1. The Canterbury Tales
Pre-Reading Activity

2. The Middle Ages span what years?
Approximately
Early Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages

3. What event began the Norman Conquest?
Sept 28, 1066
Invasion of England by William the Conqueror
Battle of Hastings
Oct

4. Who was William the Conqueror?
Duke of Normandy
First Norman King of England

5. What culture survived under the Normans? Why? What impact did this have?
Anglo Saxon Culture
Majority of the population
Many nobles fled to Scotland and other areas
Christian/Religious Influence
Impact on language
Onset of/increase in feudalism

6. What is feudalism? Political and social system
Based on granting of land in exchange for loyalty, military assistance, and other services
Developed as a result of frequent invasions
System of social behavior
Three social classes
Those who fight
Those who pray
Those who work

7. When did the feudal structure break down?
Began to breakdown due to the Black Death
Wiped out 1/3 population in England

8. Describe the life, ideals, and morals of a knight.
Primary duty of the male above the serf class was a military obligation to the King.
Based in the feudal idea of loyalty and related to a system of social codes
chivalry
Breaking a code would undermine the knight’s position

9. What was a woman’s place in the feudal system?
Peasant woman
childbearing
Housework
Hard field work
Women of higher station
Household supervision
Childbearing
A woman was always subservient to a male, whether husband, father, or brother.
No political rights
Depending on the standing of her father or husband she commanded a certain respect, especially under the chivalric system of the 11th and 12th centuries.

10. What is chivalry?
System of ideals and behavior codes that governed both knight and gentlewoman.
Loyalty to overlord
Honesty
Fairness in battle
Proper treatment of women

11. What is courtly love? Behavior between knights and ladies
Often between a knight and a married woman
Usually unconsummated
Revering and acting in the name of a lady
Wears colors of lady in battle
Glorify her in words and be inspired by her

12. What would eventually render the feudal system obsolete?
Decrease in population
People living in towns and cities would eventually render feudal system obsolete.
Development of lower, middle, and upper class (evident in Canterbury Tales)

13. What were the crusades?
A series of wars in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries by Christian Europe against the followers of Muhammad with Jerusalem and the Holy Land as the prize.
Began in 1096

14. How did they impact medieval life?
Europeans failed to hold Jerusalem, but they benefited from the contact with the higher civilization of the Middle East.
– Mathematics
– Astronomy
– Architecture
– Crafts

15. Who is Thomas Becket? Discuss his relationship to Henry II.
Archbishop of Canterbury
Close friend and appointee of King Henry II
Becket ignored Henry’s wishes to allow Royal Courts to punish people convicted in Church Court
Four knights under Henry II assassinated Becket

16. Why was Thomas Becket important in the Middle Ages?
He was murdered at Canterbury Cathedral
He was sainted and martyred
The site of his death became a popular place for pilgrimages

17. Describe the state of the Church during Chaucer’s Middle Ages.
Church dominated life
All people believed in heaven and Hell
Could only get to heaven through the Roman Catholic Church
People paid tithe (church tax) to church
Church was wealthy and powerful

18. What is the Magna Carta? What historical impact did it have?
The Great Charter of the Liberties of England
Signed in 1215
Became the basis for English constitutional law in which trial by jury and legislative taxation were established
First document imposed upon a King of England by his subjects
Attempt to limit his power
Protect their rights

19. When was the Hundred Years’ War? Who fought in it? Why is it important?
Fought by England and France
Lasted 116 years
Development of Yeomen (use of longbow and arrows)
End of knights and castles as significant military power
Two kingdoms at the beginning of the war; two nations at the end of it.
Modern democratic England was born

20. How did the bubonic plague help bring about an end to feudalism?
Spread by fleas from infected rates
Plague reduced the nation’s population by one third
Labor shortage – freedom of serfs (last support of feudalism)

21. The End