Class+1

1. Information cards - last name, first name, ss # - address - telephone number - email - major 2. Introduction to course - What literature courses have you previously taken? - What classical works have you read? What makes them classical? 3. Review syllabus 3. KWL - What do you know about Chaucer and the Medieval period? - What do you want to know about Chaucer and the Medieval period? 4. Modern references - Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales: [] - Se7en: [] - A Knight’s Tale: [] - White Shade of Pale: [] 5. Historical period - The Middle Ages in 3 1/2 minutes: [] - Western Europe in the Medieval Period: [] - An Introduction to Canterbury Cathedral: [] - Life of Geoffrey Chaucer: [] - The Canterbury Tales Prologue in Middle English: [] - How to Pronounce the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales in Middle English Slow to Fast!: [] 6. Major highlights - [] - The Middle Ages are commonly dated from the [|fall of the Western Roman Empire] in the 5th century to the beginning of the [|Early Modern Period] in the 16th century - marked by the rise of [|nation-states] - the division of Western [|Christianity] in the [|Reformation] - the rise of [|humanism] in the [|Italian Renaissance] - the beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the [|Columbian Exchange]. - The Middle Ages witnessed the first sustained [|urbanization] of northern and western [|Europe]. Many modern European states owe their origins to events unfolding in the Middle Ages; present European political boundaries are, in many regards, the result of the military and dynastic achievements during this tumultuous period. - Economy During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Europe enjoyed an economic and agricultural boom. A slight warming of the climate and improved agricultural techniques allowed lands that had previously been marginal or even infertile to become fully productive. - The first half of the fourteenth century saw Europe burdened by overpopulation and the agricultural enterprises of northern Europe had reached the limits of their productivity. - A lowered standard of living for the peasantry resulted from the ongoing subdivision of their land holdings or expansion into marginally productive areas. - Warfare had been virtually continuous and pauses in major international conflicts, such as the [|Hundred Years' War], were replaced with local confrontations. - The expansion of long-distance trade and commerce seen in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries also began to dwindle at the end of the Middle Ages although some trade links, especially those in the Mediterranean and in northern Europe, had become sufficiently well established to resist shrinking markets. Trade continued across the Mediterranean from Venice, Florence and Genoa. Italian trade diasporas also existed in the Byzantine Empire as well as dotting North Africa and the Middle East. - While the arrival of the Black Death through ports and major trade centres tended to restrict commercial contacts, trade links were not entirely severed. - The first sweep of the [|Black Death] struck in 1347-1349, eliminating between one-third and one-half of Europe's population. Economic and social institutions were crippled by the severe depopulation. The immense loss of life cut across all levels of society and had a profound emotional effect on the survivors as outbreaks continued well into the seventeenth century. - The devastation wrought by the Black Death on the people of Europe created a severe shortage of labour. Where land had previously been overworked in order to support large populations, there was now an abundance of land for the survivors. The peasant and working classes were no longer populous and were able to demand higher wages. - In the cities of Europe, urban populations tended to recover more quickly from the plague than rural communities. This led to large migrations into cities after plague outbreaks but many of these immigrants remained unemployed. - Close-knit and exclusive [|guilds] were organized by occupation to regulate workers and eliminate outside competition. - Feudalism is the term applied to relationships between members of the aristocracy. The basic unit of these feudal arrangements was the [|fief], a section of land granted for temporary use. The vassalage agreement was between the owner of the fief, the lord, and the recipient of the fief, the [|vassal]. Technically, ownership of the land remained with the lord but the vassal received "use of the fruits", or //usufruct//, in exchange for [|fealty] to the lord. Over time, these land grants became hereditary and ownership of the land seldom reverted back to the lord, except in cases of [|contumacy] or absence of an heir. - While outright slavery had ceased to exist virtually everywhere in Europe by the twelfth century, most of the peasant labour force consisted of serfs who were tied to a lord and, often, to the land. The shift from serf to freedman occurred through [|manumission]. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries increased amounts of cultivable lands with higher productivities combined with opportunities for manumission and placed large areas of farmland into the hands of the non-nobles. - Also, Europe was no longer in a constant state of warfare and even the [|Crusades] had ceased to be a focus for the energies of the martial nobility. In an attempt to close ranks and protect social status, the noble elite turned their military attributes towards elaborate forms of "mock battle" such as jousts and tournaments, and the martial and moral aspects of feudal society were ritualised into [|chivalry]. - The [|Holy Roman Empire (HRE)] was faced with many difficulties during the later Middle Ages. The vast distances between territorial holdings, extreme regional disparities, ethnic complexities, and the lack of a strong hereditary kingship prevented the consolidation and centralisation of authority that characterised the New Monarchies of England, France, and Spain. - Early in the fourteenth century, explosive violence between feuding Italian factions erupted into the [|College of Cardinals] in Rome and the independence of the pontificate was threatened. - In 1305, Pope Clement V (1305-1314) temporarily moved his court from Rome to Avignon in south-eastern France in an attempt to maintain papal autonomy - thus began the [|Avignonese or Babylonian Captivity]. As the papal residence in Avignon continued, French intervention increased and the papacy lost the independence that the move from Rome was intended to preserve. - It was not until 1376, however, that Pope Gregory XI (1370-1378) yielded to public pressure and decided to return the papal court to Rome after an absence of seven decades, although he died before the move was completed. - After the death of Pope Gregory XI in 1378, the French-dominated [|curia] elected an Italian pope to appease the riotous Roman mobs. Pope Urban VI (1378-1389) promptly initiated zealous reforms, taking steps to reduce the material wealth of the cardinals. Horrified, the French cardinals declared the election invalid on the basis of intimidation and elected a French pope, the schismatic [|anti-pope], Clement VII (1378-1394), who fled with them back to Avignon. Meanwhile, Pope Urban VI appointed new cardinals to fill the French vacancies and, for the next thirty-seven years, the Church was split by the [|Great Schism] which saw papal courts established at both Rome and Avignon. - Ecclesiastical attempts to resolve this schism by conciliar orders only exacerbated the problem, resulting in the election of a third papal claimant. Two popes was scandalous - three popes was ludicrous. Finally, the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund, summoned leading churchmen from across Europe to the [|Council of Constance] (1415 - 1418). Two of the schismatic popes were deposed, the third resigned and a single new pope, Martin V, an Italian, was elected. - Language and Literature: Until the sixteenth century, Latin was the official language of law, government, business, education and religion in Western Europe.
 * __Class #1 (1/7/15)__**

