MS. MATHEWSENGLISH 10H

The Medieval Period and The Canterbury Tales

William the Conqueror and Feudalism

Feudalism: a caste system based on religious hierarchy

S e r fs

K n ig h ts

V a ssa ls

B a ro ns

K ing

G od

How Feudalism Worked

• For safety and for defense, people in the Medieval Period formed small communities around a central lord or master.

• Most people lived on a manor, which consisted of the castle, the church, the village, and the surrounding farm land.

• These manors were isolated, with occasional visits from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the Crusades, or soldiers from other fiefdoms.

Feudalism and Knighthood

Knights did not hold land.Boys above the serf class were trained early

(age 8+), usually in someone else’s home to be sure the training was strict.

Dubbing was originally a hard, testing blow, but is now a ceremonial shoulder tap.

Knighthood was grounded in the feudal idea of loyalty.

Knighthood included a complex system of social codes.

The idea of chivalry stems from this code of behavior for knights and gentlewomen.

No Voice, No Choice!

Women during the Medieval Period were not soldiers and had no political rights.

Women were subservient to their men (husbands, brothers, fathers)

Peasant women lived in ceaseless childbearing, housework, and hard fieldwork.

Courtly Love

Courtly love developed partly out of the cult of the Virgin Mary, which elevated women.

The object of love was to be worshipped from afar as an ideal.

Love was supposed to be an ennobling influence, and only noble people were worthy of love.

Several influences built up to acceptance of courtly love.

What led to the acceptance of courtly love?

Marriages of convenience in the 8th-16th centuries made adultery a way of life.

Men had shorter life spans than women. Women could inherit and, thu,s gain control of wealth.

Men went to war, leaving women in control, as they went on Crusades to clear the holy land of infidels, starting in 1095.

The belief that the lady should be treated as infinitely desirable was fostered by women and by poets.

The way of life portrayed in metrical romances influenced real expectations and behavior.

When courtly love turned physical, there was a breakdown in society, i.e. Lancelot and Guinevere.

The Crusades

A series of wars waged by European Christians against Muslims.

Jerusalem was the prize.

The Europeans lost, but benefited enormously from contact with higher Middle Eastern civilizations.

Why did the knights fight in the Crusades?

Pope Urban appealed to knights’ religious convictions. He said Muslim Turks were robbing and torturing

Christian pilgrims journeying to the holy land.The war offered knights a chance for glory

and wealth. Urban suggested the knights fight Muslims

instead of continuing to fight one another.

The Canterbury Tales

Shows readers the true Medieval World14th century EnglandIs a frame story about an unrelated group of

twenty-nine pilgrims traveling together on a pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage – a long journey to a holy site or shrine taken by those who are devout

This pilgrimage is a trip to a cathedral in Canterbury upon the death of the beloved Thomas a Becket (Archbishop of Canterbury) in the 1100s

Thomas a Becket

Archbishop of Canterbury

Assassinated in 1170Resulted in a backlash

against the English monarchy

Thomas was martyred; he became St. Thomas.

Chaucer’s pilgrims are on their way to visit his shrine in The Canterbury Tales.

The Canterbury Tales

The poem is a frame story, a story about stories Each person on the pilgrimage tells a storyInsight into romances, comedies, etc. of the time

Crude humor Comedies Religious mysteries Social commentary

Chaucer's original plan for The Canterbury Tales projected about 120 stories, two for each pilgrim to tell on the way to Canterbury and two more on the way back.

Only 24 of the 120 tales were completed

Motifs

Romance: high adventure romance and other romance as well

Fabliau/Fabliaux: a tale marked by comic or ribald/bawdy treatment of worldly themes The Miller’s Tale

Themes

Courtly Love

Importance of Company

The Corruption of the Church

Genre: Estates Satire

Shows the three estates (classes) in the Medieval Period and makes fun of them Those who fight Those who labor Those who pray

Gives an analysis of society in terms of hierarchy, social function, and morality

The aim of satire is to reform society by pointing out folly or vice

Optimistic assumption…if you know what is good/right, you will do it

The Prologue

Gives the reader insight to the Medieval societyIndirect Characterization:

External appearance is a sign of intangible qualities of a person…still a factor today (aka dressing the part)

Can tell something about morality, rank, etc. from external features

Pilgrims are individuals, not groups, but they are known by their professions

Individualizing details are rare; most details that are given are included only to show what that particular pilgrim ought—and yet fails—to do

Pay attention to what Chaucer does NOT say Prioress no mention of God

The Prologue continued

Narrator meets 29 others at the Tabard Inn, located in a suburb of London

Challenge by Harry Bailey, Innkeeper – Each pilgrim must tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the return trip

Best Tale » entitled to a feastThe stories suit the teller – The Knight tells a

romance, the Wife of Bath tells about marriages, etc.