The British Middle Ages

Also Known as

The Dark Ages or the Medieval Period

Newmanland presents . . .

Important Moments in Medieval History

• The Norman Conquest

• The Crusades

• Thomas Becket

• Hundred Years War

• The Plague

Section I

The Norman Conquest 1066• William the Duke of Normandy

also known as William the Conqueror defeated King Harold of England the Anglo-Saxon Leader.

• The Normans come from an area in Northern France and speak French. So, when William the Conqueror became the ruler of England the aristocracy also began to speak French.

The Crusades• Christian Europe against the followers of Islam.• Began in the 11th Century and continued through

the 13th Century• The prize was Jerusalem or the Holy Land.• The British lost, but benefited from being around

their culture especially in the areas of Mathematics, Astronomy, Architecture, and artistic crafts.

Thomas Becket (1118-1170)• His friend Henry II made him

Archbishop of Canterbury to help him with the Pope.

• Becket sided with the Pope and angered Henry II who commented about wishing to kill Becket.

• Four knights took him literally and murdered Becket.

• The pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales are traveling to pray at his shrine.

Hundred Years War (1337-1453)• England v. France• Unsuccessful militarily but it

changed society because of the yeoman class

• Yeoman class—small landowners who became a dominant force in nonfeudal England as modern democratic England was born.

• Chivalry died and lived only in stories at this time.

The Bubonic Plague or Black Plague (1348-1349)

• Recurred often

• Contributed to the downfall of feudalism as it killed 1/3 of the population

• Gave more power to the lower classes and freed the serfs

Medieval British Society

• Feudalism

• The Class System within the City

• The Role of Women

• Chivalry

• Courtly Love

Section II

Feudalism• A caste, social, property and

military system in England.• Represented as a pyramid

with the King at the top followed by his aristocracy, followed by other vassals they hired and so on until the very bottom of the pyramid where there were landless knights followed by serfs.

More about feudalism . . .

• Serfs could not leave the system until they had worked the land.

• The Knight was the only titled person who could NOT pass on his title to the next generation. His main duty was a military obligation to his lord, but they were governed by strict rules of loyalty to their lord, codes of fighting, treatment of women, and more (see Chivalry).

• The Feudal System did not always work, because when an overlord was weak the system broke down.

The Class System within the City

• The class system within the city was different from the one in the country.

• Feudalism was NOT really evident.• There was a lower and an upper class, and

people could make their living outside the feudal system in cities like London and Bath.

The Role of Women• Peasant women were

expected to bear children, do all housework, and hard field work.

• Higher class women were expected to bear children and manage the household.

• All women had NO political rights and were always subservient to men.

Chivalry

• The system of military and behavior codes that governed both knights and gentlewomen.

• It inspired Medieval Romance Literature.

Courtly Love• A type of love

encouraged by Chivalry, it was ideally nonsexual admiration where the woman was “above the man.”

• Helped to improve the idea and treatment of women in general.

Medieval Language and Literature

Section III

•Ballads

•Morality Plays

•Geoffrey Chaucer

•Medieval Romance

Ballads•A narrative poetry from the Middle Ages intended to be sung.•Written by unknown authors and handed down in the oral tradition.• Rhythms and rhythmical patterns are connected with music, they are more effective when sung.•The narrative usually has very little characterization or background information.•Contains repetition, dialogue, dialect, and often supernatural events.•Popular with the working class. 

Morality Plays (also known as Mystery Plays)

•A drama written in the Middle Ages that portrays a biblical story•First performed in churches and later staged outdoors•Often featuring allegorical figures such as Vice, Mercy, and Death.•Closely related to miracle plays, which dramatized saints’ lives.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)• He is often called the father of British

Poetry.

• He favored writing in the rhyming couplet, which was later called the heroic or closed couplet.

• He composed in the vernacular (the language of the common people, which was Middle English).

• He was born to a middle class family, read a lot as a child, and received some legal training and acquired many noble patrons.

More about Chaucer . . .

•Chaucer was captured during the Hundred Yeas War and the King himself contributed to his ransom, which shows his importance.

•The Canterbury Tales is considered one of the greatest works in the English Language.

•Chaucer was the first poet/author to be buried in Westminster Abby in what is now called Poets’ Corner.

Medieval Romance

• A long narrative in verse or prose originating in the Middle Ages.

• Its main elements are adventure, love, and magic