The Medieval Period (The Middle Ages) 1066-1485

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The Medieval Period(The Middle
Ages)1066-1485Patience is a high virtue.
Geoffrey Chaucer The Franklins Tale, The
Canterbury TalesManners maketh man. William
of Wykehammotto of two colleges at Oxford

• Introductory Notes
• British Literature

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The Norman Conquest of England

• Alfred the Great defeated the Danes (King
  Hrothgars people) and confined them to the north
  of England
• In 1066, the English King, Edward the Confessor
  died, and Harold II (Edwards cousin) claimed
  that he should be the new king
• Duke William of Normandy (with the churchs
  support) invaded England and defeated Harold at
  the Battle of Hastings.
• In four years, the Normans killed most of the
  English nobility and divided the land into
  estates known as fiefdoms, ruled by the
  French-speaking barons loyal to William the
  Conqueror

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Anglo-Norman Literature

• For 200 years (1066-1260), after the conquest of
  the Normans, English became a lower-class
  language, one spoken almost by the poor and
  powerless
• The language of the rich was Norman-French
• The production of English Literature was
  nonexistent
• The production of Anglo-Norman literature was
  quite practical, in keeping with the character of
  the Norman people
• Much of it consists of religious tracts and other
  works meant for general learning

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Feudalism

• The political system brought to England by
  William the Conqueror
• All of the land belonged to the King, who granted
  land to nobility, called Barons
• Barons were bound in loyalty to the king, had to
  raise armies to fight his battles, and pay taxes
  to support his court
• Barons granted land to lesser nobles and required
  services and taxes from them
• At the very bottom of the social order was a
  class of bondsmen, known as peasants or serfs

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Feudalism
KING
Barons
Other Nobles
Peasants/Serfs
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Peasants/Serfs

• The life of a serf was terrible
• They were the property of their feudal lords and
  could not leave the land or even marry without
  permission
• They lived on meager diets, suffered terribly
  from disease, and worked very hard only to turn
  over much of what they produced for the support
  of the lords household
• Occasionally, a serf could earn his freedom by
  some exceptional service to his lord. This class
  of freed serfs (or freemen) grew to include many
  merchants, traders, and artisans.

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The Influence of the Church

• At no time in history of England was the
  influence of the church greater than during the
  Medieval period
• The Roman Catholic Church had tremendous power,
  money, and influence
• The head of the church was the Pope
• Much of the literature of the time was religious

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Henry II

• In 1154, Henry II became King of England
• He despised the fact that the church had
  (technically) more power than he did
• He wanted to curb some of that power by
  appointing his friend, Thomas Becket, to the
  Archbishops seat in Canterbury when it became
  open.
• He expected Becket to go along with his views and
  support his every wish for change. But

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• Instead, Becket defied royal policy and appealed
  to the Pope. The Pope supported Becket, which
  enraged Henry.
• Some of Henrys knights misunderstood Henrys
  rage and in 1170, four of them went to Canterbury
  and murdered Becket in his cathedral.
• Henry quickly condemned the crime and tried to
  atone for it by making a pilgrimage to Canterbury
  to Beckets tomb
• He built a shrine to his friend and that shrine
  became an example of religious devotion

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Growth of Towns

• Towns in England were growing rapidly
• Townspeople grouped themselves into associations,
  called guilds, according to their vocation
• As these guilds became more powerful, some of
  them became corrupt
• Also, as towns grew, many combined into cities.
  With the growing population, it was only
  inevitable that

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THE BLACK DEATH

• 1348-1349Because of unsanitary conditions,
  disease was widespread and the worst plague in
  history, the black death, swept through England
• It killed one-third of the population

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Middle Ages (later part of the Medieval Period)

• As the Black Plague waned, so did the Feudal
  system
• Many peasant revolts caused the noblemen to lose
  some of their power
• 1381-Peasant Revolt Jack Straw and Wat Tyler
  rebelled in demand for individual liberty and
  human rights
• The idea of chivalry and romance emerged once
  again
• Code of chivalryloyalty, valor, both on and off
  the battlefield

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The War of the Roses

• Began in 1453, when King Henry VI suffered his
  first bout of madness
• Parliament appointed his cousin, Richard of York,
  as temporary head of England until Henry was able
  to return
• Henry recovered briefly and Richard was forced
  from office. But Richard was not willing to
  leave without a fight.

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• This resulted in a Civil War, known as the War of
  the Roses, because it pitted the House of York
  (Richards side) whose family symbol was a white
  rose against the House of Lancaster (Henrys
  side) whose family symbol was a red rose
• The House of Lancaster ultimately won the Civil
  War in 1485 (30 years later)

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Medieval Literature

• Crusades (11th-13th centuries) holy wars to
  recapture JerusalemEurope supported and fought
  in these wars.
• Devotion to the Virgin Mary influenced the
  development of a unique type of literature known
  as romancewhich portrayed the standards of
  knightly conduct known as chivalry
• Romances were stories of adventure and dealt with
  the exploits of knights (battles, jousts, etc).
  They would present a series of tests or trials of
  the knights virtues
• Most famous---the tales of King Arthur and the
  Knights of the Round Table. These tales were
  handed down orally until written down around 1135

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Medieval Literature

• 1476-William Caxton introduced movable type to
  England
• Geoffrey Chaucer in many estimates, he ranks
  second only to Shakespeare as Englands greatest
  writer. He wrote The Canterbury Tales, a series
  of verse told by different pilgrims on their way
  to the tomb of Thomas Becket

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Medieval Literature

• Ballads songs of the common people, four-line
  stanzas that served as entertainment and as
  records of events that captured the popular
  imagination.
• Robin Hood and similar stories
• Morality plays represented abstract virtues and
  vices as actual characters
• Mystery plays told stories from the Bible
• Miracle plays told stories from the lives of
  Saints

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Other Interesting/Famous Events

• 1215 Magna Carta- limited the power of the
  King. Caused by Henry IIs son John because he
  was a heavy taxer, Parliament forced him to sign
  it
• 1339-1453 100 Years War over possession of
  French land
• Joan of Arc (1412-1431) helped France to win back
  its land
• Late 14th century John Wycliff finished the 1st
  complete translation of the Bible into English