CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (5th-15th centuries) [308230]

CHAPTER 1 – HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (5th-15th centuries)

[anonimizat] a [anonimizat]-Saxon times. This period refers to years from the disappearance of Britannia (Roman Britain) [anonimizat] (5th century), up until the Norman conquest in 1066. [anonimizat], but the most remarkable ones are known as The Heptarchy (Old English: Seofonrīċe), [anonimizat]-Saxon kingdoms: Wessex, Sussex, Kent, Essex, [anonimizat]. [anonimizat]-[anonimizat], Magonsaete/[anonimizat] a [anonimizat] a saxon tribe from Hampshire that became later The Kingdom of Wessex. [anonimizat], the reasons for success or failure and the dynamics of change to the office of king.

[anonimizat], [anonimizat]. [anonimizat] (abbreviated to ME), lasted from The Norman Conquest (1066), up until the late 15th century. [anonimizat], grammar, [anonimizat]. The end of this period is marked by the invention of the printing press in 1439, which resulted in a standard English dialect being established.

1.1 [anonimizat], the history of Britain includes battles with this powerful realm. It all begins in 43 BC when The Roman Empire lauches several campains into a land inhabited by several tribes who shared a [anonimizat], [anonimizat]. Unfortunately, they failed to conquer the last one and were forced to retreat at Hadrian’s Wall; their fortifications were soon overrun and abandoned.

The new Roman conquered lands (Britons and Gaels) [anonimizat]. The province’s [anonimizat]. [anonimizat]: [anonimizat].

A change appeared in 383, [anonimizat]. In 410, the Roman Emperor Honorius told the local authorities in Britannia that he could not send any reinforcements to help them defend agains ‘barbarian’ attacks. Roman Britain was being attacked from three directions: [anonimizat] ([anonimizat]) [anonimizat]. [anonimizat], with successful military leaders including Ambrosius Aurelianus who probably inspired the legendary figure of Arthur. Unfortunately, they were defeated. [anonimizat] disappeared from history, but the Angles and Saxons eventually formed 7 kingdoms: Wessex, Sussex, Kent, Essex, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria. New kings emerged to rule different states within the former Roman province.

Fig. 1 Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in 410

Some historians believe that the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon period emerged with the arrival of Augustine and a band of nearly 40 monks at the court of King Æthelbert of Kent in 597. Allegedly, Augustine and his followers have been sent by Pope Gregory to ‘preach the word of God to the English race’ and thus, to bring Christianity into the Anglo-Saxon world. They not only brought religion, but also reading and writing. However, this is not a valid point of view, for by the year 597, the majority of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were completely formed.

Moreover, there are several written sources that contradict this theory. The nearest contemporary written source for the period of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms is ‘The Ruin of Britain’ (‘De Excidio Britanniae’), written in 540, in which a British cleric named Gildas writes about how the sins of the British people are the root to the barbarian piratical attacks. Although Gildas was relying more on oral tradition rather than written records, his work is the only narrative we possess for the period of Anglo-Saxon divisions. Another written source is Bede’s ‘An Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ (‘Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anlorum’) in 731. He took the basis of his account of the Anglo-Saxons from Gildas’ work and identified two leaders, brothers Hengist and Horsa, who claimed to be the founders of the royal house of Kent.

Archaeological evidence is an important part of all the theories, for they are founded on true, material items. Archaeologists have discovered that, in fact, the Germanic settlements in Britain may have begun before the end of the 4th century and seemed to have continued throughout the 5th century and probably into the 6th century. Such clues include burials of Anglo-Saxons wearing military equipment of a type issued to late Roman forces which have been found both in late Roman contexts (cemeteries of Winchester and Colchester) and in rural Anglo-Saxon cemeteries (Mucking, Essex).

