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Medieval Period Notes
1066-1485
Norman Rule
Period began with the Battle of Hastings between King Harold of England and William
of Normandy
William killed Harold and much of the Anglo-Saxon nobility and confiscated the land
and redistributed it under the feudal system
William was related to Edward who died in 1066
William reigned for 21 years
Normans were superb soldiers, excellent administrators, good borrowers but lacked
originality; DESCENDED FROM VIKINGS; after more than 100 years in Normandy
which the Vikings had seized and taken in NW France, the Normans had adopted many
French customs and had their own variety of Norman-French
England as ruled by William and Normandy were the most powerful force in Europe; he
greatly increased the land holdings; English kings spent much of their time across the
English channel fighting for their French territories and alter administering their
kingdoms
Richard the Lionhearted spent all but 5 years of his 10 yr reign outside England
Time of great turbulence
Norman and Anglo cultures blended
Law
Feudal order: king, barons, knights, peasants or serfs
Domesday Book inventoried property so that taxes could be paid on real property
Common law applied to all
Ordeal system meant people’s guilt or innocence was determined by giving people a task
to do and if they were successful they were innocent
Sometimes these were absurd like walking on hot coals or swimming with hands tied
behind one’s back
In 1215 the Pope declared ordeals irrational and people were asked to abide by
neighbors’ judgments
Primogeniture gave inheritance rights to first- born son
Magna Carta occurred when a group of angry barons forced the king to sign and
established that taxes must be made with the consent of the barons
Precursor to jury trials, habeus corpus, illegal detention and Parliament beginnings
William instituted the use of written documents for public laws
Church
Medieval Church was great unifier
Europe was fairly homogenous; Latin was language of church and of educated people
Every person was responsible to the church and to the king
Church preserved and transmitted culture and education
Oxford and Cambridge were founded in 13th cen.
2 best careers of the day were church and knighthood
Wars
Crusades: series of wars to free Jerusalem from Turkish influences and brought math
and medicine knowledge back to England
Not really very pretty or heroic despite the myth
Also provocation for chivalry, a system of ideas or code of behavior for knights
Included an oath of loyalty to the overlord, the acceptance of rules of warfare, and the
adoration of a particular lady for purpose of self-improvement: the idea that by revering
and acting in the name of a lady the knight would become better and braver.
Courtly love was an ideal form of love in which knight would wear colors of lady in
battle, might glorify her in words and be inspired by her but was in every way beneath
her: not a physical love.
1095, 1191, 1202, 1217, and 1270: Crusades
Hundred Years War between England and France (English monarchy had never given
up some French land).
Long bows (6ft with yard long arrows) used in this war
War of Roses was fought between the House of York and Lancaster families were united
by marriage when Henry VII succeeded Richard III
Life/Occupations
Herding replaced farming
Cathedrals were built; some took over a hundred years
Life was hard; most lived in the country, attached to a feudal manor and worked their
own fields
Sheep herding and wool industry became important
By the end of the 13th c there were over 15 million sheep in England
People in North started to live in towns
Guilds were established to regular trades and prices
Children were harshly punished and were viewed as small adults; they dressed like adults
and were taught to lobe God and thy neighbor and then learned a trade
At 13 you were an adult if you were financially independent and could marry
Babes were given to monks to raise
Future knights went into training at 7 or 8
Travel was difficult; food was not varied; colorful dress and pageantry was liked
Magnificent pageantry at tournaments and festivals
Black Death in 1348 killed one third of the population and resulted in loss of labor and
death of feudalism
Economic and social unrest and in 1381 there was a peasant revolt over taxes and
oppressive laws
God was center of universe
Literature
Romance a French concept was a popular form of literature of the time; stories of King
Arthur and chivalry
A lot of folk poetry and ballads but weren’t published until the 1700s; passed down
orally
Drama began with religious festivals and holidays
Miracle, morality, and mystery plays:
Early plays were performed by priests in the church to instruct the congregation; they
later involved the congregation and various trades performed biblical plays during
holidays; by the end of the medieval period, there were morality plays that were original
stories but still moral and religious in theme. Everyman is most famous.