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Unit 2: The Medieval Period
1066-1500

The Norman Conquest

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        For some time, ties had existed between the court of England and that of the Duchy of Normandy in northern France.  In 1002 King Aethelred of England married Emma, daughter of the duke of Normandy.  Their son, Edward the confessor, was half Norman in blood by wholly Norman in outlook.  Before becoming king of England in 1042, he had spent thirty years at the Norman court, learning the French language and customs and making French friends.  As king he welcomed Norman courtiers and churchmen; his court even adopted the Norman style of dress. 
        When Edward died without an heir in January, 1066, his throne was claimed by both Harold Godwinson of England and William, Duke of Normandy.  Godwinson was the choice of the Witan, the king's council, but William maintained, apparently with justification, that Edward had declared him heir to the English throne.  After a hasty coronation Harold marched north to battle the Viking army of another claimant, King Harold Hardrada (the Ruthless) of Norway, whom he defeated and killed near York on September 25.  Three days later William landed at Pevesney Bay on England's southeastern coast with an army estimated at between 4,000 and 7,000 men, the sons of the Norman nobility and other well-born adventurers from throughout Europe. According to a contemporary chronicle, "As soon as his men were fit for service, they constructed a castle at Hastings;  When King Harold was informed of this, he gathered together a great host, and came to oppose [William] at the gray apple tree, and William came upon him unexpectedly, before his army was set in order.  Nevertheless the king fought against him most resolutely with those men who wished to stand by him, and there was great slaughter on both sides.  King Harold was slain, and Leofwine, his brother, and Earl Gurth, his brother and many good men. The French had possession of the place of slaughter."  The famous  Bayeaux tapestry commemorates this Norman conquest.

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King Edward the Confessor
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Bayeux Tapestry, Battle of Hastings

Norman England

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        Although Harold was dead, England was not subdued without a length struggle, during which most of the Angle-Saxon nobility was wiped out.  Claiming that every bit of England belonged to him, William proceeded to redistribute lands belonging to 4,000-5,000 Anglo-Saxon nobles among 180 of his followers, in exchange for a solemn oath of loyalty to him and the promise of military service.  Under this system, known as feudalism, all the landowners in England became vassals (tenants) of the King.
        Almost immediately after being crowned in 1066, William initiated work on the Tower of London, designed to protect that city.   Just four years later, in 1070, construction began on Canterbury Cathedral, one of the first building to utilize the new Norman style of architecture. 
        In order to set up an effective taxation system, in 1086 William carried out a survey of his entire kingdom, arousing great resentment among his English subjects. William's agents recorded most of the land in England, together with the name of the person who owned it, its sizes, its value, the number and type of workers employed on it, and so on.  "So thoroughly did [William] have the inquiry carried out," complains the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "That there was not a single hide (120 acres) of land . . .  not  even one ox, nor one cow, nor one pig which escaped notice in his survey."  This survey, officially referred to as "The description of England," was popularly called "Domesday (Doomsday) Book," because there was no appeal from its judgment.  The Domesday Book is still valuable today as a source for genealogical studies as well as for insights into medieval life. 
        William's policy for consolidating governmental power in the kingship was continued during the reigns of his two sons, William II and Henry I.  But when Henry I died without a male heir, the throne was contested by his daughter Matilda and his nephew, Stephen of Blois.  With the support of the Church, Stephen became king, but his mild rule soon let to anarchy.  "For every great man built castles and held them against the King," says a contemporary chronicle, ". . . and when the castles were built, they filled them with devils and wicked men.  By night and by day they seized those whom they believed to have any wealth, whether they were men or women; and in order to get their gold and silver, they put them into prison and tortured them with unspeakable tortures."  Things grew worse throughout the nineteen years of Stephen's reign and were only remedied during that of his successor, Matilda's brilliant son Henry II.

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Feudalism

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        Feudalism was the type of  government throughout the Dark Ages.  Society was broken into a series of hierarchies based on the philosophy of The Great Chain of Being.  This idea was that the world had a natural order to its hierarchy, and as long as every one and thing was in that order, their would be peace.  If that order was broken, chaos would ensue.  The Great Chain of Being ordered the Universe as follows:
  •         God
  •         Angels
  •         Man
  •          Animals
  •          Plants
  •          Inanimate Objects
        The Kingdom was then ordered into the King, Nobility, Knights, and Serfs.  If this order was broken there would be chaos.  When Lucifer wanted to be like the most high, he and a third of the angels ended up being cast out of heaven.  When Adam and Eve wanted to be like God and have the knowledge of good and evil, man eternally fell from grace and sin entered the world. 
        So how does that affect feudalism?  The King, who is the head of the kingdom only has one person above him on the chain, and that's God.  A monarch rules by Divine Right, meaning that God has appointed him as the king.  The Divine Right is then passed down from the rightful King, to the rightful heir.  If any one were to try to kill the king and usurp the throne, they would then throw the kingdom into chaos because they are usurping the natural order of the kingdom. 
        So how does Feudalism Work? Read over the diagram.

