#english_history 

## Literature
In the cities, **"mystery plays"** were performed at important religious festivals (mystery because of the mysterious nature of events in the bible).
Two writers contributed the most to this period's literature: [[William Langland]], a priest, whose poem *Piers Plowman* is a powerful description of the times in which lived.
The other, [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], lived at about the same time as Langland, wrote his most famous work *[[The Canterbury Tales]]* at the end of the 14th century. It describes a group of pilgrims travelling from London to the tomb of [[Church in Medieval England#^339a11|Thomas Becket]], which each character telling a story. These stories were not written by Chaucer per se, but rather modernised. For his achievement, Chaucer has often been called "the father of English literature".

## Language
French had been used less and less by ther Norman rules during the 13th century. Then Edward III forbid the speaking of French in his army.
After the Norman Conquest English (the old A.-S. language) continued to be spoken but was no longer written. However, by the end of the 14th century it was once again a written language, used by the ruling, literate class. It was very different from the Anglo-Saxon English.

## Education
Education developed enormously during the 15th century, and many schools were found by powerful men. One of these was William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England, who founded both Winchester School (**1382**), and New College, Oxford.

## Printing
The Middle Ages ended with a major technical development: **William Caxton**'s first English printing press (**1476**).