The Middle Ages: 1066 – 1485

Mr. Hudgens

English 12CP

The End of Anglo-Saxon England In October of 1066, Duke William of

Normandy defeated the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings (King Harold) at the battle of Hastings.

Thus began the Norman (French) conquest of England.

Aside from having a bunch of Frenchies running things, England would be introduced to a new social system: Feudalism.

Feudal Social System…

Kings, ruling large areas of land by “divine right” needed a system to keep control of their holdings.

Similar to the “comitatus” of the Anglo-Saxon era, Feudal kings relied on their “lords” to help rule their lands.

These lords would be given “fiefs” to manage in the name of the king

I Scratch Your Back… In turn, the lord was expected to pay homage and

fealty to the king.

Part of this would be providing troops for the king if the need arose. If the king could collect enough “shield money” than a standing army could be formed.

Some of these fiefdoms would, over time, become rather large and the lords would find themselves with the same problem as their kings.

Knights, etc. To keep order within the

fiefdom, the feudal lords would often enlist the service of a class of warriors called knights.

These knights would operate within a system of formalities called “chivalry”

Knights were honor bound to adhere to the code of chivalry in order to maintain their social status.

The Code of Chivalry To fear God and maintain

His Church To serve the liege lord in

valor and faith To protect the weak and

defenseless To give succor to widows

and orphans To refrain from the wanton

giving of offence To live by honor and for

glory To despise pecuniary

reward To fight for the welfare of all

To obey those placed in authority To guard the honor of fellow

knights To eschew unfairness, meanness

and deceit To keep faith At all times to speak the truth To persevere to the end in any

enterprise begun To respect the honor of women Never to refuse a challenge from

an equal Never to turn the back upon a foe

Chivalry and Courtly Love One of the ideals of chivalry

was the concept of courtly love.

Knights could be said to better themselves by actively pursuing and adoring a woman

This adoration was supposed to be nonsexual.

I said, “supposed to be.”

According to the church, the ideal Christian was to remain celibate…even in marriage.

Knights would often devote themselves to a woman publicly and wear colors that represented her.

This was nice and everything, but it did women very little actual good.

The Rights of Medieval Women

This one’s easy.

There aren’t any.

Seriously.

Next slide, please.

Women’s Lot…

Almost 90% of women lived as farmers during the Middle Ages and would have lived very short, very harsh lives.

They were expected to serve their husbands.

If they worked outside the home, they could expect less pay for their work…shocking

Women were typically barred from the trade guilds.

Women could not:

• Marry by choice

• Divorce

• Could not own property unless they were a widow

• Could not inherit land if a brother existed

• Could not own a business without special permission

So What Could They Do? Have babies.

• Producing males was of utmost importance.

• Sadly, upwards of 20% of all women would die in childbirth doing just that.

Join a nunnery.

• Some did it for God

• Others did it as an escape.

• They could earn rather high regard as nuns, largely due to their chastity

Apprenticeship

• Women could apprentice

• Often led to sexual abuse by their “master” or even to prostitution

Small Business

• Women could run a small business out of her home selling her weaving, etc.

Medicine

• Women couldn’t practice “medicine” per se, but some were very skilled midwives, etc.

• Unfortunately, by the end of the Middle Ages, many of them were being burnt as witches

The Medieval Church

The Christian integration we saw during the Anglo-Saxon period would fully bloom in Medieval England.

During this time period (1095 – 1270), flexing its newfound might, the Christian church would launch a series of crusades to Christianize the heathen.

When Christians talk about heathens, they usually mean Muslims.

The Crusades

1st Crusade• Launched in 1095 by

Pope Urban II

• Captured Jerusalem in 1099.

• It was a great success for some: Jews and Muslims were massacred; women were raped.

2nd Crusade• Launched in 1144

and was quickly defeated

3rd Crusade• 1187. Yeah, they

lost, too.

More Crusades

4th Crusade

• 1202…again, they fight over Jerusalem and lose

Children’s Crusade

• Children, yes, children marching against the Muslims.

• Of the 40K present most were killed or sold into slavery

5th Crusade

• 1217; Failed 6th Crusade

• 1221; Partial success

• Regained partial control of Jerusalem (split with Muslims) for ~20 uneasy years

7th Crusade• 1248; Failed

Yet More Crusades

8th Crusade

• 1270; Failed

9th Crusade

• 1271; Failed

There were various other Crusades to various parts of Europe and the Middle East. Most were largely unsuccessful.

The long term impact is debatable, but usually a couple of results stand out:• Long lasting ill will and

resentment of Western Christians by Muslims in the Middle East who still view them as politically motivated acts of western aggression, which it probably was

• Increased trade to the Middle East

• Mixing of cultures

What’s the Point? The point is that even after the Great

Schism in 1054, ALL western Christians—even the Kings of Europe—were under the auspices the Christian (Catholic) Church and the Pope in Rome.

