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Middle Ages 7 Social Classes
Life during the middle ages
Life during the middle ages
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Middle Ages 7 Social Classes
Life during the middle ages
Life during the middle ages
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Middle Ages 7 Social Classes
Underneath the nobles and barons, there are knights that are trained from the age of 7. In return for service to the nobles and barons, they are given grants of land. The peasants and serfs are on the bottom of the social system, there are peasants who farm the land in return for shelter and protection (history.com). This compares with
Much of the action in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight revolves around carious kinds of games. In a way, all these games are connected. Chivalry is defined as the medieval system, principles, and customs of knighthood. In the time Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written, chivalry was a major deal. The games may have been somehow connected with chivalry, in that the medieval system included the playing of these games.
The Middle Ages were a time where kings and nobles owned the land and serfs worked with little pay. Serfs were like slaves that worked on a farm (Doc. 1). They got one day to farm for themselves and the other six they were working for their king or noble (OI). Nobles and kings had knights called vassals (OI). Vassals were knights who protected and served kings and nobles in exchange for land (OI).
During the Elizabethan era, knights were claimed to be the very best and served the Queen. The knights were a particular class during the era. They were known for their valor and courage during battles. Sometimes even the second sons of earls and lords result to becoming celebrated knights, as seen in some of Shakespeare’ plays, such as “Henry IV”. Knights were used to accomplish conspiracies and schemes traveling to distant countries and foreign lands for battles.
During the Medieval times chivalry was one of the most important characteristics a knight could display. Chivalry was viewed as a moral obligation that involved bravery, honor, respect, and gallantry. Knights were expected to uphold this code or face social consequences for any infractions, with punishments ranging from humiliation to termination of their knighthood. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” presents the struggles knights faced with honoring the chivalrous code at all times. Sir Gawain, while imperfect, exhibits qualities expected of knights and embodies the internal struggle between honoring the chivalrous code and giving into selfish desires.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight written by an unknown author the story follows the knight Sir Gawain when he takes up the beheading challenge of the Green Knight. Gawain is to strike the Green Knight with an axe and the Green Knight is to return the favor in a year and a day. This story has elements of chivalry, Anglo-Saxon values, and characteristics of medieval romance. Chivalry is a code of honor that knights are supposed to follow. Gawain knows that he will surely die is he honors the challenge he made with the Green Knight, however chivalry requires that a knight can not refuse a challenge.
Through Chaucer we can see that he was educated, but yet part of the lower class because he didn't have any clothes on his back. As a decision to become a knight, William through Chaucer, made him come up with a line of unknown ancestors to be able to participate in the tournament. Even though none of this was true, he was taking risks of becoming a knight and even changed his name to Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein because William wasn't from a royal status. Throughout the places they traveled and the new things they saw , we are able to capture an image of how society was divided and formed through the lower and higher status. The lower status were beggars and lived in rundown places, like his father's house, it was a little house with no furniture or appliances and his little house had a leak in the ceiling.
Women of the Medieval Times Women have always had a significant role in history even though they were treated horrible in most cases. During the Medieval Times was really the first time women were allowed to become more than just a house wife. The fight for equality has always been a struggle and even in today’s society is still an ongoing battle. Although women of lower and middle class were treated poorly in the Medieval Times, some powerful women held great responsibility and were looked up too by both men and children; despite being admired, “men were thought to be not only physically stronger but more emotionally stable, more intelligent, and morally less feeble” (Hopkins 5). “The position of women in the Medieval Society was greatly influenced by the views of the Roman Catholic Church” (Heeve).
Medieval Age Period The movie A Knight’s Tale was based supposedly to take place in the medieval time period. As in knights, kings, queens, servants,peasants, and nobles. There are a lot of different topics about what was considered to be the Dark Ages like the social statuses of the upper and lower classes, the women’s roles that were played during that time period, and the people’s lifestyles in general back then. However, the movie was not actually true to the actual laws and other things during the medieval times.
This may indicate how status is still an important part of class in England. The idea of class is also presented in the Knight’s Tale by being started with Theseus, and not the main characters. Religion and philosophy play a vital role in the Knight’s Tale. The story is told in such a way that is improbable. The story line creates characters that exist to move from one point to the other.
The concept of Chivalry has baffled countless medieval historians throughout the years. Chivalry was supposedly a code that knights and nobles lived their lives by. Similarly to other social structures that were in place in the past historians have struggled to draw conclusions as to the extent to which people lived according to chivalric principles. Sir Walter Scott believed that knights aspired to the code of chivalry, but that in the real world the code was impossible to live according to such a code. This conclusion gives a clear picture of chivalry.
Men are strong and do all the work, all teenagers are rebellious, all blondes are unintelligent. These are just some of the common stereotypes and misconceptions often used in our world today. This is society's way of judging and grouping individuals, without ever having a conversation with them. In high school this grouping is often referred to as cliques, but these closed off parties of people appear in all walks of life. The brain wants to group people automatically, it is a natural, almost unavoidable, instinct to place a person in a certain group.
In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the characteristics of the ideal knight is represented by King Arthur’s court. However, it will be challenged by The Green Knight as well as Bertilak’s court. Sir Gawain would reach a new understanding that ideals would eventually remain as ideals and that he is human, therefore it is perfectly fine to feel weak. The clashes between religion and chivalry that defines the ideal knight in King Arthur’s court.
Young aristocratic boys were sent to schools to learn about nobility through combat, riding horses, hunting, and handling weapons. The church was very supportive of the way of the warrior, and chivalry evolved from nobility. Being chivalrous meant to defend the church, city or town for glory on the battlefield. Young males would compete in tournaments to prepare for combat once they were knighted. The roles of men and women changed in the medieval period, and responsibility played an important part for the class structure.
Respect (A Discussion on Chivalry used in The Green Knight and Morte D’Arthur.) Chivalry is code of conduct used by knights, and heroes of the past. “Chivalry, the order of knighthood and, especially, the code of knightly behavior that was a feature of the High and later Middle Ages in western Europe”(Funk). Along with this idea of Chivalry, Feudalism was used in Europe as well. Feudalism is the system of both government and land ownership, where in exchange for a nobleman 's oath of loyalty, a king would grant them land.