Download The Medieval Period in England

The Medieval Period in
England
1066 - @1500
1066-Battle of Hastings
William the Conqueror of
Normandy defeats King
Harold
Bayeux Tapestry
commemorates victory:
Took 10 years to complete
(women)
(20” high and @230 feet
in length
Housed in Bayeux France
Trends of the Medieval Period
Changing politics
Changing society
Changing attitudes about religion
The Domesday Book
Wm. The Conqueror
ordered all property
recorded in order to
establish control
Ejected many AS lords
and replaced with his own
people
Established the feudal
system of government as
was practiced in much of
Europe
Feudalism for Dummies
A lord manages an estate that is farmed by serfs
(some bound to the land, some not)
They pay rent (portion of crops or goods) in return
for the lord’s protection
Relationship SUPPOSED to be for their mutual
advantage (noblesse oblige)
People on the estate and surrounding villages are
entwined and supported by the affairs of the
estate.
Results of Norman Invasion
Changing English
Language
Changing English
Society
French is official
language
English spoken by
common people
Feudal system of
government
instituted
(Class system)
Significance: Introduces
much new vocabulary
(Film about this later in
the week)
Significance: less
freedom for poorer classes
Women lose legal and
social status
Four Major Groups in Society
Those who fought (knights from the
nobility & the nobility)
Those who prayed (clergy)
Those who labored (peasants & artisans)
Those who traded (merchants/traders)
The Nobility
Inherited land OR
Feudal Vassals who rose in status
Lived off labor of others
The Nobility
Higher/Greater
*Great landowners
*Dominant power in their
regions
Ex. Dukes, Earls
Lesser Nobility/Landed
Gentry
*petty landlords
*descendants of minor
knights
*Wealthy merchants who
rose form serfdom (Often
married daughters of the
nobility)
Often owed allegiance to one
of the Greater Nobility
Wars & Battles = Profit
The Crusades
The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
*Brought fame, honor, glory
*Riches, plunder, lands
Nobility looked down on
Merchants – outside normal feudal order;
gained wealth in unfamiliar ways
Peasants – cowards who ran away at the
first sign of battle and needed protection
because they couldn’t fight for themselves
Nobles as Knights
Part of the Bellatores (those who fought)
Chivalry (from F. Cheval=Horse)
Only nobles serve as knights because only
nobles could afford horses, arms, armor,
etc.
Knights: Code of Chivalry
Code of conduct ruling a knight’s behavior
involving
LOYALTY, COURTESY, CHASTITY,
AND GENEROSITY
If found guilty of conduct unbecoming his
rank, was stripped of rank, sword might be
broken, spurs hacked off by the king’s cook
Knighthood
Start training at 7-14—PAGE (serving boy
in a noble household)
14-21-SQUIRE (train in horsemanship,
arms, manners, liberal arts)—served as a
knight’s valet or assistant
21+ KNIGHT (dubbing—Usu. involved
bath of purification, confession,
communion, prayer vigil)
Causes: Decline of the Nobility
Climate changes (crop failures/less income)
Depopulation re: Black Death—fewer
workers on manor estates & better jobs in
town
Military Changes—Longbows &
gunpowder make chivalry obsolete
Alliance of wealthy towns with king (didn’t
need feudal protection)
Merchant Class
Dyers, weavers, carpenters, vintners (wine
merchants), weavers, tanners, armorers, etc.
Members of closely controlled Guilds,
forerunners of modern trade unions
Guilds: set quality controls, punished violators,
set wages and prices, protected consumers
Entry is difficult
Merchant Class
Apprentice, journeyman, master
Can become a selectman—a kind of town
councilman—an increase status
Many very wealthy
Religious Life: Interesting facts
Religion played a major role in the lives of
all classes.
Clergy ran schools, hospitals, and held
many governmental posts as scribes.
Life in a Monastery
Farmed own food
Often made own goods (clothes, etc.)
Monastic vows:
POVERTY, CHASTITY, OBEDIENCE
Types of contact with laity
1) feeding the poor, 2) Tending the sick, 3)
Teaching in Monastic Schools, 4) Acting as
“supplemental” pastors, preachers, confessors
A note about celibacy
Until the Gregorian reforms of the
11th century, parish priests could live
with women in a marriage-type
relationship, and priests’ concubines
and illegitimate children were
accepted in the community.
Religious Life: Interesting facts
However, there was much corruption in the
clergy as well. Celibacy was instituted in
Europe during the early middle ages as a
means to keep wealth within the church.
Many clergy abused their privileges and
preyed upon the fears of their congregations
to get more money.
Life as a member of the “secular clergy”
High Clergy: Cardinals, Archbishops—
often wealthy members of the nobility
Middle Clergy: Urban priests—often well
educated, made a comfortable living
Low Clergy: Parish priests
Majority of clergy—poorly educated &
underpaid
Basic requirement: Be able to say mass
Poor: many held second jobs as teachers,
artisans, farmers
Religious Life: Interesting facts
While the religious life is an “open estate” many
nuns and priests were unmarriageable sons and
daughters of the nobility (no land, too old,
intractable, etc.) or were children used to gain
power and wealth for the family (i.e. became
abbots or abbesses) or were scholars seeking to be
highly educated. This explains why some of them
were not motivated to live their lives according to
their religious vows.
The church—filled with
saints?
