Cultures of Europe 1

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Cultures of Europe 1
Session 4

• The Medieval Age

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1. How long did the Medieval Age, also known as
the Middle Ages, last? a) from the 10th to the
12th centuries b) from the 4th to the 15th
centuries c) from the 12th to the 16th centuries
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• 2. Which of the following definitions is
  correct for the word ?chivalry?
• the social system that existed during the Middle
  Ages in Europe in which people were given land
  and protection by a nobleman, and had to work and
  fight for him in return
• any of the wars fought in Palestine by European
  Christian countries against the Muslims in the
  Middle Ages
• the religious and moral system of behaviour which
  the perfect knight was expected to follow

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• 3. What is the Roman Empire?
• it extended through 16 centuries and included
  several stages in the evolution of the Roman
  state. It encompasses a period in which it was
  divided into western and eastern halves, and the
  history of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire
  that continued through the Middle Ages and to the
  beginning of the Modern Era
• centred on the capital of Constantinople, it was
  the direct continuation of the Roman state,
  distinguishable from ancient Rome in its
  predominantly Greek culture and language rather
  than Latin, with Orthodox Christianity as the
  state church after 380, replacing Roman
  polytheism
• a medieval Germanic empire

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Complete the sentences with the missing words.
4. King Arthur
Historians glimpse him in Arturius, a 6th-century
warrior . Celtic ______ clustered about his
memory in Wales, even in Brittany where some of
his men fled when he _____. By Richards day
troubadours sang of a ______ Arthur, championed
by 12 stalwarts who sat at a Round Table lest
_____ claim him precedence. The Name
"Excalibur" was first _____ for King Arthur's
sword by the French Romancers. It was not the
famous "Sword in the Stone" (which broke in
battle), but a ______ sword acquired by the King
through the intercession of his druidic advisor,
Merddyn (Merlin). Worried that Arthur would fall
in _____, Merlin took the King to a magical lake
where a mysterious hand thrust itself up from the
water, ______ aloft a magnificent sword. It was
the Lady of the Lake offering Arthur a _______
unbreakable blade, fashioned by an elf smith,
along with a scabbard which would ______ him as
long as he wore it.
any, fell, myths, chivalrous
second, holding battle, protect magic, used
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5. The Vikings Match the two corresponding parts
of sentences in such a way that they create a
whole.

1. In 793
2. The Vikings were
3. The Viking age spanned 250 turbulent years,
4. Their society was simple in which
5. The ancient religion of the North
6. Besides superstitions

1. years of bloodshed, of discovery, of colonization
2. held no promise of salvation, luck rankd first
3. the Vikings stormed Europe
4. merchants as well as warriors
5. they had an affinity for ships and a passion for
   poetry.
6. men lived by farming hunting and fishing.

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6. Charlemagne and William the Conqueror
Portrait of William the Conqueror by an unknown
artist
Portait of Charlemagne by Albrecht Dürer
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7. The feudal system
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8. Richard the Lionheart and Robin Hood
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9. The art of courtly love
There were strict rules of courtly ____ and the
art of courtly love was practised by the members
of the courts across ____ during the Middle Ages.
The romance, rules and art of courtly love ____
knights and ladies to show their admiration
regardless of their marital state. It was a
common occurrence for a married lady to give a
token to a knight of her choice to be worn during
a Medieval tournament. There were ____ which
governed courtly love but sometimes the parties,
who started their relationship with such elements
of courtly love, would become deeply involved.
A _____ example of a relationship which was
stirred by romantic courtly love and romance is
described in the Legend of _____, where his
Queen, Guinevere fell in love with Sir Lancelot.
Many illicit court romances were fuelled by the
practise and art of courtly love. The origins of
Courtly Love were believed to be in Aquitaine in
France in the _____ and spread to other European
countries. The art of courtly love was practised
in English courts from the 1300's to the 1500's.
During this period of time _____ were arranged
and had little to do with love. A successful
marriage was perceived as one that brought
material _____ to the participants and their
families. As love was clearly unrelated to
marriage the requirement for romance could be
gained outside marriage - as long as the rules
relating to chastity and fidelity were strictly
adhered to.
famous, Europe, rules , advantages, King Arthur,
12th century , love, allowed , marriages
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10. Francis of Assisi
a) His Friars Minor (Friars hoped his brothers
would ?always be less than all others?) followed
a path of simplicitly and humility.
b) Francis and his ?brothers roved the
countryside singing, begging, working at whatever
tasks came to hand.
c) Turning from happy-go-lucky days of his youth
in Italy, Francis created a brotherhood to pursue
the pure life of the Gospels.
d) His humility, his innocent love of all
creatures, cast a glow across the centuries
whose radianace warms mankind yet.
e) Francis preached to simple folk, even urged
?my little brethren birds? to love God, for ?ye
do not sow, neither do ye reap, yet He keeps and
feeds you.?
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11. Voices form the Middle Ages. Match the
enumerated titles with the nationality of their
author.

• Divine Comedy
• Beowulf
• Song of Roland
• Canterbury Tales
• Decameron
• Ballade
• (I die of thirst beside a fountain)

1. English
2. French
3. Italian
4. Italian
5. French
6. English

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12. Building Great Cathedrals
columns, down, capped, carry,
The ribs ____ the vaults weight down to the
columns. But this outward thrust would splay the
_____ if there were no buttresses to counter the
pressure. Slender stone bridges do this, leaping
_____ and out from one pier to another, each
junction _____ by a pinnacle.
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13. The Life of the Scholar
Search for knowledge, pursuit of pleasure filled
a students day. Up at dawn, he tidied his
cell-like room. At morning classes the professor
lectured ex cathedra some listened, others
scanned texts or daydreamed. Scholars jotted
notes on wax slates, few could afford costly
parchment. Boys of 12 or 13 could begin in
liberal arts, while older collegians pursued law,
medicine, theology.
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14. Trade in the Middle Ages

• all created obstacles to the development of
  Middle Ages trade and commerce.
• which had previously only existed by land, and
  that with great difficulty
• the Crusades.
• guaranteed the liberty and security of traders
  abroad.
• iron, wines, oil, and wax.
• The compass, known in Italy as early as the
  twelfth century but little used until the
  fourteenth, enabled the mercantile navy to
  discover new routes, and it was thus that true
  Middle Ages maritime trade and commerce may be
  said regularly to have begun. The sailors of the
  Mediterranean, with the help of the compass dared
  to pass the Straits of Gibraltar, and to venture
  on the ocean. From that moment trade and
  commercial intercourse,_____________, was
  permanently established between the northern and
  southern harbours of Europe.

The Middle Ages saw the rapid expansion of
Medieval trade and commerce. The most important
contribution to this was through
______________. The Medieval navigators imported
spices, groceries, linen, Egyptian paper, pearls,
perfumes, and a thousand other rare and choice
articles. In exchange they offered chiefly the
precious metals in bars rather than coined, and
it is probable that at this period they also
exported ______________. The bad state of the
roads, the little security they offered to
travellers, the extortions of all kinds to which
foreign merchants were subjected, and the System
of fines and tolls which each landowner thought
right to exact, before letting merchandise pass
through his domains, ___________________. Improve
ments to the Middle Ages trade and commerce were
made by improving the roads and security. The
coasts were protected from piratical incursions
lighthouses were erected at dangerous points, to
prevent shipwrecks and treaties of commerce with
foreign nations, including even the most distant,
______________________________.
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References
Courtly Love. Retrieved from http//www.middle-age
s.org.uk/courtly-love.htm King Arthur. Retrieved
from http//www.britannia.com/history/arthur/excal
ibur.html Middle Ages Trade and Commerce.
Retrieved from http//www.middle-ages.org.uk/middl
e- ages-trade-commerce.htm The Age of Chivalry.
Edited by Merle Severy. Washington D. C.
National Geographic Society, 1969. The Byzantine
Empire. Retrieved from http//www.history.com/topi
cs/byzantine-empire Retrieved from
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire The
Feudal System. Retrieved from History on the
Net. com http//www.historyonthenet.com/Medieval_L
ife/feudalism.htm The Illustrated History of the
Roman Empire. Retrieved from http//www.roman-empi
re.net/ The Roman Empire. Retrieved from
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Roman_
Empire