THE MIDDLE AGES

1
THE MIDDLE AGES
1485

• 449

11th century
THE DARK AGES
THE MIDDLE AGES
THE ORIGINS
Anglo Saxon / Old _English
Anglo Norman / Middle _English
700
INVASIONS Jutes from Denmark, Angles, Saxons fr
om Northern Germany
Iberians Celts 43-409 A. C. Romans
1485 TUDORS begin to rule over

England
597 A.D.
1154-1399

• PLANTAGENETS
• Baronial revolts
• Magna Charta
• The Parliament
• The hundred years war
• Peasants revolt

Saint Augustines mission. Christianity spreads t
hroughout England
1399-1485
The wars of the roses
Celtic people escape to Cornwall, Wales and
Scotland
FEUDALISM
POETRY
NARRATIVE POEM
EPIC POEM
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FEUDALISM
It was a method of organizing society introduced
in England by Normans in 1066
The term derives from the French word feu
fee and means LAND HELD IN EXCHANGE FOR DUTY O
R SERVICE TO A LORD

• The KING was THE OWNER OF ALL LAND
• Other noblemen, called VASSALS, held a portion of
  the land IN RETURN FOR GOODS AND SERVICES
  especially MILITARY SERVICE UP TO 40 DAYS a year
  
• The chief vassals, called BARONS, in turn,
  created other vassals, the KNIGHTS and VILLAINS
  OWING SERVICE TO THEM
  
• VILLAINS were FREE BUT ATTACHED ON THE LAND on
  which they were born
  
• VILLAINS (or PEASANTS) service was in the form
  of work on the lords farm
  
• KNIGHTS gave military service to their lord in
  exchange for his land
  
• SERFS were almost slaves

• HOMAGE was the promise that all men had to do to
  their lord kneeling before him with their hands
  between those of the lord

• BARONS lived in MANORS retaining some ARABLE LAND
  for themselves (their DEMESNE)
  
• Strips of the remaining land were allocated to
  the peasants
  
• Meadows and waste lands were common to all and
  formed the so called COMMON FIELDS that were used
  for pasture

3
Serfdom in the Middle Ages During the Middle Ages
in Europe, which historians date from about the
5th century to the 15th century AD, peasants
became legally bound to live and work in one
place in servitude to wealthy landowners. In
return for working the land of the owner, known
as the lord, these peasants, called serfs,
received a crude house, a small adjoining plot of
ground, a share of the surrounding fields, some
farm animals, and protection from outlaws and
other lords. The serf gave part of his own crop
to the lord as payment of rent and was subject to
many other payment obligations and taxes. Serfdom
differed from slavery because serfs had the right
to own property, could not be sold, and could
theoretically purchase their freedom from their
lords.
4
Feudal Manor Cultivation During the feudal period
, people lived in self-contained communities,
producing their own food and clothing. A typical
English manor used a three-field system of
cultivation, with each section divided into
individual strips. In this system, the uses of
the sections were rotated periodically, with one
field resting, or lying fallow each time, so that
the land did not become nutrient poor.
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• The feudal system was introduced
• Important administrative and judicial reforms
  were made
  
• Barons and knights acquired great importance
• Domsday book
• The relationship with the Church was
  business-like

• NORMAN KINGS 1066 1154
• William I 1066-1087
• William II 1087-1100
• Henry I 1100-1135
• Stephen 1135-1154

6

• Henry Is daughter, Matilda, married Geoffrey
  Plantagenet of Anjou who became king as Henry II
  
• He restored order, brought stability reducing the
  power of the barons and of the Church
  
• professional soldiers (scutage tax)
• Travelling judges to hold assizes or courts
  according to Common Law
  
• Trial by jury instead of trial by ordeal
• Constitution of Clarendon (1164) (bishops
  investing, clergymen trial)
  
• T. Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in
  1170
  
• Third Crusade
• Magna Charta
• Baronial revolts
• The rise of Parliament
• Chivalry
• Hundred years war (1337-1453)
• Lollardy
• Polltax
• Peasants' revolt 1381

• HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET 1154-1399
• Henry II 1154-1189
• Richard I (Lion heart) 1189-1199
• John(Lack land) 1199-1216
• Henry III 1216-1272
• Edward I 1272-1307
• Edward II 1307-1327
• Edward III 1327-1377
• Richard II 1377-1399

7

• Hundred years war (Agincourt 1415)
• Joan of Arc
• Eaton, Cambridge
• Wars of the Roses

• HOUSE OF LANCASTER 1399- 1485
• Henry IV 1399-1413
• Henry V 1413-1422
• Henry VI 1422-1461

8

• Wars of the Roses and the end of Feudalism

• HOUSE OF YORK 1461 - 1485
• Edward IV 1461-1483
• Edward V 1483
• Richard III 1483-1485

9

• NORMAN KINGS 1066 1154
• William I 1066-1087
• William II 1087-1100
• Henry I 1100-1135
• Stephen 1135-1154

• The feudal system was introduced
• Barons and knights acquired great importance
• William I sent his men to make a complete survey
  of the economic life of the country so he had
  information about the levying of a property tax
  and a detailed knowledge of the extent and
  distribution of his wealth, lands and revenues
  (Domsday book)
• For us the Domsday book is very important in that
  it affords a comprehensive picture of the social
  structure of England at that time
  
• The relationship with the Church was
  business-like
  
• William paid his annual tax to the Pope (Peters
  pence)
  
• He separated the fields of clerical and lay
  justice removing religious cases to special
  ecclesiastical courts

• The gap between the conquered Anglo-Saxons and
  the conquering Normans slowly decreased.
  
• The sign of reconciliation was the marriage
  between Henry I and Edith the offspring of the
  Wessex kings

10

• HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET 1154-1399
• Henry II 1154-1189
• Richard I (Lion heart) 1189-1199
• John(Lack land) 1199-1216
• Henry III 1216-1272
• Edward I 1272-1307
• Edward II 1307-1327
• Edward III 1327-1377
• Richard II 1377-1399

• Henry Is daughter, Matilda, married Geoffrey
  Plantagenet of Anjou who became king as Henry II
  
• Restored order, brought stability reducing the
  power of the barons and of the Church
  
• He engaged professional soldiers (scutage tax)
• He sent Travelling judges to hold assizes or
  courts according to Common Law
  
• Trial by jury was provided instead of trial by
  ordeal
  
• The Constitution of Clarendon was issued in1164
  (The king claimed considerable authority in
  investing the bishops. Clergymen were tried also
  by a civil court for serious crimes)
• T. Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury,was murdered
  in 1170
  

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• HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET 1154-1399
• Henry II 1154-1189
• Richard I (Lion heart) 1189-1199
• John(Lack land) 1199-1216
• Henry III 1216-1272
• Edward I 1272-1307
• Edward II 1307-1327
• Edward III 1327-1377
• Richard II 1377-1399

• RICHARD I Lion heart
• Third Crusade (1189 - 1192) it had heavy costs
  but increased both intellectual and commercial
  exchanges with Asia
  

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• HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET 1154-1399
• Henry II 1154-1189
• Richard I (Lion heart) 1189-1199
• John(Lack land) 1199-1216
• Henry III 1216-1272
• Edward I 1272-1307
• Edward II 1307-1327
• Edward III 1327-1377
• Richard II 1377-1399

• MAGNA CHARTA
• No taxes shall be demanded in our realm without
  the consent of the great council No free man
  shall be arrested, put in prison or lose his
  property, or be outlawed or banished, or harmed
  in any way unless he has been judged by his
  equals under the law of the land

• JOHN (LACKLAND)
• Levied higher taxes to defend his French
  possessions. This annoyed
  
• Barons, Church and merchants who compelled him to
  sign the Magna Charta
  
• MAGNA CHARTA is the first step towards the
  constitutional Monarchy as it asserts kingship
  checked by acceptance of the restraint of law
  

