The Middle Ages: 1066-1500
Lesson Essential Questions
•
How is the poetry of the middle ages characteristic of the culture?
•
How did the English Language change during the Middle Ages?
The Norman Invasion
•
1066 – Last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold II, was crowned at Westminster Abbey, London
•
September that same year, Harold _____________________________ invading ________________________
at Stamford Bridge, thus _______________________ the ___________________________ ________________
•
Three Weeks Later – ____________________________ of ______________________________
•
___________________________ was ________________________ by ______________________________
“The Conqueror,” Duke of Normandy
•
•
_____________________________ was crowned _________________ of ___________________________
This ____________________________ ________________________________ ___________________________
the __________________-______________________ ____________________________
Transitions in the English Language
•
Norman Invaders spoke ____________________________
•
French – language of the ____________________________ class
•
English – Anglo-Saxons, _____________________________ class
•
Well educated people needed to know French, English and Latin
•
_________________________ remained _________________________ language for ____________ years
•
New Language emerged – Middle English
EXAMPLE:
And smale foules maken melodie,
That slepen alle night with open eye,
So priketh hem nature in hir corages;
Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages.
- Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (1400)
Translation
And small birds make a melody, / Those the sleep all night with an open eye, / So he pricks Nature in her
courage; / Than people long to go on pilgrimages.
Feudalism
•
English society divided into
______________________________________
•
King at the top
•
Lords who were given ______________
(parcels of land) by the king / lords
________________________________
king with
________________________________ /
lords distributed ___________________
of ________________ to lesser nobles in
exchange for their __________________
•
Serfs – _______________________ plots
of land that belonged to the lords /
gave ________________________ of
their __________________ to their lords
•
King ________________________ established a strong ________________________ _________________
o
Ordered a detailed _____________________________ of all the ________________________ in
England (Domesday Book)

_______________________ to _______________________________ __________________,
_____________________ _______________________ and _________________.
The Crusades
•
Roman Catholic Church influenced England
•
1095-1270, the _________________________ _____________________________ _________________________
expeditions to the _________________________ ___________________ to ________________
______________________________ and the Holy Land from the Muslims.
•
King Richard I of England helped lead the Third Crusade in 1190.
•
The Crusades _____________________________ to win the Holy Land.
•
They contributed to the ___________________________________ of _______________________________
______________________________ of kings and barons.
•
Richard was captured and held at ransom on the way home from the crusades – the citizens had to pay
the ransom causing resentment toward him and the crown.
Church vs. State
•
Feudal system – ______________________________________________________________________________
•
Clashes over government control of the church and church control of non-religious matters
•
Struggle between King Henry II and Thomas Becket
•
1162 Henry II named __________________________ the _______________________________ of
_________________________________ – head of the Roman Catholic Church in England.
•
Becket ________________________ _____________________________ ________________________________
of ________________________.
•
Henry II said, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” and four knights took his order literally and
murdered Becket at Canterbury cathedral.
•
Becket was canonized as a ___________________. A shrine was dedicated to him and is the
__________________________________ for Chaucer’s ________________________ in the Canterbury Tales.
The Magna Carta
•
King Richard (Son of Henry II) died in 1199, and was succeeded by his brother John.
•
John ________________________ the _______________________________ of the barons toward Richard.
•
John _________________________________ a ___________________ with ________________________ and
___________________ _________________________________.
•
John then ______________________ a ____________________________ _______________________________
further _____________________________________ the __________________________.
•
The barons ___________________________ the _____________________________ of ___________________
and ___________________________ John to ______________________ the _________________________
______________________ in 1215.
•
Magna Carta was a milestone in the __________________________ of _______________________________.
o
Placed the ______________________ _______________________ the ______________ and
____________________________ the ________________________ of free __________________________.
The Hundred Years War
•
The _______________________ and ______________________ fought a series of wars between 1337-1453
____________________ ______________________________________ of ____________________ in
_____________________________.
•
England _________________ all remaining _________________________________.
•
__________________________ from __________________________ helped __________________________
establish its own __________________________
The Black Death
•
Influenced culture and society in England in 1348
•
____________ in every ____________ residents ___________________ from the disease
•
Whole towns were annihilated
•
Some think the Black plague was a bacterial disease while others think it may have been a combination
several diseases at once. The disease was transmitted by fleas from infected rats.
