The Middle Ages 1066-1485By: Hastings Motte

William the Conqueror and the Norman Influence William was the illegitimate son of the

one before the duke of Normandy, who was a cousin of the English king

William said that Edward promised the English throne to William and sailed across the English body of water between England and Great Britain with an enormous army.

The Normans Change England The Normans brought significant

changes to England, land was restructured among William’s followers, a new language was announced to the Anglo-Saxons and a new social system “feudalism” was introduced.

Feudalism: From the Top Down Feudalism was a kind system, a property

system and a military system

Kings held land as a “divine right” which is the power to rule by god.

Knight: An armored warrior – provided as military service from their lord to a higher lord

Knights in shining armor Boys were trained from an early age to

become warriors.

Not every boy could become a knight, his parents had to be rich enough to buy him a horse, armor, and weapons

Women in medieval society : No voice, No choice Since they were not soldiers, women had

no political rights.

Women were always subservient to a man, her husband, father, or brother.

Peasant women experienced a never ending life of child actions, housework and hard field work.

The Great Happenings Bloodbath over the Holy Land.

The Crusades were a sequences of holy wars paid by European Christians against Muslims

They were terrible journeys in which even children were swept up into

The Martyrdom of Thomas a Becket: Murder in the Cathedral The pope was the head of the church and

considered God’s representative

At this time all Christians belonged to the Catholic church

the normal man didn't speak Latin, many of them would be cut off from some parts of their religion.

The Magna Carta: Power to Some of the People “Great Charter” signed by King John in

1215

The Magna Carta became the basis of English law, rights like trial by jury and legislative taxation were established

The Hundred Years’ War: The Arrow is Mightier Than the Armor The military was weak based on weak

rights to the throne of France by two English Kings

English were no longer best represented by the knight in shining army, but by the yeoman

The Black Death Reduced the nation’s population by a

third causing a labor shortage and giving the lower classes more bargaining power against their overlords