Transcript The Middle-Ages (Medieval Time Period)

The Middle-Ages
(Medieval Time Period)
1066-1485
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LITERATURE AS A
PRODUCT OF ITS TIME
• As indicated by your textbook, the
literature of the Middle Ages can best be
understood when one understands the three
dominant influences of the time:
– Feudalism
– Religion
– Chivalry
The Middle-Ages
• 1066 start=Norman Invasion=William the
Conqueror named king
• 1485 end=end of the War of Roses
– End House of York rule (white)
– House of Tudor rule begins (rule for 118
years) (red)
• Renaissance-Henry VII-Elizabeth I
The Middle-Ages
• Three significant wars/series of wars during this
era are:
– Crusades: Military expeditions launched by
Christian secular and religious rulers against
the Moslems in the Middle East from 10961291.
– 100 years war (House of Plantagents claimed
to be king of both England and France)
– War of the Roses (House of York vs House
of Tudor)
FEUDAL SYSTEM: TERMS
• Feudalism: both a political and economic
system. (Nobles grant land (fief) in exchange for
personal service, ie. Protection/knights)
• Fealty: vassal’s fidelity, loyalty and allegiance to
a lord.
• Vassal: the holder of land by feudal tenure on
conditions of homage and allegiance.
• Fief: a piece of land given/granted on condition
of giving military and other services to the feudal
lord in return for receiving protection.
FEUDAL SYSTEM: TERMS
• Liege: the superior or sovereign lord to
whom a vassal owes ultimate allegiance
above all others.
• Primogeniture: means first born. The law
of primogeniture prevented the dispersal of
family property by allowing only the eldest
son to inherit the entire estate.
FEUDAL SYSTEM: TERMS
• Chivalry: the idealized code of conduct for medieval
knights *see separate notes and handouts*
• Exalted courage and courtesy in battle, generosity to
one’s inferiors and loyalty to one’s lord.
• Church involvement in the crusades added love of God
and the defense of Christian principles of code.
• End of Crusading period, chivalric behavior extended to
the idealization of women and courtly love and became
the pursuit of the elite who expressed the antiquated
military code in mock battles and jousts.
BRITISH CLASS STRUCTURE OF
THE MIDDLE AGES
King
Ruling Class
Clergy Class †
Nobles, Related to royalty
Religious association: Priest,
Minister, Nuns, Brothers, Monks
Etc.
Some formal education;
Career vs. job; some $
Middle Class
Trade Class
No formal education Trained by someone
already in the biz; work for someone else-If at
all
Peasant Class
Illiterate; no formal education;
poor, farmers, servants, etc.
CHIVALRY
From the French word
chevalier-horseman
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Chevalier: OriginallyTraining-fight
War=ennobling experience
Special brotherhood
Ideal code for war and love
Moral system
See “Ten Commandments” and “The Code of Chivalry” Handout
Read
Write a one paragraph summary.
SOME GUIDELINES
Be brave and honorable in battle
Defend your king and your country with
your life
Be honest and loyal to all you serve
Protect the defenseless, especially ladies
Be courteous in all your doings with others
SOME MORE GUIDELINES
Respect women
Be generous to those less fortunate than you
and to your lord, king, and host.
Fight fairly, granting mercy even to an
enemy if requested
Follow the teachings of the church and fight
to defend Christianity
Obey your lord and king in all things
SOME MORE GUIDELINES
Follow the rules of courtly love, to honor
your liege lady
Serve a virtuous noblewoman
Perform brave deeds to prove devotion to her
Accept that she is unattainable
LITERARY TERMS
LITERARY TERMINOLOGY
• Allegory: a prose (not poetic) tale in which
people and things represent abstract
qualities.
• Alliteration: the repetition of the initial
consonant sound within multiple words in
a line of poetry.
LITERARY TERMINOLOGY
• Ballad: a song-like narrative poem, originally
oral, that tells about a specific event, using third
person, dialogue and repetition. Like modern day
songs, contains a refrain (chorus) repetition of a
line, lines, or stanza.
• Structure typically consists of 4 lines (quatrain) per
stanza. Follow a rhyming pattern for example: 2nd and
4th lines have end rhyme (acbc). (*More to come in
Ballad Unit)
LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:
TYPES OF TALES
• Breton Lais: set in the Brittany region of
France, Celtic in origin, of magic, fairies,
folk lore and courtly love.
• Beast Fable: Animals are given human
qualities and involved in clever tales that
preach a moral lesson.
LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:
TYPES OF TALES
Exemplum/Moral Tale: A sermon that
illustrates a well-known, moral lesson
using an anecdote or short story.
Fabliau: a low level type of humor, stories
based on clever tricks involving infidelity.
LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:
TYPES OF TALES
• Miracle & Mystery plays: retold bible stories
and the lives of the saints.
• Cycle plays: portray biblical history of mankind.
Hell usually represented by a dragon’s mouth
which breathed fire.
• Morality play: portrays the life of an ordinary
person, meets characters who represent abstract
qualities to teach a moral lesson.
LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:
TYPES OF TALES
• Romance: imaginative adventure
concerned with noble, idealized heroes,
(King Arthur & the knights) gallant love, a
chivalric code of honor, daring deeds and
supernatural events, faraway settings,
lighthearted in tone and often involve one
or more characters on a quest.
LITERARY TECHNIQUES
• Couplet: a rhymed pair of lines. A simple
couplet may be written in any rhythmic pattern.
• Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales in either
rhymed couplets or in stanzas of seven lines.
His use of iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets
is the forerunner to the perfection of the heroic
couplet as a technique.
LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Heroic Couplet: two rhyming lines written
in iambic pentameter.
• Example: Shakespeare uses rhyming
iambic couplets/heroic couplets for the
lines of the lovers Romeo and Juliet in The
Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Iambic pentameter: an iamb is one weak
stress followed by one strong stress.
Pentameter 5 beats per line, ie. 5 strong
beats or 5 pairings of stressed/unstressed.
Ex: My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a
horse.
Hyperbole: An exaggeration used for effect.
LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Metaphor: a direct comparison between two
unlike things.
Mock-Heroic Style: a style in which trivial
matters are written in a style that would be
more appropriate for great and important
events. (Rape of the Lock)
LITERARY TECHNIQUES
Satire: literary technique in which ideas, customs,
behaviors or institutions are ridiculed for the
purpose of improving society.
– May be: witty, abrasive, bitterly critical
– Often uses exaggeration
– Satirist distances self by creating a calm, naïve,
fictional observer who address the topic without
revealing the true emotions of the writer.