10661485 A.D.

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• 1066-1485 A.D.

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What Started the Middle Ages

• In Anglo-Saxon England, King Edward (aka Edward
  the Confessor) died childless in 1066
• Harold, the earl of
• Wessex, was crowned
• as his heir
• the next day

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What Started the Middle Agescont

• However, Duke William of Normandy, France,
  claimed the throne of England had been promised
  to him, so he went to England to fight for it.
• William (aka William the Conqueror) won the
  battle and became King of England

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Question If a guy from France became the king of
England, why doesnt England speak French?

• William did not want to eliminate the Anglo-Saxon
  culture and people he just wanted to rule it
• French was the language of the elite (rich), but
  English was still the language of the masses
  (most of the people spoke it)

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The Domesday Book

• First record of every piece of property and who
  owned it
• People began
• to be taxed
• based on what
• they owned

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Feudalism

• Feudalism is literally a hierarchy of loyalties
• The king is at the top (under God, of course),
  then he would appoint barons to be his vassals,
  and the barons would appoint other people to be
  their vassals
• vassals are people under the protection of a
  lord, but they are subservient and must be loyal
  to their lord.
• This hierarchy goes all the way down to the
  landless knights and serfs

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Feudalism cont

• To Further Explain (you do not need to write
  this down)
• A property owner would have someone of the lower
  class work for him and become his vassal. The
  property owner would provide the land, simple
  housing and protection from bandits. In return,
  the vassals would protect the property owner in
  fights, or, if a serf, work the lands and give
  the owner part of what he grew.

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Knights (an institution most commonly associated
with the Middle Ages)

• All males above the serf class were expected to
  perform military duty for their lords
• At 7 years of age, boys were taken from their
  homes for strict training
• At 14, boys became a squire (servant to a knight)

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Knights cont

• Knights were governed by the codes of chivalry
• -oath of loyalty
• -never attacking an
• unarmed opponent
• -adoring a lady
• -acting in the name of a
• lady was supposed
• to make a knight braver
• -was supposed to be
• nonsexual, but we all
• know the story of Sir
• Lancelot and Queen
• Guinevere

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City Folk

• The population in England was expanding, and
  people began moving to the cities
• People could do as they wished in the cities
  without worrying about an overlord
• This was one of the main causes of the eventual
  extinction of the feudal system

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Five Events that Influenced England during the
Middle Ages
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The Crusades

• Wars waged by European Christians against Muslims
  for control of Jerusalem and the Holy Lands
• Europeans did not do very well in the war
  however, they benefited from contact with the
  Middle Easterners because they learned more about
  mathematics, astronomy, architecture, and crafts

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Murder of Thomas a Becket

• During King Henry IIs reign
• King Henry II assigned his
• friend, Becket, to be the
• head of the Catholic Church
• in England
• He assumed Becket
• would use his power in the
• Church to help him

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Murder of Thomas a Becket

• However, Becket was an individual and did what
  was best for the Church, which frustrated the
  king
• Four of King Henrys soldiers killed Becket
  inside the church
• People made Becket out to be a martyr (a person
  who sacrifices something of great value,
  especially life itself, for the sake of
  principle)
• Henry lost even more control/power in the church

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Magna Carta

• Signed by King John in 1215
• The signing of the Magna Carta took power away
  from the church and gave it to the aristocrats
• It became the basis for the English
  Constitutional Law

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Hundred Years War (1337-1453)

• England vs. France, fought in Europe
• England did not do very well in the war
• The image of the knight in shining armor was no
  longer, though (no more chivalry either)
• In place of the knights were the yeoman (small
  landowners) with their longbows (yard long arrows)

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The Black Death (1348-1349) aka The Bubonic
Plague

• Spread by fleas from
• infected rats
• Reduced the population by
• 1/3, and caused a labor shortage
• Because of the labor shortage, it gave the lower
  class more leverage (serfs were freed)

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Romance

• What do you think of when you hear the word
  romance? What image comes to mind?
• Something like this?

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Medieval Romance The Reality

• NOT what we typically think of as romance
• Four characteristics
• Hero motivated by love, faith, honor, or
  adventurousness
• Characters larger than life or idealized
• Setting often a journey ending with an exotic
  location
• Plot may involve the supernatural or hidden or
  mistaken identity