Transcript The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages
A Time
of
Knights, Ladies,
and Literature
The Battle of Hastings
October 14, 1066
William Duke of Normandy defeated the
Anglo-Saxon King Harold.
This defeat radically changed English
history and the English language.
The French language became a strong
influence on the English language.
William the Conqueror
Claimed that the
English throne had
been promised to him
Efficient and ruthless
soldier
Made French the
official language of
the king’s court and of
the government
Great administrative
feat was an inventory
of nearly every piece
of property – land,
cattle, buildings –
recorded in the
Domesday Book
People could be taxed
based on what they
owned.
The Norman Influence
Brought administrative ability
Emphasis on law and order
Encouraged cultural unity
Brought England into mainstream European
civilization
Borrowed French words and incorporated
them into the English language
Feudalism
A pyramid system based on a social system.
It also was a caste system, a property system, and
a military system.
The king appointed vassals and then allotted them
portions of his land in exchange for their loyalty.
Those vassals appointed vassals under them, who
they required to take an oath of fealty, and so on.
Serfs were landless peasants who were not free to
leave the land they worked.
People of the Feudal System
At the top of the pyramid is the king who
held land as a vassal by “divine right.”
Next were the barons who pledged
allegiance to the king.
The system worked its way down to the
landless knights and serfs.
The Knights
Expected to serve as warriors, males above
the serf class were trained as knights.
Primary duty - military service to their lords
Knights lived by a code of chivalry that
governed their conduct in all situations.
Loyalty was the most important code of the
knights
The knight carried an array of weapons: lance,
dagger, sword, battle-ax, and club-headed mace.
A suit of armor could weigh as much as 120
pounds.
Battle during hot weather was extremely dangerous
for the knight. Heatstroke, heart failure,
suffocation, and even drowning were always a
possibility.
Only aristocratic knights could afford the cost of
armor and the other trappings that were necessary.
The knight and his horse were considered
invulnerable. The invention of the longbow and
later the musketball drastically changed medieval
warfare, and the knight’s role became a courtly one
instead of one of a combatant.
The Code of Chivalry
A code of conduct
A knight’s first obligation was to defend his lord,
the king, and the Christian faith.
The code also included how to treat a lady, how to
help others, and how to resist the urge to run away
if captured.
The word chivalry comes from French and is
related to cheval, the word for “horse.” Riding was
an important skill for any knight.
Women: No Rights
Women in the Middle Ages had no political
rights.
A woman’s social standing depended
completely on her husband’s or father’s
status.
Even the Church viewed women as inferior
to men.
For peasant women life was a ceaseless
round of childbearing, housework, and hard
fieldwork.
Women of higher station were occupied
with childbearing and household
supervision. When the husband was away,
the wife might manage the entire estate until
his return.
Chivalry brought about an idealized attitude
towards women, but it did little to improve
their actual position.
The New City Classes
Development of city classes – lower,
middle, and upper-middle
Emerging merchant class had its own tastes
in the arts plus the ability to pay for what it
wanted (people’s art)
Expression of their point of view (merchant
class) of life was evident in the mystery and
miracle plays
The Crusades
A series of wars waged by Eastern
Europeans against the Muslims with Jerusalem
and the Holy Land as the prize.
Exposed the Crusaders to a more sophisticated
culture than they knew at home
Introduced the Crusaders to new foods, spices,
academics, and medical techniques
Also, the Crusaders discovered that Arab
universities were established before their
European counterparts.
The Magna Carta
In 1215, the English barons forced King
John to sign the Magna Carta in an effort to
curb the Church’s power.
The signing was a defeat for central papal
power.
The document later became the basis for
English constitutional law.
Important Events
The Hundred Years’ War – England fought
with France over the French throne. The
English lost, but with this war came the
yeoman (small landowner) being held as the
ideal instead of the knight. This ideal led to
a more democratic England.
Important Events
The Black Death - The bubonic plague
killed a third of the English population. It
was spread by fleas from infected rats and
was highly contagious.
The plague caused a labor shortage and
helped bring feudalism to an end.