- The Latin of written communication was generally considered learned, or high, Latin and composition of documents followed standard guidelines regardless of where the document was written. On the other hand, the common, or Vulgar, Latin was a living language, mingling with and borrowing from regional dialects to suit the needs of local populations. As Vulgar - The poetry of the Middle Ages also typically revolved around religious themes. The shift from the use of classical meter to accentual meter and rhyme was the greatest change, allowing vernacular languages to be use rhyme. Many of the great Latin poems of the period acquired musical settings and the use of hymns in churches served as a vehicle for reinforcing Christian. [|//The Crucifixion//] [| (excerpt) from The York Cycle of Mystery Plays] //Intellectual Life://

- Perhaps the single most critical intellectual issue of the later Middle Ages was the attempt to reconcile reason and religious faith. Another theologian, [|Albert Magnus] (1200-1280), 7. Thomas Beckett - **St. Thomas Becket,** (c. 1118 – [|December 29], [|1170] ) was [|Archbishop of Canterbury] from 1162 to 1170. He is venerated as a [|saint] and [|martyr] by both the [|Roman Catholic Church] and the [|Anglican Church]. He engaged in conflict with King [|Henry II] over the rights and privileges of the [|Church] and was [|assassinated] by followers of the king in [|Canterbury Cathedral]. - ALso commonly known as **Thomas à Becket**. - Henry desired to be absolute ruler of his dominions, both Church and State, and could find precedents in the traditions of the throne when he planned to do away with the special privileges of the English clergy, which he regarded as fetters on his authority. - To further implicate Becket as a secular man, he became an accomplished and extravagant [|courtier] and a cheerful companion to the king's pleasures. Thomas was devoted to Henry's interests with such a firm and yet diplomatic thoroughness that scarcely anyone, except perhaps [|John of Salisbury], doubted his allegiance to English royalty. == - King Henry even sent his son [|Henry] to live in Becket's household, it being the custom then for noble children to be fostered out to other noble houses. == - Thomas achieved his final position of power as the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. - The famous transformation of Becket into an [|ascetic] occurred at this time. - A rift grew between Henry and Thomas as the new Archbishop dropped his Chancellorship and consolidated the landed revenues of Canterbury under his control. So began a series of legal conflicts, such as the jurisdiction of secular courts over English clergy, which accelerated antipathy between the two great offices. Attempts by King Henry to foment the opinion and influence of the other Bishoprics against Thomas began in [|Westminster] in October 1163, where the King sought approval of stated royal privileges. This led to Clarendon, where Thomas was officially asked to sign off on the King’s rights or face political repercussions. - King Henry II presided over the assemblies at [|Clarendon Palace] on [|January 30], [|1164]. In sixteen constitutions, he sought less clerical independence and a weaker connection with Rome. He employed all his skills to induce their consent and was apparently successful with all but the [|Primate]. - Whatever the King said, it was interpreted as a royal command, and four knights, [|Reginald FitzUrse], [|Hugh de Moreville] , [|William de Tracy] , and [|Richard le Breton] , set out to consult the Archbishop of Canterbury. On [|December 29], [|1170] they arrived at Canterbury. The four knights, carrying naked swords, caught up with him in a spot near a door to the monastic cloister, the stairs into the crypt, and the stairs leading up into the [|quire] of the cathedral, where the monks were chanting vespers. Several contemporary accounts of what happened next exist; of particular note is that of Edward Grim, who was himself wounded in the attack. - Following his death, the monks prepared his body for burial. It was discovered that Becket had worn a [|hairshirt] under his archbishop's garments. - Soon after, the faithful throughout Europe began venerating Becket as a [|martyr], and in 1173 — barely three years after his death — he was [|canonised] by [|Pope Alexander] in St. Peter's Church in [|Segni]. - On [|July 12], [|1174] , in the midst of the [|Revolt of 1173–1174] , Henry humbled himself with public [|penance] at Becket's tomb (see also [|St. Dunstan's, Canterbury] ), which became one of the most popular [|pilgrimage] sites in England.