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• HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET 1154-1399
• Henry II 1154-1189
• Richard I (Lion heart) 1189-1199
• John(Lack land) 1199-1216
• Henry III 1216-1272
• Edward I 1272-1307
• Edward II 1307-1327
• Edward III 1327-1377
• Richard II 1377-1399

Henry III became king at the age of 9 and Britain
was governed by a group of barons until he grew
up. Starting in 1158 Simon De Montfort, Earl of L
eicester, led a baronial revolt against the king
to create a structure of permanent control over
the kings policy. In 1256 he called a Parliamen
t (barons, Knights and, FOR THE FIRST TIME, 2
REPRESENTATIVES FROM EACH BOROUGH OR TOWN
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• HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET 1154-1399
• Henry II 1154-1189
• Richard I (Lion heart) 1189-1199
• John(Lack land) 1199-1216
• Henry III 1216-1272
• Edward I 1272-1307
• Edward II 1307-1327
• Edward III 1327-1377
• Richard II 1377-1399

EDWARD I in 1295 called the Model Parliament
(representatives of the barons, the clergy, two
knights from each county and two citizens from
each town)
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• HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET 1154-1399
• Henry II 1154-1189
• Richard I (Lion heart) 1189-1199
• John(Lack land) 1199-1216
• Henry III 1216-1272
• Edward I 1272-1307
• Edward II 1307-1327
• Edward III 1327-1377
• Richard II 1377-1399

• EDWARD III
• Since in the Middle Ages success in battle was
  the principal source for the power of the king,
  he introduced the idea of chivalry a name given
  to a set of values (bravery, loyalty, honesty,
  and glory) which the perfect knight had to
  respect (cycle of Arthurian legends)
• He also founded the Order of Garter (24
  knights)
  
• In 1337 he laid claim to the Crown of France on
  the grounds that his mother was the French kings
  sister (Philip VI Valois) starting so the HUNDRED
  YEARS WAR 1337-1453.
• The real reason for the Hundred years war was
  that the French were threatening Flanders, the
  chief market for English wood.
  
• This war received a severe check for the
• BLACK DEATH 1348 (bubonic plague) which carried
  off a third of population
  
• LOLLARDY (J.WYCLIFFE) spread over. It was a
  religious reformist movement which attacked the
  power and worldliness of Church
  

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• HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET 1154-1399
• Henry II 1154-1189
• Richard I (Lion heart) 1189-1199
• John(Lack land) 1199-1216
• Henry III 1216-1272
• Edward I 1272-1307
• Edward II 1307-1327
• Edward III 1327-1377
• Richard II 1377-1399

• RICHARD II was only 10 when he became king and a
  council of noblemen governed the kingdom. The
  first Parliament of the reign decided to levy a
  
• Polltax (4 pence from each lay person of either
  sex over 14 except for beggars and 12 pence from
  all members of the religious orders) It was the
  first time that a government tax had fallen
  equally on the mass of the population rather than
  on the richer part. This created great discontent
  which together with
• The results of Black Death upon the economy and
  the labourers
  
• The feudal pressure in a society with new
  bourgeois elements
  
• Ecclesiastic wealth. Worldliness and abuse of
  power
  
• brought to a PEASANTS REVOLT 1381
• Having no children, Richard was compelled by his
  barons to abdicate and his cousin, the Duke of
  Lancaster, became King as Henry VI
  

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• HOUSE OF LANCASTER 1399- 1485
• Henry IV 1399-1413
• Henry V 1413-1422
• Henry VI 1422-1461

• HENRY Vs main interest was fighting so he
  resumed the Hundred years war and led England to
  the victory of Agincourt (1415)

• HENRY VI was book-loving and he founded the 2
  colleges at Eton and Cambridge
  
• The wave of French patriotism revived with Joan
  of Arc (1412-1431) and English were forced to
  withdraw to Calais
  
• Te Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) started between
  the 2 rival families of Lancaster and York
  
• In 1461 Henry was confined to the Tower by the
  son of the Duke of York who seized the throne as
  Edward IV

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Edward IV and V were imprisoned in the Tower by
their uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester

• HOUSE OF YORK 1461 - 1485
• Edward IV 1461-1483
• Edward V 1483
• Richard III 1483-1485

• Richard III was disliked both by the Lancastrians
  and the Yorkists as he was suspected for the
  murder of his nephews

• Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, leader of the
  Lancastrians, raised an army and defeated
  Richard.
  
