In 1066, the Normans (French speaking people from Normandy), led by William the Conqueror attack and defeat the Britains (a blend of the Britons and Anglo-Saxons) at the Battle of Hastings

• the 3rd language is introduced--French

• French culture and French literature arrives

The 3 Estates in the Middle Ages

• Clergy - Latin chiefly spoken, those who pray, purpose was to save everyone’s soul

• Nobles - French chiefly spoken, those who fight, purpose was to protect—allow for all to work in peace—and provide justice

• Commoners - English spoken, those who work, purpose was to feed and clothe all above them

Feudalism

The economic system of much of the Middle Ages (800-1100)

• Commoners (peasants) lived on a feudal manor. The lord of the manor gave his vassals (the peasants) land to farm. In return, the vassals received protection from roving bandits. Yet they were taxed and had to surrender a portion of their crops to the lord.

• Feudalism is important as it created ties of obedience and fostered a sense of loyalty between the vassals and their lord.

Chivalry

• A product of feudalism, chivalry was an idealized system of manners and morals

• The Medieval knight was bound to the chivalric code to be loyal to…God, his lord, his lady

• Chivalric ideals include...benevolence, brotherly love, politeness

With the Crusades comes “The Black Death” (plague)

• spreads along trade routes

• kills much of the population

• the plague outbreaks occur through the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance

• Paradoxically, the Plague provides for continued growth in cities

• Afterwards, hundreds of new jobs available

• Many debts “died off” with creditors

Literature during the Medieval Period

• Latin was the language of the Roman Catholic Church, which dominated Europe

• The Church was the only source of education

• Thus, Latin was a common language for medieval writings.

• Romances were adventure stories, usually in verse, about battles and heroes.

• Medieval romances originated in France during the 1100s.

• By the end of the 1200s, they had become the most popular literary form in England.

• One of the oldest forms of poetry was a special kind of narrative poem known as the ballad.

• Ballads were concerned with sharp conflict and deep human emotion.

• The first ballads were songs made up by bards and minstrels who traveled from town to town, earning their living by singing their stories.

The Renaissance Period

The Coming of the Renaissance

• The Renaissance was a flowering of literary, artistic and intellectual development that began in Italy in the fourteenth century.

• It was inspired by the arts and scholarship of ancient Greece and Rome, which were rediscovered during the Crusades

The Age of Exploration

• Crusades opened routes to Asia soon monopolized by Italian merchants.

• Columbus’s discovery of the New World in 1492--colonization

• Invention of printing made books more available

• 1497—Italian-born John Cabot reached Newfoundland (an island off the coast of Canada) and perhaps the mainland

The Protestant Reformation: Questioning the Catholic Church

• Complaints: the sale of indulgences, payment to the church (like taxes)…

Martin Luther

• German monk Martin Luther nailed a list of dissenting beliefs (“ninety-five theses) to the door of a German church.

• The intent was to reform the Catholic Church, but actually divided the church and introducing Protestantism.

• Division of Protestants—Lutherans and Calvinists (Puritans and Presbyterian sects)

Tudor England

• Tudor dynasty ruled from 1485-1603. Time of stability and economic expansion

• London a metropolis of 180,000 people

Henry VII (1457 –1509)- First Tudor monarch, Inherited an England depleted by civil war.

• Before his death in 1509, he rebuilt the treasury and established law and order.

Henry VIII (1491 -1547)

• Catholic. Relationship with the Pope did not last

• Marriage to Catherine of Aragon produced no male heir

• Henry tried to obtain an annulment to marry Anne Boleyn.

• The Pope refused, but Henry married anyway

Henry’s Break with the Church

• Henry’s defiance led to an open break with the Roman Catholic Church.

• Henry became the head of the Anglican Church (the new Church of England).

• He seized Church property and dissolved the monasteries.

• Henry used ruthless measures to suppress opposition.

• He even had his former friend and advisor, Thomas More, executed, because More refused to renounce his faith.

• Henry married six times.

• His first two marriages (Catherine and Anne) produced two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth.

Edward VI (1537 -1553)

• Became King at 9; died a 15 (1553). English replaced Latin in church.

Bloody Mary (Tudor) 1516-1558

• Mary I, Edward’s half sister; a Catholic

• Mary married her Spanish cousin, Phillip II, making England a part of the powerful Spanish state.

• Mary also persecuted Protestants: she ordered the execution of some 200 Protestants during her reign, strengthening anti-Catholic sentiment in England

Elizabeth I (1533(15330907) 1603)

• After Mary’s five year reign, her half-sister, Elizabeth came to the throne.

• Elizabeth was the last of the Tudors, dying unmarried and childless.

Elizabeth received a Renaissance education, became a patron of the arts, and Elizabethan came to describe the English Renaissance at its height. Ended religious turmoil

• This cleverness allowed England a period of peace and allowed commercial and maritime interests to prosper.

Mary Stuart (1542- 1587)

• Elizabeth’s Catholic cousin, Mary Stuart; queen of Scotland by birth and next in line to the British throne (granddaughter of Henry VII)

• Catholics did not recognize Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother, and considered Mary Stuart the queen.

• Mary was a prisoner of England for 19 years and the center of numerous plots on Elizabeth’s life.

• Eventually Mary was convicted of plotting to murder Elizabeth and went to the block in 1587, a Catholic martyr.

• “In my end is my beginning”—Mary’s death (she was beheaded) led Catholic Spain to declare war on England.

England vs. Spain

• Spain rejected English claims in America and resented the fact that English privateers had been attacking and plundering Spanish ships.

• Privateers like John Hawkins and Francis Drake operated “on their own,” but were really under the authority of Queen Elizabeth.

The Spanish Armada