The Knight's Tale: Social Status And Rank In Medieval England

After reflecting, my code of honor is not much different than the knight’s Code of Chivalry. Protection, God, and truthfulness shows the true charter of a person. Sir Gawain and the other knights of the round table have all sworn to live a righteous and humble life. Sir Gawain lived by the Code of Chivalry, just like we all live by our own code of honor. Our values, morals, and norms make us who are and what we stand for. Even though it has been over 400 years the values and rules of life aren’t much different.

When John came to power in 1199, he was in control of a significant amount of land in France. Only five years later, in 1204, French King Philip Augustus had seized control of huge amounts of land, and John was now the first monarch in many years to have control of only England and Ireland. This huge change came about for many reasons and was influenced by a huge number of factors, but even today there is still much debate over how much responsibility can actually be placed on John.

In Medieval Europe there were many key features of the social system that were introduced at the time. The social system of Medieval Europe was called Feudalism. Feudalism puts the King in charge of everything and everyone, with barons and nobles underneath him. The nobles provide loyalty and knights to the king in return for land to control. 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

The Medieval European feudal system that was used to classify every human in a social class that was used over a period of a 100 years. The amount of goods you provided and how loyal you were to someone of a higher rank allowed you to gain protection and more. What you were decided what class you were considered to fit.

Throughout the story of Beowulf, the titular warrior develops from a nameless heir into a beloved king through his heroic feats and honorable features. His tale to and from nobility is both unique in its individual steps and normal in its incarnation of cyclical nobility. This theme of nobility is introduced in the opening passage of Beowulf through an analysis of Shield Sheafson's sources of nobility and legacy of power which are demonstrated from an account of his life and a detail of his elaborate funeral.

The Anglo-Saxon Culture is based on kinship,courage,and honor. Kinship in the Anglo-Saxon culture was the respect of social standards and the hierarchy and in turn helped the society to run relatively smoothly. Courage to the Anglo saxons was very important because it showed how high your social status should be and how much of a “man” you are and weather you deserve the honor given to you . Honor is arguably one of the most important things to the Anglo-Saxons seeing as if you earned enough honor you could move up in society and accand to positions such as a high ranking soldier or even at times under some conditions the king. The Anglo-Saxons were a complicated people with an even more complicated society but they are nonetheless a very interesting people’s.

In the Middle Ages the knights Code of chivalry was apart of the culture. The sacred oaths were meant for the Knights to follow so that they would have strict rules of etiquette and conduct to follow. The Code of chivalry used by the medieval Knights was founded on biblical truths because the church governed people's lives. Through researching the codes of keeping the faith, obeying those in authority, and living by honor and glory it is apparent that the codes were founded on biblical truths.

The middle ages was a difficult time period that resulted in famine, death, and poverty. During this time period a new system of government rose called the feudal system. The feudal system was a system of government that had social classes with kings being at the top and the peasants at the bottom with the nobles and knights in the middle. In the system the nobles/knights offered protection to the peasants in return for manual labor. All the different social classes had different standards of life but they were all crucial to the organization of the feudal system.. It consists of the peasants, lords, nobles, and kings.

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. The ideas of Chivalry was expressed through out all sorts of different literary works, such as songs, poems, and more. The Two stories of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Morte D’Arthur express some of the ideas of Chivalry.

During the Middle Ages, the prevailing system of government was feudalism. Under feudalism, there was the use of a definite social structure. People were born into a social class and usually stayed in that class for the rest of their life. The three social classes were the nobility, clergy, and peasantry and each of these classes had different roles to perform in the society.

Have you ever been taught how to treat a lady? Have you ever been told how you should be treated? Today, respect for women is different, but I think it’s the same way for men as well. In the old ways, women had to respect their men, and obey them. The men in some ways were generous to their wives. They are also showing people what true knights were supposed to act like in the medieval time period. In the movie, the knights show respect to all of the people. In the stories Sir Gawain and the Green knight, and Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. They show how the knights end up showing that they are well educated, and respectful to the people that they meet. The three ideas of chivalry are respect, integrity, and honor.

Imagine yourself in a dark building not knowing what’s around each corner. You make your way through this building facing disease, hunger, war, pressure, and being stuck on the bottom floor of the building. This is exactly how the middle ages were. During the middle ages citizens were forced into religion and faced the issues following feudalism, hunger, disease, and war. In summary the middle ages were not a good period rather they were a time of darkness.

The title of the picture I chose was The Good Shepard. It was a picture in chapter nine with an artist that is unknown. This picture took place in about 300AD. It was founded in one of the largest catacombs in Rome, the catacombs of Domitilla. when the sculpture was founded the legs were cut off, so those were restored by the Greeks at the time, so the sculpture stands about three feet tall. With that, the sculpture is made of marble, which is one of the most used stones in Rome at that time. To me the intended audience are the people who follow him to show that he, Jesus, carries his people no matter what happens and what follows. The purpose is that he is carrying the sheep by four of its legs as if he is rescuing the sheep or protecting it, which can act as symbolism of altruistic concern.

Beowulf risked his life multiple times by battling Grendel and Grendel’s mother to save the people of Denmark. He also embarks on a battle with a dragon as an old man ascending on the Geats Throne. Each battle Beowulf fought has all been for the safety of his people. Although the Knight did not battle as a deed for his people, he also is viewed as a humble person his battles were for a purpose greater than himself. The knight never talks about his brave and valorous deeds. He is completely satisfied with his station in life and is courteous to the other pilgrims without becoming friendly with them.

The fall of the social structure in medieval period marked the downfall of the Middle Ages. The social structure of the Middle Ages was based on a system called Feudalism. A disease known as the Bubonic Plague and peasant revolt eventually led to the fall of the Feudalism. Bubonic Plague was also called the Black Death. It first began in Asia then spread to Europe. With the condition in cities that was worst, the disease spread rapidly in Europe due to the overcrowding living environment. It greatly reduced the population of Europe. It wiped out about a quarter of the population. With so many people were lost, the farms were not able to be farmed, which created a labor shortage. Plague had made peasant labors quite valuable. Peasants who survived