Chivalry, Knighthood, and Castles

1. Chivalry, Knighthood, and Castles

2. Great Britain before the Middle Ages • In this period, the lands now known as England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are subdivided into smaller regions, each of which is governed by a territorial king. They are in constant contact and conflict with one another, frequently clashing over issues of land ownership and power. Often, rulers display their wealth and prominence by wearing splendid golden and jewelled brooches as marks of their status. • Great Britain during the Middle Ages was fragmented into a number of independent kingdoms. By the High Middle Ages, after the end of the Viking Age and the Norman Conquest, the kingdoms of England and Scotland emerge as the main poles of political power.

3. United Kingdom

4. The Medieval Castle The castle was a fortified building or set of buildings used to provide permanent or temporary protection and accomodation for kings and queens or important noblemen and their families. The castle provided the centre for political and administrative power for the region. The noblemen did not stay in the same castle all year round but tended to move from place to place depending on where their attention was required. Each nobleman and especially a king had a lot of people also travelling with him. The castle had to provide enough accomodation for the nobleman or king and his party when they stayed at the castle. There was a range of accomodation in a castle for the range of people who lived in it. The King and Queen would have had the most comfort having private chambers in the keep. As well as chambers for the King, the keep had a 'great hall' used for banquets and meetings. Below the hall were large rooms where the knights and the king's guards would have slept and eaten. Most people would have slept on the floors rather than in beds and all in the same large room. Accomodation was provided for the castle workers in the bailey. The bailey is the area inside the castle walls.

5. The Medieval Castle In most castles the kitchens were in buildings outside in the bailey. When the king or lord was staying in the castle there would have been plenty of banquets and plenty of guests to feed. The kitchens had to be large and they had to have large fireplaces in order to cook whole oxes or pigs. Vegetables and stews would be cooked in large pots over the fires and they would have baked a lot of bread. In normal times most of the food and drink used in the castle would have been supplied fresh from the surrounding land but anything that needed to be stored was kept in store rooms. Supplies were important when the castle was under siege and the more supplies a castle had, the longer it could hold out. The great hall was were all the important meetings and banquets took place. Everyone ate at long tables sitting on benches apart from the nobles who would have had chairs to emphasise their importance. The nobles, their family and important guests would sit at the high table. Banquests would have taken hours with large numbers of courses of meat. Servants would serve the food.

6. The concentric castle is effectively two castles in one. It has an outer wall with a gatehouse as in an ordinary castle, but it also has one or more inner walls with one or more gatehouses. The diagram shows an example of a concentric castle. The main gatehouse is shown on the left side of the castle. An attacking army who managed to get through the first gatehouse would find that they are under attack by the castle's soldiers from all sides as they tried to get around to the other side. Both the inner and outer baileys would have had extra buildings to house soldiers, servants and animals. The Keep at the centre of the castle was the most secure location and this is where the King or Lord would have lived. The inner walls tended to be higher than the outer walls so they could look down and protect them.

7. Castle Workers • The constable was the person responsible for the castle's defences. • A small number of guards would be stationed at all times even when the king of lord was not there. • Attendants to the king or lord and Ladies in waiting to the Queen or Lord's wife • A priest to take services in the chapel. • Cooks to prepare food for the large banquets. • Craftsmen Woodworkers, stone masons and blacksmiths are a few examples of the craftsmen required to look after the structure of the castle.

8. Medieval Knights • Knights were professional soldiers, high in the order of chivalry, bearing the most noble arms, and riding the best horses. Most knights travelled looking for work, to do battle. An invading army in 1066 and the need for the people of the crown to supply fighters for the home lands brought noble knighthood and chivalry to England. • By the 11th century, these professional soldiers were approaching nobility. Heraldry took shape during the 12th century, and that the number of knights declined from the 13th century onwards. Knighthood flourished before the time of guns and gunpowder when battles were still being won by hand-to-hand combat of heavy armoured knights. • Even in peacetime knights looked for conflicts in which to engage. Fighting was an often occurrence, because the common person could not defend themselves against an invading foe. In time of danger the people fled to the castle. When not engaged in combat the knight would participate in tournaments to win favours, power, and money. Often times this would also lead to courtships. • Training of a knight began at a very young age, the age of seven, serving as a "Page" until he was 14 years old. He then became a "Squire". This is when the real training began, learning to use a lance and start wearing the heavy armour. The squire also served as assistant to the knight. At the end of his tough training, at the age of 21, he became a knight. • There would be a nightlong vigil in the castle chapel, a ritual bath at dawn, mass and breakfast with friends and family, and clothing in white vesture. Knighthood was conferred by a gentle blow on the neck or shoulder with the flat of a sword, sometimes with much ceremony. The "dubbing" would take place in public accompanied by fanfares and music. Knights could also be created in the field of battle without any fanfare or ceremony. • The prospects of a knight were: marriage to a wealthy heiress, inheritance of lands, and service to a noble as a high official. Sometimes, this service would be as castle guard in a castle. • Undoubtedly, being a knight could reap great benefits, but it could also be dangerous. Some knights inherited, built, or were given powerful castles. Others lost their lives in battles

