Medieval Period1066-1485

1066 A.D. – Norman conquest of England; Battle of Hastings; William the Conqueror defeats the last Anglo-Saxon king

Historical Events that Started and Ended this Period

1485 A.D. –Invention of printing press by Johannes Gutenberg; in 1485 William Caxton sets up the first one in England

Introduction to Medieval Period

Dark Ages: Barbarian Germanic tribes move across Europe. Generally rough, crude, illiterate, new Christians.

England’s Invaders:

Prior to 1100 AD:England is invaded often by tribes from many different parts of Europe.

England’s Invaders:

Prior to 1100 AD:England is invaded often by tribes from many different parts of Europe.

Normans – 1. Descendants of a Germanic tribe

2. Loyal to the French King

3. Very powerful, French King made

their ruler a Duke

England’s Invaders: 1066AD

1. King Edward the Confessor, the Anglo-Saxon king, dies without an heir

2. The Norman Duke, William, a relative of Edward, claims the throne

England’s Invaders: 1066AD1. King Edward the Confessor, the

Anglo-Saxon king, dies without an heir

2. The Norman Duke, William, a relative of Edward, claims the throne

3. William is triumphant at The Battle of Hastings.

4. He is crowned the king of England on Christmas Day, 1066.

5. He will go down in history as William the Conqueror

England’s Invaders: William The Conqueror (1066-1087)

1. His most significant introduction into English society was the concept of FEUDALISM.

2. A political economic system in which the hierarchy of power was based on the premise that the king owned all the land in the kingdom. Essentially he claims that all English soil belongs to him.

England’s Invaders: William The Conqueror (1066-1087)

1. His most significant introduction into English society was the concept of FEUDALISM.

2. A political economic system in which the hierarchy of power was based on the premise that the king owned all the land in the kingdom. Essentially he claims that all English soil belongs to him.

3. Keeping a fourth for himself, granting a fourth to the church, he then parcels out the rest of English land to his men in exchange for their loyalty

4. With the birth of Feudalism many people became serfs - - the permanent servants to the Norman Lords

5. In 1086, he compiles The Doomsday Book, a record of all property. (Think of the census and IRS, all rolled into one.)

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:

1. William the Conqueror used superior military might and ORGANIZATION to defeat King Harold and the Anglo-Saxons

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:

1. William the Conqueror used superior military might and ORGANIZATION to defeat King Harold and the Anglo-Saxons

2. The Normans did not want to eradicate the Anglo-Saxon culture - - they wanted to RULE the people, not destroy them

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:

1. William the Conqueror used superior military might and ORGANIZATION to defeat King Harold and the Anglo-Saxons

2. The Normans did not want to eradicate the Anglo-Saxon culture - - they wanted to RULE the people, not destroy them

3. Normans’ strengths - - administrative ability, emphasis on law & order, democratic and artistic tendencies

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:

1. William the Conqueror used superior military might and ORGANIZATION to defeat King Harold and the Anglo-Saxons

2. The Normans did not want to eradicate the Anglo-Saxon culture - - they wanted to RULE the people, not destroy them

3. Normans’ strengths - - administrative ability, emphasis on law & order, democratic and artistic tendencies

4. The Normans brought England into mainstream of Europe - - Eastern Europe: the Netherlands, western France, Austria are more civilized

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:The Feudal caste, property, and military system

KING

LORD LORDLORD

KNIGHTS KNIGHTSKNIGHTS

SQUIRESQUIRE SQUIRE

YEOMANYEOMAN YEOMAN

SERFS SERFSSERFS

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:The Feudal System Developed in Two Ways -

1. Landowners wanted protectionA. Paid a portion of the yield from their lands (King and his Lords wanted to be paid what they felt was their due.)

B. Provided soldiers from their families C. Performed whatever other duties and

homage were required

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:The Feudal System Developed in Two Ways -

1. Landowners wanted protectionA. Paid a portion of the yield from their lands (King and his Lords wanted to be paid what they felt was their due.)

B. Provided soldiers from their families C. Performed whatever other duties and homage were required

2. Conquering princes and warlords – would reward valued allies with grants of land. The land still technically belonged to the king or prince, but they administered it.

3. Serfs – were not really slaves. Bottom of the feudal social order though. Not truly free: bound to the land they worked on. Owed service to the master of the land and were passed along from owner to owner.

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:

This feudal system inevitably begins to decline. Why?

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:The growth of the commoner’s power also

insured the growth of towns where merchants and craftspeople began to demand better rights.

