Story of Medieval England: From King Arthur to the Tudor Conquest
by Jennifer Paxton (Biography)
The following materials are provided to enhance your learning experience. Click the links below
for free information including a professor-authored course summary, recommended web links,
and a condensed bibliography.
Course Summary - Professor's written description of the course.
Professor Recommended Links
Condensed Bibliography - Prepared by the professor for this course.
Course Summary
During the 1,000 years between the end of the Roman occupation of Britain and the Wars of the
Roses, England emerged as the dominant political entity on the island of Britain, aided largely
by geography, which favored the broad, fertile plains of the south and east over the more rugged
terrain of the so-called Celtic fringe in the north and west. The development of the English
government produced a country that was more orderly and more responsive to public opinion
than any other state in Europe. The achievements of England’s monarchy and of its critics, who
continually spurred it toward acknowledging the will of the people, laid the foundation for the
powerful state that would found the American colonies in the 17th century and dominate the
globe in the 18th and 19th. But the achievement did not belong to rulers and barons alone. As
we follow the birth and growth of the English state, we will meet not just the kings and queens of
the central political narrative but also the ordinary men and women who lived through this
millennium of change.
As unlikely as it may seem, a unified English kingdom was the product of the chaos of repeated
barbarian invasions. The first invaders were Germanic tribes from the European mainland in the
5th century. These were followed by Vikings from Scandinavia in the 9th century, and finally in
1066 by the most successful conquerors of all, the Normans, under their duke, William. After the
Norman Conquest, two main questions in English political life remained constant for the next
several centuries, and they often overlapped: Who would be the king (or queen), and how would
he (or she) get along with the great lords of the realm? Strong rulers such as William the
Conqueror (1066–1087) and his son, Henry I (1100—1135), were able to rule without challenge,
but weaker kings, particularly those with shaky claims to the throne, often had to face challenges
by rival claimants or by groups of barons who were critical of the way the realm was being
governed. King Stephen (1135–1154) was nearly unseated by his cousin, Matilda, and the
misrule by King John (1199–1216) drove a coalition of his barons to invite a French prince to
take the throne in his stead.
The fact is, English kings often provoked their barons to rebellion. Kings were notoriously short
of money, and the best source of money was the barons. When demands for taxation became
excessive or were perceived as arbitrary, the barons fought back. Their aims were to restrict the
king’s abilities to extract money from them, as well as his ability to prosecute them if they
refused to comply. Beginning with the Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215, two principles
were enshrined in English law: The king could not raise taxes without the consent of the leading
men of the realm, and those accused of crimes had the right to trial by their peers. These
provisions led directly to the creation of Parliament. At first, under Henry III, Parliament was a
very informal body; when Henry’s excesses provoked his barons to rebellion in 1258, their
leader, Simon de Montfort, summoned the first formal Parliament, comprising not only the
barons but elected representatives from every region of England. From this time forward,
Parliament was an increasingly important fixture in the political life of England.
The series of violent clashes between kings and their barons did not cease with the creation of
Parliament, however. In the 14th century, two English kings, Edward II (1307–1327) and Richard
II (1377–1399), were deposed and met horrible deaths at the hands of their rivals. But the most
spectacular conflict over who would rule England unfolded over a 30-year period in the 15th
century (1455–1485), when two rival branches of the royal house, divided by personal interest
(and to a certain extent by policy), fought for the throne in Wars of the Roses. When the conflict
ended with the death of King Richard III’s at Bosworth Field, the Middle Ages ended, and the
modern age of English politics began, in which the monarch was truly beholden to the people.
This shift in English politics was the fruit of social and economic developments throughout the
Middle Ages. Life in England in the period of the early Anglo-Saxon settlements was indeed
nasty, brutish, and short, and for many people, it remained so during all of the Middle Ages. But
for others, the slow but steady growth of the English economy after about A.D. 1000 provided
increased prosperity. Agricultural yields increased and trade expanded. New markets were
created and new towns founded. An active market in land allowed some peasants to become
richer than their neighbors, and ultimately, over several generations, if they were very fortunate,
to climb into ranks of the gentry or even the nobility. The same was true of successful merchants.
Of course, this growth did not occur without setbacks, the greatest of which was the terrible
mortality of the Black Death in 1348, during which a third of the English population may have
perished. Paradoxically, however, the lot of those who remained slowly improved, as the
decrease in population drove wages higher and rents lower, leading to a golden age for English
farmers in the 15th century.
Increased prosperity also led to increased literacy and to a broadening of access to cultural
production of all kinds. We will therefore examine how the arts evolved during this period in
tandem with—and as a result of—political, social, and economic forces. We will look at the
evolution of some of the enduring legends of English history and trace how they changed in
response to shifting circumstances. We will focus especially on the evolution of the legend of
King Arthur, from its shadowy beginnings in the period of Germanic invasion, to its flowering
under the aristocratic Anglo-French court poets of 12th century, and finally to the popular 15th-
century English prose of Sir Thomas Malory. We will not neglect the visual arts, of course, from
the glorious illuminated manuscripts of the 8th-century Northumbrian renaissance to splendors
of the late English Gothic cathedrals. In every case, though, we will discuss these works of art as
products of particular historical circumstances.
Illuminated manuscripts and cathedrals were extraordinarily costly expressions of religious
sentiment and could only be created with the patronage of the wealthy. But the course will also
address the religious experience of ordinary men and women. England’s religious majority went
from paganism to Christianity under the Romans, returned to paganism under the earliest Anglo-
Saxon invaders, and through the process of reconversion, this time from two directions: Rome
and Ireland. Ordinary believers experienced the medieval church not as a distant abstraction but
as a part of their everyday lives; its calendar regulated their lives, its courts settled their
disputes, and its wealthiest members owned their lands and even acted as entrepreneurs in the
new industries that developed in the later Middle Ages.
The story of England in the Middle Ages is fascinating and varied, full of colorful characters. But
it is also inherently important to a Western—even global—audience, because we are all heirs of
medieval England in one way or another, whatever our own ethnic heritage may be. The
distinctive development of the English state as a representative democracy, the distinctive
shape of the English language, and the legendary English heroes like King Arthur and Robin
Hood who have captured people’s imaginations all over the world have their origins in this
1,000-year period in one corner of a small island in northern Europe. The Story of Medieval
England is a wonderful story that continues to shape the world we live in.
Return To Top
Professor Recommend Links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/
Return To Top
Condensed Bibliography
These selected titles from the reading list are now available on Amazon.com. Click on a title for
more information and/or to order the title.
Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe: AD 700-1100. Sawyer, P
A brief, highly readable introduction to the Vikings.
Roman Britain: A New History. de la Bédoyère, G
The most recent complete study of Roman Britain with excellent illustrations.
The Anglo-Saxons. Campbell, J; John, E; and Wormald, P
A lavishly illustrated, multi-authored work spanning the whole Anglo-Saxon period.
The Battle of Hastings. Bradbury, J
An excellent introduction to the context of and sources for the battle.
The Hundred Years’ War, 1337-1453. Curry, A
A brief, lavishly illustrated introduction to the Hundred Years’ War.
When Adam Delved and Eve Span: A History of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 .
O'Brien, M
Brief, accessible introduction to the Peasants' Revolt for the general reader.
In some cases the only available book from Amazon is a newer edition than the one used by the
professor. The edition used by the professor may be available on the used market.
Return To Top
