The Middle Ages
Throughout time, history has taken some strange turns. A single ruler establishing some new form of government can transform entire civilizations, or a single event can lead to the creation of a great new people. Whatever the case, history can repeat itself in time. One possible exemption of this could be Britain’s time period of the Middle Ages. Bearing a distinct and unique culture relative to the time period, some of the values and the customs held during this time have yet to be repeated in history. It is perhaps the most unique period of all time for the British Isles.
Brief History
Before the period of the middle ages, the British Isles mostly lay dormant in local disputes and settlements of small tribes. Up until the late 900’s, the Anglos and the Saxons laid their claim to the land of Britain. However, this all soon changed. An ambitions individual with hero-like characteristics set foot and conquered the Anglo-Saxons and started Britain on its journey to modernism. Thus, the tide was set in motion for a new government and a civilized race. A monarchy was established, and the Middle ages began in roughly 975 AD (Vinogradoff, p 18).
Feudal Life
In the Medieval Period, life was either very great or very bad, according to your class. Only 2 classes existed during this time: the nobles, such as kings and knights who lived inside the castle, or the peasants, such as working-class people who lived in often unspeakable conditions. The peasants treated the nobles with the utmost respect, for if they didn’t, then the nobles could have them beheaded. (Sanders, p 34). The nobles were almost always the ones who owned land, and the peasants worked on this land in exchange for a small portion of it, in a sense, rented out in exchange for the labor. Peasants often worked 16-hour days as long as they could see into the nighttime and got very bad nourishment. The noble was not interested in the health of the peasants working on his land, as there was a significant supply of others who were very willing to take his or her place.
Women had a very difficult position in society during the Middle Ages. The feudal age was known for its superstitions, and women were often convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Some of the more lucky women held professions of there own, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, and apothecaries....
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...een defined. Juggling became a popular form of entertainment, as it was unpredictable and seemingly deadly objects could produce awe and inspiration to the audience. Drama also played a big role during this time period, and plays were acted out only by males and only for the noble class. (McCarthy, para. 3).
Perhaps the greatest and most unique time period of all time for the British Isles was the Middle Ages. The feudal system and the role of the monarchy led this seemingly boring piece of time on the path towards greatness in meaning and value. Social skills developed during this time to force humans to cooperate and work together to produce a lifestyle that was beneficial to everyone and not just a leader. Lessons have been learned from this time period, such that it is not perfect. Disputes inside a community cannot be solved easily because they often affect the whole community and there will only be one side. Perhaps there are more lessons to be learned from this time. One can only hope that the future of modern warfare could be secretly embedded in the time of the middle ages. History has a tendency to repeat itself; maybe the time has come for the middle ages.
Burns, William E."Britain in the Late Middle Ages, 1272–1529." A Brief History of Great Britain, Brief History. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
“Feudalism was a political, economic, and social system in which nobles were granted the use of land that legally belonged to the king” (Doc. 1) "Social" life in the Middle Ages was the only kind of life people knew. Whether nobility, craftsperson or peasant your life was defined by your family, your community and those around you (OI). “The Church protected the Kings and Queens (OI).” “The King is above Nobles, Nobles above Knights, and the Knights are above serfs (Doc.1).” “ Nobles provides money and knights. Knights provide protection and military service (Doc. 1).” Social network, your village and your local nobility, was your family (OI).” “From the moment of its baptism a few days after birth, a child entered into a life of service to God and God’s Church (Doc.3).” “Every Person was required to live by the Church’s laws and to pay heavy taxes to support the Church (Doc.3).” “In return for this, they were shown the way to everlasting life and happiness after lives that were often short and hard (Doc. 3).” In conclusion, this is what it was like in the Middle Ages from a social
Lambert, Tim. “EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.” localhistories.org. 2008. Web. 26 March 2011. .
Gull, John. The Oxford Illustrated History of Brittan. Great Brittan: Butler & Tanner Ltd, Frome, Somerset., 1984. Print.
During the central Middle Ages, territories were expanding greatly. In previous centuries, smaller territorial united had been much more prevalent, thus making control easier. However, with the advent of larger territorial units as time went on, challenges to rulers began to emerge. This were mainly centred around the conflict between the central power and the regions, as was seen in both France and England, which posed a substantial threat to the stability of government. Therefore, rulers saw that they needed to take steps in order to combat this situation. Most importantly, they saw that they needed to created a shared national identity in order unite the mass of people who were now in their territory. As argued by Bernard Guenée, the stability of the state was enhanced during the medieval period when its people were aware of a common identity that they wanted to sustain; control relied upon the population’s love for the country. The main ways in which this was achieved included created a shared national history, a shared religious identity, and shared enemies, as well as through the use of language. But inciting patriotism was not the only way in which rulers coped with the challenges of larger territorial units; they also took active steps towards the centralisation of power. The methods used to achieve this included the creation of representative bodies such as parliament, capital cities, and law. It was these steps taken by rulers that allowed the challenges of the larger territorial units to be met.