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Think of a Kingdom as being divided up and governed like a state.  The King would be the Governor.  He governs all of the land and all of its inhabitants, and he would have the biggest castle in the biggest city with the most Knights and vassals under him.  His responsibility is protect the country and keep it running smoothly.  The Nobles would be like Mayors of individual cities. Each city consisted of a castle that the Lord and Lady lived in and the surrounding land that the Lord and Lady governed. The city would be and economical focus for trade, as well as a safe have if they were ever under attack.  The Lord and Lady would require the protection of Knights, who would be rewarded with land.  The land was then farmed by vassals(Villeins) who would pay rent and tax in food and military service.  

The Crusades and Chivalry

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        England became involved in the First Crusade in 1095.  Inspired by religious fervor, nobles and commoners alike undertook the long and dangerous journey to Palestine to fight eh Moslem Turks, who held Christian shrines there since 1071.  Also taking part in these expeditions was another Norman innovation - the Knight, the mounted warrior who became the chief symbol of the code of chivalry.  Far more than merely etiquette, chivalry was more nearly an aristocratic world view.  Its ideal affected the whole conduct of the lives of the nobility. That those ideals were more often professed than practiced id not lessen their influence.  Chivalry did soften some of the harshness of medieval life.   It bound the often lawless warrior by a code, the violation of which meant loss of honor.  In combination with a wave of devotion to the Virgin Mary that swept across Europe lat in the eleventh century, it raised the status of women and gained them a larger role both in life and in literature. 

The Code of Chivalry

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The Medieval Knight had obligations to his God, Lord & Lady, and to his society.  In every aspect a knight must be brave and honorable.  Knights were the leaders of the warrior class, yet they had to be civil, learned, and polite at court.  Knight attempted to live by the Code of Chivalry, which has three major parts.
        1. God/Religion: Swear supreme allegiance to God and become a defender of the Christian Faith. 
        2. Loyalty to his Lord and King: A Knight must swear to dedicate his life to the service of upholding the laws of the realm.  He would bring honor to himself and his liege by demonstrating courage and fair play in battle and tournaments. 
        3. Protect the Weak and Helpless: Widows, orphans, serfs, and all ladies in distress fell into this category. 

Going to war was a demonstration of loyalty to one's liege as well as an act of protection. 

Medieval Romance

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A Medieval Romance is the combination of adventure and romance that we look for in a movie or a soap opera.  It was highly entertaining, but it still endeavored to teach it's readers about the responsibility of a relationship between a Knight and a Lady.
         The Medieval Romance originated in France in the 12th century, but was made popular in England when Henry III married Elinore of France. Elinore was a cultured patron of the arts and encouraged poets to write poems between knights and ladies.  These poets conducted courts of love to teach knights and to make them answer questions about love.  This is where the idea of courtly love originated.  Her daughter, Marie, commissioned a book about courtly love and a code of courtly love emerged.

The Code of Courtly Love: the Relationship between a Knight and his Lady.
        1. It must be an unequal relationship in the Lady's favor.  Society was hierarchical and so should be love.  The Knight must be willing to serve his lady, if she so wished.  She was to be his sovereign and he her servant.  The Knight should worship her as if she were a goddess, and with the same devotion as if she were the mother Mary. 
        2. Platonic Love. The relationship must remain platonic.  Remember, at this time love and marriage didn't always go together.  Marriages were often political moves to unite and bring peace between families or countries.  The Lady may not feel romantically towards her Lord, but it was still an act of disloyalty to the Lord if his Knight had anything but a platonic relationship with his Lady. 

Education & Literature

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        Higher education also had its beginning in England under the Normans.  As early as 1117, documents mention to a school at Oxford, and by 1133 its size and reputation had grown sufficiently for a theologian, Robert Pullen, to travel there from Paris to lecture.  Cambridge University had its origins just a few years later. 
        In 1136 Geoffrey of Monmouth finished The History of the Kings of Britain, including the first complete account of the rise and fall of the legendary King Arthur, thus contribution to the great body of Arthurian legend.  Bot in the original Latin version and a French translation, Geoffrey's book was enormously popular, so that toward the end of the twelfth century one writer exclaims, "Whither has not flying fame spread and familiarized the name of Arthur the Briton, even as far as Christendom extends."

