Tuesday, October 24 English IV Honors

1
Tuesday, October 24English IV Honorsthe class!

• Introduction to the Middle Ages
• J. Atkins
• Wade Hampton High School

2
Bellringer (and more)

• Turn to page 438 in your textbook.
• Review the material provided on maintaining
  subject-verb agreement.
• Complete both exercises on p. 439!
• Turn in the exercises for a daily grade.

3
Reviewing the bellringer

• Go over exercise 1
• Review complements, indefinite pronouns, and
  adjective clauses.
• Diagram a few sentencesjust for fun!

4
The next unit The Middle Ages

• Look at the artwork surrounding the map on p.
  678. Discuss.
• Discuss timeline on p. 680-681.

5
Historical Background

• The Middle Ages began about A.D. 300.
• Notice on the timeline that the only works listed
  before 900 are sacred writings and Beowulf.
• How do you think literature flourished?
• Most historians date the end of The Middle Ages
  at about 1500.

6
Feudalism

• Based on the control of land and on the rights
  and responsibilities that this control conferred.
• Serfs tilled the soil for the lords of the manor
  who protected them.
• The lords, in turn, protected the nobles from who
  they had obtained the land.
• The nobles protected the king who owed his
  allegiance to God alone. http//www.learner.org/ex
  hibits/middleages/feudal.html

7
Moors Invasion

• When the Moors invaded Spain, Europe was a
  Christian society. The Muslim invasion of a
  Christian country set the stage for many battles
  between Christians and Muslims.

8
Beowulf

• This heroic epic contains some traces of the
  Christian ethos. Because it was written in Old
  English, it must be translated for modern
  readers.
• Hwæt! We Gardena         in geardagum,
  þeodcyninga,         þrym gefrunon, hu ða
  æþelingas         ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld
  Scefing         sceaþena þreatum, monegum
  mægþum,         meodosetla ofteah, egsode
  eorlas.      

9
Translation

• ListenYou have heard of the Danish Kingsin the
  old days and how they were great
  warriors.Shield, the son of Sheaf,took many an
  enemy's chair,terrified many a warrior,after he
  was found an orphan.He prospered under the
  skyuntil people everywherelistened when he
  spoke.He was a good king!

10
Roger Bacon and Science

• People sometimes overlook the fact that science
  was studied and practiced in the Middle Ages. One
  of Roger Bacons major interests was the field of
  optics. He used mathematics and scientific
  methodology and experimentation to study optics.
  He succeeded in presenting an accurate
  description of the eye and the optic nerve.

11
Humanities Connection

• The Book of Kells, dating from the late eighth to
  early ninth century, is an illuminated manuscript
  of the four Gospels from Ireland. Illumination is
  usually divided into two distinct styles outline
  drawing and fully colored. In the fully colored
  style, the vellum was covered with a base to
  allow the burnished gold to adhere more firmly,
  and then the dyes, mixed with egg and gum and
  dissolved in water, were applied.

12
Dark Ages

• At on time the term Dark Ages was used to
  describe the early Middle Ages, from about the
  fifth to the eleventh centuries. It is true that
  most Germanic peoples were illiterate, scholarly
  materials were monopolized by the Church, and
  European trade was stagnant. Modern scholars,
  however, generally agree that the term Dark Ages
  is a misnomer. Think of Tristan Isolde!

13
Life in the Middle Ages

• People of the Middle Ages existed under mental,
  moral, and physical circumstances so different
  from our own as to constitute almost a foreign
  civilization. Barbara Tuchman
• Only members of the clergy were educated
• Latin was the language of learning
• Life was only a brief stopping place on the way
  to an eternal afterlife
• Daily life was hard

14
Chaos and Culture

• The End of Roman Culture
• Collapsed under its own weight
• Byzantine Empire with its capitol in
  Constantinople (Istanbul) ruled Egypt, the
  eastern Mediterranean, Asia Minor, the Balkans
• Western Empire fell to invading Germanic tribes
  (Lombards, Anglo-Saxons, Franks)

15
Knighthood Chivalry
16
The Age of Faith

• In A.D. 330 the emperor Constantine proclaimed
  Christianity the official religion of the Roman
  Empire, and in 451, the Pope became the
  undisputed religious authority of the Church.
• Chronicles were kept in monasteries which became
  the forerunners of our modern-day historians and
  journalists.

17
The Rise of Charlemagne

• In 768, Charlemagne became king of the Franks,
  and in 800 he became the first emperor of the new
  Holy Roman Empire.
• He encouraged scholarship and under his direction
  a new way of writing was instituted that replaced
  the Roman system which used only capital letters.
• The Song of Roland is about Charlemagne.

18
Epic Deeds of Heroes Heroines

• Throughout the early Middle Ages, a rich
  tradition of stories was passed on by minstrels.
• In general the medieval epics glorify physical
  strength, courage, and loyalty, celebrating
  warriors who defeat evil and restore order.
• Note saints lives glorified the Christian
  virtues of piety and humility.

19
Medieval Oral Literature

• French poets called trouvères composed the
  popular chansons de geste.
• It is important to remember that most people in
  the Middle Ages were illiterate.
• The common people entertained themselves with
  folktales, beast fables, and ballads.
• Ballads, or narrative songs, were like the
  stories we hear in the National Enquirer.

20
The Romance and Courtly Love

• Chivalry, a term derived from the French word for
  knight, chevalier, was basically a military code
  of behavior.
• A knight was supposed to be fair to his
  opponents, loyal to his lord, and honorable in
  all things. He was supposed to show Christian
  humility to his peers, kindness to those beneath
  him, and generosity to all.

21
The Romance Theme

• Romances were the literary expression chivalric
  ideals Arthurian romances were among the most
  popular. Chrétien de Troyes who wrote in French
  in the late 12th c., was the most famous of the
  medieval romance poets.
• Courtly love served to distinguish romances from
  earlier epic.

22
A Tradition from France

• In France, the Breton lais (lai means song)
  were influenced by the ideals of courtly love.
  They were short stories with supernatural or
  fairy-tale elements, written in verse and sung to
  the accompaniment of the lyre or lute by
  troubadours.
• A number of lais were collected by Marie de
  France who lived in the English court not long
  after the Normans of France had conquered England.

23
Education

• Woe to our day, since the pursuit of letters has
  perished from among us.
• History of the Franks, Gregory of Tours
• With the collapse of the Roman Empire, learning
  became the province of church officials. From the
  late 500s, when Gregory wrote the History of the
  Franks, until the mid-700s, learning was a
  neglected art. In the late Middle Ages, the
  academic disciplines were divided into Trivium
  grammar, rhetoric and dialectic the Quadrivium
  arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.

24
The Late Middle Ages

• Dated from about 1300-1500 and was a time of
  enormous upheaval that dealt severe blows to the
  feudal system and the Church.
• The Crusades (1096-1270) were Christian attempts
  to forcefully regain the Holy Land from the
  Muslims.
• The Little Ice Age, the Black Death, the
  development of gunpowder were all dramatic
  changes during this time.

25
Important Literary Developments

• Power of the Church was challenged (see the movie
  Luther) because its power as Bible interpreter
  was challenged.
• Reformers were able to write, print, and
  circulate literary satires that ridiculed the
  Church corrupt practices.
• The rise and use of the vernacular the most
  significant development.