The Middle Ages

1066-1534 AD

The Norman Conquest

1066 AD - The Battle of Hastings Anglo-Saxon King Harold VI killed in the

battle Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror

becomes king of England

Major Dates 1096 AD - the beginning of the First Crusade. 1215 AD - the Magna Carta 1254 AD - the end of the Seventh Crusade 1517 AD - Martin Luther posts his Ninety-Five

Theses 1534 AD - Henry VIII passes the Act of

Supremacy

French Influence Feudal System

Political• Premise that the king owns all land, distributes

to loyal lords who distribute to lesser nobles, and the land is worked by the peasants.

Church• The Pope is the head of the Church on Earth.

Power is distributed to Archbishops, Bishops and lesser Church officials, and finally to lay officials and worshipers.

Feudal Pyramid

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http://gcuonline.georgian.edu/wootton_l/Medieval_files/image004.gif

French Influence Societal

Chivalric Code: Code by which the knights lived, based on faith in the Christian God (specifically Catholicism), loyalty to their liege lord, and responsibility toward the people.

Rules of Courtly Love: Encouraged loyalty to the liege lord’s lady, often through completion of quests or deeds in her honor. Eventually came to require loyalty to the Virgin Mary.

The Chivalric Code, from The Song of Roland

To fear God and maintain His Church To serve the liege lord in valor and faith To protect the weak and defenseless To give succor to widows and orphans To refrain from the wanton giving of offense To live by honor and for glory To despise pecuniary reward To fight for the welfare of all To obey those placed in authority

The Chivalric Code, from the Song of Roland

To guard the honor of fellow knights To eschew unfairness, meanness and

deceit To keep faith At all times to speak the truth To persevere to the end in any enterprise

begun To respect the honor of women Never to refuse a challenge from an equal Never to turn the back upon a foe

http://www.midde-ages.org.uk/knights-code-of-chivalry.htm

French Influence Artistic

Troubadour tradition: began with ballads, evolved into Alliterative Romance, and the prevalence in rhyme in British Literature.

Spread to England through Eleanor of Aquitaine:

• Married first to Louis VII of France, marriage was annulled in 1152. Then married to Henry II of England.

• Patroness of the arts. • Granddaughter of William IX, the Troubadour.

Medieval Romance

Name comes from Romanz, an early form of French in which Troubadour tales were told

Legend of King Arthur Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

British Response

Pushback against the French Geoffrey of Monmouth

“History” of Britain Translatio studii et imperii Legend of British Kings

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Written by an anonymous poet Circa 1375 CE - dated by language and

topic Written in Middle English - some words

and language are recognizable Tale of a knight of King Arthur’s Round

Table

Alliterative Romance

Written on subjects representative of the time: kings and knights, Courtly Love, the Chivalric Code

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an excellent example of an Alliterative Romance.

Alliterative Romance

Written combination of two oral traditions Anglo-Saxon Scops

• Long poems with heavy usage of Alliteration French Troubadours

• Long poems with heavy usage of Rhyming

Alliterative Romance

Made up of extended stanzas, with alliteration predominant in the first part.

Stanzas end in a Bob-and-Wheel Made up of 5 lines:

• 1st line is the “Bob” at the end of the open stanza• Last 4 lines, the “Wheel”, have an ABAB rhyme

scheme

Raffel: Lines 755-762[. . .] and sighing, he said: “Oh Lord,Oh Mary, gentlest Mother and dear,I beg you to send me some lodging, to let me Hear mass before morning; I ask meekly,And in proof pray swiftly my pater, my ave,

My creed.”He prayed as he rode,And wept for misdeeds,And shaped the sign of the crossAnd called Christ in his need.

Tolkein: Lines 753-762And therefore sighing he said: “I beseech thee, oh Lord,And Mary, who is the midlest mother most dear,For some harbour where with honour I might hear the

MassAnd thy Matins tomorrow. This meekly I ask,And thereto promptly I pray with Pater and Ave

and Creed.”In prayer he now did ride,lamenting his misdeed;he blessed him oft and cried,“The Cross of Christ me speed!”