The Middle-Ages(Medieval Time Period)

1066-1485

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The Middle-Ages

• 1066 start=Norman Invasion

• 1485 end=end of the War of Roses– End House of York rule– House of Tudor rule begins (rule for 118

years)• Renaissance

– Henry VII-Elizabeth I

The Middle-Ages

• Three significant wars/series of wars during this era are:– Crusades: Military expeditions launched by

Christian secular and religious rulers against the Moslems in the Middle East from 1096-1291.

– 100 years war (House of Plantagents claimed to be king of both England and France)

– War of the Roses (House of York vs House of Tudor)

FEUDAL SYSTEM: TERMS

• Feudalism: both a political and economic system. (Nobles grant land (fief) in exchange for personal service, ie. Protection/knights)

• Fealty: vassal’s fidelity, loyalty and allegiance to a lord.

• Vassal: the holder of land by feudal tenure on conditions of homage and allegiance.

• Fief: a piece of land given/granted on condition of giving military and other services to the feudal lord in return for receiving protection.

FEUDAL SYSTEM: TERMS

• Liege: the superior or sovereign lord to whom a vassal owes ultimate allegiance above all others.

• Primogeniture: means first born. The law of primogeniture prevented the dispersal of family property by allowing only the eldest son to inherit the entire estate.

FEUDAL SYSTEM: TERMS• Chivalry: the idealized code of conduct for medieval

knights

• Exalted courage and courtesy in battle, generosity to one’s inferiors and loyalty to one’s lord.

• Church involvement in the crusades added love of God and the defense of Christian principles of code.

• End of Crusading period, chivalric behavior extended to the idealization of women and courtly love and became the pursuit of the elite who expressed the antiquated military code in mock battles and jousts.

NONFICTION

Margery Kempe-autobiography

(see separate power point)

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY

• Allegory: a prose (not poetic) tale in which people and things represent abstract qualities.

• Alliteration: the repetition of the initial consonant sound within multiple words in a line of poetry.

LITERARY TERMS

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY

• Ballad: a song-like narrative poem, originally oral, that tells about a specific event. Structure typically consists of 4 lines (quatrain) per stanza. Follow a rhyming pattern for example: 2nd and 4th lines have end rhyme (acbc). Like modern day songs contain a refrain (chorus) repetition of a line or lines.

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:TYPES OF TALES

• Breton Lais: set in the Brittany region of France, Celtic in origin, of magic, fairies, folk lore and courtly love.

• Beast Fable: Animals are given human qualities and involved in clever tales that preach a moral lesson.

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:TYPES OF TALES

Exemplum: A sermon that illustrates a well-known, moral lesson.

Fabliau: a low level type of humor, stories based on clever tricks involving infidelity.

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:TYPES OF TALES

• Miracle & Mystery plays: retold bible stories and the lives of the saints.

• Cycle plays: portray biblical history of mankind. Hell usually represented by a dragon’s mouth which breathed fire.

• Morality play: portrays the life of an ordinary person, meets characters who represent abstract qualities to teach a moral lesson.

LITERARY TERMINOLOGY:TYPES OF TALES

• Romance: imaginative adventure concerned with noble, idealized heroes, gallant love, a chivalric code of honor, daring deeds and supernatural events, faraway settings, lighthearted in tone and often involve one or more characters on a quest.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES

• Couplet: a rhymed pair of lines. A simple couplet may be written in any rhythmic pattern.

• Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales in either rhymed couplets or in stanzas of seven lines. His use of iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets is the forerunner to the perfection of the heroic couplet as a technique.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES

Heroic Couplet: two rhyming lines written in iambic pentameter.

• Example: Shakespeare uses rhyming iambic couplets/heroic couplets for the lines of the lovers Romeo and Juliet in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

Hyperbole: An exaggeration used for effect.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES

Iambic pentameter: an iamb is one weak stress followed by one strong stress. Pentameter 5 beats per line, ie. 5 strong beats or 5 pairings of stressed/unstressed.

Ex: My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse.

LITERARY TECHNIQUES

Metaphor: a direct comparison between two unlike things.

Mock-Heroic Style: a style in which trivial matters are written in a style that would be more appropriate for great and important events. (Rape of the Lock)

LITERARY TECHNIQUES

Satire: literary technique in which ideas, customs, behaviors or institutions are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society.– May be: witty, abrasive, bitterly critical

– Often uses exaggeration

– Satirist distances self by creating a calm, naïve, fictional observer who address the topic without revealing the true emotions of the writer.

CHAUCER

CHAUCER

Considered the father of English Literature

first to write skillfully in English

 Middle English - 15 dialects

CHAUCER

Son of middle class parents father a wine merchant

 Became a page in a house with close royal ties

learned Latin, French, and Italian

 Patron - John the Gaunt, King Richard’s II’s uncle

- gave him opportunities

- kept him alive during dangerous political

events at court

CHAUCER

  Served as:

-soldier in France

-courtier

-diplomat

-civil administrator

-translator

-member of Parliament

- justice of peace

-clerk

-served time in prison

CHAUCER

  exposure to society - learned to observe people and understand human nature

  First grave in poet’s corner at Westminster Abbey

CHAUCER

great poet, fine story-teller, poker-faced humorist, lots of irony and sarcasm, satire

 poetic and humorous realism

 the writer emerges - no longer anonymous

CHAUCER

• Consider as you read what events in Chaucer’s life might have influenced him?

• What effect these events had on his point of view?

• How might his attitude been affected by his careers?

THE CANTERBURY TALES

 often referred to as the 1st collection of short stories in English literature

 uses a frame of a pilgrimage to establish story-Going on pilgrimage to worship at shrine of Thomas a’Becket,

 29 people plus Chaucer and the host - Harry Bailey, each will tell 2 tales, coming and going (4 each) 120 total/29 exist-work is incomplete, many tales in fragments-exact order intended not known; written over a number of years

  in the “Prologue” Chaucer paints the setting of the story, introduces his cast, acts as narrator

  maintains a personal detachment

THE CANTERBURY TALES

 shows appreciation of the individuality of his characters and gives an honest and objective account of each of them

 blends satire and faint praise reveals what is base, noble, and essentially human

in us all Social class: Knight is top of society, Plowman is

a serf at the bottom Language is musical, five beat iambic lines, uses

couplets, prose is easy and informal