had been suspected), will have lead to finer gradations in the market for written product. Among those who grasped the opportunity offered by the creation of new publics was John Bunyan. Bunyan is, of course, best known for his 'Pilgrim's Progress', which was itself to be put in the hands of English children for some centuries to come. But he also produced at least one book that was aimed directly at children ; this is 'A Book for Boys and Girls ; or Temporal Things Spiritualized' (originally, Country Rhymes and Meditations, exact date of publication unknown).

The book is a collection of poems, each one being in two parts. In the first part, the poet describes some object or animal, and in the second, he draws a moral from it. Here is an example :

UPON THE BEE.

The bee goes out, and honey home doth bring,

And some who seek that honey find a sting.

Now would'st thou have the honey, and be free

From stinging, in the first place kill the bee.

Comparison.

This bee an emblem truly is of sin,

Whose sweet, unto a many, death hath been.

Now would'st have sweet from sin and yet not die,

Do thou it, in the first place, mortify.

Today, specialists in Children's literature dismiss Bunyan's efforts, and tend to place the publication of the first children's book in the mid 18thC. But in order to do this, they have to define their subject matter in a rather tortuous way ; in fact, in Bunyan's wake, several authors were producing books for children prior to 1750. We would not, for the most part, find the spirit that animated them particularly congenial ; they are most thoroughly didactic, and offer stern lessons on morality. Sinful children die in the most horrible ways, while the saintly also pass away before their time. James Janeway, for example, produced a book entitled 'A Token for Children : being an exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of Several Young Children, to which is now added, Prayers and Graces, fitted for the use of Little Children'. Typical of the stories is that of Tabitha Alter, who fell sick and realized that she had not loved God as she should. Once she had learned how to love him properly, she embraced death with a good heart.

On the other hand, William Ronskley, in 1712 produced 'The Child's Week's-Work', which included such poems as :

Hear you a lark?

Tell me what clerk

Can match her. He that beats

The next thorn-bush

May raise a thrush

Would put down all our lays

Through working on such simple poems - words all of one syllable - the child was to be both entertained and educated. Another set of didactic poems published at about the same time - but with a high moral intent - was Isaac Walton's 'Divine Songs for Children', published for the first time in 1715. This collection left a deep mark on English children's culture, and one can still hear echoes today - although more often through parodies by later writers such as Lewis Carroll than through the works themselves. Take this example :

How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skillfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labour or of skill
I would be busy too:
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthful play
Let my first years be past,
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.

Thus it is that this strand of writing - writings intended to teach and to save - take us to the dawn of the modern children's book. Next, I will turn to another strand ; the various attempts that were made to establish an identity for the country of England.

From history to romance

Among the early historians of the British Isles was Geoffrey of Monmouth, who, writing during the third decade of the twelth century, found himself faced with a large gap in the historical record after the departure of the Romans. He filled this gap up by slotting into it the legend of the Arthurian court ; in the following passage, the King of Britain, Vortigern, who has gained his crown through treachery, has, in his turn, been the victim of teachery on the part of his Saxon ally, Hengist. He is forced to flee, and to build himself a new castle for his own safety. Geoffrey then goes on to introduce the person of Merlin, the magician :

(The Saxons) then marched first to London, which they took, as they did afterwards York, Lincoln, and Winchester; wasting the countries through which they passed, and destroying the people, as wolves do sheep when left by their shepherds. When Vortigern saw the desolation which they made, he retired into the parts of Cambria, not knowing what to do against so barbarous a people.

CHAP. XVII.--Vortigern, after consultation with magicians, orders a youth to be brought that never had a father.

At last he had recourse to magicians for their advice, and commanded them to tell him what course to take. They advised him to build a very strong tower for his own safety, since he had lost all his other fortified places. Accordingly he made a progress about the country, to find out a convenient situation, and came at last to Mount Erir, where he assembled workmen from several countries, and ordered them to build the tower.

The builders, therefore, began to lay the foundation; but whatever they did one day the earth swallowed up the next, so as to leave no appearance of their work. Vortigern being informed of this again consulted with his magicians concerning the cause of it, who told him that he must find out a youth that never had a father, and kill him, and then sprinkle the stones and cement with his blood; for by those means, they said, he would have a firm foundation.

Hereupon messengers were despatched away over all the provinces, to inquire out such a man. In their travels they came to a city, called afterwards Kaermerdin, where they saw some young men, playing before the gate, and went up to them; but being weary with their journey, they sat down in the ring, to see if they could meet with what they were in quest of. Towards evening, there happened on a sudden quarrel between two of the young men, whose names were Merlin and Dabutius. In the dispute, Dabutius said to Merlin: "You fool, do you presume to quarrel with me? Is their any equality in our birth? I am descended of royal race, both by my father and mother's side. As for you, nobody knows what you are, for you never had a father." At that word the messengers looked earnestly upon Merlin, and asked the by-standers who he was. They told him, it was not known who was his father; but that his mother was daughter to the king of Dimetia, and that she lived in St. Peter's church among the nuns of that city.

CHAP. XVIII.--Vortigern inquires of Merlin's mother concerning her conception of him.

