This presentation is aimed for the 3rd class of a Liceo Scientifico.

1. The Middle Ages
So what comes to mind when we say
“Middle Ages?”
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2. Knights!
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3. Castles!
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4. Feudal Warfare!!!!
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5. Chivalry- code of honor
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6. Jousting Tournaments
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7. Invaders and Raiders
make life dangerous
Vikings
Huns
Neighboring Tribes
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8. A dangerous time in Europe
The strong empires of Rome and Greece that
protected trade routes and encouraged
science and freedom were gone.
Education died out
Only the Christian Church kept education
alive in monasteries
– Hand copied books
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9. No Strong Central Govt.
• Lack of central government for protection
leads to rise of Feudalism.
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10. What is Feudalism?
Feudalism:
Feudalism
“hierarchical system of
government in which
local lords governed
their own lands but
owed military service
and other support to a
greater lord.”
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11. Feudalism (social system)
The king had plenty of land; but he
could not control it all
So he gave land to lords (barons)
in exchange for protection, loyalty
and $.
Barons
Lords then gave their land to
knights in exchange for protection,
service at war, loyalty and $.
Knights let serfs (peasants) work
the land and they got protection,
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food and shelter.

12. Where did the people live?
In Medieval Europe, people lived on
manors= feudo =
– self-sufficient communities consisting of a
castle, church, village and surrounding
farmlands.
– Serfs worked land and gave part of their
crops to the local (land) lord, for letting
them farm the land.
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14. Problems with Feudalism
• No strong central government:
– King must ask his lords for knights in time of
war
– King must ask his lords for money to pay for
things
– Lords hold most of the power
– Lords constantly fighting among themselves.
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15. How to Gain / Stay in Power
GET More LAND!!
• More land = more crops = more $
• How to Get More Land?
• Conquer it
(Medieval times saw constant fighting)
• Marry into it
• Make Alliances
• Marry off your daughter to secure an alliance
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16. The Norman Conquest
• In 1066, England
was invaded by
Normans (Vikings
from modern-day
France)
1066 The Battle of Hastings
–Harold, the last Anglo Saxon King of England killed
–William of Normandy (William the Conqueror) takes over.
–England becomes a French colony
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18. William of Normandy introduced French culture
and language and codified feudalism.
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19. • French was spoken in the
English court for the next 200
years.
William of Normandy
• MIDDLE ENGLISH (11001500) = grammatically simpler
+ structures and a lot of
vocabulary from French.
• 1086 - William I creates
Domesday Book for purposes
of fair tax collection.
(= Great resource for modern
historians to learn about Medieval
life)
Norman ship
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20. The Plantagenet
• The last Norman
King Stephen was
followed by the
first Angevin king
• Henry of Anjou =
• Henry II
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21. Thomas Becket (p. 41)
• Archbishop of
Canterbury
• Disagreement
• “Murder in the
Cathedral”
• Was made saint and
martyr
• Pilgrimage
• J. Chaucer
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22. Richard (I) the Lion Heart
• Emblem of a good
king
• Chivalry (King
Arthur and the
knights of the
Round Table)
• Legend of Robin
Hood
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23. The Magna Carta
• English King John (Lackland)
was an unpopular king so his
nobles forced him to sign it.
• Limited powers of king.
• Signed in 1215
• Example of Rule of Law.
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24. Magna Carta - 1215
• No royal official shall take goods from any
man without immediate payment.
• No free man shall be imprisoned except by
the lawful judgment of his equals or by the
law of the land.
• In future no official shall place a man on
trial without producing credible witnesses.
• Courts shall be held in a fixed place at a fixed
time.
• The barons shall elect a House of Lords for
the creation of laws.
• The English church shall be free.
• For a trivial offence, a free man shall be
fined only in proportion to the degree of his
offence.
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26. • The conflict was between France and
England lasting 116 years, though
there were long periods between
battles.
• It was fought primarily over claims by
the English kings to the French
throne.
• It was started by Edward III (his
mother was the daughter of the French
King Philip IV).
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27. King of France
King Philip IV
Charles of Valois
Isabella of France Edward II of England
Philip of Valois
Edward III
He was chosen in preference to
King Edward III

28. EARLY ENGLISH
VICTORIES
The battle also saw the first use of
cannons on a European battlefield.
At Agincourt in 1415, the English,
led by Henry V obtained an historic
victory.
Henry was declared the legitimate
heir to the French throne.
This left Henry’s infant son, Henry
VI [r. 1422-1461], to inherit BOTH
thrones.
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29. THE FRENCH
RECONQUEST
In 1429, with the aid of the
mysterious peasant Joan of Arc,
the French king, Charles VII, was
able to defeat the English at
Orleans.
Joan was later burnt at stake at the
request of the English and became
a martyr to the French and the
symbol of the French resistance.
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30. The End of the War
• By 1450 the English had lost all their
major centers except Calais.
• There was not treaty, only a cessation of
hostilities.
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31. What happened during the first
phase of the 100 Years War?
• The plague spread all over the country in 1348
(BLACK DEATH).
- Killed a third of the population of England
• A Peasant Revolt in 1381 caused by the king’s
oppressive measures.
• The rise of a religious reformist movement that
anticipated the Protestan Reformation of 16°
century. The Lollardy Movement founded by John
Wycliffe.
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32. The War of the Roses
(1455-1485)

33. • The War of the Roses was a series of
dynastic civil wars in England fought
between 1455 and 1485 between two
branches on the same family, the
House of York and the House of
Lancaster.
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34. Causes
• The War of the Roses began in 1455, when
many barons accused Henry VI of being
responsible for the defeat in the war vs.
France and that the Lancaster family (Henry
V, IV or VI) were not the rightful kings.
• According to the barons, the York family,
cousins of the Lancasters, were truly
entitled to reign.
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35. • The Lancaster
emblem was a red
rose and the York
emblem a white
rose.
• The conflict
included a series of
battles with
alternative results.
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36. The Battle of Bosworth 1485
The battle of Bosworth and the defeat of Richard III by
Henry Tudor (from France), planted the Tudor house on
the throne of England.
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37. THE TUDORS
After the battle, Henry
Tudor was crowned as
King Henry VII,
marking the beginning of
the 118-year reign of
the Tudor dynasty in
England.
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38. Henry Vll
(representing the
Lancaster family)
married Elizabeth of
York (representing
the York family).
This marriage united
the two families.
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