Class

1. The Catholic Church would become a powerful unifying
force through the Middle Ages. When the western
Roman Empire collapsed, it was the Church that helped
hold civilization together. But Christianity was not
always welcome in the Empire -- in fact, at some points,
it was even outlawed, and Christians were persecuted.
Then one emperor professed Christianity, and made the
religion not only acceptable, but favored. Who was this
emperor?
A. Augustus
B. Constantine
C. Diocletian

5. Porterville College Home Page

7. This time, ask your survival group if
you need help!

9. An American will perhaps consider himself to be
as little like an Englishman as he is like a
Frenchman. But he reads Shakespeare through
the medium of his own vernacular, and has to
undergo the penance of a foreign tongue before
he can understand Molière. He separates himself
from England in politics and perhaps in affection;
but he cannot separate himself from England
mental culture.
--Anthony Trollope, 1862
Slide adapted from the following source:
Palmer, Joy. “Introduction to Middle Ages Literature.” Slideboom, 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

10. Encompass time from the collapse of the
Roman Empire (ca. 420) to Renaissance
(marked by beginning of Tudor dynasty in
1485)
There is some continuity in the form of the
influence of the Roman Catholic Church, but
there is also major change over this time
period.
Slide adapted from the following source:
Palmer, Joy. “Introduction to Middle Ages Literature.” Slideboom, 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

11. Old English, a Germanic language
Invasion ca. 450
“Caedmon’s Hymn” and Beowulf
Old English literature in translation
Slide adapted from the following source:
Palmer, Joy. “Introduction to Middle Ages Literature.” Slideboom, 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

12. Norman Invasion of
1066
Nobility spoke French
Marie de France is an
example
Beginning of
obsession (in England
and elsewhere) with
Arthur, across
languages
By Chaucer’s time,
English literature
begins to be accepted
Slide adapted from the following source:
Palmer, Joy. “Introduction to Middle Ages Literature.” Slideboom, 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

13. English begins to
be accepted on par
of French and Latin
Chaucer, Sir
Gawain and the
Green Knight,
Mystery and
Morality Plays,
Morte Darthur
Slide adapted from the following source:
Palmer, Joy. “Introduction to Middle Ages Literature.” Slideboom, 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

14. Rome leaves
Britain (Britons)
ca. 420
Years of invasions
Ethelbert: First
Christian King
(597)
“West Saxon
dialect”
Slide adapted from the following source:
Palmer, Joy. “Introduction to Middle Ages Literature.” Slideboom, 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

15. Dark Ages (500 CE- 1000 CE)- scholars named
this as a time when the forces of darkness
(barbarians) overwhelmed the forces of light
(Romans)
Rise of influence of barbarians as Roman
Emperors had granted barbarian mercenaries
land with the Roman Empire in return for military
service and it was these barbarians who
eventually became the new rulers

16. Decline of Roman Empire
Rise of Northern Europe
New forms of government
Heavy “Romanization” (religion,
language, laws, architecture,
government)
Latin- “medium aevum” means
“middle age” and is source of
English word “medieval”

18. Period of change in Western Europe as
barbarians were migrating in to areas given up
by Romans
As more barbarians moved westward, other
tribes were forced to move
Groups categorized by languages and little
else
Celtic: Gauls, Britons, Bretons
Germanic: Goths, Frank, Vandals, Saxons
Slavic: Wends

19. The Catholic Church has become an important
political, economic, spiritual and cultural force in
Europe
The Church was granted favors by
Roman emperors /kings (land, exemption from taxes,
immunity in courts, positions in courts) and in return
the Church would endorse kings to help secure their
rule
Kings looked to Church to supply educated
administrators to help run kingdoms and in return
kings would enforce laws that prohibited other
religions

20. Monks were people who gave up worldly
possessions and devote themselves to
a religious life
Established between 400 -700 communities
called monasteries which became centers of
education, literacy and learning
Strict codes of monastic conduct called Rule of
St. Benedict
Saints- one who performs miracles that are
interpreted as evidence of a special relationship
with God
St. Augustine- wrote “Confessions” which
discussed ideas of ethics, self knowledge, and
the role of free will which shaped monastic
tradition and the influence of Church

21. Slaves made up of conquered peoples
Some treated harshly, while other were treated
fairly
Rural slaves became serfs, who worked the
land and provided labor for owner (in return
from protection)
Set up for system of feudalism

22. Increasing violence and lawless
countryside
Weak turn to the strong for protection,
strong want something from the weak
Feudalism= relationship between those
ranked in a chain of association (kings,
vassals, lords, knights, serfs)
Feudalism worked because of the
notion of mutual obligation, or voluntary
co-operation from serf to noble
A man’s word was the cornerstone of
social life
Key terms
Fief = land given by a lord in return for a
vassal’s military service and oath of
loyalty
Serfs= common peasants who worked
the lords land
Tithe = tax that serfs paid (tax or rent)
Corvee= condition of unpaid labor by
serfs (maintaining roads or ditches on a
manor)

25. Effects of Crusades
Guild and communes
Towns, cities and manors
New thinkers (Thomas Aquinas) and writers
Creation of universities
New art and architecture (gothic, castles)
Knighthood and chivalry
Courtly entertainment (fables, playwrights)

26. Black Death
a devastating
worldwide
pandemic that
first struck
Europe in the
mid 14th
century
killed about a
third of
Europe’s
population, an
estimated 34
million people.

27. Called “black death” because of striking
symptom of the disease, in which sufferers' skin
would blacken due to hemorrhages under the
skin
Spread by fleas and rats
painful lymph node swellings called buboes
buboes in the groin and armpits, which ooze
pus and blood.
damage to the skin and underlying tissue until
they were covered in dark blotches
Most victims died within four to seven days after
infection
EFFECTS
Caused massive depopulation and change
in social structure
Weakened influence of Church
Originated in Asia but was blamed on
Jews and lepers

31. Roger Bacon (gunpowder)
Luca Pacioli (Father of Accounting)
Johannes Gutenberg (printing press)
Christine de Pisan (writer); Geoffrey Chaucer
(writer)
Joan of Arc (Hundred Year’s War)
Pope Urban II (indulgences)
Pope Innocent IV and Bernard Gui
(inquisitions)
Parliamentary Government in England

33. Largely orally transmitted
Heroic and Christian
values
Problems with translation
Characteristics/Features:
Kenning
Apposition/Variation
Formal
Irony
Slide adapted from the following source:
Palmer, Joy. “Introduction to Middle Ages Literature.” Slideboom, 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

34. An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next
day…
of chronic emphysema from inhalation of the latex particles scratched off
decades’ worth of lottery tickets.
A black fly in your Chardonnay…
poured to celebrate the successful fumigation of your recently purchased
vineyard in southern France.
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break…
at the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco corporate offices in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina.
Meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife…
who happens to be the psychiatrist I recently hired in hopes of improving my
luck with the opposite sex.
Courtesy of http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1711139.
Slide adapted from the following source:
Palmer, Joy. “Introduction to Middle Ages Literature.” Slideboom, 2011. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

39. Eighth to eleventh century
Survives in West Saxon dialect
Poetic contexts
Scop
Lost until eighteenth century
Focuses on Beowulf’s three
battles: Grendel, Grendel’s
mother, dragon
Subject is German ancestors of
English (Danes and Geats)
Setting

41. Watch the “Introduction to
Beowulf” and take the quiz
before Tuesday at 10:35 a.m.
Read Beowulf pages 41-77
Practice Turnitin assignment
due by Tuesday, September
2, at 10:35 a.m.