Medieval Period and Geoffrey

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

British Literature: Mrs. Tucker

Medieval Period Time line: 1066-1485

1066: Battle of Hastingso King Harold II of England is defeated by the Norman forces

of William the Conqueroro In 1051, William visited England and met with his cousin

Edward the Confessor. Edward promised to make William his heir. On his deathbed, however, Edward granted the kingdom to Harold Godwine, head of the leading noble family in England. In January 1066, King Edward died, and Harold Godwine was proclaimed King Harold II. William immediately disputed his claim

o After his victory at the Battle of Hastings, William marched on London and received the city's submission. On Christmas Day, 1066, he was crowned the first Norman king of England, and the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history came to an end. French became the language of the king's court and gradually blended with the Anglo-Saxon tongue to give birth to modern English (ME).

William the Conquerer Reigned from 1066

to 1087 (his death) Never spoke

English and was illiterate (ironic b/c introducing French as England’s official language influenced Modern English the most).

Medieval Period Time line: 1066-1485

1073: Canterbury, England becomes England’s religious center

1096: Beginning of the Crusades:o Religious war between the Christians and Muslimso http://www.history.com/topics/crusades

1170: Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, is murdered in the Cathedral. He is immediately canonized as a saint and people began flocking to Canterbury on religious pilgrimages (premise to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales)

1291: End of the Crusades (8 Crusades total since the first)

Thomas a Becket St. Thomas Becket,

England's archbishop of Canterbury, refused to give King Henry II power over the Church.

Murdered in 1170 by King Henry II’s knights.

Medieval Period Time line: 1066-1485

1337 (ends 1453): 100 year war begins between France and England

1348: The Black Death begins (Pardoner’s Tale in The Canterbury Taleso The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12

trading ships docked at Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. The people who gathered on the docks to greet the ships were met with a horrifying surprise: Most of the sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those who were still alive were gravely ill. They were overcome with fever, unable to keep food down and delirious from pain. Strangest of all, they were covered in mysterious black boils that oozed blood and pus and gave their illness its name: the “Black Death.” The authorities hastily ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late: Over the next five years, the mysterious Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population.

o http://www.history.com/topics/black-death 1455-1485: War of the Roses (Richard III): Ends Medieval

Period

Yorks verses Lancasters

Who is Geoffrey Chaucer?

Born in 1340 in London, England Chaucer’s family was of the bourgeois class,

descended from an affluent family who made their money in the London wine trade.

In 1357, Chaucer became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster, the Duke of Clarence’s wife, for which he was paid a small stipend—enough to pay for his food and clothing.

In 1359, the teenage Chaucer went off to fight in the Hundred Years’ War in France, and at Rethel he was captured for ransom. Thanks to Chaucer’s royal connections, King Edward III helped pay his ransom.

Geoffrey Chaucer

Who is Geoffrey Chaucer?

In 1366, Chaucer married Philippa Roet, the daughter of Sir Payne Roet, and the marriage conveniently helped further Chaucer’s career in the English court.

By 1368, King Edward III had made Chaucer one of his esquires.

From 1370 to 1373, he went abroad again and fulfilled diplomatic missions in Florence and Genoa, helping establish an English port in Genoa. He also spent time familiarizing himself with the work of Italian poets Dante and Petrarch along the way.

Philippa passed away in 1387, Chaucer stopped sharing in her royal annuities and suffered financial hardship.

Who is Geoffrey Chaucer?

From 1389 to 1391, after Richard II had ascended to the throne, Chaucer held a draining and dangerous position as Clerk of the Works. He was robbed by highwaymen twice while on the job, which only served to further compound his financial worries. To make matters even worse, Chaucer had stopped receiving his pension. Chaucer eventually resigned the position for a lower but less stressful appointment as sub-forester, or gardener, at the King’s park in Somersetshire.

The legendary 14th century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer died October 25, 1400 of in London, England.

The Canterbury Tales: What you need to know!

Geoffrey Chaucer (as a character) is on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. On the way, he stops by an inn in London, the Talbard Inn.

Harry Bailey is the inn keeper. 29 pilgrims stop by the inn on their way to Canterbury. They

are from all walks of life and represent all the social classes in England at the time (Feudalism at it s best).

Harry Bailey challenges the pilgrims to a contest: who can tell the best tale on the way to Canterbury. All the pilgrims accept the challenge and as they travel to Canterbury, they each take turns telling their story.

The Canterbury Tales are 24 stories told with in a story (frame story).

Allegory: many of the tales are allegories for something greater Heroic couplet: writing style; pair of rhyming lines with 5

stressed syllables in each line

From A Knight’s Tale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnGvvfaw4GU

Sooooooo…

Do you notice any comparisons between today and the medieval period??