The Middle Ages

1066-1488

In 1066, William

the Conqueror,

Duke of

Normandy,

(France) invaded

England.

The Norman Conquest

The Tower of London To protect

himself,

William the Conqueror built the White Tower on the banks of the River Thames.

http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/

Middle English

•French increased the English vocabulary by 10,000 words, 7,500 which are still in use today. •French also led to a simplification of English grammar and spelling!

The Middle Ages: Works

Everyman The Canterbury Tales Le Mort de’Arthur Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Everyman – a morality play An allegory for the cycle of life God sends death to call Everyman to a reckoning Everyman pleads for more time Everyman tries to bribe death with his material

goods Beauty, Strength, Family, and Friends all abandon

Everyman in his hour of need Only Good Deeds agrees to accompany Everyman to

his death, after he confesses his sins

Le Mort Darthur by Sir Thomas Mallory

Arthurian Legends/Tales & Character Chart

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson “Idylls of the King”

-T.H. White The Once and Future King Mallory was a knight familiar with romances Written sometime between 1469-1470 while Mallory

was in prison (probably politically motivated) A romance hero – larger than life figure who has

mysterious origins and performs extraordinary deeds Mallory’s King Arthur – a consolidation of legends

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight This story was probably

written around 1375, when the old ideals of knightly conduct – courage, loyalty, and courtesy - were starting to erode.

It is a romance – a term applied to a verse narrative which traces the adventures of a brave knight or other hero who had to overcome danger for love of a noble lady OR a high ideal.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain is King Arthur’s nephew His shield depicts the five points of chivalry He accepts a challenge from the Green Knight He is a hero of extraordinary virtue – but can

also be viewed as a flawed Everyman The Green Knight is a supernatural being,

created by Morgan Le Fay to tempt Arthur’s court and code of chivalry.

Sir Gawain’s Shield Piety (religious) Honesty Humility Integrity Loyalty

**Phhil = a super chivalrous hero!!!

The Five Points of Chivalry… The pentangle symbolizes the virtues to which

Gawain aspires: to be faultless in his five senses; never to fail in his five fingers; to be faithful to the five wounds that Christ received on the cross; to be strengthened by the five joys that the Virgin Mary had in Jesus (the Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption); and to possess brotherly love, courtesy, piety, and chastity. The side of the shield facing Gawain contains an image of the Virgin Mary to make sure that Gawain never loses heart.

The Green Girdle… The green sash is reputed to be able to keep

its wearer safe from harm Sir Gawain is dishonest and he keeps the sash,

displaying cowardice and an excessive love of mortal life.

From then on, he wears it as a badge of his sinfulness, and to show their support, Arthur and his followers wear green sashes.

The Canterbury Tales – a frame story Written by Geoffrey Chaucer, Father of

English poetry In the Middle Ages, many people took

pilgrimages (journey) to religious places Many Christians journeyed to Canterbury

Cathedral to the shrine of Archbishop Thomas Beckett who was murdered while praying

The Canterbury Tales begins with The Prologue (introduction)

"What sluggards, what cowards have I brought up in my court, who care nothing for their allegiance to their lord? Who will

rid me of this meddlesome priest?" The king's exact words have been lost to history but

his outrage inspired four knights to sail to England to rid the realm of this annoying clergyman. They arrived at Canterbury during the afternoon of December 29 and immediately searched for the Archbishop. Becket fled to the Cathedral where a service was in progress.

The knights found him at the altar, drew their swords and began hacking at their victim finally splitting his skull.

The Murder of the Archbishop

The Pilgrims…Thirty pilgrims, from all walks of life, went from London to Canterbury. To pass the time, they agreed to tell two stories on the way there and two stories on the way back…

The General Prologue Introduces the pilgrims and

their tales (frame within a frame)

Written in Middle English (English with French influence).

The first few paragraphs of The Prologue in Middle English

http://www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/zatta/prol.html

Geoffrey Chaucer… Wrote The Canterbury Tales in Middle English

instead of the king’s French or the church’s Latin. Originally, each character was to tell four tales, two

on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Only 24 tales were completed when Chaucer died on October 25, 1400.

Chaucer's idea to create a literature and poetic language for all classes of society succeeded. Today Chaucer stands as one of the great shapers of literary narrative and character.

Five Tales… The Knight’s Tale (A chivalrous, good man) The Pardoner’s Tale (His job is to forgive sins

in the name of the Church) The Wife of Bath’s Tale (Married 5 times) The Miller’s Tale (Works in a mill) The Reeve’s Tale (Carpenter)

The Knight… A knight’s armor consisted of a

helmet, a shield, and a relatively flexible mail shirt and could weigh more than 200 pounds.

A knight could literally die from suffocation, heart failure, heat stroke, and even drowning.

The Knight is admired for his chivalry, truthfulness, honorable reputation, generosity and refinement. He is also admired for his impressive military career. The Knight has fought in the Crusades.

The Pardoner… A pardoner offered indulgences (favors), or previously

written pardons for particular sins, to people who repented of the sin they had committed. The penitent, in return, would give a “donation” to the Church. It began to look like one could cleanse oneself of sin by simply paying off the Church.

Additionally, widespread suspicion held that pardoners counterfeited the pope's signature on illegitimate indulgences and pocketed the “charitable donations” themselves.

 Chaucer's Pardoner is a highly untrustworthy character who admits he pockets the donations, gives false pardons, and gives a sermon on greed.

The Wife of Bath… Worldly, well-traveled, argumentative, talkative. Well dressed with scarlet stockings! Married 5 times – unheard of in the Middle Ages! Through her experiences with her husbands, she has

learned how to provide for herself in a world where women had little independence or power.

The chief manner in which she has gained control over her husbands has been in her control over their use of her body. The Wife uses her body as a bargaining tool, withholding sexual pleasure until her husbands give her what she demands.

The Miller…& The Reeve… Stout and brawny, with a wart on his nose and a big mouth, both literally

and figuratively. He drunkenly insists on telling the second tale. He ruins the Host's carefully planned storytelling order; he rips doors off

hinges; and he tells a tale that is somewhat blasphemous, ridiculing religious clerks, scholarly clerks, carpenters, and women.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Reeve - similar to a butler, and this reeve performs his job shrewdly—his lord never loses so much as a ram to the other employees, However, he steals from his master.

Because he also does carpentry, the Reeve takes offense at the Miller's tale of a stupid carpenter, and counters with his own tale of a dishonest miller.

 

London…

Plaia personal\Europe Photos.htm

The Domesday Book It was a collection of

information on Williams newly acquired land which he knew little about so he had a survey taken so he could better administer the land.

He took of natural land tax, certain miscellaneous-dues, and the proceeds of the crown land.

The white tower Is the central tower at

the tower of London. The great central keep wash started in 1078 by William the conqueror who ordered the white tower to be built inside the south-east angle of the city walls

It was a highly contagious disease that spread through fleas from rats. It decreased the population by a third which hurt Europe in many different ways.

This caused the church to lose most of the followers that were still alive since they wanted the church to save them but they were from it too.

The hundred years war Was a conflict between

france and england lasting 116 years. The war started over claims by the english.

There were over 18 nations warring at once.

The crusades The crusades was a

mass conversion journey across Europe by the church to convert the rest of Europe.

The church called it “the war of god” and all those who did not help or convert were killed.