Life & Literature

in
The Medieval Period
 The Middle Ages (Middle English
Period) 1066-1500
• Historical Aspects/ Perspectives
– Founding of the universities of Oxford and
Cambridge
– King John signed the Magna Carta
– English replaces Latin in school instruction
around 1350 (except at Cambridge and Oxford)
– Hundred Years War
– The Black Death kills 1/3 of the population
– First English printing press in 1476
– Columbus travels to America in 1492
 The Norman Conquest:1066
• In 1066, the Normans (French speaking people from
Normandy), led by William the Conqueror attack
and defeat the Britains (a blend of the Britons and
Anglo-Saxons) at the Battle of Hastings.
• They rebelled against the Normans every year until
1070.
• William saw himself as the owner of the land and gave
their lands to his Norman nobles.
• the 3rd language is introduced--French
– French culture and French literature arrives
– Latin -- church, schools
– French -- court, castle
– English -- commoners
William the Conqueror is known
for three accomplishments:
• 1. Creating the Domesday Book which was
an inventory of every piece of property in
England.
• 2. Bringing the French language to England
• Creating a bilingual society
• Upper-Class: spoke French
• Lower-Class: spoke English
• 3. Social System known as Feudalism
 The Domesday Book
• William wants to get money from everyone
living in England. He has been on the
throne for 19 years. In that time much land
has changed owners, and he is unsure on
who owns what and how much tax people
should be paying.
• He sent his men all over England to make a
complete survey.
• All the answers were collected so William
could work out how much money each
person in England could afford to pay him.
 The Domesday Book
• His men recorded every living thing on the island,
lands, animals and people into a book.
• This process increased the hatred of the Anglo-
Saxons, and they called the book in this name
because it reminded them of the Day of Judgement
on the walls of their churches.
• No later king or queen has achieved anything like
it.
• It still survives today in London.
 How useful is the Domesday Book?
Doomsday Book Points

It records only the men in a village, not the women, children or

relatives
It tells us that most of the land was owned by 200 Normans, the
Church or King William. They had taken it from over 2000 English
Lords after 1066.
It does not tell us how ordinary people thought, what their homes
were like or what clothes they wore
It does not include a survey of London, Northumberland or much of
Northern England and only some of Wales
It showed that the total value of England was £37,000, this was a
very large amount considering £10 made you rich!
It showed how there were few towns, lots of meadows and
woodland, plenty of farm animals and most people worked by
 The 3 Estates in the Middle Ages
• The idea of estates, or orders, was encouraged during the
Middle Ages:
– 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
 feudalism
• The economic system of much of the Middle Ages (800-
1100) was called feudalism.
• Commoners (peasants) lived on a feudal manor. The lord
of the manor gave his vassals (the peasants) land to farm.
• In return, the vassals received protection from roving
bandits. Yet they were taxed and had to surrender a
portion of their crops to the lord.
– it was better to be a lord than a vassal!
• Feudalism is important as it created ties of obedience
and fostered a sense of loyalty between the vassals and
their lord.
 • A product of feudalism,
Chivalry 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 Church
• Provided guidance through
well known precepts..
– Seven Deadly Sins
• Pride
• Greed
• Wrath
• Envy
• Gluttony
• Sloth
• Lust
 The Crusades
• 1095-1270
• The Catholic church sponsored a series of
military expeditions to the Middle East to win
Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslims.
• Ultimately failed but contributed to
weakening feudalism.
 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
 Thomas á Becket
• Under feudalism, the king appointed
bishops and gave them land; some held
high positions in the government.
• People began to complain about
government control of the church and
church control in nonreligious matters.
 Thomas á Becket
• King Henry II appointed Thomas a Becket
(priest) as Archbishop of Canterbury (head
of RC Church in England).
• Becket opposed to king’s attempts to
establish royal rights over the church
(especially the right of the king’s courts to
punish church officials who committed
crimes).
• Henry once angrily exclaimed, “Will no one
rid me of this turbulent priest?”
• Four knights took him literally and
murdered Becket in Canterbury
Cathedral, where he was praying.
• Murder shocked Christians of Europe,
Becket was made a saint.
• Shrine dedicated to Becket is the
destination in The Canterbury Tales.
 Magna Carta
• Barons (lowest member of British
nobility) were taxed excessively to
pay for military campaigns/wars
(like the Crusades).

• Barons finally fed up, in 1215

revolted against taxes and forced
the king to sign the Magna Carta
(placed king under the law to protect
citizens).
The Hundred Years’ War

• 1337-1453
• Series of wars between England
and France; England lost all of its
remaining territory in Europe
• After this, less French influence on
English culture. English became the
language of the nobility, courts,
parliament, etc
 The “High” Middle Ages
• Before, in the Dark • Sadly, with the
Ages, the Church Crusades, the Church
provided structure to becomes incredibly
society, not only with corrupt.
– Popes fight for
religion, but by political power
providing education, – Greed is rampant
as well. • 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
• also contributed to society’s culture
Old English/Middle English
By 1300s, Middle English spoken
– Old English literature spoke for the
nobility; spoke with one dignified voice
– Middle English literature spoke for
everybody; spoke with many voices, wide
variety of topics

