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Summary English literature, the late middle ages
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A summary of the historical context of the Late Middle Ages for English literature. Written in English, for VWO.
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The late Middle Ages (1066-1500)Timeline of the late Middle Ages
1066
1066 was the year in which everything changed. It all started with the death of King Edward the Confessor. King
Edward had no children, which meant that a new successor had to be appointed. Well, there were three possible
successors:
1. Harold Godwinson (Richest and most powerful Earl in England)
2. Duke William of Normandy (claimed that he had been promised the throne by Edward and that Harold had
agreed to this.)
3. Harald Hardrada of Norway (based on an agreement between his predecessor and the previous king of
England)
When the Anglo-Saxons and the king of Norway disputed the royal succession, which led to the Battle of Fulford,
William (‘the Conqueror’) of Normandy saw his opportunity to seize the throne. Crossing the Channel with his army
and landing in Pevensey, he defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, and was shortly
afterward crowned King of England. Thus the Anglo-Saxon era was brought to a close and the Norman period of
English history began.
Things that changed:
Normans in key positions
Feudal system (3 classes - nobility (French), the clergy (Latin) and the commoners (English))
Language
Castles (Tower of London + Colcheester Castle)
Churches in Romanesque style
After William’s crowning he proceeded to appoint Normans to key positions in the government, the Church, the army
and the judiciary and rewarded them with generous grants of land. The old Anglo-Saxon structure of kings and
warriors disappeared, to be succeeded by a feudal system, based on lords and vassals. Thus Mediaeval English society
became divided into three classes: the nobility (mainly French-speaking), the clergy (who conversed and wrote
predominantly in Latin) and the commoners (whose language was English). The first two groups held almost all the
land, which was nevertheless worked predominantly by free farmers and serfs from the third group. The English
commoners and the French nobility led quite separate existences, certainly up to the late twelfth century. To
demonstrate their power and protect themselves against possible rebellion the Norman lords built castles, one of which
was Colchester Castle in the county of Essex.
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