Chaucer and the Middle Ages
• Introduction
• Characteristics of the Middle Ages
– Social Structure
– War and Politics
– The Black Plague
• Chaucer
• The Canterbury Tales
Introduction
• What do you think of when you hear the
term Middle Ages?
• What movies, books, or TV shows recently
have been based on the Middle Ages?
• While many of the following characterize
The Middle Ages, some of the ideas and
traditions still continue to exist and
fascinate us today.
The Middle Ages: General Info.
• Dates: 1066 – 1485
– Follows the Anglo-Saxon period after the invasion of
Normandy.
• English has evolved
– Old English - Middle English
– Ex.
Whan that the Knyght had thus his tale
ytoold,
In al the route ne was ther yong ne oold
That he ne seyde it was a noble storie,
And worthy for to drawen to memorie;
5 And namely the gentils everichon.
- Chaucer, Miller’s Tale Prologue
Characteristics of the Middle Ages
• Social Structure
– Feudalism
– Chivalry
• Religion and Politics
– Women
– The Crusades
– Magna Carta
• The Black Death
* Each of these areas not only
had an important effect on the
daily lives of the people
during the Middle Ages, but
also on us today.
Social Structure:
Feudalism
• Not only a social system
– God is on top
– God gave power to the kings
– Lowest would be knights without
land and serfs
– Everything circles around the
manor
– Feudalism’s core: chivalry
• Because of the dependency on the
manor . . .
– Cities and towns formed
– Creation of low, middle, and high
class
– Middle class
• Merchants with money to spare
Social Structure:
Chivalry
• Chivalry
– Strict code of conduct
or manners to live by
– Obligations to defend:
• God/Christianity
• King
• Noble
- Code instructed about
how to treat women,
help others, and rules
of war
- Chivalry and Women
Religion and Politics:
Women
• Church: women were inferior to men
• Status of husband, father, brother
determined status of the woman
• Functions of Women
– Peasant class
– High class
Religion and Politics:
Crusades and the Catholic Church
• Series of wars against Muslims for Jerusalem and the
Holy Land
– Contact with the Middle East brought important advances in
scholarship, technology and art
• Catholic Church (the Pope) was in charge
–
–
–
–
Controlled most of the world’s leaders
Thomas A Beckett appointed archbishop of Canterbury
Beckett “betrayed” King Henry V
This is the VERY CATHEDRAL the characters in The
Canterbury Tales are making their pilgrimage too
– Corruption of the church – another of the themes in Chaucer’s
themes
Religion and Politics:
The Magna Carta and Hundred Years’ War
• 1215; Return to older democratic tendencies
• Written by aristocrats and nobles protecting their
own interests
• Guaranteed rights such as trial by jury and
legislative taxation
• Hundred Years’ War (1337 – 1453)
• First national war by England
• Two English Kings claiming they had the right to the throne of
France
• Militarily unsuccessful but created a national consciousness
– England’s heroes were not knights in shining armor, but
landowners with his longbows
• Landowners important became dominant force in new society
The Black Death
• Bubonic Plague (1348 – 1349)
– Reduced the nation’s population by 1/3
– Lower class advantage
– Awareness of death and fragility of life
• Led to “seize the day” attitude
• Indulgence in the vices: another theme Chaucer
uses in CT.
– Middle Ages ended with the fall of feudalism
• 1486
Significance of the Middle Ages Today:
• Norman conquest created a powerful Anglo-Saxon entity and
brought England into the mainstream of European civilization.
• Feudalism centralized military, political, and economic power
• Roman Church transcended national boundaries and fostered
cultural unity among Europeans
• Rise of towns and cities freed people to pursue commercial and
aesthetic interests.
• Church’s hold over politics was weakened by the Magna Carta,
which would also be the foundation for democracy and constitutional
law in the future.
• Contact with Eastern civilizations through the Crusades broadened
Europe’s intellectual horizons.
• Ideals of chivalry improved attitudes toward, but not the rights of,
women.
• Bubonic plague led to labor shortages that contributed to the end of
feudalism and the ending of the Middle Ages.
Intermission
• When you have to travel a long distance,
how do you pass the time?
– Music, movies, games, telling stories . . .
Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales
• Geoffrey Chaucer
– Middle Ages poet, ~ 1340 – Wrote in Middle English
– Most Important work is The Canterbury Tales
• The Canterbury Tales (~1387)
– Over 17,000 lines long and is not even finished
– Begins with “Prologue”
– Group of pilgrims travel from London to Thomas
Beckett’s Cathedral in Canterbury
• Tell stories to pass the time
Importance of The Canterbury Tales:
• The project itself
• Each character represents a specific class or
role in 14th Century English life:
– Characters represent their specific class in Middle
Age society
• Ex. “The Knight’s Tale” – represents the ideal of knighthood
and the chivalry code.
• Some roles are portrayed more highly than others.
– Tales teach about the attitudes and customs of the
times regarding LOVE, MARRIAGE, RELIGION, ETC.
Chaucer and the Seven Deadly Sins
• Chaucer used the seven deadly sins as characteristics
for the characters in CT
• Keep track of the sins each character commits as
Chaucer presents them
• The Seven Deadly Sins
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–
–
–
–
–
–
Gluttony: overindulgence
Pride: arrogance and self-importance
Wrath: anger, revenge
Greed: avarice, selfishness
Sloth: laziness, idleness
Lust: uninhibited sexual desire
Envy: jealousy
• Modern day examples?