Middle Ages and Pilgrims Test

Dates and context for early middle ages

450-1066; This was considered the Anglo-Saxon period for England, but the rest of the world was experiencing the middle ages, also known as the Dark Ages

High Middle Ages

1066-1300; this includes feudalism, the reign of the Plantagenets, the crusades, and the signing of the Magna Carta

Late middles ages

1300-1485; includes the 100-year war, the black Death, and the War of the Roses

Feudalism definition 

the economic, political, and social system in medieval Europe, in which land, worked by serfs (who were bound to the land), was held by vassals in exchange for military and other services given to overlords

organization of middle ages

Kings

Nobles

Knights/ Vassals

Peasants/serfs

Feudal Kings

Overarching landowners and powerful overlords

Feudal Nobles

had the power to grant lands to vassals in exchange more military protection

Feudal Knights

Aristocratic dependent tenant who exchanges military service and loyalty for a land (fief)

fief

land

feudal peasants/serfs

The worked on and were bound to a vassal’s land, but they were not bound to any oath’s of loyalty between vassals and lords

First monarch of the Plantagenet region

Henry II

Thomas A Becket

Henry II’s friend, who was appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry, making Thomas the head of the catholic church of England.  Henry appointed him because he wanted to gain the upper hand in his disputes with the church.

However, Thomas took the pope’s side more than once, infuriating Henry. Henry said, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” – one of his followers interpreted this literally and killed him.

Thomas A. Becket connection to The Canterbury Tales

The pilgrims are on a pilgrimage to visit Thomas’s Shrine in Canterbury

What were the Crusades

a series of wars waged by European Christians against Muslims who were occupying places in the Middle East that were considered holy to Christians

Effect of the crusades

Europeans failed to hold Jerusalem, but the Europeans benefited greatly from their interactions with Middle Eastern civilization (ex., mathematics, astronomy, architecture)

Richard I

The king, after Henry II and before King John, fought in the crusades for nearly all of his 10-year reign.

Magna Carta

Signed in 1215 by King John, It was the first document that gave rules and restrictions on what kings can and can’t do. It gave power to the people and held the kings responsible for looking after the best interests of their people

King John 

seen as the worst English King; He was cruel, self-indulgent, selfish and avaricious, and the raising of punitive taxes united all the elements of society, clerical and lay, against him. Signing the Magna Carta was the one good thing he did.

Hundred Years War

• After the Norman Conquest, William of Normandy opened the door to years of war between England and France over claims to the French throne

• Unsuccessful because the English did not take over France, but it did unify England against a common enemy

Black plague

• Also known as the bubonic plague (1348-1349), it was spread by fleas infected by rats.

• Horrifying disease that led to insanity

• 1/3 of the population was wiped out

• Impacted feudalism - caused labor shortages and gave serfs more leverage and bargaining power against their overlords

  • serfs gained freedom

War of the Roses 

Battle between the House of Lancaster and the house of York over the throne

House of Lancaster rose

Red rose

House of York Rose

White Rose

What battle Ended the Middle Ages

Battle of Bosworth 1485

Battle of Bosworth

• 1485 - Henry Tudor led a rebellion against a Yorkist king and killed him in battle

• This ended the War of the Roses and the Middle Ages

• To keep peace, Henry Tudor marries the Yorkist King’s niece to symbolize the two houses coming together as the Tudor Dynasty

Chaucer’s background

• born middle class to the merchant estate

• father was a wine seller - made a lot of money and got a good education

• was able to travel and became fluent in many languages

• advisor and administrator to several royal families

• was a prisoner of war

• He was a judge

• once part of parliament

• never a professional writer

• has many walks of life and encountered many different people during his lifetime

Chaucer is the father of ..

English Literature; he put Middle English on the map, because previously, English wasn’t seen as refined or scholarly enough to be written in literature

Chaucer’s poetic meter

iambic pentameter- 10 lines of syllables of poetry followed by one unstressed syllable and then a stressed one

heroic couplets

two lines of poetry that rhyme

3 estates of medieval society

clergy, nobility, and commoners

Clergy (church) estate

those who prayed and whose purpose was to save everyone’s soul 

Noble (feudal) estate

those who contributed to society through protection (military, lawyers, and doctors)

Commoners (merchant) estate

those who work or have some kind of professional job that provides good or services for the people

class vs estate

estate - what you contribute to society 

class - how much money you have 

satire

using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize individuals or society

What does Chaucer satirize

• Corruption in and greed in the church

• through each pilgrim, he satirized medieval society as a whole

verbal irony

when the opposite of what is said is meant

situational irony

the opposite of what you expect to happen happens

3 ideal pilgrims

plowman, the knight, and the parson; they practice what they preach, are dedicated to their jobs, are not corrupt or greedy

What does it mean that the canterbury tales are a microcosm of medieval society 

small representation of the larger middle ages; Chaucer reflects the full range of social classes, estates, and values through the pilgrims

Frame story of the general prologue

29 pilgrims + Chaucer at the Tabard in, they are making their way on a pilgrimage to Thomas A becket’s shrine in Canterbury. To pass the time, the innkeeper suggests that each tell two stories, two on the way there, and two on the way back, and then they will vote on who has the best story. the winner gets a free meal.