• He sized the throne as Henry VII Tudor

• The Wars of the Roses stuck a heavy blow to the
  power of the barons as many of the oldest and
  strongest families were wiped out and the ideas
  of chivalry and feudal service faded into the past

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ENGLISH SOCIETY IN THE 14th AND 15th CENTURIES
NEW PHASE OF THE MIDDLE AGES WITH A HIGHER LIVING
STANDARD
14th CENTURY
The new middle classes, rural and urban, appeared
upon the political, economic, social, religious,
and literary scenes

• PRINCIPAL FACTORS
• WAR
• RISE OF MERCHANTS
• ENCLOSURES
• RISE OF MINOR ARISTOCRACY
• FORMATION OF THE GENTRY
• BIRTH OF YEOMEN

• WAR offered the middle levels of nobility the
  opportunity to make fortunes
  
• Any king who refused to go to war against France
  or to organize crusades would lose prestige
  
• The king needed barons armies
• The king had to turn to merchant financiers in
  order to get more money to wage war
  

• RISE OF MERCHANTS
• Counsellors of the king upon whom land, titles
  and power were conferred thing that led to the
  creation of a mercantile nobility
  

• RISE OF MINOR ARISTOCRACY

• ENCLOSURES
• the system of open fields was breaking down and
  farmers were enclosing more and more fields with
  edges

• GENTRY(free landholders)(called Franklins)

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ENGLISH SOCIETY IN THE 14th AND 15th CENTURIES
NEW PHASE OF THE MIDDLE AGES WITH A HIGHER LIVING
STANDARD
14th CENTURY
The new middle classes, rural and urban, appeared
upon the political, economic, social, religious,
and literary scenes

• PRINCIPAL FACTORS
• WAR
• RISE OF MERCHANTS
• ENCLOSURES
• RISE OF MINOR ARISTOCRACY
• FORMATION OF THE GENTRY
• BIRTH OF YEOMEN

• GUILDS were associations of artisans that
  controlled
  
• Quality of goods
• Prices
• Wages
• Rules concerning apprenticeship
• They organised also fairs
• Prepared biblical plays to be performed
• GUILDS DEVELOPPED INTO TRADING COMPABIES

• In 1477 WILLIAM CAXTON SET UP THE FIRST ENGLISH
  PRINTING PRESS
  
• In a short time England would be exposed to the
  ferment of ideas of Italian Renaissance

• YEOMEN peasant artisans and tradesmen who lived
  near or near the town and worked the land and, at
  the same time, sold the objects he made with his
  hands.
• They used the money made in trade to enlarge
  their holdings in lands so that they became
  members of the gentry
  

• ANTICLERICALISM
• Slackness of monastic orders
• Feudal monasteries lent money at interest and
  warded orphans to their own advantage
  
• Wealth and inconsistent behaviour of Clergy
• Lollardy (J. Wycliffe)

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CULTURAL CONTEXT IN THE 14th AND 15th CENTURIES
CHIVALRY and a new code of conduct
FRANCE as outside dominant outside influence for
at least 4 centuries

• True courtesy
• Honour
• Generosity
• Truth

• OLD PAGAN VALUES
• Valour
• Physical strength

• MAIN CONSEQUENCES
• Language
• Chivalry
• Romances of chivalry and love
• Poetry

• ROMANCES of chivalry and love
• Knight
• His lords wife or a noblewoman
• Unhappy love
• Faithfulness
• Noble deeds inspired by love

• CHURCH
• Preservation and transmission of culture
• Monasteries as centres of learning and arts
• Great cathedrals (Winchester, Lincoln, Durham,
  Salisbury, Canterbury, Gloucester) as centres of
  the communal life of the city

