The Middle Ages
1066-1488
The Norman Conquest
In 1066, William
the Conqueror,
Duke of
Normandy,
(France) invaded
England.
The Tower of London

To protect
himself,
William the
Conqueror built
the White Tower
on the banks of
the River Thames.
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http://www.hrp.org.uk/
TowerOfLondon/
Middle English
•French increased the
English vocabulary by 10,000
words, 7,500 which are
still in use today.
•French also led to a
simplification of English
grammar and spelling!
The Middle Ages: Works
Everyman
 The Canterbury Tales
 Le Mort de’Arthur
 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Everyman – a morality play
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An allegory for the cycle of life
God sends death to call Everyman to a reckoning
Everyman pleads for more time
Everyman tries to bribe death with his material
goods
Beauty, Strength, Family, and Friends all abandon
Everyman in his hour of need
Only Good Deeds agrees to accompany Everyman to
his death, after he confesses his sins
Le Mort Darthur by Sir Thomas Mallory
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Arthurian Legends/Tales & Character Chart
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson “Idylls of the King”
-T.H. White The Once and Future King
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Mallory was a knight familiar with romances
Written sometime between 1469-1470 while Mallory
was in prison (probably politically motivated)
A romance hero – larger than life figure who has
mysterious origins and performs extraordinary deeds
Mallory’s King Arthur – a consolidation of legends
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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This story was probably
written around 1375, when
the old ideals of knightly
conduct – courage, loyalty,
and courtesy - were starting
to erode.
It is a romance – a term
applied to a verse narrative
which traces the adventures
of a brave knight or other
hero who had to overcome
danger for love of a noble
lady OR a high ideal.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Sir Gawain is King Arthur’s nephew
His shield depicts the five points of chivalry
He accepts a challenge from the Green Knight
He is a hero of extraordinary virtue – but can
also be viewed as a flawed Everyman
The Green Knight is a supernatural being,
created by Morgan Le Fay to tempt Arthur’s
court and code of chivalry.
Sir Gawain’s Shield
Piety (religious)
 Honesty
 Humility
 Integrity
 Loyalty
**Phhil = a super
chivalrous hero!!!
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The Five Points of Chivalry…
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The pentangle symbolizes the virtues to which
Gawain aspires: to be faultless in his five senses;
never to fail in his five fingers; to be faithful to the
five wounds that Christ received on the cross; to be
strengthened by the five joys that the Virgin Mary
had in Jesus (the Annunciation, Nativity,
Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption); and to
possess brotherly love, courtesy, piety, and chastity.
The side of the shield facing Gawain contains an
image of the Virgin Mary to make sure that Gawain
never loses heart.
The Green Girdle…
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The green sash is reputed to be able to keep
its wearer safe from harm
Sir Gawain is dishonest and he keeps the sash,
displaying cowardice and an excessive love of
mortal life.
From then on, he wears it as a badge of his
sinfulness, and to show their support, Arthur
and his followers wear green sashes.
The Canterbury Tales – a frame story
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Written by Geoffrey Chaucer, Father of
English poetry
In the Middle Ages, many people took
pilgrimages (journey) to religious places
Many Christians journeyed to Canterbury
Cathedral to the shrine of Archbishop Thomas
Beckett who was murdered while praying
The Canterbury Tales begins with
The Prologue (introduction)
"What sluggards, what cowards have I brought up in my court,
who care nothing for their allegiance to their lord? Who will
rid me of this meddlesome priest?"
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The king's exact words have been lost to history but
his outrage inspired four knights to sail to England to
rid the realm of this annoying clergyman. They
arrived at Canterbury during the afternoon of
December 29 and immediately searched for the
Archbishop. Becket fled to the Cathedral where a
service was in progress.
The knights found him at the altar, drew their swords
and began hacking at their victim finally splitting his
skull.
The Murder of the Archbishop
The Pilgrims…
Thirty pilgrims, from all walks
of life, went from London to
Canterbury. To pass the time,
they agreed to tell two stories
on the way there and two
stories on the way back…
The General Prologue
Introduces the pilgrims and
their tales (frame within a
frame)
 Written in Middle English
(English with French
influence).
