 The Norman Conquest  October 1066  William the Conqueror vs. King Harold of England  Wanted to rule the Anglo-Saxons, not eliminate them  Culture and language that combine Norman and Anglo-Saxon elements  Benefits of the Norman invasion:  Anglo-Saxon democratic and artistic tendencies  Norman administrative ability, emphasis on law and order, cultural unity  Youtube videos

 William’s “good deeds”  Inventory of property in England in the Domesday Book  Not only a judgment of worth, but all are judged without bias  Taxes based upon ownership  All property was assumed to be William’s  Supporters of King Harold lost their holdings  These holdings were parceled out to Norman lords  Lords swore loyalty to William in exchange for land  Oaths of fealty were the backbone of the feudal society  Vassal to his chosen lord – solemn and unbreakable  Beginning of centralized government in England

 Feudalism was a caste system, a property system, and a military system  Religious hierarchy  God is supreme overlord  King is vassal to God, but lord to barons and serfs  Barons owed king economic or military allegiance, but could have their own vassals  Knights and serfs were vassals to the Barons  Manor = basic economic unit of feudalism  Economic exchange:  Lord provided serfs with land, simple housing, and protection from wandering bandits  Serfs paid for these things with their services to the lord  Maintaining his estate  Payment of a portion of what they grew  Serfs also had to pay money to the Church  Serfs could not leave the land they worked – similar to slavery  Life of hard labor and no luxury  Could not be bought or sold

 On a piece of lined paper, create a medieval social pyramid  Serfs at the base  Other classes in the middle layers  King at the top  God above the pyramid  For each layer of the pyramid, create an image or icon  Beneath the pyramid, explain how each layer of the pyramid is dependent upon the others

 No voice, No choice!  No political rights  Always subservient to a man  A woman’s husband’s or father’s social standing determined her degree of respect  Peasants:  Childbearing  Housework  Hard fieldwork  Noble classes:  Childbearing  Household supervision  Think-Pair-Share: How do you think the Anglo-Saxon women would have adjusted to this new lifestyle?

 The Roman Church fostered cultural unity among Europeans  Crusades  Exposure to Eastern civilization broadened intellectual horizons  The Church grew in power until…  The Magna Carta is forced upon King John in 1215  Weakened political power of the church  Laid groundwork for later English constitutional law

 Ideals of chivalry improved attitudes toward women  Rights (or lack thereof) remained unchanged  Yeoman class  Paved way for democracy in England  Bubonic plague  Labor shortage  End of feudalism  Passing of the Middle Ages

 The father of English poetry  Language of the court was French  Languages of literature, science, diplomacy, and religion were Latin and French  Old English  Middle English  Modern English  Social Stature:  Well-known government official who served under 3 kings  Made the English language respectable by composing in the vernacular  The everyday language spoken in London and the East Midlands  Born into a middle-class family, Chaucer read a lot and had legal training  Working as a page gave him finest training in good manners

 Government work took precedence over writing  1369 – composed first important poem: The Book of the Duchess  Written in memory of his patron’s wife, who died of the plague  Allegorical poems – House of Fame, Paarliament of Fowls  Love story – Troilus and Criseyde  Greatly influenced by Italian writers and poets  Canterbury Tales ( ) mimic the writing styles and devices of Boccaccio  Collection is considered one of the greatest works in the English language

 Chaucer abandons the old, alliterative world of the Anglo-Saxons  Modern world:  Metrical Forms  Prose  Iambic Pentameter  10 syllables, every 2 nd syllable stressed = 5 stressed syllables  Precursor to Shakespeare!  Middle English:  Loses inflectional endings and Germanic flavor  Many Latin and French words added to people’s vocabulary