Medieval Background Notes
Historical Context
With the Norman Conquest, England entered the medieval period, a time of innovation in the midst of war.
I.
II.
III.
The Monarchy
a. William the Conqueror
i. Takes full control of England
ii. Different kind of king
1. Powerful
2. Well-organized
3. Determined to exert his authority down to the smallest detail
iii. Domesday Book
1. Tax record of every piece of property owned
a. Land and livestock included
iv. Bought law and order to the country
b. William’s Death (1087)
i. Left the country in near-anarchy until 1154
ii. Henry Plantagenet took throne
1. Great-grandson of William
c. Henry II
i. Reformed the judicial system
1. Set up royal courts throughout the country
2. Establish a series of juries
3. Form English common law out of centuries-old practices
d. Richard I
i. Richard the Lion-Hearted
ii. Spent most of his reign fighting overseas wars
e. John
i. Plotted against older brother Richard
ii. Villain of Robin Hood legends
iii. Treacherous, bad-tempered
iv. Quarreled with nobles
v. Raised taxes until they rebelled
vi. Magna Carta—Great Charter
1. Forced to sign in 1215
2. Limited royal authority by granting more power to the barons
a. Early step to democracy
War and Plague
a. War a near-constant fact of life
b. Hundred Years’ War
i. England and France—1337
1. Reign of Edward III
ii. Lasted on and off for more than a century
c. Black Death—bubonic plague
i. Killed a third of England’s population
d. End of war—1453
i. England lost nearly of all its French possessions
Rivals for Throne
a. House of York
i. Symbol—White Rose
b. House of Lancaster
i. Symbol—Red Rose
c. War of the Roses
i. Ended in 1485
1. Henry Tudor—Lancaster
a. Killed Yorkist king Richard III
b. Henry VII
ii. Marked the end of the Middle Ages in England
Cultural Influences
Medieval literature is best understood in the context of three powerful influences on medieval society:
feudalism, the church, and a code of conduct called chivalry.
Social Forces
I.
Feudal System—feudalism
a. Political and economic system that William the Conqueror introduced to England after Norman
Conquest
b. Premise
i. King owns all the land in the kingdom
c. William kept ¼ of land for himself
d. Granted a ¼ to the Church
e. Rest went to local barons
i. They in return paid him or supplied him with warriors called knights
ii. Swore allegiance to the king
1. Knights to the barons
f. Created social ladder
i. Bottom conquered Anglo-Saxons
1. Serfs—peasants bound to the land that they could not own
II.
The Power of the Church
a. One exception to the feudal system’s hierarchy
b. Led by the Pope in Rome
c. Tremendous Power
i. Imposed taxes
ii. Made its own laws
iii. Ran its own courts
iv. Kept kings and noblemen in line
1. Threat of ex-communication
d. Owned more land than anyone in Europe
i. Stone cathedrals and abbeys as impressive as any castle
e. Power lead to conflict in monarchy
i. Thomas a Becket
1. Henry II’s archbishop
2. Favored church interests over the crown
3. Murdered by 4 loyal knights
4. Declared saint
5. Shrine in Canterbury became pilgrimage location
III.
Chivalry and Courtly Love
a. Influenced social forces—King Arthur
b. Popular during Henry II’s reign
c. Eleanor of Aquitaine
i. Brought from French court circles
d. Chivalry
i. Code of honor intended to govern knightly behavior
ii. Knights were:
1. Generous
2. Brave
3. Honest
4. Pious (devout, religious)
5. Honorable
6. Defend the weak
7. Battle Evil and uphold good
iii. Encouraged knights to go on holy quests
1. Crusades
a. Military expeditions by European Christians
b. Attempted to take Jerusalem from Muslim control
e. Courtly love
i. Ideals for relationships between men and women
1. Applied by Eleanor
ii. “Court of love”
1. Lord and ladies were entertained by music and tales of King Arthur and other
romantic heroes
2. Argue about proper conduct of a love affair
f. Real life
i. Courtly love and chivalry ideals rarely met in real life
ii. Served as inspiration for finest literature of the time
Literature of the Times
Medieval works, such as The Canterbury Tales and the Arthurian romances, drew from many sources, historical
and contemporary, while reflecting the society and ideals of their time.
I.
