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    The Middle Ages PDF

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    Thea Thea

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The Middle Ages e+ HISTORIC TEXT The Early Middle Ages (1066-1300) ‘The coronation of William the Conqueror in 1086 marked the start of a new age for England. The new king managed to crush the remaining Anglo-Saxon resistance and distributed land to his Norman nobles, organizing the country according to the feudal system: land was held in retum for duty or service to one's lord. Allland belonged to the king, but he gave it to nobles in exchange for a part of the produce of the land and a promise to serve him in war for a certain period each year. The nobles, in tun, gave part of their lands to knights. or other freemen, who contributed miltary service of, in some cases, rent, The last linkin the chain were the serfs who worked on the land but were not free to leave it and were litle more than slaves. One of William's outstanding achievements was @ complete economic survey of the country carried out in 1086, Which was popularly known as the Domesday Book. Not surprisingly, during the Middle Ages one of the ‘he Bayeus ups he sae omega rpaiage fhe B fHaangs shows al ‘most important factors was the relationship between England and France: by marriage, war or inheritance the kings of England, at one time or another, could also claim possession of vast areas of France. In particular, in the reign of Henry Il (1154-1189) this empire extended from the southem border of Sootland to the South of France, leaving the king of England controling @ greater area than the king of France. There was ‘great conflict between Church and State in this period: the King tried to gain more control over the Church, ‘and in particular over the appointment of bishops. Henry's friend Thomas & Becket became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, but soon argued with Henry and left the country. He returned in 1170, but the same year scotch wer at toe ea warn fen Chisenson ut ova be dey Exh ‘etn ley cle teens of Somatng tus ano option 1" 1066 --- 1485 four of Henry's knights murdered hin in Canterbury Cathedral. The result was that Thomas became a saint land Canterbury an intemational shrine, attracting pilgrims from all over Europe. Henry was made to capitulate to the Pope, who managed ‘o recover some Church privileges. Henry was followed by Richard | (the Lionheart) who spent most of his time fighting in the Crusades and died in 1199, He was followed by his brother John, an unpopular king who taxed the people heavily. In 1218, he was forced to sign the historic document, Magna Carta, which limited the king's powers and showed that, ‘feudalism was beginning to dectine (although it would be another 300 years before it disappeared completely}. A rudimentary form of Parliament, a council of nobles who took control of finances, began in 1266, instigated by Simon de Montfort, in opposition to Henry Il, but it was in the reign of Edward | (1272-1307) that the frst real representative institution was created, including two commoners (freemen) from each town or shire. Its function was to provide money for the king by means of taxes. He, ‘po ths grat hati, and with historic accurey shows us exactly wht the combats wore an how they died The ate toa ry ctimtot opto fy seal cobo tape fds ely the lc a + sym This sl toy mar na err ‘govern tly edna, bu aves of raion gored by Invi ageeoon Geral peng ekg ath fl lone erode ste) pre lan! oie Vagal tore oh ass ‘Slo barn) In echange fr aoe dee oe inp ones feng ila Tne bon hn ced ssa elon wile ove ase ‘Tha one man war enone vl arches tots nsta of atone, a ile he ty oppo Seti ss tg tac gay es peel ey ‘ss i mpl any weiner e mot ing ex of ha of ey Ish nara aul ofthe ogo Fan, bat whos err ower Edward also brought Wales under his control and engaged in long struggle with Scotland, without success. He died in 1307 con the way to another batt. The Late Middle Ages (1300-1485) Tha fourteenth century was a difficult period for England be- cause of both the Biack Death (bubonic plague) and a tong seties of wars, which had ds- astrous effects on the economy and led tothe existence of largo aimed gangs which terrorized the countryside and destabilized the political situation. kings wore frequently deposed. or ~ murdered ‘The Hundred Years War against France, which lasted from 1337 to 1453, had many ups and downs, butts end resut was that England lost all ts possessions in France apar from the por of Calais. The plague which broke out, in 1348-9, probably klled one third ofthe whole population of Britain, and it was followed by Richard Il confronted an angry ‘crowd and promised to satisty all the peasants’ demands and abolish serfdom. The crowd dispersed, satisfied with the concessions, but Richard changed his mind, executed the leaders of the revolt and refused to honour his promises. ‘The people were also increasingly dissatisfied with the Church, which was corrupt, greedy and cruel. The appearance of religious works in English, which circulated widely, was also a threat to Church authority, since they allowed people to think and pray independently (see note on the Medieval Church page 24) A long series of struggles for Power culminated in the so- called Wars of the Roses. England had recently lost the war with France (in 1483) and was ruled by King Henry VI, who was ‘mentally unstable, The nobility were divided between those who supported the claim to the throne of the Duke of York (their symbol Was a white rose) and those who ‘The Black Death, An nog eh pact renders the hore othe Back Death senemeotay ronda egrets are oa Baok eth nthe wa ‘TiSegen fr Erland nthe neglasuosd of Drees She te Feast St tar ad Une aN, ey Sbrasing repay rom pac o ce ae any evans ‘ho wore haa nthe aaty mong, bre Moon