HISTORIA DE LA LENGUA INGLESA: Notes on late Middle English

Malcom Richardson, Henry V, the English Chancery, and Chancery English,

Speculum 55 (1980): 726-750
- 1420 Rotuli Parlamentarum increase the use of English in their rolls. Chancery
standard.
-Henry V was converted to the vernacular in 1417; up to then the correspondence had
been in French/Latin; commitment to the vernacular.
- Chancery warrants. From 5th August 1417 the warrants were sent in English from
France. The Signet Office: the Kings private secretary. Henry Vs writing was
unadorned, brief and very much to the point.

Chancery uses other uses

Which which
Suche(e) siche(e), swich(e)
Much(e) moch(e)
Shuld(e) sould(e)
Between betwixt
Yeven
Ayen
Ye/you
There/paire/thyre
Them/hem
Paim/tain
Be/been to are
-eth (only)

The Chancerys documents of Henry Vs reign were very far from standardized:
naim, bot, ony, aslsmych, sych--- His letters show a language closer to Chancery English
than the Chancery itself. Chancery English/London standard?: Most likely, Henrys
secretariat largely imitated the written official languages of the Londoners, substituting
a few of its own usages to suit its own preferences.
- His motive for using the vernacular was undoubtedly to win support for the war:
propaganda (nation/people=language).The Chancery produced writs, indentures,
commissions, charters This demanded an exacting use of the language.
- Chancellor123 clerks: keeper/master of the rolls. First form clerk of the robes. 2 nd
form: 12 clerks. 24 cursitors, plus copyists. This gave vent to the inns of Chancery for
legal training: apprenticeship system. - Ordinaciones cancellariae. Places: Westminster
Hall, Hanaper, Domus Conversorum, trainig places? Hospicia Cancellaria
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Cynthia Allen, Middle English and the creolization hypothesis, English Language
and Linguistics, 1/1 (1997):63-89. The creolization hypothesis states that the loss of
inflection gave out a Creole: ME. Two main trends: 1. ME is essentially re-lexified
French . 2. Under Scandinavian influence ME Creole became a koin which produced
hybrid London English. .Allen states, however, that loss of inflections is not a mark of
creolization: syncretism of forms was already well advanced in OE before contacts
with the Scnadinavians or French could have been a significant factor (67). There are
features marking ME as (a) language(s) without Creole features: ME dialects show the
singular/plural distinction; there is a clear use of the genitive case.However, language
contact played an important role in the reduction of case-marking categories (87).
Cf. Baugh and Cable 1993, 4th ed.