The Middle Ages

The beginning…Early Middle Ages• Decline of Roman Empire • Rise of Northern Europe • New forms of government • Heavy “Romanization” (religion,

language, laws, architecture, government)

• Latin- “medium aevum” means “middle age” and is source of English word “medieval”

Early Middle Ages

• Dark Ages (500 CE- 1000 CE)

• Rise of influence of barbarians -Roman Emperors granted land with the Roman Empire in return for military service

Germanic Peoples

Roman empire overrun by Germanic groups with repeated invasions and constant warfare

• Breakdown of trade: money became scarce.

• Cities abandoned – no longer center of economy or administration

• Population became rural.

• Decline of literacy – priests and other church officials were the few that were literate.

• Breakup of unified empire – language began to change-No longer Latin.

• End of Democracy

End of DemocracyRome

• Unified by loyalty to public government and written law

• Orderly government

Germanic

• Family ties and personal loyalty

• People lived in small communities governed by unwritten rules and traditions

• Ruled by a Chief who led a band or warriors loyal only to him – not some emperor they’d never seen

European Empire Evolves

After the decline of the Roman Empire small kingdoms sprang up all over Europe.

The largest and the strongest was controlled by the Franks

• Lead by Clovis – first Christian king

• Area that is now France

• Greatest king was Charlemagne

• most powerful king in Western Europe

• encouraged learning

Welcome to England and the English…an island of peoples, languages, and divisions...

Latin -- church, schoolsFrench -- court, castleEnglish -- commoners

The White Tower in London…Chartres Cathedral

What was it like to live in the Middle Ages?

The 3 Estates in the Middle Ages• The idea of estates, or orders, was

encouraged during the Age, but this ordering was breaking down.– Clergy

• Latin chiefly spoken, those who pray, purpose was to save everyone’s soul

– Nobles• French chiefly spoken, those who

fight, purpose was to protect—allow for all to work in peace—and provide justice

– Commoners• English spoken, those who work,

purpose was to feed and clothe all above them

Expanding Influence of the Church• Christian Church has become an important political,

economic, spiritual and cultural force in Europe• Leading officials of Church were the Pope and

Patriarch • Banning of heresy (holding beliefs that contradict the

official religion)• conversion by force• Eventually in 11th Century, Church split into two

independent branches Eastern Orthodox (Greek) based in Constantinople and Roman Catholic in Rome

You scratch my back… I’ll scratch yours….

• Church was granted favours by Roman Emperors / Kings

• in return the Church would endorse kings to help secure their rule

• Church supplied educated administrators to help run kingdoms

• in return kings would enforce laws that prohibited other religions

Monasticism and Saints

• Monks were people who gave up worldly possessions and devote themselves to a religious life

• Established between 400 -700 communities called monasteries which became centres of education, literacy and learning

• Strict codes of monastic conduct called Rule of St. Benedict

• Saints- one who performs miracles that are interpreted as evidence of a special relationship with God

• St. Augustine- wrote “Confessions” which discussed ideas of ethics, self knowledge, and the role of free will which shaped monastic tradition and the influence of Church

The Church

• Provided guidance through well known precepts..– Seven Deadly Sins• Pride• Greed• Wrath• Envy• Gluttony• Sloth• Lust

Slaves and Serfs

• Slaves made up of conquered peoples• Some treated harshly, while other were

treated fairly• Rural slaves became serfs, who worked the

land and provided labor for owner (in return for protection)

• Set up for system of feudalism

Feudalism• Increasing violence and lawless

countryside• Feudalism= relationship between those

ranked in a chain of association (kings, vassals, lords, knights, serfs)

• Feudalism worked because of the notion of mutual obligation, or voluntary co-operation from serf to noble

• A man’s word was the cornerstone of social life

Key terms• Fief = land given by a lord in return for a

vassal’s military service and oath of loyalty

• Serfs= aka villeins or common peasants who worked the lords land

• Tithe = tax that serfs paid (tax or rent)• Corvee= condition of unpaid labor by

serfs (maintaining roads or ditches on a manor)

FeudalismManors

The lords estate –

The lord provided the serfs with housing, farmland and protection

Serfs tended the lands, cared for the animals, maintained the estate

FeudalismManors

Peasants rarely traveled more than 25 miles from the manor

Was home to 15 – 30 families

Self-Sufficient community

Peasants heavily taxed, including a tithe – a church tax of 1/10 their income

Chivalry • A product of feudalism,

chivalry was an idealized system of manners and morals– Restricted to nobility

• The Medieval knight was bound to the chivalric code to be loyal to…– God– his lord– his lady