Upon this the messengers hastened to the governor of the city, and ordered him, in the king's name, to send Merlin and his mother to the king. As soon as the governor understood the occasion of their message, he readily obeyed the order, and sent them to Vortigern to complete his design. When they were introduced into the king's presence, he received the mother in a very respectful manner, on account of her noble birth; and began to inquire of her by what man she had conceived. "My sovereign lord," said she, "by the life of your soul and mine, I know nobody that begot him of me. Only this I know, that as I was once with my companions in our chambers, there appeared to me a person in the shape of a most beautiful young man, who often embraced me eagerly in his arms, and kissed me; and when he had stayed a little time, he suddenly vanished out of my sight. But many times after this he would talk with me when I sat alone, without making any visible appearance. When he had a long time haunted me in this manner, he at last lay with me several times in the shape of a man, and left me with child. And I do affirm to you, my sovereign lord, that excepting that young man, I know no body that begot him of me."

The king full of admiration at this account, ordered Maugantius to be called, that he might satisfy him as to the possibility of what the woman had related. Maugantius, being introduced, and having the whole matter repeated to him, said to Vortigern: "In the books of our philosophers, and in a great many histories, I have found that several men have had the like original. For, as Apuleius informs us in his book concerning the Demon of Socrates, between the moon and the earth inhabit those spirits, which we will call incubuses. These are of the nature partly of men, and partly of angels, and whenever they please assume human shapes, and lie with women. Perhaps one of them appeared to this woman, and begot that young man of her."

CHAP. XIX.--Merlin's speech to the king's magicians, and advice about the building of the tower.

Merlin in the meantime was attentive to all that had passed, and then approached the king, and said to him, "For what reason am I and my mother introduced into your presence?"-- "My magicians," answered Vortigern, "advised me to seek out a man that had no father, with whose blood my building is to be sprinkled, in order to make it stand."-- "Order your magicians," said Merlin, "to come before me, and I will convict them of a lie."

The king was surprised at his words, and presently ordered the magicians to come, and sit down before Merlin, who spoke to them after this manner: "Because you are ignorant what it is that hinders the foundation of the tower, you have recommended the shedding of my blood for cement to it, as if that would presently make it stand. But tell me now, what is there under the foundation? For something there is that will not suffer it to stand." The magicians at this began to be afraid, and made him no answer.

Then said Merlin, who was also called Ambrose, "I entreat your majesty would command your workmen to dig into the ground, and you will find a pond which causes the foundations to sink." This accordingly was done, and then presently they found a pond deep under ground, which had made it give way. Merlin after this went again to the magicians, and said, "Tell me ye false sycophants, what is there under the pond." But they were silent. Then said he again to the king, "Command the pond to be drained, and at the bottom you will see two hollow stones, and in them two dragons asleep." The king made no scruple of believing him, since he had found true what he said of the pond, and therefore ordered it to be drained: which done, he found as Merlin had said; and now was possessed with the greatest admiration of him. Nor were the rest that were present less amazed at his wisdom, thinking it to be no less than divine inspiration. 4

(For a cooler look at this period, consult Christopher Snyder's 'Sub-Roman Britain ; an Introduction'). King Arthur appears here as a historical figure ; even today, there is some argument as to whether there was not a true historical figure that can be identified with the legendary lord of the Round Table. However, most historians would, I believe, deny that there is any firm evidence for such a powerful ruler at this time in England's history. However, Camelot went on to become an important element in the cobbling together of an English identity - which is quite strange, as Arthur, if he existed, would not have been English at all, but a Briton. Most Britons escaped to Brittany when the Germanic peoples who were to become the English invaded their territory (Bretons are the people who would have been English if the English hadn't come along and been it instead).

Several writers picked up the tale after Geoffrey. (A generous selection of the writings on Arthur from Geoffrey of Monmouth down to WB Yeats will be found at the Camelot Project). By the time that the book became a common piece of merchandise, the Aruthurian legend was one of the main themes of both high and low culture. Along with other tales of knightly derring-do, it formed one of the staples of the book trade - one that boys were particularly ready to turn to. John Bunyan, to his subsequent regret, spent much of his time devouring this kind of reading.

But one should not forget that the stories of Camelot were not simply early versions of the Western adventure ; through the characters of Merlin and Morgan la Fay, they also conjured up a world of magic and of the non-human. And that is what we will be looking at during the afternoon session.

1. Adapted from an exemplum cited in "Narrative, Authority and Power : The Medieval Exemplum and the Chaucerian Tradition", by Larry Scanlon, Cambridge University Press, 1994.

2. Quoted by Paul Halsall on his 'Medieval History Sourcebook' site.

3. Like all quotes from Fox, this is taken from the internet available edition, which has been edited by William Byron Forbush, and in which the language has been updated. Chapters have been added, bringing the story up to the present. It appears that Foxe's book is still read - and taken as history - by Protestant fundamentalists. Caution must be exercised ; I cannot for the moment guarantee that what you read here appeared in any form in the editions that were available to 17thC English church-goers.

4. From J.A. Giles translation, available on the Camelot web-site.