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:They began to form

organizations called guilds

The Results of the Norman Invasion for England:Since wealth was becoming no longer based

exclusively on land ownership, the feudal system begins to break apart

The Medieval Church

1. Clergy were important and powerful

2. Church owned and controlled a fourth of the land in England

3. Church had its own legal system

4. Church had its own tax system

5. Church leaders could speak with the religious leaders in other countries WITHOUT the permission of the King (No one else could do that!!!)

6. Church supervised education (Education meant POWER!!)

The Medieval Church

GOD

POPE

CARDINALS

BISHOPS

PRIESTS, FRIARS, NUNS

The Crusades:

A.Began in 1096 AD (30 years after Norman Conquest)

B.Christians fought against Muslims along the Mediterranean Sea and in North Africa

C.Prize – Jerusalem and the Holy Land

D.Europeans benefited from the contact with the higher civilizations of the Middle East. Exposure to mathematics, astronomy, architecture, and medicine

Medieval Language

1. Three languages spokenA. French by the Norman rulersB. Latin by the clergy and lawyersC. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) by the common people

2. Middle EnglishA. Evolves over a period of 400 yearsB. Old English combines with the Norman FrenchC. Latin terms are added to the language of the common people

Code of Knighthood and Chivalry:

Out of the feudal system during the Medieval Period grew a sense of form and manners :

Chivalry – a system of ideals and behavior that governed knights and gentlemen. It also set the rules of war

From the French word Chevalier (knight)

Code of Knighthood and Chivalry:

Knights were required to – 1. Defend his honor by honorable

means2. Set limits on the scope and nature

of revenge that could be taken for real or fancied insults

3. Fight fairly even with Moslems or non-Christians

4. Love God5. Be loyal to his King or prince6. Practice Christian humility,

kindness, and politeness to those of lower stations

7. Be generous with worldly goods and possessions

Stations of a knight:

PAGE SQUIREKNIGHT

Code of Knighthood and Chivalry:

1. If a knight failed to uphold these high principles he must do penance which might be participating in a Crusade or performing some religious duty

2. Some of these ideals are the same heroic qualities that the Anglo-Saxons admired in Beowulf. Some are different. Anglo-Saxons lived in a more brutal society than the upper classes during the Middle Ages.

Stations of a knight:

PAGE SQUIREKNIGHT

Courtly Love

1. By revering and acting in the name of a lady, a knight would become better and braver

2. Added to the Chivalric Code in the later Middle Ages

3. Each knight devoted himself to a lady of the court (liege lady)

4. Source – the religious cult of the Virgin Mary, a non-sexual devotion

5. Rarely the knight’s wife, but rather a lady of a higher station who the knight could never hope to marry

6. Often the knight would only ever see his liege lady from a distance

Courtly Love

How might a knight demonstrate Courtly Love?

1. Wear his lady’s colors into battle

2. Glorify her in words3. Be inspired by her4. Revere her on a

pedestal (like the Virgin Mary)

Courtly Love

Chivalry and Courtly Love were only practiced by the upper classes – NOT the common people

Contributions of Chivalry and Courtly Love:

1. An improved and even idealized attitude toward women

2. The birth of the form of literature known as the “Romance”

3. A civilizing influence in human behavior

Magna Carta

1. Signed by King John in 1215

2. Written by aristocrats for aristocrats

3. King could not raise taxes without the consent of the barons

4. Laid the foundation for rights such as trial by jury and legislative taxation

The Hundred Years War1337-1453 (116 years):

1. First “national” war

2. England attacked France but were largely unsuccessful

3. Developed a British national consciousness

4. No longer chivalric knights in armor – instead green-clad yeoman with longbows and arrows

The Hundred Years War1337-1453 (116 years):

5. The yeoman or small landowner formed the nucleus of the English Army in France. He became the dominant force in the emerging, NON-FEUDAL England.

6. Long arrows could fly over castle walls and pierce a knight’s armor.

The Hundred Years War1337-1453 (116 years):

7. Gave confidence

8. Feudalism begins to die out in earnest.

9. Democratic principles begin to take hold.

WAR OF THE ROSESAN ENGLISH CIVIL WAR OVER THE THRONE OF

ENGLAND

1453 to 1485 – King Henry VI

Henry VI in 1453 suffers from extreme madness

His cousin, Richard of York, was appointed acting king

Henry recovers briefly, but Richard will not give up the throne

WAR OF THE ROSESAN ENGLISH CIVIL WAR OVER THE THRONE OF

ENGLAND

Richard III (House of York) – represented by the White Rose

King Henry VII (House of Lancaster) – represented by the Red Rose

WAR OF THE ROSESAN ENGLISH CIVIL WAR OVER THE THRONE OF

ENGLAND

2. In 1485, Henry Tudor kills Richard III at The Battle of Bosworth Field and takes the throne as Henry VII.

The House of Tudor becomes a powerful new royal line

The Battle of Bosworth Field is one of the historical markers that ends the Medieval Period