 The first few paragraphs of
The Prologue in Middle
English
http://www.unc.edu/depts/chau
cer/zatta/prol.html
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Geoffrey Chaucer…
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Wrote The Canterbury Tales in Middle English
instead of the king’s French or the church’s Latin.
Originally, each character was to tell four tales, two
on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back.
Only 24 tales were completed when Chaucer died on
October 25, 1400.
Chaucer's idea to create a literature and poetic
language for all classes of society succeeded. Today
Chaucer stands as one of the great shapers of literary
narrative and character.
Five Tales…
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The Knight’s Tale (A chivalrous, good man)
The Pardoner’s Tale (His job is to forgive sins
in the name of the Church)
The Wife of Bath’s Tale (Married 5 times)
The Miller’s Tale (Works in a mill)
The Reeve’s Tale (Carpenter)
The Knight…
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A knight’s armor consisted of a
helmet, a shield, and a relatively
flexible mail shirt and could
weigh more than 200 pounds.
A knight could literally die from
suffocation, heart failure, heat
stroke, and even drowning.
The Knight is admired for his
chivalry, truthfulness, honorable
reputation, generosity and
refinement. He is also admired
for his impressive military
career. The Knight has fought in
the Crusades.
The Pardoner…
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A pardoner offered indulgences (favors), or previously
written pardons for particular sins, to people who repented of
the sin they had committed. The penitent, in return, would
give a “donation” to the Church. It began to look like one
could cleanse oneself of sin by simply paying off the Church.
Additionally, widespread suspicion held that pardoners
counterfeited the pope's signature on illegitimate indulgences
and pocketed the “charitable donations” themselves.
Chaucer's Pardoner is a highly untrustworthy character who
admits he pockets the donations, gives false pardons, and
gives a sermon on greed.
The Wife of Bath…
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Worldly, well-traveled, argumentative, talkative.
Well dressed with scarlet stockings!
Married 5 times – unheard of in the Middle Ages!
Through her experiences with her husbands, she has
learned how to provide for herself in a world where
women had little independence or power.
The chief manner in which she has gained control
over her husbands has been in her control over their
use of her body. The Wife uses her body as a
bargaining tool, withholding sexual pleasure until
her husbands give her what she demands.
The Miller…& The Reeve…
Stout and brawny, with a wart on his nose and a big mouth, both literally
and figuratively.
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He drunkenly insists on telling the second tale.
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He ruins the Host's carefully planned storytelling order; he rips doors off
hinges; and he tells a tale that is somewhat blasphemous, ridiculing
religious clerks, scholarly clerks, carpenters, and women.
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The Reeve - similar to a butler, and this reeve performs his job
shrewdly—his lord never loses so much as a ram to the other employees,
However, he steals from his master.
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Because he also does carpentry, the Reeve takes offense at the Miller's tale
of a stupid carpenter, and counters with his own tale of a dishonest miller.
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London…
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Plaia personal\Europe Photos.htm
The Domesday Book
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It was a collection of
information on Williams
newly acquired land which
he knew little about so he
had a survey taken so he
could better administer the
land.
He took of natural land tax,
certain miscellaneous-dues,
and the proceeds of the
crown land.
The white tower
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Is the central tower at
the tower of London.
The great central keep
wash started in 1078 by
William the conqueror
who ordered the white
tower to be built inside
the south-east angle of
the city walls
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It was a highly contagious
disease that spread through
fleas from rats. It decreased
the population by a third
which hurt Europe in many
different ways.
This caused the church to
lose most of the followers
that were still alive since
they wanted the church to
save them but they were
from it too.
The hundred years war
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Was a conflict between
france and england
lasting 116 years. The
war started over claims
by the english.
There were over 18
nations warring at
once.
The crusades
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The crusades was a
mass conversion
journey across Europe
by the church to
convert the rest of
Europe.
The church called it
“the war of god” and
all those who did not
help or convert were
killed.