Medieval Period

900-1450

The Dark Ages/Middle Ages

We call this time the “Dark Ages” because life was so limited and difficult for most people compared to our time.

Hard Life for Peasant/Serf

• Cold• Work was hard• Little food• Couldn’t read or write• Didn’t understand the language of the church

because it was all in Latin• Short life expectancy – often only lived to be

30 years old.

Ordinary people did not receive an education, and could not read or write.Education was for the wealthy or for the religious leaders such as priests and monks.

There was very little travel beyond what could be done on foot. People would be born, grow up, and spend their entire lives in one community.

It was a very violent time. Countries as we know them with central governments were still being developed. There were often battles between neighboring castle owners.

The Feudal System• The castle owner – a king, a baron, a duke, or

a knight – owned the land in and around the castle.

Castle and surrounding land

SerfsThe people who lived on the land, worked for the castle owner. They would give the majority of their crops or products to the castle owner in return for their homes and his protection.

Knights – Professional Military

Instruments

• Tabor – a kind of a drum• Pipe – like a recorder

The following video shows how one person could play a pipe in one hand and keep a beat or play rhythms on the drum with the other hand.

Hurdy Gurdy• To play this instrument you turn the crank at the bottom, and it plays a long sound

on 2 or 3 notes that don’t change. Then you can push the white tabs like piano keys, and you can get different notes. So you can play a melody and harmony at the same time. The next video shows this.

BagpipesBlow in a pipe to fill a bag with air. Squeeze the airout of the bag through the pipes to make music.the big pipes only play one note each. The little pipeplays many notes like a recorder. A video is next.

FIDDLE

• The next video will show this.• This instrument is the ancestor of modern violin.

LUTE

• Ancestor of modern guitar• The next video shows a lute being played.

ORGAN• There were small portable organs as well as

church organs, pumped by hand. Watch how this works in the next video.

Troubadours

• Traveling musicians – went from court to court to provide entertainment for the nobility. They sang popular songs, not church music.

Early music used shapes to show how sounds moved up and down. These were called “Neumes”

Guido d’Arezzo• Invented the “Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do ” system.• Invented the staff. It had 4 lines.• Teacher and Composer

Neumes were replaced by notes

• Some notes were diamond shaped

• Square notes came after Neumes

Neumes changed into notes over time.

Medieval Medicine• Medicine was very primitive, used herbs for

medicine and blood letting – this was letting you bleed into a bowl to get rid of “bad blood”

• Major diseases and epidemics– Black/Bubonic plague

Ring around the rosey was a song about the plague

Ring around the rosey – plague would start with red round spots.Pocket full of posey – a posey is a small bouquet of flowers. People thought breathing through flowers stopped the disease from spreading.Ashes, ashes – the bodies were burnedWe all fall down – millions died

The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The people who gathered on the docks to greet the ships were met with a horrifying surprise: Most of the sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those who were still alive were gravely ill. They were overcome with fever, unable to keep food down and delirious from pain. Strangest of all, they were covered in mysterious black boils that oozed blood and pus and gave their illness its name: the “Black Death.” The Sicilian authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the mysterious Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population.

Inventions, People and Events

In Medieval Times

Gutenberg and the Printing Press• Revolutionary invention – no longer needed to

write every copy by hand

Gutenberg Bible – The first book ever made by the printing press

Gutenberg

Marco Polo

Traveler, Explorer, WriterOpened up trade between Europe and China

Robin Hood and Maid Marian

• The first musical play was written about the Robin Hood legend

Glass windows – around 1200 A.D.

• Glass making improved and we now had both clear and stained glass windows.

• In Europe, the art of stained glass reached its height between 1150 and 1500, when magnificent windows were created for great cathedrals.

Joan of Arc• Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in France. • She claimed to hear voices from Heaven telling

her what to do. • Joan of Arc led the French army to victory over

the British at age 18. • Captured by the British a year later, Joan was

burned at the stake because they didn’t believe her about the voices from heaven.

• She was declared a Roman Catholic saint 500 years later, on May 16, 1920.

Joan of Arc

Tennis and Card Playing invented

• Activities for the upper class

People playing card games

Crusades• The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars launched

by the Christian states of Europe against the Saracens who were Muslims. Crusades started in 1095 when Pope Claremont preached the First Crusade at the meeting of the Council of Claremont. The preaching of the pope led to many thousands of Medieval people immediately affixing the cross to their garments - the name Crusade given to the Holy Wars came from old French word 'crois' meaning 'cross'. The Crusades were not successful.

Crusades

Gregorian Chant

• The Catholic Church was the only Christian religion.

• The church service was known as the “Mass”– Kyrie – “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy”– Gloria – “Glory to God in the highest”– Alleluias– Credo – Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed– Benedictus - Benediction– Agnus Dei – “Lamb of God”

Pope Gregory organized church music

• The next videos show some of the typical sounds of Gregorian chant.

• All church music was sung in Latin.

Medieval Art

• Flat – no sense of dimension• Babies look like miniature adults• Church themes• Mary and Baby Jesus• Many Halos• Cherubs – baby angels

Cathedrals – huge stone churches in major cities

• Notre Dame Cathedral is an impressive example of medieval architecture. Started in 1163 and completed in 1330, Notre Dame Cathedral has a dramatic exterior, two broad towers, and plenty of sweeping arches. The gothic exterior is full of intricate details and the ornate interior is light and airy.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Inside the cathedral