Textuality » 3A Interacting
CSguassero - Studying about English History
by 2009-02-02)
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Middle Ages
The term Middle Ages refears to a period of several centuries . It extends from the begiining of Anglo-Saxon invasions in the late 4th century to the accession to of the house of Tudor to the throne in 1485. It is a very long era and it is subdivided into Early Medieval Period (or Anglo Saxon) and Late Medieval Period (or Anglo Normann).
The Anglo Saxons:
- Origins: from northern Europe, from what today is Germany
- What did they introduce in Britain? Their nordic religion, military organization, code of values based on a high sense of courage, honour and fidelty for theyr chiefs. They also brought with them their farming and fishing methods.
- Social structure: it has at his centre the family unit wich branched out to the clan and the tribe and the kingdom.
- Society: it was ruled by a king or a chief, who had usually assumed he power as a military leader, then came earls, who were nobels by birth, and thengs who were the personal companions of the king. All the other people were freemans, they were obligated manteining roads, building bridges, provide military service when necesary. People liver in country villages wher farmland, woods, pastures were owned communaly.
- Towns: Anglo Saxons people began to form larger comunities called boroughs. At first they were military basas, after they grew as centre of trade inhabitated by soldiers, merchants, families.
- Language: they spoke Old English, a mixture of germanic dialects. It became the English spoken today.
- Christianity's role: it provided a driving force uniting the kingdom. It also introduced the writing documents while pagan Anglo-Saxon culture was mainly based on oral tradition. Cristianity opened the country o the influence of Europe, so the Anglo saxon's culture was both a military culture, based on the practiice of war and dominated by the figure of the powerfull noble-hearted warrior, and a refined culture.
- Literary:much of the surviving literary of the middle ages is poetry. In this first period there were no intrest, so there aren't many literary works.the oldest surviving british poetry is Beowulf. Author, place of this composition are unknown. It is in Old English, and it dates fron the 7th century. the poem is about a Scandinavian hero that fought against a monster and a dragon, but he is mortaly. This poem summarizes all the values and the sociaty of the Anglo Sxon culture.The poem was told by bards, infact the erse is tipically of the oral tradition.
- where is it possible to know this from?: from Archeology and from litery texs written by monks (Bede, Gildas)
The Anglo Normans
- Origins: France. After the conquest of king William, the Normans, who descended from the Vikings and had long before seattled down in North-western Frace, invaded Britain.
- What did they introduce in Britain? They introduced the feudal sistem. Norman barons replaced English nobels and the Church grew in strength. The Normans did also two important things: the Magna Charta and Chivaliry. In the 1215 the nobels obligated King John to sign Magna Charta and atarted to act in co-operatio with mechants class. The following yers they see the foundation of the Parliment. The old pagan values were replaced by more refined and elaborate ideals, such as true courtesy, honour, generosity, truth. They are the components of the code of conduct of the Anglo Norman nobels: chivaliry.
- Social structure: it was based upon rank.
- Society At the top of the social scale there was the king, the nobels who lived in massive castles. Than came the knights, who were farmers, traders and craftmans and ordinary freemans. At the bottom there were the villains, unfree paesants. Women's palce society was inferior to man's.
- Language: they spoke French and wrote in Latin. English was considered inferior althought it was spoken by the majority of the people. In the log run English grew richer with French borrowings and the use of French in Britain went slowly into decline.
- Christianity's role: it controlled money, land and man. Sovereings supported the Crusades launched by the Pope to free Jerusalem. Hierarchy within the Church was also firmly established. The regular clergy lived in convents and monasteries while the secular clergy lived among ordinary people. The Church was also very important in preserving and trasmitting culture. Monasteries were centre of learning and arts.
- Literary: the most impostant text are the cycle of legends dealing within King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. These describe the heroic life and deeds of king Arthur and his knighs. The code of values of chivaliry was illustrated and preservated in the Arthurian legends.
- Important events: the Hundered Year's War
The War of the Roses
The paesant's revolt
Irleand, Wales and Scotland.