The Age of Chaucer
a. Geoffrey Chaucer
i. Most famous writer of the time
ii. Known as “Father of English Literature”
iii. Demonstrated the potential of English as a literary language
iv. Sources
1. French poetry
2. English songs
3. Greek classics
4. Contemporary Italian tales
5. Aesop’s fables
v. Blended old with new in natural rhythms of Middle English
1. Spoken language of the time
b. The Canterbury Tales
i. English masterpiece
ii. Displays Chaucer’s ability
1. Storyteller
2. Keen sense of humor
3. Sharp eye for detail
iii. Collection of tales ranging from disrespectful to inspirational
1. Frame story
a. Exists when a story is told within a narrative setting or frame—story
within a story
iv. Group of pilgrims on a journey to shrine of Becket
II.
v. Characters are revealed through the stories they tell and their reactions to one another’s
tales
vi. Original intent
1. Four stories for each of the 30 pilgrims—120
2. Died with only 24 complete
vii. Chaucer’s England
1. Time of change and turmoil
viii. Serfs saw new value during Black Death
1. Left the land to work in towns and estates
2. Led to decline of feudalism and growth of a new middle class
ix. War with France
1. Spurred the re-emergence of the English language among the ruling class
x. Characters
1. Ranged across British society
2. Knight to miller
xi. Everyday English
1. Used instead of elevated Latin or French
xii. Reflected developments of the time
c. Other Works
i. Others wrote in English
ii. Ballads
1. Narrative songs telling of the lives of common folks or of characters and events
from folklore
iii. New appreciation of English language as elegant and poetic
Medieval Romance
a. Stories of adventure, gallant love, chivalry, and heroism
b. Represent the social order and ideals of the Middle Ages
c. King Arthur tales
i. Set in idealized world unlike real medieval England with
1. Plagues
2. Political battles
3. Civil unrest
d. Legendary hero
e. Arthur
i. Romanized Briton who fought Caesar
ii. Celebrated hero like Beowulf
iii. Update of legends on 12th century
1. Reflect current notions of chivalry
2. New romances used Arthur and his court as backdrop for stories about knights
who go through trials and perform great feats in the service of a lady
f. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
i. 1375—anonymous English poet
ii. Recounted marvelous adventures of a knight in Arthur’s court
1. Faced series of extraordinary challenges
2. Memorable characters
a. Green giant who survives a beheading
b. All-too-human Gawain
g. Le Morte d’Arthur—“The Death of Arthur”
i. Sir Thomas Malory
ii. Retold numerous French Arthurian tales in Middle English
iii. Episodes in the life of the legendary king
iv. Precursor to the modern novel
v. Printed just before War of the Roses
1. Right before end of Middle Ages
Chaucer Style (p. 140-141)
I.
Imagery and Figurative Language
a. Imagery
i. Words or phrases that create vivid sensory experiences for the reader
ii. Mostly visual but can appeal to the senses of smell, hearing, taste, and touch
b. Figurative Language
i. Language that communicates ideas beyond the literal meaning of the words
ii. Can make descriptions and unfamiliar of difficult ideas easier to understand
c. Describe characters’ physical appearance
II.
Irony
a. Contrast between expectation and reality
b. Calls attention to characters’ faults and emphasizes their humanity
i. Writing has a tone of compassion
III.
Characterization
a. Describing a character’s physical appearance, making direct statements about them, and allowing
them to express their personalities through dialogue
b. Chaucer sets each character apart by the story he or she tells and the voice in which each tale is
told
Ballads (p. 216)
I.
Narrative songs
a. Popular in England and Scotland during medieval period among common people who could not
read or write
b. Transferred orally from generation to generation
c. Stories often changed in retelling
II.
Popular Entertainment
a. Audiences craved dramatic, sensational stories
b. Subjects
i. Tragic love
ii. Domestic conflicts
iii. Disastrous wars and shipwrecks
iv. Sensational crimes
v. Exploits of enterprising outlaws
c. Later ballads
i. Historical events
ii. Romantic heroes of chivalrous love
d. Themes
i. Revenge
ii. Rebellion
iii. Envy
iv. Betrayal
v. Superstition
III.
Poetic Form
a. Dramatic stories told in song using the language of the common people
b. Conventions
i. Tragic or sensational subject matter
ii. Simple plot involving a single incident
iii. Dialogue
c. Quatrains
i. 4-line stanzas
ii. Rhyming 2nd and 4th lines
d. Dialect
i. Distinct language spoken by a specific group of people from a particular region