Transcript The Middle Ages

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The Middle Ages, or Medieval Times, in Europe
was a long period of history from 500 AD to 1500
AD. That's 1000 years! It covers the time from
the fall of the Roman Empire to the rise of the
Ottoman Empire.
This was a time of castles and peasants, guilds
and monasteries, cathedrals and crusades. Great
leaders such as Joan of Arc and Charlemagne
were part of the Middle Ages as well as major
events such as the Black Plague and the rise of
Islam.
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Middle Ages, Medieval Times, Dark Ages: What's the Difference?
When people use the terms Medieval Times, Middle Ages, and Dark Ages
they are generally referring to the same period of time. The Dark Ages is
usually referring to the first half of the Middle Ages from 500 to 1000 AD.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, a lot of the Roman culture and
knowledge was lost. This included art, technology, engineering, and
history. Historians know a lot about Europe during the Roman Empire
because the Romans kept excellent records of all that happened.
However, the time after the Romans is "dark" to historians because there
was no central government recording events. This is why historians call
this time the Dark Ages.
Although the term Middle Ages covers the years between 500 and 1500
throughout the world, this timeline is based on events specifically in
Europe during that time.
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476 - The fall of the Roman Empire. Rome had ruled much of Europe.
Now much of the land would fall into confusion as local kings and rulers
tried to grab power. This is the start of the Dark Ages or the Middle Ages.
481 - Clovis becomes King of the Franks. Clovis united most of the
Frankish tribes that were part of Roman Province of Gaul.
570 - Muhammad, prophet of Islam is born.
732 - Battle of Tours. The Franks defeat the Muslims turning back Islam
from Europe.
800 - Charlemagne, King of the Franks, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
Charlemagne united much of Western Europe and is considered the father
of both the French and the German Monarchies.
835 - Vikings from the Scandinavian lands (Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden) begin to invade northern Europe. They would continue until
1042.
896 - Alfred the Great, King of England, turns back the Viking invaders.
1066 - William of Normandy, a French Duke, conquers England in the
Battle of Hastings. He became King of England and changed the country
forever.
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1096 - Start of the First Crusade. The Crusades were wars between the
Holy Roman Empire and the Muslims over the Holy Land. There would be
several Crusades over the next 200 years.
1189 - Richard I, Richard the Lionheart, becomes King of England.
1206 - The Mongol Empire is founded by Genghis Khan.
1215 - King John of England signs the Magna Carta. This document gave
the people some rights and said the king was not above the law.
1271 - Marco Polo leaves on his famous journey to explore Asia.
1337 - The Hundred Years War begins between England and France for
control of the French throne.
1347 - The Black Death begins in Europe. This horrible disease would kill
around half of the people in Europe.
1431 - French heroine Joan of Arc is executed by England at the age of
19.
1444 - German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press.
This will signal the start of the Renaissance.
1453 - The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Constantinople. This
signals the end of the Eastern Roman Empire also known as Byzantium.
1482 - Leonardo Da Vinci paints "The Last Supper."
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Based on what you know, it should not be a surprise that
most early medieval literature was written in Latin. Latin
was the language (both spoken and written) of the
educated during the Early Middle Ages, and most of these
educated people happened to be monks.
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Texts were translated and written by hand (often in poor
lighting) by monks who filled pages with words and
complicated illustrations. Most, if not all, books were
written by hand over long periods of time, until a man
named Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in
the early 1400s and made everything much, much easier.
Books could be produced faster than before, though the
letters had to be carefully arranged before being pressed
to the page, and this too took quite a bit of time. But what
tales and stories come from the medieval period?
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Textbooks were hard to come by, but one particularly
well-known book of the early medieval period was
the Ars Minor, a book written in Latin and copied over
and over again for scholars learning grammar in
monasteries. The Bible itself was also frequently used
to teach those seeking an education, along with many
other Latin texts about philosophy and logic and even
where words came from (a study called
“etymology”).
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Other important works for the student—this time the
medical student—were those by Galen, who wrote
about the body, medicine, and hygiene. Medical
students at universities relied on very old texts like
these because, at the time, they offered the best
knowledge of the human body and advice on how to
take care of it.
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But what of stories and tales? A lot of them were told
aloud, and passed from village to village in this manner.
Those that were written down were often in the language
spoken by the common people, and depending on the time
period, this might have been Old or Middle English or even
French.
You see, people loved stories during the medieval days as
much as we do, and over time, books began to be written
not in the language of nobility or monks, but the language
spoken most often by the people. Works such as Beowulf,
which was an epic poem (in other words, a long tale in a
certain style, usually about a hero and his journey) telling
the story of the warrior Beowulf.
Beowulf helps a king, fights monsters (including a dragon),
and the whole piece is written in Old English. Scholars
have translated it for modern readers, so we are even able
to read it today
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Other well-known stories in the form of poems and epics
were The Song of Roland, based on a famous battle and
written in Old French, Tristan and Iseult (sometimes
spelled Tristan and Isolde), a romance about the love of a
knight and a princess, and of course, fables. Many fables—
even retellings of older fables—were popular throughout
the medieval period. These were stories that were usually
short and had a lesson in them, often about good behavior
versus bad, right versus wrong, and patience versus
impatience.
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But perhaps the most beloved and widely-read tale from
this time was (and continues to be) Geoffrey Chaucer’s The
Canterbury Tales. Chaucer decided to write these in the
language spoken during his time (the 1400s), and so the
entire work is written in Middle English. Middle English is
still read by some today, but requires a lot of study.
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Words were spelled much differently and the language
itself, when spoken aloud, sounded far off from the type
of English we speak today. The tale contains many figures
common to Chaucer’s time, and gives each of them a story.
These characters include such figures as a knight, a
merchant, a nun, a physician (or doctor), and even a cook.
That’s only naming a few of the many characters found
within The Canterbury Tales
So what have we learned about medieval literature?
Originally it was all in Latin and used mostly in
monasteries and churches, while tales were told aloud and
passed around by the common people. Eventually, popular
romances, fables, and epic poems were written in the
language of everyday people, and one of the most wellknown of these tales is Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Stories
involved magic, monsters, lessons, and love. Doesn’t sound
so different than what we read today, does it?