The Middle Ages

You

What “classes” exist today?

What power does “the church” have today?

What “unwritten rules” exist today?

Background

Lasted from 1066-1485

Begins with William the Conquer taking The Battle of Hastings in Normandy

Ends with War of the Roses with Henry Tudor killing Richard III

Period of Church Power, Chivalary, Feudalism, and not much else

The Church

Extreme Power, Extremely Corrupt

Threaten with Excommunication

Famous martyr: Thomas a Becket

Owned land

Chivalry

Complex rules for code of conduct

Honored love and virtue over glory/power

More refined than the laws of Anglo-Saxons

Largely made up

Feudalism

Trickle-Down power

Most people were peasants, worked the land in exchange for a place to stay

Power rests with Barons, Lords, Knights, and King

No possibility of social mobility

Noble Life

Very rich, very few

Lived in the castles

Produced knights for the king or owned peasant to work the land.

Coat of arms

Born into this class

Later granted power as a result of the Magna Carta

Clergy and Religious Life

Life of poverty and quiet devotion to God

OR

Life of corruption in the pursuit of power

Owned ¼ of the land in England

Bullied the King at times

Serfs and Village Life

Essentially slaves

Worked the land but did not own it

No possibility to move up in society

Poor, dirty, hungry, and sad…