1. The Medieval Period
1066 - 1485

2. HISTORY
 Edward, the Confessor, dies 1066
 William of Normandy (the Conqueror)
claims Edward promised him the throne
 Saxon council chose Harold II as king
 Norman invasion (Battle of Hastings) –
Harold is killed, William claims throne

3.  William suppressed Anglo/Saxon
nobility and claimed land
 Business now conducted in French
or Latin
 This threatened the continuation of
English developing into a language

4. Feudalism
 Feudal system – exchange of property
for personal services
 King owned the land – parceled it out
to supporters (Lords)
 Lords further subdivided to Barons
who supplied tax money and knights

5.  Knights in return for services
received smaller land parcels called
manors.
 Peasants (serfs) worked the manors.

6. PLANTAGENETS
 Norman rule ended in 1154 when Henry
Plantagenet comes to the throne (Henry
II)
 Henry appoints Thomas Beckett
Archbishop of Canterbury
 Beckett defies the King and appeals to
the Pope who sided with Beckett—
angers the King

7.  Henry’s knights
misunderstand his anger
and murder Beckett in 1170
 Henry condemned the
crime by making a
pilgrimage, a holy journey,
to Beckett’s shrine in
Canterbury

8. MAGNA CARTA
 Next king, Richard I, spend time and
money in overseas military expeditions.
 King John inherited the debts and tries to
raise money by taxing barons.
 Barons resist and John signs the Magna
Carta in 1215 (no tax without meeting
with Barons
 Beginning of constitutional government.

9. Black Death
 Trade expanded, formation of
guilds and apprenticeships—
London flourishes
 Plague swept England in 1348 and
1349—closer living conditions
(unsanitary).
 Led to labor shortage—peasants
were now paid.
 Feudalism starts to fade away.

10. Literature
 Lyric poetry – now either secular (love
and nature), or religious
 Ballad – folk song or story, i.e., Robin
Hood.
 Drama – church used this format to get
people to listen to Bible stories.
 Morality play – depicted the life of an
ordinary man and taught a moral lesson.

11. Canterbury Tales
 Written by Geoffrey
Chaucer (1343-1400)
 Series of stories told by
pilgrims journeying to
shrine of St. Thomas a’
Beckett.

12. Printing Press
 Johann Guttenburg, German,
invented movable type in 1454
 Came to England in 1476
 Literature and specifically the Bible
now widespread. Canterbury Tales
one of first pieces of lit copied on
press.