Transcript the middle ages - Parma City School District

THE MIDDLE AGES
449-1485
THE MIDDLE AGES
• The Anglo-Saxon Period
– 449-1066
• The Medieval Period
– 1066-1485
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
• Battle of Hastings
– 1066
– Beginning of The
Medieval Period
– Harold, king of
England, defeated by
William the Conqueror,
Duke of Normandy
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
• Consequences of Norman Invasion
– Inventory and seizure of property
– Martial law
– Strong central government established
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
• William the Conqueror
– Efficient and ruthless
soldier
– Able administrator
– Able to conquer the entire
country
– Reigned for twenty-one
years
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
• The Normans
– Descended from the Vikings
– Seized and remained in
northwestern France (Normandy)
– Adopted many French customs
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
THE NORMANS
• Positives
– Superb soldiers
– Excellent
administrators
– Great borrowers
and adapters
• Negatives
– Lacked
inventiveness
– Unoriginal
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
• The Fusing of the Norman and Anglo-Saxon Cultures
– Neither dominant
– Anglo-Saxons adapted to the Norman ways
• Improve life through the Church or court
• Began to mingle with the Norman overlords
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
• Thomas Becket
– Henry II’s Lord
Chancellor
– Archbishop of Canterbury
– Defended the claims of
the Church against the
interests of the King
– Murdered by several of
Henry’s knights
– Became a saint of the
Church and a hero of the
people
LAND & THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
• William had a great deal of land at his disposal
– Retained much for himself
– The rest he granted to his soldiers
– Felt he was free to deed land by royal charter
• Expected obedience and service in return
– Introduced into England the feudal system
LAND & THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
• Feudalism
– Nobody owned land independently
• Allegiance
– Feudalism is an elaborate chain of loyalties
• Rent paid by military service
LAND & THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
• The Domesday Book
– Sometimes called Doomsday
– Created in 1086 by William
• A complete inventory of all property
• Taxes could now be based on real property
THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
• Responsible for
• Despite national loyalty,
creating a common
every person was
culture & a common set
responsible to the
of beliefs in Western
Church
Europe from the 11th to • The Church grew and
15th century
prospered during the
• Latin became the
period
language of all
• Preserving and
educated persons
transmitting culture
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• As the period progressed, herding became
more important than farming
– Wages instead of labor
– Production of wool encouraged the growth of
cities in the north
• More people began to live in towns instead
of manors
• Many became immensely rich
• Developed native forms of literature, songs
and ballads, and a native drama
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• These new merchants were the first to form
guilds
– Societies to regulate prices and standards
– Extended family life
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Other Types of Work
– The great English cathedrals
– Often took several hundred years to build
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Winchester
Cathedral
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Lincoln
Cathedral
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Salisbury
Cathedral
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Yorkminster
Cathedral
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Guilds were founded for many of these
workers
– Stonecutters and masons
– Carpenters
– Glass blowers
– Stainers
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Life in the Middle Ages was difficult and
challenging
• Travel
• Food
• Winters
– The difficulty of life was balanced with
entertainment
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Medieval
Clothing
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Medieval
Clothing
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Medieval
Tournament
MEDIEVAL LIFE
• Medieval
Festival
ENGLISH LAW
• William the Conqueror instituted written public
documents for most government actions
– Common Law
• Applies to all people instead of certain
people
– Primogeniture
• Exclusive rights for the first born son
ENGLISH LAW
• Ordeals
– Innocence or guilt was
settled by tasks
– In 1215, Pope Innocent III
declared that the ordeal
system was irrational
– Replacement: Jury System
ENGLISH LAW
• The Magna Carta
– In 1215, a group of angry
barons forced King John
(1199-1216) to sign the
Magna Carta
– Established that levies must
be made with the consent of
the barons
– Limited the king’s taxing
powers
– Foreshadowed the right of
trial by jury and the
beginnings of representative
government in Parliament
THE CRUSADES
• The first Crusade was
proclaimed in 1095 by
Pope Urban II
THE CRUSADES
• Other Crusades
followed in 1191,
1202, 1217, and 1270
THE CRUSADES
• Each Crusade began
with a desire to
rescue Jerusalem
from the Turks
THE CRUSADES
• Most ended squalidly
in raiding, looting, and
a tangle of power
politics
THE CRUSADES
• Results of the Crusades
– Christian Europe exposed to Arabic culture
– Commercial and intellectual horizons broadened
– Knowledge and all manners of refinements in
living were brought back from the East
– Encouraged the ideal of true knightly behavior
known as chivalry
• Considerable importance in literature
• Joined to the companion idea of romance
The Hundred Years’ War
• 1337-1453
• The English monarchy never voluntarily
relinquished its hold on its French
possessions
• Numerous costly wars in France, culminating
in the Hundred Years’ War
• Eventually England was driven from France
The Hundred Years’ War
• The Longbow
– Used by the English
from the time of
Edward I (1272-1307)
– Six-foot bows
– Yard-long arrows
capable of piercing a
knight’s armor
– Longbows and
gunpowder did much to
end the Middle Ages
THE BLACK DEATH
• In 1348, the Black Death came to
England
– First of a series of plagues that killed more
than a third of the population
– Scarcity of labor caused by the plagues
resulted in the death of feudalism
THE WARS OF THE ROSES
• 1455-1485
• Civil war between the House of York and
the House of Lancaster
– House of York’s emblem was the white rose
– House of Lancaster’s emblem was the red
rose
THE WARS OF THE ROSES
• In 1485, Henry VII
succeeded Richard III
• Henry united the
feuding families
through marriage
• Ended the wars and
founded the Tudor line
• With Henry’s
accession, the real
Middle Ages vanished
Henry VII
Richard III
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
• Romance
– Chivalry, love, wonders and marvels
•
•
•
•
•
Fairy enchantments
Giants
Dragons
Wizards
Sorceresses
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
Three Principal Sources
• Britain
– King Arthur and his
knights
• Based on Celtic
folklore
• Almost no historical
basis
• Chivalric ideals
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
Three Principal Sources
• France
– The court of
Charlemagne
MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
Three Principal Sources
• Rome
– Classical stories
such as the
conquest of
Troy
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
• 1340?-1400
• First great figure in
English literature
• Greatest work belongs to
poetic and humorous
realism
– The Canterbury Tales
FOLK POETRY AND DRAMA
• Ballads
– Came from the common people of early
England and Scotland
– Not written down but recited and sung
– 14th and 15th centuries
FOLK POETRY AND DRAMA
• Drama
– Popular drama’s origins are in the Middle Ages
– Miracle Plays
• Rough dramatizations of Biblical stories
• Wicked characters were played as comic
characters
FOLK POETRY AND DRAMA
• Drama (cont.)
– Morality Plays
• Took the place of miracle plays toward the end
of the Middle Ages, during the dark and
troubled times of the 15th century
• Dramatic allegories representing virtues and
vices
• Most famous was Everyman