That means the Pope was heavily influential and could pretty much do whatever he liked.

But that doesn’t mean the kings liked it…especially, King Henry II of England.

Thomas a Becket By the Pope’s appointment,

Thomas a Becket was the Archbishop of Canterbury

He was an argumentative cuss (like Henry) and often sided with the Pope against King Henry II.

King Henry was annoyed by this and one day wished aloud, “Gee, I wish someone would kill that son-of-a-Bishop.”

So they did…

Actually, he supposedly insulted his court and then said, “Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?”

I guess when you’re a king, people take you seriously, so four knights broke into his church, and split his skull with their swords.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Becket’s murder was wildly unpopular.

Not long after, miracles were reported at Becket’s grave and various other sites.

The martyr was quickly canonized and was revered for most of the Middle Ages.

King Henry would be forced to repent and walk through the streets of Canterbury while being flogged by 80 monks.

So What?

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Medieval masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, is essentially the story of a pilgrimage to Becket’s tomb.

His tomb was a popular pilgrimage destination when most people were expected to make a pilgrimage.

In one year in the 15th century, over 100,000 people made the pilgrimage to Canterbury.

Why is Chaucer Such a Big Deal?

Before Chaucer came along, most serious writing was done in Latin or French.

With a few notable exceptions, Chaucer was the first English poet to successfully utilize the vernacular Middle English.

This, coupled with his ability to capture depth of character while sustaining a strict attention to meter and rhyme, places him securely with the likes of Shakespeare.

Further Development of English Chaucer’s Middle English (1 of 5

common languages in England at the time) was the dominant form of English from the Norman invasion through the 15th century.

Middle English is certainly a descendent of Old English, but bears little resemblance to it.

Most traces of the old Germanic words and inflection are gone, instead replaced by the Norman.

This partially explains why modern English has so many words representing the same idea.

An example of M.E. is to the right

Whan that Aprill with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the roote,And bathed every veyne in swich licourOf which vertu engendred is the flour;Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breethInspired hath in every holt and heethThe tendre croppes, and the yonge sonneHath in the Ram his halve cours yronne,And smale foweles maken melodye,That slepen al the nyght with open ye(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;.

The English of Chaucer

Canterbury Prologue, Cont’d…

And specially from every shires ende

Of engelond to caunterbury they wende

The hooly blisful martir for to seke

That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

Bifil that in that seson on a day,

In southwerk at the tabard as I lay

Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage

To caunterbury with ful devout corage,

At nyght was come into that hostelrye

Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye,

Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle

In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,

That toward caunterbury wolden ryde.

The chambres and the stables weren wyde,

And wel we weren esed atte beste.

Canterbury Tales should be seen as an “estate satire”

There were three “estates” in the Middle Ages.• The Church

• The Nobility

• The peasantry Women had their own “estates”

• Maiden (virgin)

• Wife

• Widow

Estate Satire

Toward the end of the Middle Ages, the larger social estates were breaking down.

• The mercantile class was emerging at this time. (Urban middle class)

• The intellectual class was also developing. This was an offshoot of the church estate. However, the members of this new estate studied literature and were trained writers. They were not connected with the church.

Estate Satire

Chaucer was interested in criticising the various established estates and the emerging ones. No one was safe from his wit or critique.

Literary Devices Used by Chaucer

Characterization Irony Couplets Imagery Metaphors Allusions Personification

The 7 Deadly Sins

Two types of sin:

1. Venial – relatively minor

2. Mortal – in danger of eternal damnation unless forgiven through contrition and confession

The 7 Deadly Sins are mortal sins!!!!

7 Deadly Sins

1. Lust

2. Gluttony

3. Greed

4. Sloth

5. Wrath

6. Envy

7. Pride

The 7 Deadly Sins were balance by the 7 Holy Virtues

Chastity Temperance Charity Diligence Patience Kindness Humility

A word about physiognomy

A fun, but rather dubious way to determine a person’s character

Still, it was widely popular in Chaucer’s day.

We need to pay attention to the physical details Chaucer gives us about each character.

What’s this got to do with Chaucer?

By looking at what qualities Chaucer gives to each character, we can determine how to judge that character.

Be careful, though, Chaucer can insult with a smile.

The Black Death –

Raged in England from 1348-1350 No one knew what caused it. Some

doctors thought a “miasma” started it. Symptoms included

• Bulbos

• High fever

• Vomiting

• Muscular pains

Black Death – Last Slide

Victims died in 2-4 days 30 to 40% of England’s 5 to 6 million

people died during this two year period. Black death continued to break out in

smaller waves for years afterward. The result in England was a labor

shortage which caused a break down of the estates.