This will be the last part of history of Middle Ages.
A Distinct Identity
In Middle Ages national culture and identity developed.
After Norman conquest, the king and nobles had spoken French and peasants had spoken Anglo-Saxon.
Gradually both laguages combined and became English language.
There are still words in English which were based on Norman French like "beauty" or "park" and others like "apple" or "summer" are of Anglo- Saxon's origin.
There are words in modern English with very similar meaning, one from French (like "Demand") and other (like "ask") from Anglo-Saxon.
By 1400 official documents in England were written in English and English was used by royal court & Parliament.
Around year 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a series of poems in English about pilgrims going to Canterbury & telling each other a story.
The poems describe the travellers and some stories they told.
This collection of poems in called "The Canterbury Tales" & it was one of the first books printed by William Caxton, first person in Englad who used printing press.
Some of "The Canterbury Tales" are still popular and made into plays and television programmes.
In Scotland lots of people still used Gaelic and Scots language also developed.
There were several poets writing in this language like John Barbour who wrote "The Bruce" (about the Battle of Bannockburn).
There was also development in architecture of Britain.
Many castles were built in Britain and Ireland, partly for defence, which are now mostly in ruins.
But castles like in Windsor and Edinburgh are still standing and in use.
Fine cathedrals were also built like Lincoln or Durham cathedrals, many with stained glass windows (famous example in York Minster).In Medieval times England was an important trading nation exporting wool.
People from abroad came to England to trade and work like French weavers, German engineers, Italian glass makers and canal builders from Holland.
The Wars of the Roses
In 1455 the civil war started in England over dispute who should be a king.
The war was fought between two families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster.
The symbol of Lancaster was a red rose and symbol of York family was a white rose and that is why this war was called “The Wars of Roses”.
The final battle of this war was the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 during which King Richard III from House of York was killed.
Henry Tudor from House of Lancaster became the King Henry VII, first king of Tudor dynasty.
His wife was Elizabeth of York, King Richard’s niece, and this marriage united both families.
The symbols of House of Tudor was a red rose with a white rose inside.
Handbook list of points which must be understood:
- the wars that took place in Middle Ages
- how Parliament began to develop
- the way that land ownership worked
- the effects of Black Death
- the development of English language anc culture
- the Wars of Roses and the founding of the House of Tudors
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