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History Notes History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330 Notes

Further Notes

Updated Further Notes

History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330 Notes

History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330

Approximately 951 pages

These notes contain all the work that I did during the term on the Oxford University module: History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330.

They include extremely detailed notes on these topics:
The Norman Conquest
The Anarchy and Stephen's reign
Economy
National Identity
Magna Carta
Religion
William Marshal, Knighthood and the Aristocracy
Jews

In addition, there are extensive background notes on the period including 74 pages of detailed notes on M. T. Clanchy's England and its...

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our History of the British Isles II: 1042-1330 Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

Monasticism and Intellectual Culture ! Exam Question ! What part did English monasticism play in the life of the kingdom? (2012) ! Did increasing access to education have significant effects on political culture? (2013) ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Intellectual culture -- very broad term Increasing access to education in monasteries Pre--scholastic period Beginnings of a literate public Monastic orders participate in this education Medieval education ! The Seven Liberal Arts *> Trivium - Grammar - Logic -- dialectic - Rhetoric *> Quadrivium - Arithmetic - Music - Geometry - Astronomy ! Varro -- described this system ! Transferred into England by Augustine in the 5th century ! Strict educational structures applied to the post--Roman period and into the early Middle Ages ! Reliance on antiquity ! Ultimate aim of theological discourse ! ! Hugh of Saint Victor -- Didascalion (On the Study of Reading)c. 1120 ! *> Describes an education which ultimately leads to wisdom *> Fallen nature -- we have been taken away from wisdom - Duty to return through our education - 6 books -- culminating in scriptural exegesis ! Grammar is the foundation *> Learn Latin syllable by syllable -- spoken tuition *> Disassemble language into its constituent parts *> Not to be inventive with language -- in order to not fall into error Nearly all the sources Hugh of Saint Victor provides are from late antiquity ! ! Monasteries before the 11th century *> Would take children in -- oblates - The Cistercians did not take part in this practice -- taking in of oblates occurred less and less - Replaced by centres for higher learning ! Need for these clerical workers -- skills of reading and writing ! Schools in towns and cities -- higher learning in cathedral schools ! ! Hugh of St Victor ! St Victor was an Augustinian foundation -- established in 1104 ! Emphasis on logic -- becomes much more important as the century continues => ! culminates in the scholastic movement ! Canon regular -- group of men living together ! ! ! ! ! ! ! *> Interact with people more than the Cistercians 11th century -- discovery of a letter of Augustine of Hippo *> Letter to his sister *> Loosely defined a community that could live together Developed customaries -- rule books that became associated with certain foundations Importance of teaching Saint Victor became such an illustrious foundation that its customary was exported to other parts of France and Britain People would come to Saint Victor and then go back to daughter houses in Britain Rapid expansion of the Augustinians *> About 230 houses in Britain by the 15th century ! Ultimate object is scripture ! Hugh -- literal, allegorical, tropological and anagogical ! Literal -- takes scripture at face value => complete history of the world *> Could be controversial *> Richard of St. Victor (d. c.1170) on architecture -- yet the Pope Gregory argued that Ezekiel's measurements must be seen as allegorical - Richard disagrees and wrote an extended text on what the literal interpretation would look like -- use of grammar => puts drawings in ! Allegorical -- look at inner meaning ! Tropological -- emphasises scripture's action of telling people how to live their lives *> Not always explicitly stated in scripture -- need of exegesis Anagogical -- concerned with the spiritual journey of one's mind and soul ! *> Beautiful things are more close to the divine ! ! Expansion of the Augustinian order -- emphasis on teaching => increase of literacy ! Establishment of the university system at the beginning of the 13th century *> University of Paris is central ! By 1200, Paris had a population of 25--50k people -- up to 10% may have been students *> So many students and teachers -- in their interests to protect themselves => formalised structures *> The university is essentially a guild -- corporate structure Oxford provides the closest parallel ! *> In the 1130s the Augustinians set up 2 foundations -- Osney and St Frideswide - Not in the middle of nowhere like the Cistercians ! ! ! Need for educated men was beginning to make demands on Oxford *> Land disagreements could only be resolved in an ecclesiastical court -- need for lawyers and educated men - Need for trivium -- legal arguments ! Lawyers had to be educated at Oxford -- become accustomed to idiosyncrasies of the law system within their own particular city ! ! Alexander of Neckham -- taught theology at Oxford ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! *> Was taught in Paris *> Writes a schoolbook on grammar -- describing life in Paris to give students vocabulary Beginning of corporate identity of Oxford Rapid rise in literacy Clanchy -- cast doubt on assessing periods via their literacy *> Yet it is very important Universities and demand of students accelerated the process *> Need more books -- system of lending and copying Expansion of people who could read and the content for people to read Education for lay brothers -- they provide labour and get an education Saint Victor -- if you wanted to be educated, you could apparently go there Schools in smaller towns -- provide basic education Paris is the place for theology, Bologna is the place for law Still have the cathedral schools teaching -- less important as the universities begin to take over ! Beginning of 13th century -- about 300 students at Oxford ! Nobility would have tutors -- secular education *> Knowledge of kingship and government Late Medieval Preaching, Literacy, Popular Piety and Private Devotion ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Not really education trickling down -- laity pushing up and demanding knowledge Affected their life everyday Yet had little knowledge of what the words meant => questions 'Popular' -- of the populace Changing practices in personal devotion ! Important events in 'popular preaching' movement: ! 