Transcript The Middle Ages - BritLitCampbell

12 th grade English
Holt McDougal Literature: British Literature Grade 12
Pp 28 -37
 As civilizations moved away from their own religions
and became more “Christianized”, people’s beliefs
began to change as well.
 We now move away from stories that were meant only
to entertain and have the listeners escape, but now to
stories that were meant to inspire and teach its
listeners.
 In October 1066, Duke William of Normandy, France
defeated King Harold of England, the last Anglo-Saxon
ruler.
 William was an illegitimate son of the Duke of
Normandy. The Duke of Normandy was the cousin to
King Edward of England- this would make William a
distant cousin to King Edward.
 When Edward died, he had no heirs so the crown was
given to Harold, the Earl of Wessex. (RememberHarold…..just Harold?)
 William claimed that Edward had promised him the
crown and was determined to take it.
 He brought a huge army and invaded England and
overthrew Harold.
 He did NOT want to wipe out the Anglo-Saxon culture;
unlike previous invaders (i.e. the Romans).
 Instead he combined both the Norman and AngloSaxon ideals to create a new, more diverse culture.
 The Normans brought organization, law and cultural
unity.
 The Anglo-Saxon language, sense of democracy and
artistic tendencies all remained.
 The Domesday Book- inventoried ALL of England’s
properties (land, buildings, cattle, etc…) This
established taxation on what someone owned.
 The title suggests a comparison between William’s
judgment of his people’s financial worth and God’s
final judgment on his people’s moral worth.
(“Domesday” means “Doomsday”)
 William also brought a new social system- feudalism.
 Feudalism was based on a hierarchy- with God as the
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Supreme Overlord. The king was the ‘vassal’ of God so
would hold land as his ‘divine right’.
The king, such as William, would always be the top of
God
the pyramid.
King
Established a military allegiance.
Barons
Established an economic base.
Established a caste system,
Knights
as well.
Serfs
 The primary duty of men who were above the serf class but
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below the ‘Baron’ status was to join the military and fight
for his lord .The Baron, in turn, owed allegiance to the
king.
Boys began training at a young age- often 8 or 9 years old.
They were trained in homes that were not their own- this
ensured that the training would be strict and fair.
When it was completed, he was ‘knighted’- this was a
tapping on the shoulders often with a sword. This was
“originally a hard, testing blow.”
The knight would then be called “Sir” and had full rights
under the warrior caste or class.
This meant complete loyalty and a complex set of social
codes .(i.e. Chivalry)
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 ONE exception to the Feudal System was the
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Church….who was a higher authority than God??
Under the Pope (in Rome), the church had great
power.
They could implement taxes, their own laws & courts,
and kept kings and nobleman in line with the threat of
excommunication.
The ‘’church’ even owned more land than anyone in
Europe!
With power came problems….
 He was a Norman who rose to power under King Henry II;
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he became a Chancellor or Prime Minister.
At the time, all kings were a vassal of the Pope.
The Pope was the head of the Catholic Church and God’s
representative.
The Pope controlled most of the rulers of Europe.
Henry was not thrilled with the pope so he decided to
appoint his friend as the Bishop of Canterbury . This meant
he was the head of the Catholic Church of England. Why
do this? He wanted to be able to have more of a say in any
dispute with the church, thus having more power.
 Thomas was more independent than Henry thought and
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would often side with the Pope rather than his ‘friend’.
In a fit of anger, the king exclaimed “Will no one rid me of
this turbulent priest?”
4 loyal knights took the king for his words and murdered
Thomas Becket in his cathedral.
The people were outraged; Thomas became St.Thomas the
Martyr and Henry and the throne suffered serious setbacks.
These setbacks led to the church/clergymen ‘running
wild’- this will be seen in Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”.
On the positive side- the church stayed the center of
learning, cultural unity, publisher of literature and holder
of the central language of Latin.
 “Chivalry was a code of honor intended to govern knightly
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behavior.” (30)
Was developed by Henry II’s wife- Eleanor of Aquitaine; brought
from France
Some of the ideals were:
Generosity, honesty, bravery, piety,
Defend the weak
Battle evil and uphold good
Encouraged knights to go on Holy Quests (i.e. the Crusades)
Loyalty to his overlord or king
Rules of War ( such as not fighting an unarmed man)
Adoring /Honoring a Woman (not necessarily your wife) was a
way to Self-Improvement- Courtly Love
 This was the IDEA of revering a woman, or doing deeds in her honor.
 Started in the “Court of Love” –presided over by Eleanor and her
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daughter Marie. This was a place of entertainment: tales of King
Arthur were told, music was played and discussions of etiquette were
entertained.
Some examples of Courtly Love:
a knight would wear his lady’s color or scarf or write poems in her
honor.