• POPULAR TRADITION
• mystery, morality plays
• ballads, carols

• BRITISH ART
• illuminated manuscripts
• religious architecture (Norman and Gothic
  cathedrals)
  
• Music (Chapel Royal, John Dunstable)

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1066 - 1485 Anglo Norman Period principal focuse
s

• 1 - The MONARCHY, starting from Henry II
  (1154-1189) tries to build up a system of
  administrative control over the kingdom and
  establish a centralised judicial organization
• Professional soldiers and reduction of power of
  the barons.
  
• Scutage tax instead of service for kings
• Travelling judjes and Common law (custom,
  comparisons, previous cases and decisions)
  
• Trial by jury instead of trial by ordeal.
  Reduction of the power of the Church
  
• Constitution of Clarendon 1164 (the king claims
  considerable authority in investing the Bishops)
  
• Edward III (1327- 1377) introduces the idea of
  CHIVALRY. The order of the GARTER is founded
  
• Richard II ( 1377-1399) POLLTAX (4 pence from
  each lay person of either sex over 14 except for
  beggars and 12 pence from all members of the
  religious orders except mendicant friars). The
  earnings from this tax were used to pay the debts
  deriving from the war against France and to
  reinforce the navy

25
1066 - 1485 Anglo Norman Period Principal focuse
s

• 2 -The CHURCH acquires a new strength and
  controls money, land and men
  
• Bishops represent Pope but are also great
  landowners
  
• Period of conflict between State and Church over
  spheres of power
  
• Lay investiture
• Ecclesiastical office
• Ecclesiastical privileges in the courts of
  justice (Constitution of Clarendon 1164)
  
• T. Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is murdered
  in 1170

• 3 - The BARONS, allied with the church and then
  with the rising merchant class, try and succeed
  in asserting their rights with respect to the
  power of the King
• 1215 Magna Charta, the first step towards
  Constitutional Monarchy
  
• 1258 baronial revolt to create a structure of
  permanent control over the kings policy
  
• De Montfort earl of Leicester calls the first
  meeting of the Parliament (barons, knights and 2
  representatives from each town)
  
• 1295 Model Parliament is called by Edward I
  (representatives of the barons, the clergy, two
  knights from each county and two citizens from
  each town)

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1066-1485 Anglo Norman Period and Christianity

• Preservation and transmission of culture
• Monasteries as centres of learning and of arts
• Great cathedrals (Winchester, Salisbury,
  Canterbury, Gloucester.) as centres of communal
  life of the city

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MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100-1450)

• Middle English lost almost all of the Anglo
  Saxons inflections. Of the old noun declensions
  remained
  
• The s ending for the plural of the nouns
• Genitive singular
• The definite article the and adjectives became
  indeclinable
  
• The to form for infinitives started to be used

NORTHERN
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MIDDLE ENGLISH (1100-1450)
By the 14th century Middle English was used in
Schools Law courts G. Chaucer used Middle Englis
h for his Canterbury Tales so gaining the name of
father of the English language
MIDDLE ENGLISH was a uniform language and its
dialects were divided into four groups

• Middle English lost almost all of the Anglo
  Saxons inflections. Of the old noun declensions
  remained
  
• The s ending for the plural of the nouns
• Genitive singular
• The definite article the and adjectives became
  indeclinable
  
• The to form for infinitives started to be used

NORTHERN
EAST MIDLAND
WEST MIDLAND
This group became the most important and it was
called kings English as it was spoken in a
vast area including London
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449 - 1066 Anglo Saxon Period and Christianity

• Fusion into a single native tradition of two
  alien imported components the language, literary
  forms and arts of North Germany and the moral
  values and classical literary influences of Rome
• Written documents mixing of
  Christian trends and Germanic culture
  
• Great wealth of Latin words enrich Old English
• Some old words are given new meanings

