Name: ____________________________ Date: _______________ Block: ______

The Middle Ages

-Occurred around 500-1500 C.E. (A.D.) -This time period can be called The Middle Ages or The Medieval Period. -Medieval means old-fashioned and unenlightened. -This was a time of knighthood and chivalry (bravery, courtesy, honor, gallantry toward women). -This period occurred between the fall of Roman Empire and the beginning of the modern world. -Medieval life centered around the church. The church is where people went to worship and also where the poor, elderly, and sick went to be helped. -Monks (male) and nuns (female) dedicated their lives to the church. They lived on the church grounds and spent their lives praying, teaching, and helping others. -Feudalism was a social system which determined a persons status in society. KingsNoblesLords/Knights (Vassals)Serfs/Peasants -When a noble boy turned 7, he became a page boy. The page boy is mentored by a squire (knights servant) and taught everything from caring for weapons, to jousting, to mathematics, to reading, to shooting a bow and arrow, to riding a horse and training falcons. -A squire is the knights servant. He helps the knight dress for battle, readies the knights weapons, and gets important messages to the knight. He also had to take care of the Kings horses and accompany the knight to tournaments. -Women had little rights and responsibilities in the Middle Ages. However, the household couldnt be run properly without them! Boys were thought to be stronger and better than girls. Depending on their status, the women had various duties. Noble women directed the servants of the manor, entertained visitors, kept track of the money spent, made sure the manor was safe for war times. Noble daughters cared for the young children of the manor in preparation for becoming a governess. Townswomen (wives of lords and knights) cared for livestock, cooked, took care of the gardens, ran schools, sold things they made, looked over people who rented from her, and shopped in the market using bargaining skills. Peasant women kept the house clean, cooked, made cloth and clothes, made cheese, butter, and ale, helped men in the fields, and grew herbs and vegetables in order to pay for their taxes to the lord. -The earliest surviving music dates back to the Middle Ages. -The first type of music was known as plainchant or Gregorian chant music. This was music heard in the church and was sacred (religious) music. The name comes from Pope Gregory which was Pope at that time. This type of music is very plain and has only a basic melody, which follows a step pattern instead of a leaping pattern. There was no instrumental background when singing this music. Voices would sing the chants in unison (one voice). Rhythms in chant music are very regular and basic. -Troubadours were poet musicians from the south of France. They put music to the poems they wrote and performed in from town to town. Troubadours often hired minstrels who would play instruments for their songs. Minstrels had to be able to play a variety of instruments.

-Some Medieval instruments are: lute, harp, reed pipe, shawm, dulcimer, tabor drum, horn, bagpipes. -Some composers and musicians from the Middle Ages are: Guillame de Machaut- wrote both sacred and secular music; was secretary and chaplain of the King of Bohemia, was also a poet. Hildegard von Bingen- earliest known female composer, raised by nuns in the church, wrote 77 chants -Churches and cathedrals in the Medieval period were very ornamented, elaborate, and grand. Many churches began to include stained glass in the windows. Stained glass was a form of art first used in Roman palaces. Stained glass in churches usually depicted religious scenes. -There were to types of art during the Middle Ages. Byzantine Art (Early Middle Ages)- religious paintings, artists lived in religious housing called monastaries, no sculptures that were considered to be idols, dull tones used, flat one-dimensional paintings, no shadows, long solemn faces, no realism portrayed. Gothic Art (Later Middle Ages)- vibrant colors, sculptures, metal work, stained glass, beginning to use realism, prospective and proportion used, shadows and light, symmetry, depiction of animals and mythological creatures.