9. CAMELOT Camelot is, for most modern readers, the legendary center of King Arthur's realm. In the thirteenth-century Vulgate Cycle, Camelot becomes the principal city of Arthur's realm and remains so in many, though certainly not all, later texts. For the English-speaking world Camelot is Arthur's central city

10. How Arthur became King. When King Uther died, no-one knew he had a son. So there was lots of arguing about who should be High-King of Britain. Suddenly a mysterious stone magically appeared in the churchyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Sticking out of it was a huge sword. There was a message on it. It said that whoever pulled the sword from the stone was the rightful High-King of Britain. Lots of the local kings (or 'tyrants') tried to pull the sword out. It was magically stuck fast though and the arguing carried on. Years later, Arthur had grown into a fifteen year old lad. It was time for his elder foster-brother, Kay, to go to his first tournament (where knights practiced fighting). So the family went to London. Arthur got into trouble because he had forgotten Kay’s sword. So he went off to look for one. He found the sword in the stone and pulled it out easily. Arthur gave the sword to Kay. Kay noticed the message and everyone wanted to know who had pulled the sword from the stone. At first, no-one believed that Arthur had done it. But he repeated what he had done. Everyone was amazed.

11. Knighthood KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLEWho were they? The Round Table - first mentioned by Wace (1155) in his "Roman de Brut" - was not only a physical table, but the highest Order of Chivalry at the Court of King Arthur. Its members were supposedly the cream of the British military who followed a strict code of honour and service. Sir Thomas Malory outlines this as: To never do outrage nor murder Always to flee treason To by no means be cruel but to give mercy unto him who asks for mercy To always do ladies, gentlewomen and widows succor To never force ladies, gentlewomen or widows Not to take up battles in wrongful quarrels for love or worldly goods

12. ROBIN HOOD Robin Hood is an outlaw. That means he lives outside the protection of the law. But Robin is a law unto himself. He's the self-styled king of the greenwood -- either Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire or Barnsdale in Yorkshire. Robin is no common criminal. As the famous saying goes, he robs from the rich and gives to the poor. The poor have little to fear from Robin Hood. His enemies are the rich and corrupt, especially the Sheriff of Nottingham

13. http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=c50b49b2-80d6-4b53-86aa-8b9d14a8c0d0#http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=c50b49b2-80d6-4b53-86aa-8b9d14a8c0d0# Knights in shining armor, tales of valor and bravery, magnificent castles rising out of the mist — they're all part of life in the Middle Ages.

14. VOCABULARY Apprenticing:The act of learning a certain job by practicing with an experienced person in that job. Bailey: A courtyard within the external wall or between two outer walls of a castle. Chivalry: An attitude of honor, generosity, and courtesy. Crusades: Massive treks of hundreds of thousands of European knights and pilgrims to Jerusalem, or the Holy Land, to fight for and win it for the Christians. Feudalism: A system of government in the Middle Ages in which a lord, or nobleman, owned land and governed and protected the people, or tenants, who lived and farmed there. Indentured: Bound to work for another for a period of time, usually in exchange for some payment.

15. VOCABULARY Jousting: A tournament in which knights pretended to fight so they could practice and show off their skills. Keep:the strongest and securest part of a castle. Moat: A deep and wide trench around the rampart of a fortified place (as a castle) that is usually filled with water. Outer curtain: A barrier wall surrounding for protection. Garderobe: Toilets that empty into a stream or simply outside the walls.Curtain Wall: The outer walls of the castle.Constable: Person in charge of the defence of the castle.Chaplain: A priest who took services in the castle's chapel.Siege: The blockade of a castle or town to force the surrender of the occupants

16. Vocabulary Dungeon: a dark cell which was usually found in an underground room of one of the towers of a castle. It was different from the ordinary prison in being more severe as a place of punishment. Moat: a deep, wide ditch surrounding a fortified Medieval town or castle as a protection against assault Bower: an attractive and private apartment, orroom, intended for the Lady of the Medieval castle.