This war ends for two reasons:

1. In 1485, Henry Tudor (Lancaster), marries the niece of Richard III (York) and unites the two houses.

The Black Death (1347-1352)

1. Bubonic plague

2. Early 1320s first outbreak in China

3. Spread to Europe on trading ships by rats with fleas.

4. Fleas carried the disease.

The Black Death (1347-1352)

5. During winter when fleas were dormant the plague disappeared, but reappeared in the spring when the fleas became active

6. Killed 25 million people, approximately one-third the population of Europe

Peasant’s Revolt of 1381

1. Only major social rebellion of medieval England

2. Reduced population from plague left laborers scarce

3. Serfs revolted against taxes and the restraints of serfdom

4. Spurred the dissolution of feudalism

Gothic Architecture1. Popular from 1100-

1500 AD

2. Prominent Features:

- Stained glass

- External archways

- Rib vaulting

-Flying buttresses

3. Enables them to create the first cathedral ceilings

4. Notre Dame de Paris (1163) Gargoyle statues

5. Westminster Abbey (1245) London

Thomas a Becket – 1118 to 1170 AD“The holy blissful martyr”

1. Was a friend of King Henry II

2. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

3. King hoped for Thomas’ support against Pope

4. Henry II said in a fit of anger, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”

5. Four knights murdered him in the cathedral in Canterbury

6. Led to pilgrimage

Pilgrimage – a journey to a holy place or sacred shrine to obtain special blessings from God. Also done as an act of devotion, penance, or thanksgiving

Medieval people believed that life in this world was but a pilgrimage to reach heaven.

LITERATURE

• Average person could not read

• Plays became popular. Acted out in town squares

• Mystery Plays (or Miracle Plays) had a common theme of Christianity and retold the lives of the saints, Bible stories, or moral allegories

LITERATURE Geoffrey Chaucer

1. Author of The Canterbury

Tales

2. Describes a pilgrimage to Canterbury

3. Uses the frame story technique that was popular at that time

Decameron: Famous literary work by Giovanni Boccacio written around 1350 AD

Decameron: Stories set in Florence, Italy during the plague in 1348

Decameron: Ten (10) noblemen and noblewomen each tell one story per day during a ten day quarantine.

Decameron: Named for Greek – Deka (ten) and Hernera (day)

Decameron: Boccacio is noted for his skill in using the Frame Story technique. He greatly influenced Chaucer.

Many wide sweeping changes during the Medieval Period:

Beginning (1066)

1. ECONOMIC: Feudal Estates

2. CULTURAL: Rural agricultural lifestyle; role of women limited

End (1485)

1. ECONOMIC: More independent businesses

2. CULTURAL: Cities, commercial centers, trade routes; women idealized

Many wide sweeping changes during the Medieval Period:

Beginning (1066)

1. ECONOMIC: Feudal Estates

2. CULTURAL: Rural agricultural lifestyle; role of women limited

3. LANGUAGE: Latin – only written language

4. RELIGION: Christian unity

5. GEOGRAPHICAL: Limited geographical knowledge; limited travel

End (1485)

1. ECONOMIC: More independent businesses

2. CULTURAL: Cities, commercial centers, trade routes; women idealized

3. LANGUAGE: Literature written in many languages – including Middle English

4. RELIGION: Diversity as the Reformation approaches

5. GEOGRAPHICAL: Discoveries of vast new worlds, more travel

Medieval Period ends in 1485. Why?

FIRST: Henry the Seventh’s victory at The Battle of Bosworth Field ushers in a Tudor Dynasty that reigns for over 115 years and sees such well known leaders as Henry VIII and Elizabeth I on the throne of England.

Medieval Period ends in 1485. Why?

SECOND: Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press in Germany in 1476

Medieval Period ends in 1485. Why?

SECOND: Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press in Germany in 1476

THIRD: Williams Caxton travels to Germany, sees it, and sets up the first printing press in London in 1485

Medieval Period ends

in 1485. Why?

Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory is one of the first books ever to appear in print.

Medieval Period ends

in 1485. Why?

Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory is one of the first books ever to appear in print

THIS DRAMATICALLY CHANGED SOCEITY!!! Books no longer had to be hand-copied and were more widely available and less expensive. People learned to read.Knowledge is power.