Transcript File

The Middle Ages
1066-1485
Edward the Confessor
Had no children (which
means no heirs to the throne)
Died 1066
Anglo-Saxons are now in
a shaky position, and
King Harold rises to take
the throne, tentatively.
King Harold
Last of the Anglo-Saxon Kings
Was the Earl of Wessex (an area covering
the southernmost 3rd of England)
Ruled from Jan. 6th, 1066 to Oct. 14th 1066.
Died in the battle of Hastings
• First of only 3 kings to die in warfare.
William the Conqueror
Second cousin to Edward
Claimed Edward promised the throne to him
Illegitimate son of the previous Duke of
Normandy
Kills King Harold, October 1066
Wanted to rule the Anglo-Saxons, not eliminate
them.
• Kept Anglo-Saxon language and cultural elements
Normans: Invade at end of 1066
Bought emphasis on law and order
Very artistic
Cultural unity
Administrative ability
Domesday Book
• Accounting for all property in England
• People could be taxed on what they owned
Completed in 1086, printed in Latin.
The final judgment of the assessors
could not be appealed, hence the
name “Domesday” or Day of
Judgment.
Feudalism
Social, caste, property and military system
Based on religious concept of hierarchy
God was the supreme overlord
• Kings
 Had power by “divine right”
 Appointed barons/lords
 Allotted land for economic and military allegiance
Barons/Lords
• Could appoint vassals of their own
Feudalism:
Knights (warrior caste)
Did not own land
Military force of barons and kings
All males above serf caste
Trained as young boys
Knighthood was based in a complex system of
social codes
Feudalism:
Serfs
Worked for the economic gain of the baron
or king
Had protection in return for service
Feudalism:
Women
No political rights
Social standing depended on husbands,
fathers, or brothers status
Lower class women worked
in fields
Higher class women ran
estates in absence of husbands
Chivalry
System of ideal and social codes governing
the behavior of knights and gentlewomen
Oath of loyalty to lord
Rules of warfare
• Never attack an unarmed opponent
Courtly Love
• Non-sexual relationship
• Wore lady’s colors in battle
• Write poetry about her
Helped to idealize women but did little to
improve social positions
Gave rise to Romantic
genre of literature
City Classes
Growth of cities rendered the feudal system
obsolete
Lower, middle and upper-middle classes
• Evident n the writing
of Chaucer
Merchant class
• New interest in art
 Mystery and miracle plays
• Guilds and craft unions
Architecture
Church Hierarchy
Just like with the
society, the church
had its own power
structure with God
at the top.
God
Pope
Cardinals
Archbishops
Bishops
Priests/Abbotts/Abbesses
Monk/Nun
Great Happenings
Crusades (1095-1270)
• Christians vs. Muslims
 Jerusalem was the prize
 Europeans failed
• Benefited from contact with high civilized cultures
of the Middle East
 Mathematics, astronomy, architecture, crafts
Thomas a Becket
Norman
Prime Minister under King Henry II
Appointed arch-bishop, head of the
Catholic church in England
• King Henry thought Becket would help with
disputes with the Pope
 Becket sided with Pope – Oops!
• 4 of Henry’s knights murdered Becket in the
cathedral
 Created a backlash against Henry
 Thomas was eventually Sainted as a martyr
Magna Carta-“The Great Charter”
King John in 1215
Basis for English constitutional
law
9 of the 26 provisions in the Bill
of Rights can be traced back to the
Magna Carta, about a third (33%)
Heavily concerned with the right
to petition and the due process of
law
• Trial by jury
• Legislative taxation
Hundreds Years’ War (1337-1453)
England against France
Based on claims to the throne of France
• King Edward III and King Henry V
Changed idea of the British
• Lost the “Knight in Shining Armor”
• Replaced by Yeomen (small landowner)
 Used longbows that could pierce armor
Black Death
Bubonic plague (1348-1349)
Spread by fleas from rats
Decreased population by 1/3
• Causing labor shortage
• Gave lower class more leverage
• Serfs were given freedom
 Knocked out last of feudalism support
Black Death Fun Facts!
•Estimated 75 –200 million
people died
•Was called “the Pestilence”
•Cold weather and rains for 2
years caused a shortage in
food, causing people to live
closer, ideal for the spread of
disease
•Doctors thought bad smells
could cure the plague, or
drinking wine.
