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  1254 AD - the end of the Seventh Crusade  1517 AD - Martin Luther posts his Ninety- Five Theses  1534 AD - Henry VIII passes the Act of Supremacy

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 and worshipers.

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 of England. Patroness of the arts. Granddaughter of William IX, the Troubadour.

Medieval Romance  Name comes from Romanz, an early form of French in which Troubadour tales were told  Legend of King Arthur –Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur –Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight  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

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

Alliterative Romance  Written combination of two oral traditions –Anglo-Saxon Scops Long poems with heavy usage of Alliteration –French Troubadours Long poems with heavy usage of Rhyming

Alliterative Romance  Made up of extended stanzas, with alliteration predominant in the first part.  Stanzas end in a Bob-and-Wheel –Made up of 5 lines: 1st line is the “Bob” at the end of the open stanza Last 4 lines, the “Wheel”, have an ABAB rhyme scheme

Raffel: Lines [...] and sighing, he said: “Oh Lord, Oh Mary, gentlest Mother and dear, I beg you to send me some lodging, to let me Hear mass before morning; I ask meekly, And in proof pray swiftly my pater, my ave, My creed.” He prayed as he rode, And wept for misdeeds, And shaped the sign of the cross And called Christ in his need.

Tolkein: Lines And therefore sighing he said: “I beseech thee, oh Lord, And Mary, who is the midlest mother most dear, For some harbour where with honour I might hear the Mass And thy Matins tomorrow. This meekly I ask, And thereto promptly I pray with Pater and Ave and Creed.” In prayer he now did ride, lamenting his misdeed; he blessed him oft and cried, “The Cross of Christ me speed!”