By late 14th century, large and

prosperous middle class was emerging
(Chaucer born into this middle 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. [The commoners
couldn’t read anyway – they’d have heard
the stories passed down orally.]
 Literature
• A great amount of medieval literature is
anonymous.
• Medieval authors often tended to re-tell
and embellish stories they heard or read
rather than invent new stories.
• Catholic clerics were the intellectual center
of society in the Middle Ages,
• and it is their literature that was produced
in the greatest quantity.
 Characteristics of Medieval
Literature
• Romance
• A narrative in prose or verse that tells of
the high adventures and heroic exploits of
chivalric heroes
• Tells of exploits of knights
• often a supernatural element involved
• The earlier romances are composed in
verse; the prose romances came in late.
 Romance
• Lack of unity of action and less defined
characters. Usually the characters are
types and conform to a definite pattern.
• There is not much scope for making the
characters individual.
• The hero is delineated as an ideal knight
who needs to prove himself superior to the
other knights
• Initially the romance used to cater to the
taste of the aristocratic upper class.
 Romance
• When French was the language of the
English ruling class, French romances
were immensely popular in England.
• In fact, those which were written in
England itself were also in French. This
continued till the middle of the thirteenth
century.
 Romance
• The English romances came into
existence only when English ousted
French as the courtly language of
England.
• Thus most of the English romances belong
to the fourteenth century and are mostly
translations or adaptations from the
French ones.
 Romance
• The most popular of the genre were set in
England, and known as “The Matter of
England.”
• They featured tales of Sir Gawain, King
Arthur, and his round table.
• These tales are idealistic and NOT
realistic. The heroes, the settings, the
gallant love, and simplistic endings take
readers beyond the confinements of
ordinary life.
 Romance
• Basic narrative pattern of a romance:
• Hero
• 2. Quest—in which the hero undertakes
a perilous journey in search of something
of great value.
• 3. Supernatural event
 Conventions of Medieval
Romance
• Often have unprovoked and violent fighting!
• Are set in a mystical place and time (the Dark Ages)
• Present supernatural elements, and magical powers
from the pagan world
• Have a hero who is on a noble adventure or quest
• Have a loose, episode-like structure
• Include elements of courtly love
• Courtly Love” is Term for the love of a man for an
unattainable woman
• Embody ideals of chivalry
• Time frame of a year and a day
 Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
• Composed around 1370
• An unknown author transformed the popular
romance into great art.
• An alliterative romance poem. (Legend)
• In Sir Gawain you will see the pull of sexual
temptation and of life in the medieval castle.
• Gawain is the model of the chivalric hero whose
character is being tested on:
• Courage, Fidelity, Morality
 Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
 Purpose of Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight: teach us a moral lesson.

 Theme: To achieve nobility human beings

must rely on the constant practice of a
number of virtues such as:
Courage

Honesty

Self-sacrifice
 The Song of Roland
(La Chanson de Roland)
• The oldest surviving French medieval
romance epic
• It was written down between 1140 and
1170 AD, but tells of actual events that
occurred on August 15, 778 AD.
• The story told in the poem is based on a
historical incident, the Battle of Roncevaux
Pass
 The Song of Roland
(La Chanson de Roland)
• In this battle, recorded by historian and
biographer Einhard (Eginhard) in his Life
of Charlemagne (written around 830),
every one of the trapped soldiers were
slaughtered, including Roland.
• But before his honorable death in battle,
Roland shows the reader the stages of the
Hero’s Journey and many heroic
archetypes.
 The Song of Roland
(La Chanson de Roland)
• Roland demonstrates what it means to be
a chivalrous knight – loyal to his king and
country to the very end, overcoming his
own character flaw and sacrificing himself
for the greater good in the end.
• His story is the embodiment of the
greatest Medieval romance ever written.
 Characteristics of Medieval
Literature
• Christian message
• concern with salvation and the world to
come
• no interest in social change, only spiritual
change
• This was true until the late 14th century
• Geffrey Chaucer and Dante Alighieri signal
new thinking, try up-ending social order
 Characteristics of Medieval
Literature
• Heroism
– from both Germanic and Christian
traditions, sometimes mingled
• Beowulf
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Song of Roland
• The Nieblungenlied
 Characteristics of Medieval
Literature
• Presentations of idealized behavior
– literature as moral lesson
• loyalty to king
• chivalry
• use of kennings
– A figurative, usually compound
expression used in place of a name or
noun. Example, storm of swords is a
kenning for battle.
 Characteristics of Medieval
Literature – Use of Allegory
• An allegory is a 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—
• representations of abstract qualities,
events, and institutions are thick in much
of the literature of this time.
• In contrast to the courage, seriousness,
and savagery of the Anglo-Saxon
literature,
• The Normans introduced romantic tales of
love and adventure in literature.
• This made the Anglo-Norman period to be
chivalric rather than a heroic one.
• Romances were famous for their stories
rather than poetry.
Chronicles in the Anglo-Norman
Period
• chronicles became a well-established form
of writing.
• They recorded the history of kings.
• These chronicles became the major
source of historical knowledge for
medieval people.
• they contained historical events, and
legendary material without any
interpretation or comment by the author.