‘The Archaeological evidence thus provides some support for the indications we have from the more reliable of the written sources that the sixth century was the period when most Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came into existence’

Moving further in time, we can say that those characteristics apply to Middle Ages too. Kings, queens, royal families and everything that eveolved around them, Churches and armies, they all continued to exist in the next decades. What characterises most this period it’s the concept of feudalism, which was a way of leading both political and economical life. In a short summary, in 1066 William the Conqueror took over the existing state system, becoming the first Norman King of England. He eradicated slavery and introduced a network of castles through which he controlled the population. Of course, the position of women changed during this period for the population of England doubled during the 12th and 13th centuries. Helped by warmer temperatures across Northern Europe, towns, cities and trade flourished, along with the construction of a new series of monasteries. Finally, civil wars between Anglo-Norman elites concluded in the loss of Normandy, Northumbria being the first kingdom forfeit.

1.2. THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE OF THE KINGDOMS

In a normal society, a king is defined as the absolute leader of a nation, but when speaking about Anglo-Saxon period, it’s very difficult to define exactly the point when and where the kingdoms birthed and who controlled them. It is true that some historians believe that the rulers mentioned in different texts of the era were purely fictional characters, but others tend to associate them with real human beings; some of those who became king in Britannia have similarities with the ones who were successful on the Continent – for example, a connection between the Vendel dynasty of Sweden and the East Anglian royal house was found at the shipburials in Sutton Hoo and Snape. However, even if the Anglo-Saxon royal families were not direct descendents of the Germanic tribes, they sure borrowed, at some level, cultural traits, such as parts of their religion (gods) and the idea that the king is above all his followers, especially in battle.

For sure, the absolute leader was the king; Anglo-Saxon kingship had its origins in warleadership. All men were warriors, but the king’s abilities led to victories against the enemies over territory (mostly), but also in collection of tribute and women. Thus, between all 7 kingdoms, the power was distributed along the years through battle, and as a consequence some settlements were conquered by more powerful ones. The smaller states did not disappear without trace when incorporated into larger polities; on the contrary, they became ealdormanries or, depending on size, parts of ealdormanries of their new kingdoms.

In terms of strenght, the king was the most powerful man in the kingdom. He governed the country and adopted all the laws, which had to be enforced through his local representatives. However, Church members had an important influence over this law-making process. As the king had his power from God, presumably, he had to obey Biblical laws. Thus, every decision made in and for the kingdom had the signature of the Church.

‘In the case of the king, the resources and tools to rule are that he have his family fully manned: he must have praying men, fighting men and working men. You know also that without these tools no king may make his ability known. Another aspect of his resources is that he must have the means of support for his tools, the three classes of men. These, then, are their means of support: land to live on, gifts, weapons, food, ale, clothing and whatever else it necessary for each of the three classes of men.’

In Boethius’s ‘Consolation of Philosophy’ it appears for the first time this division of population into three groups: praying men, fighting men and working men. All three orders have their own major importance in society for they represent king’s ‘tools’ for a good management. This division is explained through the fact that once the rulers expanded their territories through raiding and conquest, they had the obligation to protect those lands and therefore, to maintain a stability and economical, financial and social progress. Basically, the ‘working men’ provided food and essential commodities to the other two classes. Kings collected tribute in the form of feorm which was consumed by the king and court when they visited the vill. This way, using the ‘working men’, the king kept his attendant comitatus fed and watered, providing feasts with hundread of guests that were so praised in Old English Literature.

Apart from food and drinks, the king rewarded people with the gift of land. Bede states in ‘Letters to Egbert’ that those grounds were not a permanent estate, but rather temporary, offered to those who completed royal services or who were part of the administrative building, such as ealdormen. In comparison, there were certain families that had permanent control over their lands and benefitted from the heritage advantage. There are many questions about the properties concerned because it’s not sure how much land each noble family owned and if they represented some political interest for the king’s way of ruling.

