Medieval Background

1. 2013 - 2014 Medieval Background

2. Norman England • William, the Duke of Normandy claimed that every bit of England belonged to him and proceeded to redistribute Anglo-Saxon land accordingly. • Feudalism was born… • It was a social, economic, and political system

3. Feudalism • This was the process of granting land to all those who pledged loyalty and promise of military service to the king. These followers were called nobles and they controlled large manors. Under this system, all the landowners became vassals – tenants of the king. • A knight provided protection for the landowner. They were trained by the code of knightly behavior called chivalry which required them to be honorable, courteous, brave and skillful both on and off the battlefield. These ideals affected the whole conduct of the lives of the nobility. The fact that those ideals were more professed than practiced did not lessen their influence. Chivalry softened some of the harshness of medieval life. • Serfswere the lowest class and they farmed the land and herded the animals.

4. Under William’s Rule • In 1066, William initiated work on the Tower of London designed to protect the city. Then four years later, construction began on the Canterbury Cathedral, one of the first buildings to utilize the new Norman style of architecture. • In 1086, William carried out a survey of his entire kingdom. His agents recorded most of the land in England, together with the name of the person who owned it, its size, its value, the number and type of workers employed on it and so on…This survey, officially referred to as “the description of England” was called the Doomsday Book because there was no appeal from its judgment. It is still valuable today as a source for genealogical studies as well as for insights into medieval life.

5. Stephen of Blois William’s policy for consolidating governmental power in the kingship was continued with the reigns of his two sons William II and Henry I. However Henry I died without an heir and the throne was contested again. • Stephen took over the throne but was ineffective. His mild rule led to anarchy and battles. Stephen ruled for tumultuous 19 years, than Henry II took over.

6. However… During the Norman influence… Higher learning begins; Oxford Universityopened its doors as early as 1117. And then a few years later Cambridge University.

7. Henry II • He took the throne in 1154 – His first task was to subdue the great feudal lords of England and Normandy who had grown so powerful during Stephen’s weak reign. • He reestablished the power of the monarchy, reformed the judicial system, and ran the operations of the government so efficiently that at his death he left a surplus in the treasury. • The latter part of his reign was darkened because of the conflict with his friend Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The two had a bitter struggle over the legal rights of the clergy until Becket was killed by Henry’s men without Henry’s knowledge. Becket’s death was a disaster for Henry both personally and politically and the people were horrified. Henry was excommunicated from the Church and Thomas Becket was declared a martyr.

8. Richard and John Henry’s son Richard (the Loinheart)took over the throne, but spent most of his reign outside of England fighting in the Third Crusade. He ended up being captured by the Holy Roman Emperor and held for ransom. As Richard was absent, his brother John tried unsuccessfully to seize the throne. John did not successful attain the throne until Richard’s death. King John’s reign as king was a disaster. He alienated his nobles, the clergy, his late ally the king of France and the Pope. His autocratic rule, personal excess and heavy taxation finally led to the nobles rise against him. In 1215, he was forced to sign the Magna Carta that limits the power of the king and is the foundation of the representative English government. Among other reforms, it defined and safeguarded the basic rights of nobles, clergy, and freemen; it established habeas corpus (a protection against unjust imprisonment) and trial by jury; and it gave the general council (the forerunner of Parliament) power over expenditures.

9. Edward, I • In 1295, Edward I summoned the first English Parliament to include, in addition to the nobility and the clergy, two representatives “from every city, borough, and leading town.” The appearance of members of the middle class in Parliament was an indication of the growing wealth and power of English cities like London.

10. Hundred Year’s War War of the Roses • The Hundred Years War: England vs. France – England was successful in a number of battles because they used the longbows of the English infantry. They were six-foot bows, with yard-long arrows capable of piercing a knight’s armor. • War of the Roses was a civil war between the House of York (white rose) and the House of Lancaster (red rose). In 1485, Henry VII defeated Richard III, ending the war and then uniting the feuding families in marriage. This unity became the start of the Tudor monarch and ends the Middle Ages.

11. Weakening of Feudalism and the Church • Also, the Black Death or Bubonic Plague which occurred in 1348 and 1349 devastating England and killing perhaps a third of the population. In the disorder that resulted, many serfs escaped their feudal bondage by running away to London and other population centers. • Church authority weakened over a quarrel over the papal succession. New weapons like the crossbow and the cannon weakened feudalism by lessening the military importance of the mounted knight and later the castle. John Wycliffe’s English translation of the Bible appeared. The Church had always opposed translating the Latin of the Scriptures into the vernacular (the language of the people) fearing the spread of heresy. Wycliffe’s defiance is regarded as one of the first steps toward the Reformation of the 15th Century.

12. Literature • Ballads – folk song that told a story usually told extemporaneously or sung. Most famous were about an outlaw named Robin Hood who lives in the woods with his friends robbing the rich and helping the poor. Most ballads are impossible to date and impossible to know who wrote them. • Romances – tales of chivalry which added a love interest and all sorts of wonders and marvels – fairy enchantments, giants, dragons, wizards, and sorceresses. • The French system of end rhyme began to be used. • The upper classes began to adopt English as their language. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the Arthurian romances did much to legitimize English as a literary language. The common people had been developing their own literature for centuries.

13. Drama – Two Types of Plays • Drama had begun with the inclusion of a bit of dialogue in the liturgy of the Easter Mass. • Mystery or miracle plays presented episodes from the Bible or the lives of the saints. • Morality plays – depicted life of an ordinary person, sometimes from birth to death. Along the way the hero meets characters who symbolize abstract qualities such as vice or virtue. The purpose of these allegorical dramas was to teach a lesson. The most famous morality play was called Everyman.

14. Printing Press • Printing reached England in 1476 by William Caxton who set up his printing press in London. The first project was the printing of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. • Geoffrey Chaucer – Second only to Shakespeare are England’s greatest writer. He owed much of his sophistication to his training as an attendant to King Edward III – he also traveled widely and studied Italian ports such as Dante and Petrarch.