England Under the Plantagenet Kings

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        Henry II (called "Plantagenet" from the French name for the broom plant, his father's heraldic emblem) 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 immediately raised an army and re-established the power of the monarchy.  A brilliant and tireless administrator, he reformed the judicial system and ran the operation of government so efficiently that at his death he left a surplus in the treasury (the last English king for over 300 years to do so).
        The latter part of Henry's reign was darkened, however, by conflict with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and his friend, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The long and bitter struggle between Henry and Becket over the issue of the legal rights of the clergy reached its climax on December 30, 1170, when Becket was killed by four of Henry's knights, but apparently without the king's knowledge.  Becket's death was a disaster for Henry, both personally and politically.  England was horrified by the murder of its leading priest, who was immediately acclaimed a martyr.  Excommunicated by an outraged Church, Henry attempted reconciliation by restoring clerical rights, and even went as a pilgrim to Becket's shrine.
        Henry's son Richard Coeur de Lion (the lionheart) spent most of his reign outside of England.  Having fought against the brilliant Moslem leader Saladin in the Third Crusade, he was captured on his return home and held for ransom by the Holy Roman Emperor.  While Richard was absent, his brother John tried unsuccessfully to size the throne.  John did finally attain the throne after his brother's death in 1199, whereupon he managed to alienate his nobles, the clergy, his late ally the King of France, and the Pope.  His autocratic rule, his personal excesses, and his heavy taxation finally led the nobles to rise against him.  On June 15, 1215, He was forced to sign Magna Carta, "The Great Charter," 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 (protection against imprisonment) and trial by jury; and it gave the general council (the forerunner of Parliament) power over expenditures. 
     

It was in 1295 that 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 growing wealth and power of English cities like London and Norwich. 
        In 1337 England became involved in the Hundred Years' War with France.  The issue was English control of large parts of France, the English king holding possessions extending from the English Channel to the Pyrenees.  The early battles of the war were all great English victories, and the heroic Battle of Agincourt in 1415 made Henry V effective ruler of both England and France.  But eventually the French recovered, partly due to the inspiration of Joan of Arc (1412-1431). The fighting dragged on until 1453, when the French were finally victorious, and England lost all her French possessions except the Channel port of Calais. 
       
        New weapons, like the crossbow and the cannon, weakened feudalism by lessening the military importance of the mounted knight and, later, of the castle.  Another factor hastening feudalism's decline was the appearance of the Black Death, or bubonic plague, which in 1348-1349 devastated England, 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. Wages rose dramatically, despite government attempts to freeze them.  Later, desperate for money to continue the endless war with France, the government tried to impose a poll tax ( a fixed tax levied on every adult, regardless of income). This led to riots in the cities and eventually to a major rebellion, the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. The principal leader was Wat Tyler, an eloquent adventurer who had served in the French wars. When the rioters reached London, killing, burning, and pillaging along the way, they seemed on the point of enforcing their demands, which included the abolition of serfdom.  But Tyler was killed, and the revolt collapsed.
        Feudalism was not the only major institution to be weakened in the fourteenth century.  The authority of the Church suffered when a quarrel over the papal succession in 1378 led to the division of the Church known as the Great Schism, which lasted until 1417.  During this period there were two and briefly, even three rival popes.  A further blow to Church authority occurred in 1381, when 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 fifteenth century. 
        Literature did well under the Plantagenet line. The upper classes began to adopt English as their language.  Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and Arthurian romances did much to legitimize English as a literary language.  The common people had been developing their own oral literature for centuries.  Now they added ballads about the adventures of a hero of their own, Robin Hood.  The alliterative verse form of Anglo-Saxons had largely disappeared, replaced by the French system of end rhyme. 
        Drama had begun its modern evolution as early as 900 A.D., with the inclusion o fa brief bit of dialogue in the liturgy of the Easter mass.  As time passed, this brief dialogue was expanded, and similar dialogues appeared in other liturgies.  Eventually attendance became so large that the dramas were moved outside the church itself and into the church yard, where secular elements began to be introduced.  To playlets dealing with the life of Christ were added others, often with more characters and of greater length, presenting episodes from the Bible and the lives of the saints.  These plays ere called miracle or mystery plays.  The earliest recorded date for a miracle play is 1110; gradually they evolved into cycles of plays presented form about 1300-1500 in large town like Coventry and York on the feast of Corpus Christi. 
       
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Elsewhere in the World

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        Epics and poetry where developing spontaneously in multiple countries at once. 
France: Troubadour Music
Italy: the Renaissance begins
Germany: The Gutenberg Bible and the movable type printing press.
Portugal: Christopher Columbus is sent to the Americas

Terms to Know

Feudalism:
Serf:
Vassal:
Knight:
Code of Chivalry:
The Domesday Book
Medieval Romance
Divine Right
The Great Chain of Being
Magna Carta
the Great Schism
Vernacular
Miracle & Mystery plays
Didactic Literature
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