Before M. A. : oral tradition Introduction Medieval Towns The Church Knights Medieval Music Ballads

Heroic pagan poems, such as Beowulf, were the earliest monuments of literary England. They were handed down orally from generation to generation and sung by epic singers or bards.

The Middle Ages started in 1066 with the conquest of William I and England belonged to a new king. He brought from Europe feudalism and gave rise to a pyramidal organization of society. However it began to break down between 13 th and 14 th centuries. They ended in 1485 when started the Tudor dinasty.

Medieval towns were strange and noisy places that never seemed welcoming to offsiders. Castles or abbeys often provide a nucleus for a town and rivers and natural harbours influenced its shape. Towns could also be considered as the center of the commerce.

The Church was the most important istitution. At the top of it there was the Pope, the most important person of society. People followed the religious code because they thought salvation was the most important thing of their lives.

At the time of William the conqueror knights were essentially soldiers, men who were skilled in fighting on horseback and were interested in their advancement. They follow the secular code called chivalry. A knight was employed by a lord who gave him the necessary equipment to practise and the knight in a return served as his lord’s vassal.

Music during the Middle Ages was an entertainment from town to town and castle to castle. Dancing was also a popular pastime for all classes.

Ballads are simple, popular songs that tell stories. They are anonimous and have a lot of alliterations and repetition to help the memorization. They are about Supernatural, the conflict on the border between England and Scotland and love.