IV. Answer the questions.

1. What does the word "bonnie" mean?

2. Who were the Jacobites?

3. What was the attitude of the English to the tradition of wearing tartan kilts?

4. When does the International Musical Festival take place in Edinburgh?

5. What is the highlight of the Festival?

6. Why did the French help Prince Bonnie Charlie?

7. Did the King of England offer a large sum of money to anyone who informed him of Bonnie Charlie?

8. Why didn't the Scots continue their invasion of Britain?

9. Did the Scots betray Prince Charlie?

10. How did Prince Charlie escape from Scotland?

Points for discussion

1. The national costume of the Highlanders.

2. The battle of Culloden.

3. Prince Bonnie Charlie — a popular hero in Scotland.

Canterbury Cathedral and Geoffrey Chaucer - the Great English Story-Teller

The Cathedral Church of Christ, Canterbury, is the Mother Church of England. It was from Canterbury in Saxon days that England was converted to Christ. It is to Canterbury today that all Anglican churches throughout the world look as their spiritual centre. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury who is the head of the Church of England or Anglican Church. Canterbury is a town in Kent which is located in the very south-east of England.

From the 12th to the 15th centuries, the cathedral was a place of pilgrimage. Thou­sands of people came to pray at the shrine of a former Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in the Cathedral in 1170.His name was Thomas Becket.

During the 12th century King Henry II decided that the church had too much power. In 1162 he made Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, who was the king's "man" and his personal friend. By this move Henry II hoped to weaken the church and consolidate his power as king. Thomas Becket came of a simple family, and was not even a priest. There­fore many people were not pleased when Thomas was made Archbishop.

Quite soon, however, the king and archbishop became enemies. Henry II was greatly surprised when Thomas began to defend the church against the king. Thomas Becket had to leave Britain because he was afraid that the king might kill him. In 1170 the two men became friends again, and Thomas re­turned to England. However, quite soon the quarrel resumed, especially when Thomas Becket began to punish those priests and noblemen who had acted against him. Four of Henry II’s knights decided to act for the king and on 29th December 1170 they mur­dered Thomas Becket in the cathedral near the door which is known as the door of the Martyrdom.

The whole Christian world reacted with great emotion, and Becket was made a saint. His tomb began to be visited by thousands of pilgrims, rich and poor. The shrine was decorated with precious stones many of which were given by kings. The legend was spread that miracles happened at the tomb, and that many sick people got cured. Even the steps leading to Becket's shrine have been worn out by the pilgrims' feet. In the 16th century, when King Henry VIII separated from the Church of Rome, and established the Anglican church, he said that Becket was no longer a saint, and ordered his shrine to be destroyed. In 1538 Becket's tomb was destroyed, and robbed of all its wealth, including its most famous jewel, the "Regale of France", which was given by Louis VII, the King of France, in the 12th century. Henry VIII used this jewel in a ring which he wore.

Of the thousands of pilgrims who visited Canterbury, the best-known are probably those who appear in the book by Geoffrey Chaucer, "'The Canterbury Tales"' He was the first great story-teller who wrote in English. Chaucer was born about 1340 when the English language was just beginning to be used for books. Before his time books were written generally in Latin or in French, though there were several fine old poems in Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, telling of the deeds of heroes, and monsters. The greatest of these poems was "Beowulf". But Chaucer wrote of the life of his own times and told stories in everyday English. Chaucer's father was a London merchant who used to supply the king's table with wine. In those days nearly every­one drank wine and ale, and there was much drunkenness. The boy Chaucer was probably sent to school and was certainly bright and a good scholar, for he always loved books. We know little of his boyhood until we hear of him at 17 as a page in the house of a princess. Later he went to France, fought in the wars, and was taken prisoner.

Some eight years or so after Chaucer had returned to England he married a lady of the queen's court and made friendship with one of the sons of the king. Chaucer now began to be an important figure at court. He was sent by the king several times to France and to Italy on important matters And during all these years of service he studied and wrote poetry. He tells us that when his work at the office was done he would go home and read and write far into the night. Chaucer died in 1400 at the age of sixty years.

In those old days people travelled on horseback, for the roads were too narrow and too muddy for carriages; and they seldom travelled alone, but in companies, because of the thieves. In Chaucer; greatest poem, which was begun when he was about forty-five years old, he tells us that one day in the early spring he set out to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury, to Thomas Becket's shrine. In former times a pilgrim took long journeys on foot, dressed in poor clothes and with only a staff or stick in his hand to help him in walking. But in Chaucer's day pilgrims went on horseback, dressed in clothes of bright colour, and the pilgrimage was more a holiday excursion than a religious act. So Chaucer went over London Bridge and put up at Tabard Inn in Southwark, ready to go on a pilgrimage. Here he knew he should find others who were making the same journey, and he would thus have company and protection against the thieves who were known all along the roads of England.

He met twenty-nine people of all kinds and classes. There was a knight, who had just come back from the wars; and his son, who was a young squire; and their servant with a coat and hood of green and a mighty bow. And there were two nuns, and several priests, and a monk, and a merchant with a forked beard, and a lawyer full of business. And there was a miller with a mouth as big as a furnace; and there was a poor scholar from Oxford, and a ploughman, and a carpenter, and a sailor, and many another.

After they had all eaten a good supper, the innkeeper, Harry Bailey, a big man with a bright eye and a merry laugh, suggested that they should make the way seem shorter by telling stories.

"Let each one", he said "tell two stories on the way to Canterbury, and two more on the way home, and the one who tells the best story shall have a good supper here in this place, when we come back, and the others shall pay for the supper. I shall go with you and be your guide". All the party agreed; and the next morning they set out upon their journey. The stories were all very different, some were serious, some were very funny, some were sad, some were tragic.

In its long history, the beginnings of which go down to the sixth century, Canterbury Cathedral faced many dangers of fire and destruction, but in the first week of June 1942 it withstood the greatest threat, when the enemy planes dropped 15 high-explosive bombs and many hundred smaller ones. But the Cathedral survived.

The tradition of visiting Canterbury Cathedral continues to this very day. People come to see this beautiful monument of man's genius from all round the world. Perhaps the most famous modern pilgrim is Pope John Paul II. His historic visit to Canterbury took place in 1982. Both the Pope of Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury knelt in silence on the steps that led to the spot where Becket's shrine once stood. This event expressed the new spirit of understanding that exists now between the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches.

Comprehension Check