Sunday, September 7, 2014

From Legend to History Textbook Notes (pgs. 4-14)

Conquest of Britain 
-Were groups of Celts, Brythons and the Gaels who settled Ireland.
-Anglo-Saxons came from Germany, took over what is today England, large parts. 
The Coming of Christianity

-Romans accepted Christianity.
-Rome fell to barbarian tribes
-Columba, a solider and abbor called for converts of this religion.
- Unity between people
Danish Invasion
-Viking Invaders destroyed monasteries, manuscripts, and stole sacred religious objects.
-People from Norway and Denmark who wanted more land.
-Alfred the Great- resisted further Danish encroachment, only person to be given "The Great" in this history.
The Norman Conquest
-Normans or north men, descendants of vikings.
-Harold II to be king, William of Normandy however went to battle and took the thrown when Harold was killed.
-Suppressed Anglo-Saxon nobility
-Knights were awarded manors with serfs to work on them
The Reign of the Plantagenets
-Henry Plantagenet came to thrown as Henry II
-Henry's legal matters led him and the Church to disagree
-Thomas Becket was put in a chair and sided with the pope.
-Becket was killed and now his tomb is a journey of devotion

The Magna Carta
- King Richard I signed document promising to not tax land without talking to the Barons; marked the beginning of a constitutional government in England
Lancasters, Yorks, and Tudors
- House of Lancaster replaced the Plantagenets on the throne
- War of Roses: Yorks vs. Lancasters; united under Tudor's marital ties to Richard's niece (Yorkist)
Decline of the Feudal System
- After the Black Death, massive labor shortage demanded peasant's work
- Serfs revolted against discriminatory laws and taxes, resulting in the system being replaced with free peasantry
Anglo- Saxon Literature
- Spoken verse and incantations
- Heroic poetry (recounting the achievements of warriors) and elegiac poetry (lamenting the deaths of loved ones and the loss of the past; most famous- Beowulf)
- Written in Latin until the monks began to transcribe them into the language of the common people
Literature of the English Middle Ages
- Romances portrayed the deeds of knights and anonymous balladeers sang of love and deeds of outlaws
- Medieval Drama: miracle plays, mysteries, retold Bible stories, morality plays
- William Caxton set up first movable type press
- Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in Middle English, The Canterbury Tales, compassionate humor and lively realism
- Medieval romances were adventures of knights, lyric poetry was developed by the lyre (harplike instrument), ballads (folk songs that told stories) were popular

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