1066-1485 Anglo Norman Period and Christianity

• Preservation and transmission of culture
• Monasteries as centres of learning and of arts
• Great cathedrals (Winchester, Salisbury,
  Canterbury, Gloucester.) as centres of communal
  life of the city

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1066 - 1485 Anglo Norman Period Middle English

• OCT. 1066 BATLE OF HASTINGS THE NORMANS INVADE
  ENGLAND
  
• WILLIAM I THE CONQUEROR 1066 - 1087
• survey of the economic life of the country
  Doomsday Book
  
• English common law (separation of the fields of
  clerical and lay justice)
  
• HENRY II(King of England and Western France) 1154
  - 1189
  
• Professional soldiers and reduction of power of
  the barons. Scutage tax.Travelling judges and
  Common law (custom, comparisons, previous cases
  and decisions)Trial by jury.
• Reduction of the power of the Church. Henry's
  Chancellor, THOMAS BECKET (1118- 1170), became
  archbishop of Canterbury Becket defends the
  interests of the Church and opposes the King
  refusing to comply with the Constitutions of
  Clarendon (1164). In 1170 Becket is murdered at
  Canterbury
• RICHARD I THE LIONHEART 1189 - 1199
• THIRD CRUSADE (1189 - 1192)

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1066 - 1485 Anglo Norman Period Middle English

• JOHN LACKLAND 1199 - 1216
• Heavy taxes to defend French possessions
• 1215 MAGNA CHARTA kingship checked by acceptance
  of the restraint of law (first step towards the
  constitutional Monarchy)
  
• Simon De Montfort Earl of Leicester in 1258 led a
  baronial revolt to create a structure of
  permanent control over the King's policy
  
• In 1265 De Montfort called the Ist meeting of the
  parliament (barons, knights and 2 representatives
  from each town)
  
• 1295 Model Parliament (representatives of the
  barons, the clergy, two knights from each county
  and two citizens from each town)
  
• EDWARD III 1327 - 1377
• The idea of CHIVALRY is introduced. The order of
  the GARTER is founded
  
• 1337-1453 HUNDRED YEARS WAR between England and
  France for French possessions
  
• 1348 THE BLACK DEATH (bubonic plague). Religious
  reformist movement of LOLLARDY

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1066 - 1485 Anglo Norman Period Middle English

• RICHARD II 1377 - 1399
• POLLTAX (4 pence from each lay person of either
  sex over 14 except for beggars and 12 pence from
  all members of the religious orders)
  
• 1381 PEASANTS' REVOLT
• 1399 Richard II abdicates forced by his nobles
• HENRY V 1413 - 1422
• 1415 Victory of Agincourt in the Hundred Years
  War
  
• HENRY VI 1422 1461 (Lancaster)
• In the Hundred Years War the wave of French
  patriotism is revived by JOAN OF ARC (1412-1431)
  
• The English withdraw to Calais.
• War of the roses (1455 1485)
• 1461 HENRY VI is confined to the Tower of London
• EDWARD IV 1461 - 1483
• 1476 CAXTON starts PRINTING PRESS
• EDWARD V 1483
• Both Edward IV and V were confined to the tower
  and murdered
  
• RICHARD III Duke of Gloucester 1483 1485 (York)

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Middle Ages Christianity and culture

• DRAMA develops in this period because it is used
  to give peasants a religious education in the
  mysteries of faith and Bible. It adds a human
  element to the religious themes, creates
  characters corresponding to English social types,

• Liturgical drama sung dialogues between the
  celebrants to commemorate above all Nativity and
  Resurrection

• Mystery / Miracle plays in the early 14th
  century the festival of Corpus Christi is
  introduced in the month of June and this kind of
  sacre rappresentazioni develop from the
  procession of the Consecrated Host
• These include episodes which include human types
  easily recognisable by everyone
  
• Even the setting may be an English one

• Morality plays (Everyman).
• Here characters are allegorical personifications
  of abstractions from theology or symbols of
  various aspects of human condition Pride, Envy,
  Mankind
• We have the first pale tentative towards a
  psychological observation of characters