1215 -- Lateran IV ! *> Edicts concerning standards of clerical education, pastoral care and preaching 1327 -- start of the Hundred Years War with France c. 1320s--40s -- Richard Rolle writes numerous vernacular devotional texts 1348--50 Black Death 1376 John Wyclif while at Oxford starts to be seen as controversial 1378 -- Great Schism c. 1360--87 William Langland's Piers Plowman -- secular, allegorical commentary on Church and society 1384 -- Peasants' Revolt *> Wyclif's first serious problems at Oxford => due to Court connections he avoids excommunication and maintains his living 1385--92 creation of numerous translations of Middle English Bible translations => Wyclif's Bible (attributed to him and/or his followers) 1415 -- 31 years after his death Wyclif is declared a heretic in response to the growth of the Lollard movement 1453 -- end of the Hundred Years War ! ! ! ! Lateran IV Bishops need to start choosing 'suitable men' for preaching in their dioceses Poorly educated parish priests Prompts a 'preaching movement' -- difficult term ! ! ! ! ! Popular preaching started with the friars going into towns Taking what is happening in a monastic setting and bringing it into towns and cities Close to 6,000 extant sermons -- source for what is occurring Most preached in local parishes were probably in English Yet many are still written in Latin -- language of the Church ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Nobility -- court language of Norman French Lowest level -- middle English Preachers are also interested in pastoral issues Clerics are told what not to ask parishioners -- do not want to give them ideas *> Indicative of what the lay people are asking about ! Lay people wanted to know how they were supposed to live as a 'proper Christian' ! Preachers may tell them not to worry about clothing and food -- issues during the war ! Theological instruction -- use exemplar and metaphors to teach major doctrines ! ! Redemption, salvation, atonement, the Trinity ! ! *> Why God sent Jesus to save them Theology of the redemption within a legal context => Devil's right theory *> Are very familiar with legal terms *> Found in theological and secular texts e.g. Piers Plowman English translation of the gospel of Nicodemus -- apocryphal text *> Christ descends to Hell The Devil's Parliament -- Middle English text on which the Devil has a parliamentary section with other devils *> Argument with Christ Mankind sentenced to the prison of the devil -- oppressed => only Christ can hold back the violence of the Devil Sermons can also be used to directly comment on society *> End with proper conduct News about the war is given from the pulpit -- preaching as propaganda People heard Latin every week -- had some knowledge of it ! ! ! ! ! ! Literacy is difficult to quantify Nobility were literate Gentry were likely to be educated Necessity of money for education Growing merchant class -- start to educate their children Below that, many will not be able to read -- do not have access to texts ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Affective piety -- idea that you are taking on the emotional and physical experience of ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Christ at the time of his suffering Books of Hours c. 1320 Devotional text -- to allow a lay person to have a relationship with God Moving of monastic experience to the laity Meditative => contemplation Nothing like this 100--200 years before Mostly used by women Further transference from the monastic -- growing devotion to the name of Christ *> Cult of the Holy Name - Starts with the laity - Poetry - Repetition of the name of Christ -- mantra - Symbols Church institutionalise this growing cult One of the only examples of a movement that starts at the bottom and then is institutionalised by the church Would have access to secular tales such as Chaucer and Piers Plowman -- theological allegory but also a satire Manuals are being written -- proper codes of chivalry ! Romance literature -- very popular ! ! ! ! ! ! *> *> *> *> Arthur and the knights Started in France and came over to England In popular preaching Used to give moral directives Examples of public devotion Funerary monuments and chantry chapels Monumental brasses Concept of purgatory -- intercessory prayers Nigel Saul -- Church Monuments in Medieval England *> Essential to the salvation of the soul ! From Memory to Written Record -- M. T. Clanchy ! Development of literate ways of thing and doing business -- just as important as ! ! ! ! ! ! invention of printing in later Middle Ages *> Printing succeeded because a literate public already existed Anglo--Saxon monasteries -- literate culture had already been created => illuminated manuscripts Growth in uses of literacy is indicated by the production and retention of records on an unprecedented scale *> Anglo--Saxon England -- about 2k charters and writs *> 13th century England -- tens of thousands of such charters and writs - 8 million charters may have been written in the 13th century alone for smallholders and serfs Spread of literate modes *> By reign ofa Edward I -- royal or seigniorial writs reached every bailiff and village in England *> Use of charters as titles to property made its way down the social hierarchy - 11th century -- royal courts and monasteries - 12th century -- secular clerks and knights - Laity in general by reign of Edward I Participated in literacy even if they could not read and write Seal or signum *> Edward the Confessor -- only the king is known to have possessed one *> Edward I -- even serfs were required by statute to have them Growth of making of records and a literate mentality Preference for reading aloud rather than scanning a text silently by eye ! ! Property rights and knowledge had traditionally been held in living memory *> Yet 2 centuries later, by Edward I's reign, the king's attorneys were arguing in many of the quo warranto prosecutions against the magnates that the only sufficient warrant for a privilege was a written one -- specific statement in a charter - Written titles were revet and few charters were sufficiently exact - Threatened to disenfranchise nearly all the magnates - Quo warranto cases were rapidly suspended in the 1290s => government had to concede that tenure 'from time out of mind' was a legitimate claim Yet principle for future -- written records ! ! 1066--1307 England was peculiarly open to continental influences *> Normans => Angevins => Poitevin and other southern favourites of John and Henry III *> Combination of influence created an amalgam of Anglo--Saxon, French and Latin culture ! William the Conqueror's Domesday survey at beginning of the period and Edward I's quo warrant prosecutions -- both countrywide inquiries which aimed to record the most important rights of the king and his feudatories in writing *> Nothing on this scale survives from any other European state

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