The Middle Ages AD

The Norman Conquest  1066 AD - The Battle of Hastings –Anglo-Saxon King Harold VI killed in the battle –Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror becomes king of England Promise of Edward the Confessor

Major Dates  1096 AD - the beginning of the First Crusade.  1215 AD - the Magna Carta signed at Runnymeade.  1254 AD - the end of the Seventh Crusade  1517 AD - Martin Luther posts his Ninety-Five Theses, which were the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation.  1534 AD - Henry VIII passes the Act of Supremacy establishing himself as the Head of the Church of England, or Anglican Church

French Influence  Feudal System –Political Premise that the king owns all land, distributes to loyal lords who distribute to lesser nobles, and the land is worked by the peasants. –Church The Pope is the head of the Church on Earth. Power is distributed to Archbishops, Bishops and lesser Church officials, and finally to lay officials (non- ordained Church officials)

Feudal Pyramid

French Influence  Societal –Chivalric Code: Code by which the knights lived, based on faith in the Christian God (specifically Catholicism), loyalty to their liege lord, and responsibility toward the people. –Rules of Courtly Love: Encouraged loyalty to the liege lord’s lady, often through completion of quests or deeds in her honor. Eventually came to require loyalty to the Virgin Mary.

The Chivalric Code, from The Song of Roland  To fear God and maintain His Church  To serve the liege lord in valor and faith  To protect the weak and defenseless  To give succor to widows and orphans  To refrain from the wanton giving of offense  To live by honor and for glory  To despise pecuniary reward  To fight for the welfare of all  To obey those placed in authority

The Chivalric Code, from the Song of Roland  To guard the honor of fellow knights  To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit  To keep faith  At all times to speak the truth  To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun  To respect the honor of women  Never to refuse a challenge from an equal  Never to turn the back upon a foe

French Influence  Artistic –Troubadour tradition: began with ballads, evolved into Alliterative Romance, and the prevalence in rhyme in British Literature. –Spread to England through Eleanor of Aquitaine:  Married first to Louis VII of France, marriage was annulled in Then married to Henry II or Henry Plantagenet of England.  Patroness of the arts.  Granddaughter of William IX, the Troubadour.

The French brought the Medieval Romance  Name comes from Romanz, an early form of French in which Troubadour tales were told. The word ROMANCE meant “novel” or “adventure,” and connected to the idea of chivalry.  Legend of King Arthur –Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur

Alliterative Romance  The Alliterative Romance, a particular form of the Medieval Romance,. was a written combination of two oral traditions—The Anglo Saxon scops who composed long poems using Alliteration, and  French Troubadours, who composed long poems with heavy use of end rhyme.

Alliterative Romance  Was written on subjects representative of the time: kings and knights, Courtly Love, and the Chivalric Code.  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an excellent example of an Alliterative Romance.

Alliterative Romance  Was made up of extended stanzas, with alliteration predominant in the first part.  The Stanzas ended in a Bob-and-Wheel. –The stanza ending was made up of 5 lines 1 st line is the Bob at the end of the open stanza The last 4 lines, the Wheel, have an ABAB rhyme scheme.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: an Alliterative Romance  Written by an anonymous poet  Circa 1375 CE - dated by language and topic  Written in Middle English - some words and language are recognizable  Tale of a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table

British Response  Pushback against the French  Translatio studii et imperii  Geoffrey of Monmouth –“History” of Britain –Legend of British Kings

TRANSLATIO STUDII ET IMPERII This Latin phrase refers to the transfer or translation (translatio) of culture or knowledge (what one studies: studium) and of political power or legitimacy (what creates an empire: imperium) from one civilization to another. In the Middle Ages, both political and cultural legitimacy were thought to have been passed down from classical antiquity (ancient Greece and Rome) to modern-day (i.e. medieval) Europe. Both England and its archrival France would seek to prove their superior claims to cultural and political legitimacy by asserting their direct descent from the "glory that was Rome."

Activity  How might this have manifested into Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History” of Britain?  Why might the British have felt the need to do this given the history of the transition into the Middle Ages?