Transcript The Middle Ages - Kentucky Department of Education

The Middle Ages
Mrs. Womack
English 4
Background Notes
A Typical Community
• For the purpose of security, people living in the
Middle Ages in England, much like their
Anglo-Saxon predecessors, organized around a
central lord or master.
* A MANOR consisted of a castle, church, and
surrounding village, and was fairly isolated from
other manors.
The Feudal System
*Medieval society was organized around a
FEUDAL system. In this system, a king would
grant land to nobles, (barons and bishops), in
return for military service. Those nobles
employed peasants or serfs to work that land in
return for food and shelter.
The Feudal System
Divine Right
• Feudalism was more than a caste system, it was
also a property system and military system.
• It was based on the religious concept of
hierarchy, with God as the supreme overlord.
* The king was the closest power to God, thus
giving him a great deal of power. He allotted
portions of land to his immediate vassals in
return for their economic or military service.
A Knight’s Tale
*The primary duty of males above the serf class was
military service.
*Boys would train from an early age.
*Once knighted, he would be viewed as a man with the
title “Sir”. He also enjoyed the full rights of the warrior
caste.
*Knighthood was grounded in a complex system of social
codes otherwise known as “chivalry”. If any of these
codes were broken, a knight would undermine his
position.
Women in Medieval Society
Since they were not soldiers, women had no political
rights in a system that was primarily military. Women
were always subservient to a man, no matter what the
relationship to her. Her husband’s or father’s social
standing determined the amount of respect she
commanded. A peasant woman’s life revolved around
childbearing, housework, and fieldwork. Women of
higher station were more in charge of household
supervision.
The Medieval Woman
Chivalry and Courtly Love
Chivalry was a system of ideals and social codes
governing the behavior of knights and
gentlewomen. Important codes were ones of
loyalty to ones overlord and rules of warfare.
Also, adoring a particular lady was a seen as a
means of achieving self improvement.
Courtly love was the idea that if a knight fought
in the name of a lady, it made him braver.
Population and Cities
Although much of medieval life centered
around the feudal castle, growing populations
helped in forming cities. This shift eventually
would replace the feudal system with the three
social classes we still use today: lower, middle,
and upper-middle. A growing merchant class’s
appreciation for art helped create new genres of
entertainment.
The Crusades: Ho! For the
Holy Land
The Crusades (1095-1270) were a series of wars
waged by European Christians against the
Muslims, with Jerusalem and the Holy Land as
the prize.
As a result of the Crusades, Christian Europe was
exposed the sophisticated civilization of the
Middle East. (Mathematics, Astronomy,
Architecture, Crafts)
Murder in the Cathedral
Saint Thomas a Becket (1118-1170) was a Norman that had
risen to great power as chancellor under King Henry II.
At that time, all Christians belonged to the Catholic
Church. The King eventually appointed Thomas as the
head of the Catholic Church in England, hoping to
gain the upper hand in disputes with the church.
However, when Thomas took the pope’s side in many
disputes, King Henry had four knights murder Thomas
in the cathedral.
The Importance of Religion
The medieval Church did have one positive
effect: it fostered cultural unity-a system of
belief and symbol. The Church was a center of
learning. It’s monasteries were the libraries and
publishers of the time, and its language, Latin,
remained the international language of
educated Europeans. Its leader, the pope, was
king of all kings-and his “kingdom” had no
boundaries.
The Magna Carta and The
Hundred Years’ War
• In 1215, English barons forced King John to sign the
Magna Carta as an effort to curb the church’s power.
The document later became the basis for English
constitutional law.
• The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) was based on
claims to the throne of France by two English kings
Edward III and Henry V. The English lost, but by the
end, knights had been replaced by Yeoman (small
landowners). This transformed England to a democratic
nation.
The Black Death
Also called the bubonic plague struck England
in 1248-1349. This delivered another blow to
feudalism. Highly contagious and and spread
by fleas from infected rats, the disease reduced
England’s population by one third. It caused a
labor shortage which gave lower class citizens
an advantage, and led to the freedom of serfs.