AKA - bubonic plague, the blue sickness, the Great Mortality
•
•
o
•
•
•
•
Symptoms – fever, weakness, sweating, coughing, swellings in the glands of the armpits and groin
The swellings could be lanced, but the toxic buildup could still poison the person and any spray from the
lance could infect others.
o 2/3 of people infected eventually died within 3-4 days of contracting the disease
Now it can be treated with antibiotics
If you are Caucasian, you have 15% odds that you are immune from the Black Death (inherited gene)
Early 14 century world population – 500 million
o 155-200 million world wide died from the plague
Other effects of the plague:
o Accelerated the demise of the feudal system
o Improved life for the serfs
o Labor became scarce
o Wages went up
o Aristocracy actually paid peasants for their work
o Rise of the Middle Class
Literature – French Romances
•
____________________________ originated in ______________________ in the 1100s
•
Describe the ____________________________________ of legendary ________________________ and
celebrate the ______________________ ________________ that emphasizes ______________________ love.
•
___________________________ are ____________________________ ________________ who have similar
_________________________________ of ______________________________ __________________________.
•
Arthurian Romances
o
o
o
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
Most acclaimed was Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1300s by the Pearl Poet)
Le Morte d’ Arthur (1470) by Sir Thomas Mallory
Chivalry and Courtly Love
•
King Arthur Legends
o
Romantic tales reflect society
o
Chivalry – _____________________ of __________________________ ______________________ swore
to _____________________
•
•
•
•
•
____________________________ to the ________________________ at any cost
________________________ _______________________
___________________________ the ________________________
______________________ ____________________________ and _______________________
______________________ the _____________________________________ faith
o
Courtly Love – knights were expected to be motivated by love for an ideal woman.
o
Medieval society took these ideals seriously
o
______________________ ____________________________ these ____________________ in their works
Code of Chivalry
•
Thou shalt avoid _______________________ like the deadly pestilence and shalt embrace its opposite.
•
Thou shalt keep thyself ___________________________ for the sake of her whom thou lovest.
•
Thou shalt not knowingly strive to ____________________ _________ a correct ________________
________________________ that someone else is engaged in.
•
Thou shalt not chose for thy love anyone whom a natural sense of shame forbids thee to marry.
Be mindful completely to avoid falsehood.
Thou shalt not have many who know of thy love affair.
Being obedient in all things to the commands of ladies, thou shalt ever strive to ally thyself to the service
of love.
In giving and receiving love's solaces, let modesty be ever present.
•
Thou shalt _______________________ no ____________________.
•
•
•
Thou shalt not be a revealer of love affairs.
Thou shalt be in all things polite and courteous.
In practicing the solaces of love, thou shalt not exceed the desires of thy lover.
•
•
•
•
Le Morte de Arthur
•
Sir Thomas Mallory _______________________ while in ________________________ around ____________
•
•
•
•
•
First true novel written in English
Involves romantic concepts of chivalry and the heroic quest
William Caxton (printing press) edited the work and arranged it into __________ ___________________
Beginning talks about the background of King Arthur; birth through first battles as king
Book 1: The rape of Igraine by King Uther. Arthur is born, fostered by Sir Ector and draws the sword
from the stone. He receives Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake
Book 21: Concerns the final days in the life of Arthur
•
The Canterbury Tales
•
Greatest writer of the Middle Ages – Geoffrey Chaucer
•
Long _______________________________ _____________________ written in the late 1300s
•
_____________________________ of _________________________ told by a group of ___________________
on a journey to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury.
•
Portrays a broad range of people from medieval English society.
•
_________________________ _____________________ (story that provides a frame for telling other stories)
•
Introduction of _____________________________ ____________________________________
o
Each line has ___________ _________________________ with one unstressed syllable followed by one
stressed syllable in regular alternation.
o
“Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote.”
Chaucer’s Pilgrims
• Feudal System: Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Franklin, Plowman, Miller, Reeve
• Religious Life: Nun, Monk, Friar, Cleric, Parson, Summoner, Pardoner
• Professions: Merchant, Sergeant at the Law, Five Tradesmen, Cook, Skipper, Doctor, Wife of Bath,
Manciple, Host