Transcript The Age of Chivalry - Ms. Gleason`s Classroom

The Age of Chivalry
The Age of Chivalry
 The
code of chivalry for
knights glorified combat and
romantic love
 Chivalry
has shaped modern
ideas of romance in Western
cultures
Terms to know
chivalry
tournament
troubadour
Where you’ve heard these terms
Cavalier and chivalry both
come from the French chevalier
which means knight
The final four is the nickname of
the NCAA basketball
tournament
Knights become an important
part of battle


Charles Martel
organized the
Frankish army into
troops of armored
horsemen, knights.
The development
of the saddle and
stirrups made it
easier to fight on
horseback.
The knight is still
seen as a symbol of
war and battle 1000
years later
Feudal lords raise private armies



Knights were given fiefs (plots of land) in
order to protect feudal lords from other
nobles trying to take their land
By granting the knights fiefs, the knights
were able to use the wealth of the land to buy
weapons, armor and warhorses
A knight typically served in 40 days of battle
per year
Chivalry
 Chivalry
is a complex set of ideas
which demanded that a knight
fight bravely in defense of three
masters
• His earthly feudal lord
• His heavenly lord
• His chosen lady


The chivalrous knight
also protected the
weak and the poor
The ideal knight was
loyal, brave and
courteous


Reality: brutal to lower
classes..
Many knights failed to
live to these
standards
Chivalry
Literature of Chivalry
LOVE POEMS AND SONGS
 Troubadours – traveling
poet-musicians at the
castles and courts of
Europe

EPIC POETRY
 King Arthur
 Charlemagne
They composed short
songs about the joys and
sorrows of romantic love
Troubadours then and now.
Epic Poetry
The Song of Roland is one of the
most famous medieval poems
It praises a band of French
soldiers who dies in a battle
under Charlemagne
Shifting Role of Women


Church viewed women
as inferior to men
Feudalism develops 
Women status declined
• Roles limited to home and
convent
• Endless labor, bearing
children, family care
Women Power

Women Power
• Feudal system allowed women to inherit land
• Send knights to war upon lord’s request
• Acted as military commander/warrior
• Dressed/fought as knights
Did NOT receive fiefs as rewards for
fighting
 Lords passed down land to sons, NOT
daughters…

Primary Sources: Noble Women
1.
Contrast the daily life of a noblewoman to the
daily life of a peasant woman in the Early
Middle Ages (p. 368).
2.
Identify at least TWO things that noblewoman
and peasant women had in common (p. 368).
3.
Under what circumstance could a
noblewoman become ‘lord of the manor’ and
assume the duties that come along with that
title? (p. 369).
Tournaments


Sons of nobles
began training for
knighthood at a
young age
After a year or two
of training, they
entered mock
battles called
tournaments
Trumpets blared and lords and
ladies cheered. Tournament
winners could demand large
ransoms from defeated knights.
Bloody Battles


Unlike
tournaments,
actual battles were
quite violent and
bloody
Castle battles are
among the most
bloody
The home of the lord and lady, a
castle under siege was a gory
sight. Defenders poured boiling
water, hot oil or molten lead
while archers on the roof fired
arrows and bolts at attackers.
Castle Weapons
A Siege Tower had a
platform on top that
lowered like a
drawbridge
A Battering Ram was made
of heavy timber with a
sharp metal tip
It could support soldiers
and weapons
It swung like a pendulum
to crack castle walls or
knock down a drawbridge
Trebuchet


A Trebuchet
worked like a
giant slingshot
It propelled
objects up to a
distance of 980
feet (More than 3
football fields)
A Trebuchet was used to launch
•pots of burning lime
•boulders
•severed human heads
•captured soldiers
•diseased cows
•dead horses
Castle and Siege Weapons
A tortoise moved slowly
on wheels and sheltered
soldiers from falling
arrows.
A mangonel flung huge
rocks that crashed into
castle walls. It propelled
objects up to 1300 feet.