This course dove into medieval history and touched on all of the most critical elements of the period giving a well-rounded look into the lives and cultures of the middle ages. As the class moved forward it became evident that religion is central to understanding the people, advances, and set backs of this period. We learned how inseparable the middle ages and religion are due to how completely it consumed the people, affected the art, and furthered academics. Since, there is a tendency to teach about history and literature separately from religion and since religion possessed a dominant position in every aspect of a medieval person’s life, while many of us had already looked into the period we missed some crucial cultural context allowing
Norman Davies, a leading English historian, wrote, “There is an air of immobility about many descriptions of the medieval world” (Davies 291). However, these descriptions he refers to do not capture the true essence of the Middle Ages of Europe, which were a continuation and a formation. They were a continuation of old Rome in race, language, institutions, law, literature, arts, and in cultures independent of Rome. Nevertheless, the Middle Ages were not merely a continuation; they were the formation of our world. Many modern-day historians argue that the so-called Dark Ages were a period of ascent rather than of descent, that with the withering of the pagan classic civilization came the first budding of a new culture that was to develop into our modern civilization. James M. Powell, a prominent historian, agreed with this argument concerning the untold progress of this age. Powell believed that the Medieval Ages was a multi-faceted period of time in which the roots of modern civilization began to emerge, and that it was. This time period was critical because, although it seemed to be a dark age, seeds were being planted for future generations such as ours. These seeds have sprouted and have given us templates to work with regarding issues of centralization, the economy, scholasticism, education, expressions of art, and religion.
IT WASN’T EASY LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES. In the middle ages 400 AD thru 1300 AD, there was a system call the hierarchy. The hierarchy was the feudalism system that was based on mutual obligations.The highest person in the royalty system would be the king, the king has all power and control over everyone. The next in the hierarchy would be the clergy, the clergy is filled with Popes, bishops, archdeacons, abbot, priors, deans, priests, and monk. You wouldn’t think their would be any other people under the monks, but they were. After the monks there were friars, clerics, vicars, barber surgeons, chaplains, confessors, scribes, and culdees. The people on the bottom of the hierarchy were the system of peasantry. Some peasants had more rights than others such as, the vallien was the wealthy class of peasants. Serfs and commoner lived in small communities, they couldn't leave or marry without their lord's permission. Next in line came the smallholder, they were the middle class peasants who farmed more than a cottager, but less land than a vallien. Some people owned the farms and worked on it. In the middle ages there were women and men who practiced being trappist. People chose to give their life to the churches because they found it a more appealing way to get closer to God. For the women, they gave up everything to become a nun because they weren’t able to be educated. Once the women became nuns they were able to learn how to read and write. As for men, they became monks because they were being offered a peaceful quiet place to escape from the violence in the world and get more close to their god. Women and men in the middle ages preferred to devote their lives to churches, because they found it a better lifestyle.
Medieval Europe and feudal Japan were two societies that paralleled each other in various political, social, and cultural aspects. Feudalism was utilized by both and played a major role in determining relationships between the social classes. Japan and European had warriors that shared a similar code of ethics and valued loyalty, although they had differing views of death. Their cultures and religious views varied also. Although feudalism was a common aspect in both societies, their cultural backgrounds set them far apart.
Rome fell in 476 AD, the subsequent 1000 years made up a period of time called the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages are often referred to as the Dark Ages because of the way of life in Europe during that age. William Manchester suggests that this time period was actually a dark age, in his A World Lit Only By Fire. Manchester describes the ‘Dark Ages’ as a “mélange of incessant warfare, corruption, lawlessness, obsession with strange myths, and an almost impenetrable mindlessness”. He also states how famines and plague repetitively thinned the population, and that “rickets afflicted the survivors”.
Shawna Herzog, History 101-1, Class Lecture: 11.2 Society in the Middle Ages, 27 March 2014.
Hamm S., Jean. Term Paper Resource Guide to Medieval History. Santa Barbara, California. Greenwood Press. 2010. Print.
The Middle Ages encompass one of the most turbulent periods in English History. Starting with the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest. When Duke William of Normandy, better known as William the Conqueror effectively took all of the lands from the Saxon English and gave them to French nobles. there were some points that took my attention the
Lambert, Tim. "Daily Life in England in The Middle Ages." (2014): n. pag. Web. 29 May
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live during the Elizabethan Era? To see the works of great playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson firsthand? The theater was one of the cornerstones of Elizabethan life, and many people knew the works of Shakespeare and Jonson. While Shakespeare was arguably the greatest of the time, many other playwrights, including Jonson, flourished during this time period.