• Allegorical tales aim to make a moral point by
  tales that arent of biblical origin

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LONG NARRATIVE EPIC POEM
EPOS the poets

• ORAL
• Special poetic vocabulary
• Alliteration
• Repetition
• Fixed phrases
• Ornate expressions

OLD ENGLISH POETRY (Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid) BEOW
ULF

• Recollection of a glorious past
• References to historical events
• History as frame of the work
• Canvas as supernatural folk-tales and
  mythological events
  
• Aristocratic, military society
• Fate of a whole people
• Mythical hero and his noble heroic actions
• Praise of the great
• Brave deeds of heroes
• Lament at the death of a hero

COMPOSED BY BARDS OR SCOPS

• BARDS OR SCOPS HAD THE FUNCTION OF
• Entertaining the audience
• Historians of the group

• Objective narration the poets point of view
  coincides with that of the characters described
  
• Nor the poet nor characters criticise the ideals
  and the customs of their country
  
• Initial prologue and beginning in medias res
• Elevated style
• Long majestic speeches
• Rich and various vocabulary
• Detailed descriptions and lists of objects
• Vivid pictorial flashes (banquet, battle, voyage,
  funeral

• MAIN THEME
• The nature of heroic life
• The function and character of leadership in
  heroic society
  
• DIDACTIC AIM
• celebration of the heroic ethic
• ALL MEN SHOULD DIRECT THEMSELVES TO ACTIONS
  WHICH LEAD TO GLORY AND PRAISE

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POETRY
BALLARE TO DANCE

• VERSE
• SONG
• DANCE

• ORAL ANONYMOUS NARRATIVE POEMS
• COMPOSED BY COMMON PEOPLE
• FOR A SIMPLE AUDIENCE
• WERE SUNG OR RECITED IN ALEHOUSES AND AT FAIRS
• Simple instrumental accompaniment
• Simple language
• stanzas of 2 or 4 lines usually rhyming abcb/
  abab
  
• Repetition of words or lines
• Refrain (repetition of 1 ore more lines)
• Alliteration

TRADITIONAL BALLAD (13th 14th century) Reliques
of Ancient English Poetry 1765

• BALLADS OF MAGIC
• fairies, ghosts, witchcrafts and transformation
• BORDER BALLADS
• Rivalry between the English and the Scottish
  people
  
• BALLADS OF LOVE AND DOMESTIC TRAGEDY
• BALLADS OF OUTLAWS
• Cycle of Robin Hood

• MAIN THEMES
• Supernatural, love, war, family tragedies
• NO DIDACTIC AIM

• Narrative as a SEQUENCE OF RAPID FLASHES
• INCISIVENESS DEPENDS ON THE SELECTION AND
  JUXTAPOSITION OF FLASHES
  
• IMPERSONALITY
• the storyteller does not intrude his personality
• no moralizing approach
• MIXTURE OF DIALOGUE AND NARRATION
• REAL AND SUPERNATURAL CHARACTERS (speaking
  animals and birds, fairies, witches, ghosts)
  
• NO CLEAR LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN
  SUPERNATURAL CREATURES AND ORDINARY MORTALS

• BALLADS HAD THE FUNCTION OF
• Entertaining the audience FOCUSING ON ONE SINGLE
  SITUATION and treating it dramatically
  
• USED A SIMPLE LANGUAGE TO ALLOW LISTENERS/READERS
  TO CONCENTRATE ON THE PLOT

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Geoffrey Chaucer (1340/45 - 1400
Fourteenth-century English poet and public
servant Geoffrey Chaucer wrote verse renowned for
its humour, understanding of human character, and
innovations in poetic vocabulary and meter. His
masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales (1387-1400),
tells the tale of English people on a pilgrimage
to Saint Thomas à Beckets shrine at Canterbury.
The pilgrims emerge as complex characters through
the stories they tell and through their
interactions, which serve as transitions between
the different tales. This excerpt from the Tales
(read by an actor) comes from The General
Prologue, in which Chaucer introduces the
characters and establishes the framework of the
poem.