Black Death continued
•Bodies were piled up inside and outside city walls where
they lay until mass graves could be dug. This contributed to
the bad air and helped to spread the disease
•Bathing during the plague was discouraged for two reasons.
1. Along with changing clothes, it was a sign of
vanity, which invited the wrath of God and the
punishment of sin.
2. Bathing was believed to open the pores, making it
easier for bad air to enter and exit the body, spreading
disease.
Black Death continued
•The attempts to find cures for the plague started
the momentum toward development of the
scientific method and the changes in thinking
that led to the Renaissance.
•As the population dwindled and society
crumbled, old rules were ignored.
• The Catholic Church lost influence, creating the
seeds that led to Protestantism.
So…The Black Death was a good
thing???
If nothing else, we get Monty Python!
FUN FACTS ABOUT
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
“FATHER OF ENGLISH POETRY”
 Prior to Chaucer it was not fashionable for serious poets to write in
English, it was all about Latin
 Chaucer was a well known government official who served under
three Kings—Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV.
 By using the vernacular (everyday language) spoken in London and
the East Midlands—Chaucer lent respectability to a language that
would develop into the medium for one of the world’s greatest bodies
of literature.
LIFE AND TIMES
 Born into a middle-class family in London in the early 1340’s
 His father was a wine merchant.
 He was captured during the
Hundred Years War in
France, but he was
important enough that the
King contributed to his
ransom to get him returned.
FAMILY
Married Philipa of Hainault in 1366
Had at least two children
• Thomas became a famous chef, serving royalty
• Alice married a Duke
• Speculation relations:
• Elizabeth Chaucy, a nun at Barking Abbey
• Agnes, an attendant at Henry IV's coronation
• Lewis Chaucer, Chaucer’s “Treatise on the Astrolabe” was
written for him
CAREER
While he achieved fame during his lifetime as an
author, philosopher, alchemist and astronomer,
Chaucer also maintained an active career in the civil
service as a bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat.
Later in life he became a member of Parliament
Died October 25, 1400- his
tombstone was erected in
Westminster Abbey in 1556 and
is in the “poet’s corner”
ITALIAN CONNECTION
 In 1372 and 1378 Chaucer traveled in Italy
where he was influenced by Dante and Petrarch as
well as Giovanni Boccaccio.
 The framing of The Canterbury Tales and
Boccaccio’s Decameron is very similar.
THE CANTERBURY TALES
He began writing them in 1387
• Never finished
Written during periods of unemployed (fickle world of
politics)
Uses iambic pentameter: dominant meter is based on
ten syllables, unstressed -> stressed pattern
ROAD TRIP!
 The story of a religious
pilgrimage to St. Thomas a
Becket’s shrine
 Each traveler is to tell four
stories, two going out, and
two returning – it’s a contest
THE CANTERBURY TALES – THE PROLOGUE
In all of literature there is nothing that touches or resembles the
Prologue.
It is a concise portrait of an entire nation: high and low, old and
young, male and female, lay and clerical, learned and ignorant,
rouge and righteous, land and sea, town and country!
Chaucer is our presumed narrator
Starts out at the Tabard Inn in Southwark (south London)
Meets 29 religious pilgrims bound for Canterbury
This is a fifty-five mile trek and their host suggests a contest for the
best storytelling along the way, the prize being dinner.
WANNA TRY IT?
LDWA = Long
Distance Walkers
Association is a
group in the UK
who still host
groups and
provide planning
info for people to
take the journey
OLD ENGLISH & POETRY
Remember that there is iambic pentameter in play – an
inescapable rhythm to the lines
Pronunciation guide on p. 102
Using this guide, figure out how to say the version found
on p 104 – specifically the line number corresponding
to your desk number 
WHEN ENGLISH TEACHERS GET BORED…
IT’S HOMECOMING, CAN WE DO SOMETHING FUN???
• Make sure your Middle Ages Notes and the
new vocab are pasted into your IANs.
• Next week – the Wife of Bath tells her tale
which may ignite a battle between the sexes!
• Today: option in lieu of completing the crossword
puzzle – create a cheer using three of the word and
perform it at the end of class (small groups up to 4)
and must include movement.
PROLOGUE - WIFE OF BATH (455-486)
Then there’s a prologue to her own story, p138
WIFE OF BATH’S TALE
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
Read the Wife of Bath’s Tale starting on p138