The Middle Ages

1
The Middle Ages

• 1066-1485

2
The Battle of Hastings

• In October 1066, a daylong battle known as the
  Battle of Hastings ended the reign of the
  Anglo-Saxons and began the Norman Conquest.

3
William the Conqueror

• In the battle, Duke William of Normandy, known as
  William the Conqueror, defeated King Harold of
  England, the last of the Anglo Saxon kings.
  William did not want to kill the Anglo Saxons, he
  just wanted to rule them. The new group under
  Williams reign became known as the
  Anglo-Normans.
• William inventoried every piece of land in
  England for tax purposes and recorded this
  information in the Doomsday Book.

4
The Feudal System

• The Anglo-Normans brought a new language, French,
  and a new social system, feudalism, to the
  country.
• Feudalism was not just a social system, but also
  a caste system, a property system, and a military
  system.

5
The Feudal System

• The basic chain of feudalism was as follows
• 1. God
• 2. Kings
• 3. Nobles (Barons, Bishops, etc.)
• 4. Knights- who did not own land
• 5. Serfs or peasants- who did not own land

6
The Three Estates

• Estate 1 Clergy those who prayed or worked for
  the church
• Estate 2 Nobility the wealthy or those who
  fought
• Estate 3 Peasantry the poor, working class
• Feminine virgins, wives and widows
• Estates 2 and 3 are determined by birth
• Estate 1 can be entered into by individuals
  regardless of status

7
Knighthood

• The primary duty of males above the serf class
  was military service. Boys were trained at an
  early age (7 years) to become warriors.
• After training was complete, the boy was dubbed
  or ceremonially tapped on the shoulder. He was
  then a knight, had the title of sir, and the
  had full rights of the warrior caste.

8
Knighthood

• Knighthood was grounded in the feudal ideal of
  loyalty.
• Knights had a system of social codes that they
  were not permitted to break.

9
Women in the Middle Ages

• Women had no political rights because they were
  not soldiers in a primarily military system.
• Women were always subservient to men.
• A womans husband or fathers position in the
  feudal system determined her position.

10
Chivalry

• Chivalry was a system of ideals and social codes
  governing the behaviors of knights and
  gentlewomen.
• Chivalry codes included oaths of loyalty to the
  overlord, observing certain rules of warfare and
  courtly love.
• Courtly love was nonsexual.
• Chivalry brought about an idealized attitude
  about women, but did not improve their actual
  position in life.
• Chivalry gave rise to a new form of literature-
  romance.

11
The Effect of Cities and Towns

• Eventually, the increasing population in cities
  and towns made the feudal system virtually
  obsolete.
• The city classes were lower, middle and
  upper-middle.

12
The Crusades

• The Crusades (1095-1270), a series of wars waged
  by European Christians against Muslims, were
  fought during this period.
• The Catholic Church upheld the idea that
  Jerusalem and other places in the Middle East
  (The Holy Land as we know it) were sacred to
  Christians, but Muslim people occupied them.
  Pope Urban II urged soldiers to fight and
  recapture these cities for God.

13
Crusade Map
14
St. Thomas a Becket

• King Henry II and Thomas a Becket were best
  friends. Because the English kings were ruled by
  the Pope of the Catholic Church, King Henry gave
  his friend Thomas the title of archbishop of the
  church in Canterbury. Henry hoped he could
  better control the Pope with one of his friends
  in this role.
• Thomas a Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury,
  began to take his role more seriously than Henry
  had predicted. Becket even began siding with the
  Pope on major issues. King Henry became angry
  and asked who would rid him of this problem?
  Four knights murdered Becket in the church during
  the service with parishoners present.
• Beckets murder enraged the common people who
  deemed him a martyr and they lashed out against
  King Henry which weakened the kings power in his
  struggle with Rome.

15
The Magna Carta

• The Magna Carta was signed by King John in 1215
  at Runnymede.
• The Magna Carta was a document that limited the
  Churchs power and became the basis for English
  law today.

16
The Hundred Years War

• The English and French entered into the Hundred
  Years War (1337-1453) because two English kings
  were claiming they had rights to the French
  throne.
• This first national war showed that England was
  no longer represented by the armor clad knight,
  but by the green clad yeoman. Common people were
  taking up the fight for their country rather than
  the knights alone.

17
The Black Death

• The Black Death, or Bubonic plague, struck
  England in 1348-1349.
• The Black Death was highly contagious, spread by
  fleas from infected rats, and killed
  approximately one third of the population.
• This plague was a contributing factor in
  eliminating feudalism because most of those who
  died were serfs or peasants. Those who survived
  The Black Death could now be paid for their labor
  due to a shortage of workers.