Many members of the clergy had high
ideals and made great personal
sacrifices, BUT
Or sinner?
There was much corruption in the clergy.
Celibacy was instituted to keep wealth
within the church.
Many clergy abused their privileges and
preyed upon fears of congregation to get
more money.
Relics
Bits of “the true cross”
The bones or hair of a saint
These relics were said to posses mystical
properties and were sold at high prices as a
sort of religious good luck charm.
Reliquary
Other forms of corruption
Pardons & Indulgences: Clergy would sell
pardons for grievous sins to those who
could afford it and give heavy penances to
those who couldn’t.
Threatening people with excommunication
(severing ties with church) or interdict
(denying sacraments) for petty reasons
The Seven Deadly Sins
Lust
Gluttony
Wrath/Anger/Hatred
Sloth
Avarice/Greed
Pride
Envy
Clerical Court
Members of this estate were not subject to
the “law of the land,” only church law
Henry II tried to institute “common law” for
all.
This would place criminous clerks in
double jeopardy (said the church)
Archbishop Thomas a Beckett
Sided with the church instead of Henry
Killed while at prayer in Canterbury
Cathedral (martyrdom)
Canterbury became a holy shrine
The Norman Style Cathedral
More solidly built
Characteristically
curved “Norman
arches”
Canterbury Cathedral
The seat of
religion in the
South
The most
important
Cathedral—seat
of the
Archbishop
Dates from 597
A.D.
Wells Cathedral
Seat of the Bishop
of Bath & Wells
Famous for its
architectural fix—
an ingenious bit of
Medieval
engineering
The Scissor Arches
The Clock
Medieval
atstronomica
l clock
Represents
preCopernican
view of the
universe
Bishop’s Palace
Water flows from St.
Andrew’s Well at a
rate of 40,000 gallons
per second.
The moat holds 4
million gallons
Used to sanitize the
streets of Wells
The Gothic Cathedral
Known for its
“soaring” arches
Took many lifetimes
for craftsmen to build
York Minster Cathedral
The seat of religion in the North
Largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe
York Minster Cathedral Carvings
Gargoyles & Grotesques
Beautiful Stonework
The Green Man
Literacy in the Middle Ages
Only the very wealthy and the clergy were literate
Art (sculpture, stained glass windows, pictures)
was meant to instruct, especially about scripture
Almost all books at this time are written in Latin
The Wycliffe/Lollard Bible (1377)
Only the wealthy and clergy were literate,
especially in Latin
John Wycliffe published a Bible in English
Thought people should have access to the Bible—
VERY CONTROVERSIAL
People believed that Bible needed to be
interpreted by priests
If people could read the Bible, it would give them
dangerous sentiments about not being under the
authority of the church.
John Wycliffe
After his death, Pope
ordered his bones, dug
up, ground up, and
thrown into the river!
Stained Glass Windows
Books of Hours (illuminated)
Bestiaries
Books of animals, real
and imaginary
(Pelicans were reputed
to feet their babies
from their breast—in
Hamlet, Shakespeare
makes reference to
“the kind life
rend’ring pelican”)
Unicorns
Mermaids
The Camelleopard
Some tales of animals from “exotic” regions
inspired “combination names”
A Medieval
Illuminated
Torah:
Mamonides
Mishneh
Thorah (1472)
A Medieval
Illuminated
Qur’an
(1304-1306)
Bedford
Book of
Hours
(The Duke
prays
before St.
George)
1423
World View
LIFE: earthly pilgrimage through a changing
world
WHEEL OF FORTUNE: represented personal or
public changes that seem random or drastic
HEAVEN: unchanging reward, comfort in the
face of an unpredictable and risky world
Wheel of Fortune
World View
People believed (on the main) that you had been
set down in the “estate” that God intended for you.
(Noble, peasant, etc.)
This severely limited social mobility based on
merit as we often see in our own society.
Exceptions: the clergy, the merchant class had
relatively more mobility
EVERYTHING revolved
around religion, BUT
Life was exceptionally brutal and
violent
Medieval Justice & Penalties
Three ordeals—fire, water, combat
Fire: carry a hot iron bar for a set # of
paces. If the resulting wound didn’t get
better, you were guilty.
Water: The water ordeal=toss a tied up
person into a body of H20. If they floated,
they were guilty
Medieval Justice & Penalties
Trial by combat: Might makes right
GUILTY?
*Thieves hands cut off
*Women guilty of murder faced strangling &
burning
*Hunting in royal parks—ears cut off
*Drawing and quartering
Cheaper to do the above than to jail the guilty.
http://www.medieval-castle-siege-weapons.com
The Black Death
The Plague
Transmitted
through flea bites
and infected rats
Doctors treated the plague
wearing. . .
Medicine
in the Middle Ages
Examine urine
Bloodletting (doctors
were sometimes called
“leaches”)
Medicine in the Middle Ages
The four humors
(see handout) –
disease caused by
an imbalance
Apothecary:
medieval
pharmacist
Surgeons = often
same person as the
barber
Entertainment for Various
Classes
Nobility: courtly romances (tales of great
figures such as King Arthur), sermons, lays
Clergy: sermons and stories of saints’ lives,
chants, religious songs & Chants
Commoners: folk ballads and folk tales (no
exact dates because oral tradition)
BUT
There was a great deal of overlap:
courtiers enjoyed ballads, priests
wrote lays, and everyone loved tales
of King Arthur