The Medieval Period

1
The Medieval Period

• Overview and Background to Medieval Literature
• B. McDaniel
• John F. Kennedy School
• Berlin, Germany

2
At the beginning (c. 500)

• Society was tribal (Anglo-Saxons)England
  consisted of many small kingdoms which were
  constantly fighting each other.
• Christianity was all-important
• Common factor educated people spoke/wrote in
  Latin

3
Charlemagne

• 800 a.d. (Christmas Day) crowned Emperor.
• Unified tribes, created stability.
• People were able to think about other things.
• Monks refined writing system (Carolingian
  minuscule)
• Study of Latin (standardized language)
• 1050ish poetry written in Provençal (French)
• People began to write in their own languages.
• Development of the poetic form known as the
  courtly romance.

4
Last Anglo-Saxon King

• Edward the Confessor (very religious man).
• William supported Edward in a problem with the
  Danes
• Edward agreed that William would succeed him as
  King of England. (Edward had no heirs.) But,
  when Edward died, Harold I (of the Danes)
  expected to become King of England.
• Final outcome was Harold was crowned William
  invaded England and defeated Harold William was
  crowned.

5
Williams Invasion

• 1066 Battle of Hastings
• William the Conqueror of Normandy took over the
  Anglo-Saxons.
• Normans were descendants of a tribe of Vikings
  Norsemen who had invaded France. They had
  adopted French language and customs.

6
Williams conquest changed every phase of English
life

• Language
• Educated classes were taught Latin now they were
  taught French.
• Language of court became French.
• Peasants often spoke a mixture of French and
  English. (Caused English language to change in
  sound and rhythm patterns.)

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• Literature
• Became more refined.
• Court and peasants both enjoyed new songs from
  Scotland, Ireland, and England.
• Court enjoyed medieval romances from France.
• Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales
• Thomas Malory Morte dArthur
• religious dramas

8

• Government
• Normans instituted a stronger central government
  with stricter control over finances, lands, and
  military.

9
Local government

• Townships became manors, owned by a knight,
  noble, or the king.
• Cities were walled in and became military
  organizations.
• The hundred a territory allotted to 100
  military families. Had an assembly and a reeve
  (an official who supervised lands for a lord)
• Shire similar to a county. Had an earl, a
  bishop, and a reeve to govern. The shire reeve
  became known as a sheriff.

10
Central government

• The King supported by the army and the church
  the head of everything
• The Witan The Kings Council. Nobles appointed
  by the king. Made laws, tried cases, chose the
  kings successor.

11
Feudalism

• Before 1066, the King, his nobles, and others
  owned land individually. The Norman kings
  confiscated all the land and apportioned it out,
  or leased it, to their own dukes and knights.
• Kings owned land by divine right
• Order of the hierarchy
• King
• barons (appointed by King)
• vassals (appointed by barons)
• landless knights
• serfs (not free to leave the land they worked
  were owned by the men higher up)
• Each person swore an oath of fealty
  (allegiance) to the person next higher up.

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Requirements of serfs

• Had to attend their lords court in person
• Entertain him on visits
• Finance the knighting of the lords oldest son,
  the marriage of his oldest daughter
• Pay ransom for the lord if and when he was ever
  captured
• Owed at least 40 days of military service to
  their lord each year.

13
A typical oath of fealty

• By the Lord before whom this sanctuary is holy,
  I will to _____ be true and faithful, and love
  all which he loves and shun all which he shuns,
  according to the laws of God and the order of the
  world. Nor will I ever with will or action,
  through word or deed, do anything which is
  unpleasing to him, on condition that he will
  perform everything as it was in our agreement
  when I submitted myself to him and chose his
  will.

14
Church hierarchy

• The Archbishop of Canterbury supported the Norman
  king.
• Monasteries were centers of learning until
  universities were built.
• Religion became the main influence of unity for
  Englandbrought together people of all social
  orders.

15
Changes in the Social Order

• Saxon
• King
• Nobles (Earls)
• Overlords
• Reeves
• Vassals
• Serfs

• Norman
• King
• Nobles (Dukes and Earls)
• Knights
• Overlords, Bishops
• Reeves, Mayor
• Vassals
• Serfs

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Military

• Normans introduced a new military
  classKnighthood.
• Each knight was required to be responsible for a
  quota of men always ready to defend their leader
  and their king.
• Governed by the Code of Chivalry.

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Commerce

• Guilds groups of merchants, tradesmen, and
  craftsmen who monopolized the trade of a town
  controlled prices settled disputes.

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• Eventually the Norman discipline and learning
  fused together with the Anglo-Saxon inventiveness
  and democratic ideals.

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Events that dominated/influenced the Middle Ages

• The Crusades (1096 to 1200s)
• Wanted to regain the Holy Land. (Jerusalem was
  fought over for centuries.)
• Europeans benefited from the Middle Eastern
  civilization (math, science, architecture).
• Impact on everyday life the middle-class became
  more important, education became more important.
• The Martyrdom of Thomas a Becket (1170).
• Becket was Chancellor (Prime Minister) of
  England. He had problems with Henry II because
  Becket sided with the Pope on disagreements.
  Four of the kings knights murdered Becket while
  he was praying.

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• The Magna Carta signed in 1215.
• This document was the basis of English
  constitutional law.
• Originally intended to establish the rights of
  the privileged men
• Eventually used as the rights of all men
• Did not include women until after 1900.

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• The Hundred Years War 1337 1453 (116 years).
• England tried to take over France.
• This long war gave us Joan of Arc (French) and
  changed the nature of warfare from hand-to-hand
  combat to fighting with bows and arrows.

22

• The Black Death (the plague) 1348 1349.
• Wiped out one-third of the population. (Some
  sources claim up to one-half the population
  died.)
• Caused a labor shortage.
• Serfs were freed created a new class of society.

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• All the new additions to English life were to the
  benefit of England, although the English did not
  think so at the time.