• Chivalric ideals include...– benevolence– brotherly love– politeness

• Sir Gawain is an example

The Age of Chivalry

Sons of nobles began training at an early age for knighthood

Page – at 7 they were sent to another lord to be trained

Squire – at 14 they act as a servant to a knight

Knight- at 21 they become a knight and gain experience in local wars and tournaments

The Age of ChivalryTournaments – mock battles that combined recreation and combat training

Fierce and bloody competitions

The Wheel of Fortune

The idea of Fortune and her wheel was one of the most pervasive ideas throughout

the Middle Ages.

On the wheel are depicted four figures: one at the top, one at the bottom, one rising,

and one falling.

• It served to remind of the temporality of earthly things.

•Helps understand the medieval mind

• Important things in life come from within

• That hard work has its own merits.

the Ptolemaic Universe

• Imagine a sphere that encloses another that holds another that holds yet another…and continues into heaven…

• It is a commonly held myth that people of the Medieval period thought the Earth was flat…FALSE!

– It was round, but at the center of the universe!

• So what! Well, the people of the Medieval period loved order! Remember the Three Estates, the Seven Deadly Sins—a place for everyone and everyone in that place.

Watch for this order to begin to be displaced…

High Middle Ages

1050 - 1300

The “High” Middle Ages(begin 1095)

• Begin with the First Crusade (1095)--reclaim Jerusalem from the infidels– Open trade routes

– Peasants (the vassals) are liberated from their lords to fight, and die, in the Holy Lands

– Cities spring up along the crusade routes

– Feudalism dies out

– the transition to the Renaissance begins

The “High” Middle Ages

• Before, in the Dark Ages, the Church provided structure to society, not only with religion, but by providing education, as well.

• Sadly, with the Crusades, the Church becomes incredibly corrupt.– Popes fight for

political power– Greed is rampant

• selling of indulgences• Crusades for $• look for this in the Tales

With the Crusades comes The Black Death

• spreads along trade routes• kills much of the population• the plague outbreaks occur

through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance

• Paradoxically, the Plague provides for continued growth in cities– Afterwards, hundreds of new jobs

available– Many debts “died off” with creditors

• also contributed to society’s culture

The Bubonic Plague• Called “black death” because of striking symptom of

the disease, in which sufferers' skin would blacken due to hemorrhages under the skin

• Spread by fleas and rats• painful lymph node swellings called buboes • buboes in the groin and armpits, which ooze pus and

blood. • damage to the skin and underlying tissue until they

were covered in dark blotches• Most victims died within four to seven days after

infection

EFFECTS• Caused massive depopulation and change

in social structure• Weakened influence of Church• Originated in Asia but was blamed on

Jews and lepers

Ideas, Inventions and Key Figures

• Roger Bacon (gunpowder)• Luca Pacioli (Father of Accounting)• Johannes Gutenberg (printing press)• Christine de Pisan (writer); Geoffrey Chaucer (writer)• Joan of Arc (Hundred Year’s War)• Pope Urban II (indulgences)• Pope Innocent IV and Bernard Gui (inquisitions)• Parliamentary Government in England

Enough already!I thought this was an English class!

Literature During the Medieval Period

Languages

• Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic Church, which dominated Europe

• The Church was the only source of education• Thus, Latin was a common language for

Medieval writings.

• A notable amount of medieval literature is anonymous• Medieval authors re-tell and

embellish stories they heard or read rather than invent new stories.

Characteristics of Medieval Literature• Heroism– from both Germanic and Christian traditions,

sometimes mingled• Beowulf• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Presentations of idealized behavior– literature as moral lesson• loyalty to king• chivalry

• use of kennings (especially in Beowulf)– A figurative, usually compound expression used in

place of a name or noun. Example, storm of swords is a kenning for battle.

Use of Allegory

• Definition: figurative mode of representation conveying a meaning other than the literal.

• Much of medieval literature relied on allegory to convey the morals the author had in mind while writing

The Ideal of Courtly Love

• This relationship was modeled on the feudal relationship between a knight and his liege lord.

• The knight serves his courtly lady with the same obedience and loyalty which he owes to his liege lord.

• She is in complete control; he owes her obedience and submission