es ‘ar aay, out cc of pera, ave ony aes hte rh peop. On ta ‘ae day of fr Gath fest ny sy, ard mary Uros mere penone nee Shonen ee oworsce eerise te Sas Death ss Toran other minor epidemics. Over the ‘whole of the fourteenth century, the population fell from about 4 million to less than 2 milion. ‘This decrease in population, however, favoured the poorer labourers: the shortage of manpower meant that they could sell their services at a higher price and peasant life became more comfortable, with stone houses rather than wooden, The king and Parliament tried unsuccessfully and repeatedly to control increases In the cost of labour and the larger landowners were eventually forced to rent their land for longer and longer leases. The latter was a decisive facior in the breakdown of the feudal system: by the end of the Middle Ages the great landiords had almost disappeared and a new class, the ‘yeomen’, or smaller farmers, had become the backbone of English society. ‘The Peasant's Revolt in 1381 was the result of an ill ‘advised ‘poll-tax’ to be paid by everyone in the kingdom, ‘The leader of the rebellion, Wat Tyler, called for better treatment for the poor: “We are men formed in Christ's likeness and we are kept like animals," he said. The rebelion lasted four weeks and peasants took control of ‘much of London. In a famous episode the young King Sage ara wal” 2 supported the King, the House of Lancaster (their symbol was & red rose). The wars culminated in the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 when Richard lll was defeated by Henry Tudor, duke of Richmond, who was immediately ‘crowned King Henry Vil. The rule of the Tudor dynasty had begun. The Wars of the Roses fed to the near- destruction ofthe ruling classes and enabled the Tudors to lay the foundations of a new nation. Normans and Saxons The population of England was probably between 1.5 ‘and 2 milion at the time of the Norman Conquest, with 90% living in the country. Life was hard. People lived in small villages in simple houses and subsisted on a-diot of cereals, vegetables and occasionally meat, working all the hours of sunlight. More than three quarters of the rural population were serfs and could not leave their lord's service or land without permission, They had to ‘work a fixed number of days on the lord's farm and grew {ood for their famiies on strips of common land, For at least 150 years there was hatred and resentment between the Saxon population and their new Norman ‘masters, who did not consider themselves as English, but as French. twas a long time before English became the language of the upper classes. Towards the end of the fourteenth century the use of English by the upper classes led to a flowering of Iiterature in Middle English. Acar and te Real. Te young Kg Rebar ce he eb “he acer te eove, Wl Tt anon teeing fb ng Ou he ngjr of anion dra Be sora lei Ate ries mate oe ‘ove wor never mama ul he acl congee bed slg eve ‘runded umned and te msn’ waa as door tthe top of the social scale wore the aristocracy: lords, dukes ete, who had however decreased In number through war. Next in line were the knights, who during this period were transformed from warriors into more peaceful landowners. Below these in the social hierarchy were the urban freemen, often belonging to the various town craft guilds, associated with different ‘occupations. These guilds were originally formed to protect rade in a town and became extremely powerful During the Middle Ages, power gradually moved away from the nobilty and into the hands of the middie classes: merchants, lawyers, cloth ‘manufacturers and gentleman farmers. This new class was literate and articulate, and questioned the way in Which institutions were run, erlicizing both the Church and the feudal system. Their growing power in Par- liament was a sign that the monarchy was increasingly forced to rely on the support of the middle classes to finance wars and other policies, and the royal finances also became increasingly accountable to a wider ‘group of people. The Growth of Trade During the Middle Ages England was a highly agricutural sociely and self-sufficient in the procurement of food. However, duting this period, commercial links with the Continent and in particular the wool trade with the Low Countries began to assume ever-increasing importance. England's wool had been famous even in Anglo-Saxon times, and Wiliam the Congueror had intelligently ‘encouraged cloth workers from Flanders and Normandy to move to England and use their skils to expand England's manufacture The Eastem coast of the country, in particular, had many towns which grew up around this profitable business (such as Newcastle and Boston). Evan today the Lord Chancellor (President of the House of Lords) takes his ritual place on the ‘woolsack’, a symbol of the wealth of the nation. Later in this period came the transformation of England's woo! trade into a trade in finished cloth, especially after the collapse of the Flemish cloth industry in the mic-fourteenth century. Many skilled Flemings came to England to work. ‘The growth of towns was a first step in the dismantling of the feudal system since the kings of England quickly realized that by selling towns a charter of freedom from feudal obligations they could construct powerful centres to balance the often hostile intentions of local feudal lords. The guilds were associations of merchants or skied workers within a town and they quickly came to control town life to a large extent. During the later Middle Ages guilds were formed for the separate crafts or occupations. In retum for guaranteeing a certain quality of workmanship and for keeping to established prices, members of these guilds were exempt from the local taxes levied by the town, Chivalry Chivalry was the name given to a set of values which

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