The Middle Ages 1066-1485 _________________________________

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The Middle Ages1066-1485________________________
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• War was the intention of the Medieval man.

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Battle of Hastings

• October 14, 1066 (basically the start of The
  Medieval Period)
• Began the Norman Conquest
• King Harold of England (the last of the
  Anglo-Saxon kings) killed by Duke William of
  Normandy, France (known as William the Conqueror)

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William the Conqueror

• He was the illegitimate son of the previous Duke
  of Normandy, a cousin of the English king called
  Edward the Confessor
• Edward died childless in 1066 and Harold, the
  Earl of Wessex, was crowned
• William claimed the throne belonged to him and
  sailed the English Channel with his army intent
  on ruling the Anglo-Saxons (one way was through
  the Domesday Book)

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The Domesday Book

• Inventory of property in England land, cattle,
  buildings, etc
• William assumed all property was his
• Supporters of King Harold lost their holdings
• William parceled property out to Norman lords who
  in turn swore loyalty to him
• Comparable to Gods final judgment of moral worth
• Allowed taxation creating social hierarchy

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Feudalism

• The essence of the medieval period based on
• Caste system based on religious concept of
  hierarchy
• God was supreme overlord
• Kings held land as vassals by divine right
• King appointed barons as vassals, allotting
  portions of land for allegiance and protection
• Carried all the way down to the landless knights
  serfs who were not free
• Created the iconic image of iron-clad knights
  battling around moated castles because of
  displeasure with weak overlords

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Knights

• Military service was the duty of all males
• Aristocrats, sons of nobles, were the only people
  who could afford armor, which consisted of a war
  horse, pack horses, a mount ride, and servants
• Armor consisted of helmet, shield, hauberk made
  with metal discs sewn on linen (before crossbow),
  mail shirt 120 lbs. with 200 custom fitted iron
  plates
• Education on manners, social skills, singing,
  dancing, playing chess along with teaching on the
  proper use of sword shield began at age seven
  strict training that occurred somewhere other
  than boys home
• Age 14 became a squire or servant to a knight

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Ceremony of Homage

• Oath of Fealty - Vassal knelt, placed his clasped
  hands within his masters, declaring Lord, I
  become your man. Lord raised him to his feet and
  gave him the ceremonial kiss binding the vassal
  to love what his lord loved and loathe what he
  loathed, and never by word or deed do aught that
  should grieve him.

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Coats of Arms

• Armorial bearings to identify knight
• Cloth tunic worn over armor originally
• Record of family descent, property, alliances, or
  profession
• In a heraldic emblem, gentlemens helmet, mantle,
  crest, and family motto are above the shield
  (escutcheon)
• On flags carried by knights

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Chivalry

• Origin French word cheval from horse
  chevalier was a knight who rode a horse with
  lance in hand
• Rules of Warfare never attack an unarmed
  opponent, help defend others, resist the urge
  to retreat
• Knight was to defend his lord, the king,
  Christian faith

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ChivalryCode of Conduct System of Ideals

• Treatment of gentlewomen
• Adoring a lady was means of achieving
  self-improvement
• Courtly love revering acting in the name of
  lady made a knight braver was non-sexual
• Knights might wear his ladys colors in battle,
  glorify her in words, be inspired by her but
  she remained pure out of reach giving rise to
  Romance Literature

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Women in Medieval Society

• Not soldiers so no political power
• Subservient to men
• Husbands or fathers social status land value
  determined her value
• Peasants ceaseless childbearing, housework,
  field work
• Nobles childbearing supervision -
• managed estates while husbands were at war, but
  relinquished power when husbands returned

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Feudal Castle

• Roman Church ruled society
• Feudalism originated because of the need to band
  together for protection
• Roman Church Feudal Society similar because of
  gathering around wealthy patrons
• End of Feudalism cities towns developed
  creating lower, middle, upper classes with
  individual tastes and monetary system not tied to
  feudal lords

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Crusades

• Series of wars waged by European Christians
  against Muslims with the Holy Land and Jerusalem
  as the prize
• Eastern Influence
• -math, astronomy, architecture, crafts
• -Islam had public libraries
• -Cairos million people to Londons fifty
  thousand, center for spice trade Arab
  universities existed with study of trigonometry
• -medical encyclopedia, study of small pox
  measles
• -Baghdad teacher introduced algebra

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St. Thomas a Becket

• A Norman chancellor (prime minister) under King
  Henry II
• All Christians belonged to Catholic Church and
  was vassal of the pope
• No separation of church and state
• Archbishop of Canterbury, Head of Catholic Church
  in England
• Sided with pope in a dispute with the king on
  December 1170 about Common Law
• King Henry raged, Will no one rid me of this
  turbulent priest?
• Four of the kings knights murdered Becket in his
  own cathedral, Canterbury

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Common Law

• Applied to all people rather than to certain
  classes of people
• King Henry attempted to bring the church under
  this common law
• Benefit of Clergy people who could read could
  commit a crime and claim the benefit, receiving
  minor punishment
• The public sided with the pope, were outraged at
  the king, and Latin and the church gained power

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The Magna Carta

• Greatest defeat of papal power
• Signed at Runnymede by King John (backed by the
  pope) in 1215
• English barons forced the signing
• Basis for English constitutional law
• -trial by jury
• -legislative taxation

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The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)

• England and France
• Both Edward III and Henry V claimed the throne
• Created the working class green-clad yeoman
  (small landowner) with longbows replacing the
  knight
• Longbows could fly over castle walls, pierce
  armor, and warriors could fire about 12 arrows in
  the same amount of time it took to reload a
  crossbow

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Joan of Arc

• Led French army against the English in the
  Hundred Years War
• Illiterate French peasant woman
• Successful for 2 years before being captured in
  Burgundy and sold to the English
• English gave her to an ecclesiastical court, to
  escape responsibility for her death, which found
  her guilty of wearing mens clothing and
  witchcraft
• She was burned at the stake

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Bubonic Plague

• Black Death, 1348-1349
• Final blow to Feudal England
• Contagious disease spread by fleas from infected
  rats
• Reduced Englands population by 1/3
• Caused labor shortage which gave the lower class
  leverage against overlords
• Saint Sebastian and Saint Christopher
  protectors against plague

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Monetary System

• English upper class gold silver valued by
  weight
• Foreign coins were melted into ingots
• Feudal lords made their own coins
• Serfs used a barter system
• Crusaders needed money for other lands
• Silver was heavy
• Use of light weight gold coins gave peasants
  buying and selling power

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Gunpowder

• Before gunpowder warfare was hand to hand combat
• Led to the development of guns
• Led to gunpowder in cannons which made the
  previously impregnable castle open to attack

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Literary Genres

• Romance narrative dealing with knights, quests,
  and dangers for the love a woman or ideal
• Frame Tale story within a story
• Ballad song-like poem that tells a story