hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2024-06-20

■ #5533. 1417年，玉璽局が Henry V の書簡を英語で発行し始めた背景 [signet][reestablishment_of_english][standardisation][lancastrian][monarch][politics][chancery_standard][hundred_years_war]

　標題については，すでに直接・間接に関係する記事を書いてきた．

　・ 「#3225. ランカスター朝の英語国語化のもくろみと Chancery Standard」 ([2018-02-24-1])
　・ 「#3241. 1422年，ロンドン醸造組合の英語化」 ([2018-03-12-1])
　・ 「#3242. ランカスター朝の英語国語化のもくろみと Chancery Standard (2)」 ([2018-03-13-1])

　今回は Fisher et al. (xv--xvi) より，もう1つの関連する議論を紹介したい．

The earliest group of official documents in English in uniform style and language are the English Signet letters of Henry V. Until his second invasion of France in August 1417, Henry's correspondence had been in French, but from August 1417 until his death in August 1422 nearly all of it is in English. The reasons for the change can only be inferred. No document has come to light expressing his views or prescribing the use of English, but there is evidence of his sensitivity to linguistic nationalism. One of the first acts of his reign was an assent, in English, to a petition by the Commons that statutes be made without altering the words of the petitions on which they were based. In treating with the French and Burgundians, his ambassadors insisted on using Latin rather than French. At the Council of Constance, Henry's ambassadors demanded to know "whether nation be understood as a people marked off from others by blood relationships and habit of unity or by peculiarities of language (the most sure and positive sign and essence of a nation in divine and human law)." Hence, it may be inferred that upon his invasion of France in 1417, he found it expedient to adopt English to secure popular support for his military expedition.

　たとえ政治的な含みがあったにせよ，Henry V が，国家あるいは民族とは血縁によってではなく言語によって結びついた集団であるという考えを押し出そうとしていたことは注目に値する．イングランドにおける近代的な国家観や民族観の走りというべきだろう．

　・ Fisher, John H., Malcolm Richardson, and Jane L. Fisher, comps. An Anthology of Chancery English. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1984. 392.

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