Download What was it like to live in the Middle Ages?

What was it like to live
in the Middle Ages?
The 3 languages in the Middle Ages
– Clergy
• Latin chiefly spoken, those who
pray
– Nobles
• French chiefly spoken, those who
fight
– Commoners
• English spoken, those who work
feudalism
• Feudalism created ties of
obedience and a sense of
loyalty between the vassals and
their lord.
• Commoners (peasants) lived on
a feudal manor. The lord of the
manor gave his vassals (the
peasants) land to farm.
• In return, the vassals received
protection. Yet they were taxed
and had to give a portion of
their crops to the lord.
A tenant (vassal) renews his oath of fealty to his
lord
Chivalry
• A product of feudalism,
chivalry was an idealized
system of manners and
morals
– Restricted to nobility
• The Medieval knight was
bound to the chivalric code to
be loyal to…
– God
– his lord
– his lady
• Chivalric ideals include...
– benevolence
– brotherly love
– politeness
• Sir Gawain is an example
• 1095 First Crusade to
reclaim Jerusalem from the
infidels
– Open trade routes
– Peasants (the vassals) are
liberated from their lords
to fight, and die, in the
Holy Lands
– Cities spring up along the
crusade routes
– Feudalism dies out
– the transition to the
Renaissance begins
The crusades
• Sadly, with the Crusades,
the Church becomes
incredibly corrupt.
– Popes fight for political
power
– Greed is rampant
• selling of indulgences
• Crusades for $
With the Crusades comes
The Black Death
• spreads along trade routes
• kills much of the population
• the plague outbreaks occur
through the Middle Ages and
into the Renaissance
• Paradoxically, the Plague provides for
continued growth in cities
– Afterwards, hundreds of new jobs
available
– Many debts “died off” with creditors
• also contributed to society’s culture
Late Middle Ages
• The rise of the merchants
• Usury
• Towards the bourgeoisie:
The guilds
• The printing press: William
Caxton: Spread of
education beyond the
monasteries and the church
• Important Middle Ages
technologies
Gunpowder
Water Wheel
Mechanical Clock
Eyeglasses
Literature During the
Medieval Period
Characteristics of Medieval Literature
• Prose (French influence): Romance
– Le morte d’Arthur
– A narrative in prose that tells of the adventures and heroic
exploits of chivalric heroes at the court of king Arthur
• often a supernatural element involved
• Poetry: A new literature in English: The Canterbury tales
verse tales (Chaucer); the ballad
• Drama (Christian influence): mistery, miracle & morality plays