Stained glass window of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.



Candle marking the former spot of the shrine of **Thomas Becket**, at [|Canterbury Cathedral]

8. Geoffery Chaucer - The name Chaucer, a French form of the Latin //calcearius//, a shoemaker, is found in London and the eastern counties as early as the second half of the 13th century. - From a family of vinters - In 1357 Geoffrey is found, apparently as a lad, in the service of Elizabeth, countess of Ulster, wife of [|Lionel, Duke of Clarence] , - In 1359, as we learn from his deposition in the Scrope suit, Chaucer went to the [|war in France]. - On the 1st of March 1360 the King [ [|Edward III] ] contributed £16 to his ransom, and by a year or two later Chaucer must have entered the royal service, since on the 10th of June 1367 Edward granted him a pension of twenty marks for his past and future services. - A pension of ten marks had been granted by the king the previous September to a Philippa Chaucer for services to the queen as one of her "domicellae" or "damoiselles," and it seems probable that at this date Chaucer was already married and this Philippa his wife Chaucer in an initial from British Library Lansdowne MS 851 fol. 2. ||  || - In the grant of his pension Chaucer is called "//dilectus vallectus noster//," our beloved yeoman; before the end of 1368 he had risen to be one of the king's esquires. - In September of the following year John of Gaunt's wife, the duchess Blanche, died at the age of twenty-nine, and Chaucer wrote in her honour //The Book of the Duchesse//, a poem of 1334 lines in octosyllabic couplets, the first of his undoubtedly genuine works which can be connected with a definite date. - In October 1385 Chaucer was made a justice of the peace for Kent. - In August 1386 he was elected one of the two knights of the shire for Kent, and with this dignity, though it was one not much appreciated in those days, his good fortune reached its climax - In February 1394 he was granted a new pension of £20. It is possible, also, that about this time, or a little later, he was in the service of the Earl of Derby. - In 1397 he received from King Richard a grant of a butt of wine yearly. For this he appears to have asked in terms that suggest poverty, and in May 1398 he obtained letters of protection against his creditors, a step perhaps rendered necessary by an action for debt taken against him earlier in the year. - On the accession of [|Henry IV] a new pension of 40 marks was conferred on Chaucer (13th of October 1399) and Richard II's grants were formally confirmed. Henry himself, however, was probably straitened for ready money, and no instalment of the new pension was paid during the few months of his reign that the poet lived. Nevertheless, on the strength of his expectations, on the 24th of December 1399 he leased a tenement in the garden of St Mary's Chapel, Westminster, and it was probably here that he died, on the 25th of the following October. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and his tomb became the nucleus of what is now known as Poets' Corner.
 * [[image:http://feliciancollege.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=200&h=126 width="200" height="126"]]





9. Introduction to Middle English. - When he was growing up, educated society in England was still bilingual, and the changes in vocabulary and pronunciation which took place during his life were the natural results of a society, which had been bilingual with a bias towards French, giving an exclusive preference to English.

- Middle English is the language that was spoken in the country of England around the 12th to 15th centuries.

- Middle English became the prominent language in England near the end of the 11th century shortly after the Norman invasion by __ William the Conqueror __ in 1066.

- Unlike England's preceding language, __ Old English __, Middle English evolved into much more of a written language.

- Although many of the words are spelt much differently than the modern English spellings, the context of the words is somewhat easy to understand. The mastery of such a verse lies in the structure of the writing. The beautiful rhyme along with the easy to follow meter, make this verse much more meaningful than the modern English translation. The modern English translation lacks the rhyme and does not contain the consistent meter: