The Medieval Period and Chaucer

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The Medieval Period and Chaucers Canterbury Tales

• English 12 /English 12 Honors
• Mrs. Klimas

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Medieval Period 1066-1485

• The Medieval time period is also referred to as
  the Dark Ages and/or the Middle Ages.
• Over the course of this time period in England,
  the economy, culture, language, religion, and
  geography dramatically transform as diversity and
  exploration takes shape.

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THE BEGINNING OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

• Feudal estates-based on religious hierarchy
• Rural agricultural life/womens roles are limited
• Latin- only written language
• Christian Unity
• Limited geographical knowledge limited travel

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THE BIRTH OF FEUDALISM

• A caste system, a property system, a military
  system
• Based on a religious concept of hierarchy, with
  God as the supreme overlord. (The King held all
  the land as a vassal to God)

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CLASS STRUCTURE OF FEUDALISM
LORD
Knight
Squire
Yeoman
Serfs
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FEUDALISM

• The Feudal system developed in two ways
• Landowners wanted protection
• A. Paid a portion of the yield from their
• lands
• B. Provided soldiers from their families
• C. Performed whatever other duties and
• homage were required

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FEUDALISM

• Conquering princes/warlords- would reward valued
  allies with grants of land. The land still
  technically belonged to the prince, but they
  administered it. It became the private domain of
  the barons and dukes who were the grantees
• Serfs were not really slaves but the bottom of
  the feudal social scale. They were bound to the
  land on which they worked. They owed service to
  the master of the land and were passed along from
  owner to owner.

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THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH

• Clergy were important and powerful
• Church owned and controlled an exorbitant amount
  of land
• Church had its own legal and tax system
• Church leaders could speak with the religious
  leaders of other nations without the permission
  of the King (no one else could)
• Church supervised education

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THE CRUSADES

• Began in 1096 (30 years after Norman Conquest)
• Christians fought against Muslims along the
  Mediterranean Sea and in North Africa
• The fought over Jerusalem and the Holy Land
• Europeans benefited from the contact with the
  higher civilizations of the Middle East. They
  were exposed to mathematics, astronomy,
  architecture, and medicine

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ARCHITECTURE

• Gothic architecture was popular from1100 through
  1500
• While some were secular buildings most were
  produced for the church
• Prominent Features stained glass, external
  archways, rib vaulting and flying buttresses
  which enabled them to create cathedral ceilings
  for the first time
• Famous examples Notre Dame de Paris (1163
• Westminster
  Abby (1245)

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Medieval Musical Chants

• Originated in the early Christian church and
  became popular during this period
• Sung by monks in these great cathedrals and
  monasteries

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PILGRIMAGES

• Pilgrimage- a journey to a holy place or sacred
  shrine to obtain special blessings from God, or
  as an act of devotion, penance, or thanksgiving.
• Places people take pilgrimages to
• Holy Land- Jews, Christians, Muslims
• Varanasi- Hindus
• Mecca- Muslim
• Medieval people believed that life in this world
  was but a pilgrimage to reach heaven.

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MEDIEVAL LANGUAGE

• Three languages spoken
• 1. French by the Norman rulers
• 2. Latin by the clergy and lawyers
• 3. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) by the common
• people
• Middle English
• 1. Evolves over a period of 400 years
• 2. Old English combines with the Norman French
• 3. Latin terms are added to the language of
  the
• common people

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MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

• The average person still could not read. Plays
  were popular and often acted out in town squares.
  Dramas were often called Mystery Plays and the
  most common subject was Christianity. Plays
  would dramatize the lives of saints, bible
  stories, or serve as moral allegories.

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MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

• The legend of King Arthur was the a common
  subject of Medieval literature.
• Chaucer wrote Canterbury Tales as a frame story
  (a story or stories within a story).
• Lyrics and ballads were also very popular.

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Geoffrey Chaucer 1343(?)-1400

• Known as the Father of English Poetry
• Member of the middle class, well-educated (father
  was wine merchant)
• Served at court
• Made diplomatic missions to France, Spain, Italy
• Catholic yet acknowledged and exposed abuses
  within the Church in his writing

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History of the Tales

• Geoffrey Chaucer began writing the tales around
  1387AD
• The uncompleted manuscript was published in
  1400AD, the year he died.
• First work of poetry purposely written in the
  English language.

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Canterbury Tales a frame story (story or stories
within a story)

• Pilgrims journey from the Tabard Inn in
  Southwark, England to the shrine of St. Thomas a
  Beckett in Canterbury, England.
• Work was not completed at Chaucers death.
• planned for each of 30 pilgrims to tell 2 tales
  going to and 2 tales returning from Canterbury
  (120 stories in original plan)
• only finished 22 tales
• Pilgrims tales are written in narrative verse,
  aiming to entertain and teach a lesson.
• Chaucer customarily writes a five-stress,
  ten-syllable line, alternating unstressed and
  stressed syllables (what would later be called
  iambic pentameter).

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Map of England
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Pilgrims Route
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Canterbury Tales What is it about Canterbury?

• It connected 3 trading ports to London Julius
  Caesar invaded it in 43 A.D.
• The Roman civilization brought it theatres,
  baths, temples, etc. until invasion of Angles,
  Saxons, Jutes in 5th/6th century
• The Anglo Saxons of Canterbury converted to
  Christianity in 597 by Saint Augustine
• A monastery todays cathedral was founded in
  602 by St. Augustine Canterbury was the mother
  of British Christianity
• It was surrendered at Battle of Hastings (1066)
  to William the Conqueror the cathedral was
  destroyed by fire in 1067

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Why pilgrimage to Canterbury? Enter Thomas a
Becket.

• Thomas a Becket, archbishop of England and friend
  of King Henry II, fought for church independence.
• Becket and the king had a disagreement.
• Becket was exiled to France for 6 years because
  he supported the Pope instead of the King.
• When he returned, the king was angry.
• The king said, Not one will deliver me from this
  low-born priest in frustration.
• Suspiciously, four knights murdered Becket on
  December 29, 1170 in the Canterbury Cathedral.
• Thomas a Becket was made a saint (canonized) just
  3 years later.
• St. Thomas a Beckets shrine was completed in
  1220.

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Canterbury Cathedral
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THE END OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

• More independent businesses
• Cities, commercial centers, trade routes develop
• Women are idealized
• Literature written in many languages-development
  of Middle English
• Diversity as the Reformation approaches
• Discoveries of new worlds as a result of more
  travel