The Middle Ages

1
The Middle Ages

• 1066 - 1485

2
What do you think of when you hear the term
Middle Ages?
3
Misconception??

• The Middle Ages and sometimes pictured as a
  glittering time of chivalrous knights and daring
  deeds. Were they actually centuries of brutality
  and chaos?

4
After the Viking invasion

• William of Normandy ascended the throne.
• Suppressed the Anglo-Saxon nobility
• Remade England along feudal lines

5
The Feudal System

• Involved exchange of property for personal
  service.
• The king parceled out pieces of land
• Gave those land owners titles (baron) and
  special privileges.

6

• Each baron paid taxes to the king
• Supplied knights should the king ever need their
  services
• Each knight received a smaller piece of land
  (manors)
• Peasants who worked this land (serfs) were
  the lowest class

7
Growth of Government

• Plantagenets gained control in 1154.
• Henry Plantagenets legal concerns put him in
  direct opposition with the church.
• Put Thomas Becket in the position of Archbishop
• While there, Beckett went against King Henrys
  beliefs
• 1170 four of Henrys knights killed Beckett
• Henry made a pilgrimage to his tomb in Canterbury
• That trail became official holy trail

8
Decline of the Feudal System

• After many royal families, the social structure
  of England began to change.
• 1348 1349 the Black Plague brought on a
  massive labor shortage
• Increased the value of peasant work