Under the code of Chivalry, this would make the knight feel braver or
be stronger.
The honored woman would always (ideally) remain ‘out of
reach’…placed above all others.
This concept of Courtly Love was (ideally) nonsexual. Again, I say
ideally………
 It brought about an “idealized attitude” about women
but nothing else.
 Women were to be held in a ‘higher esteem’- to be
adored and cherished yet a woman was still valued by
how much land/wealth she could bring into a marriage
(her dowry).
 Chivalry DID give rise to a new genre of literature:
Romance
NOT THIS……
 Not what you may think….
 It was characterized by adventures, gallant (courtly)
love, chivalry, heroism & represented the social ideals
and order of the Middle Ages.
 See…I told you!
But more like this…..
Is Chivalry dead?
 Women had no political rights since they were not allowed to be
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soldiers.
This was a huge change from Anglo-Saxon culture where women
had many rights/entitlements.
A woman was always subservient to a man; whether it was
husband, father or brother.
The higher the social standing of her husband or father , the
more respect she was given.
Women in the serf class had a life of continual childbearing,
housework and hard labor.
Women of the baron class would still have the responsibility of
childbearing but would also only have to supervise her
household or husband’s estate . If her husband or father was
away at war then she would be in charge of everything but would
have to give her control back upon HIS return.
 The Middle Ages were mainly dominated by the Feudal
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System BUT when populations grew, so did the towns and
cities.
Once people began to move to this areas, the feudal system
began to (and eventually did) die and a NEW system
emerged- the City Classes.
They now had a system of low, middle and upper class; a
system that we recognize today.
People were no longer tied to the land or an overlord- they
were free.
Development of the Merchant (middle class) was what
drove the literature and art of this era .
Share with a different person sitting in
a different group something new you
learned about the Middle Ages so far!
GO!
 The Crusades lasted from 1095 – 1270.
 They were “ a series of wars waged by European
Christians against the Muslims, with Jerusalem and
the Holy Land as the prize.”
 Despite ultimately failing, the contact with the Middle
Eastern cultures benefitted society greatly.
 They were exposed to new mathematics, astronomy,
architecture and crafts- not to mention new textiles
and mercantile.
 This added a ‘richness’ to their lives and consequently
to their literature.
 King John was backed by the Pope but in 1215 he was
forced, by his Barons, to sign a document that went
against the wishes of the Pope.
 The document was called the Magna Carta- this led to
a return of the older, more democratic tendencies from
times past.
 Despite the fact that the Barons had no real interests
in the rights of the people, this document did lead to
or became the basis for later English law; i.e. trial by
jury and taxation laws.
 The 1st National War was fought against France
because 2 English kings claimed the rights to the
French throne. They were Edward III (1327 – 1377) and
Henry V (1412 – 1422).
 The English lost BUT it did give rise to a new army or
warrior- the English yeoman. He was a ‘green-clad’
small landowner who fought with their longbows and
yard-long arrows that could pierce the armor of any
knight. Hmmm…who does this description remind
you of?
 These new soldiers became a dominate class which led
to the end of the knights and the end of feudalism.
 The Bubonic Plaque or Black Death struck England in
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Highly contagious and spread by fleas on rats.
Reduced England’s population by 1/3.
Because there were fewer workers, the ones that
remained recognized their worth and began make
more demands from their overlords.
This led to serfs gaining their freedom which was the
last hold-out of feudalism.
What were some of the effects of the plaque on the
people of this time?
 Besides the devastation of the plaque, the development of a
monetary system and the introduction of gunpowder also
led to the end of the Middle Ages.
 The landowners /barons used gold and silver as a currency
but by weight rather than a value. The serfs used a barter
or trade system- but the Crusades brought around a need
for change. The knights needed to be able to have a
currency that could be used anywhere. Silver was too heavy
so gold coins were developed.
 By 1326, gunpowder was introduced into English warfarethings drastically changed and the code of Chivalry as
concerned to warfare were soon changed, too.
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The Norman Conquest and
William the Conqueror
brought England into main
stream Europe civilization.
The Feudal System
centralized military, political
and economic power.
The Roman (Catholic) Church
fostered cultural unity.
The rise in cities/towns freed
people to pursue economic &
artistic interests.
The signing of the Magna
Carta weakened the church’s
power.
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The Crusades broadened the
intellectual horizons.
Chivalry improved the
attitudes towards women but
not their rights.
The rise of the new Yeoman
class gave way to the
development of a more
democratic government.
The Bubonic Plaque depleted
England’s population by 1/3
and caused a labor shortage
which contributed to the end
of the feudal system and the
rise of the new era.
Share with a different person sitting in
a different group something new you
learned about the Middle Ages so far!
GO!