As Churches were a big part of society, ‘servants of God’ had the same importance as the ‘fighting men’. Bede mentions that ‘the soldiers of Christ waged heavenly warfare while men of the comitatus engaged in earthly battles.’ Therefore, the king granted lands for ‘praying men’ in exchange for the divine protection. Such gifts were recorded in Churches’ books or charters, from which comes the term ‘bookland’ in Old English Literature, used to denote the new type of tenure. Because kings were so generous in giving lands to churchmen, there were no lands left to fed common people. As the kingdoms grew in size and length, the effort to provide essential commodities to people became a greater burden. The only solution remained gaining once again the control of the estates that were already alienated. In the end, there was a compromise made: in exchange for keeping the lands, monks would have to complete three common burdens of military service, the building of bridges and the construction of fortresses.

Without doubt, the queen had a decesive role in the royal family, and in society overall. She supported the king within the household, but researches show that in contrast to the Franks or the Greeks, for example, her authority and role were diminished. Women were primarly used to create stonger bonds with other kingdoms through marriage and to ensure descendants to the throne. In that way, she established and maintained the power of their families. There was only one queen, Seaxburh of Wessex, who appears in a regnal list, but unfortunately we do not know her ancestors. Sadly, women could not inherit the throne, but were able to pass this privilege to their children.

The queen was also seen as a peace-maker, a mediator and, in some cases, a co-conspirator. Some had so much power and influence over their husbands, and of course, over Churches and other administrative institutions and this allowed friendships with clerics, resulting in funding some churches and monasteries and patronaging particular scholars. Other female members of the royal families, such as daughters, sisters and auts, were sometimes be documented in archives of the era, holding positions of considerable influence and power. ‘The royal women thus played a crucial role in the royal itinerary and the government of the Saxon kingdoms.’

When speaking about the administration, we must also refer to the nobility. Basically, this category of inhabitants refers to a number of royal families, related or not, who made efforts to obtain the throne. They were connected not only through ties of lordship, but also with obligations and privileges of kinship. Researches show that common descendents of a certain royal group seem to have been identified by use of names beginning with the same letter, although it’t not a certain rule. By the 8th century, the court consisted of numerous royal lineages competing with each other for the succession of the throne. It was common that if the king died and had no descendents, a distant cousin would replace him.

Within a kingdom, it was preferred to be as close to the king as possible because this allowed you great advantages, such as gifts of gold, jewellery, weapons, animals, and of course, lands. This personal relations brought not only status, but royal protection; it is clearly known that in some cases, if someone was suspected of disloyalty, he was immediately punished, sometimes even being killed. Surely, being part of the aristocracy allowed one to attend feasts, hunting trips and horseracing, which were definitely important aspects of medieval kingship. Men gathered at the court could also act like advisers to the king and officers within the kingdom.

‘In most of the early medieval kingdoms, moreover, we can posit the existence of a group of officials responsible for administration with notaries working for them. The latter drew up the official documents expressing the ruler’s decisions and wishes and responding to petitions.’

Another big part of the kingdom was the army. As mentioned, ‘fighting men’ were mostly used in battles and trained as brutal warriors. From the beginning, the king relied on the growing solidarity of the political elites inspired by military sources. For there were many threads and dangers from outside the land, a powerful and well-organized army was necessary. The Anglo-Saxon military organization was proven to be the most effective one in Europe because the administration could raise taxes to support the establishment. However, it is difficult to analyse since some sources state the battles were fought on foot, while others believe that they used horses; moreover, infantry battles are reported in many written sources of the period.

1.3. MEN VS WOMEN

Although the importance of men was clearly overlined in the previous section, women were also a big part of society. While men were predominantly seen as warriors and were defined only by how great they turned out to be in war, women seemed to have had a different status. Anglo-Saxon women could not enjoy the same fame as men for they were considered inferior; yet, they were still part of the society.

Women were mostly referred to as ‘maids, wives and widows’, but it was the historians’ job to find out that this was indeed true, and thus, if their characteristics were purely fiction or based on true events and figures. In fact, even to this day, medieval women are represented in two ways: the movies, audio-visual sources, describe them as being in a certain way, while documentaries and real written sources picture them from another point of view. Further, I will outline the status of Anglo-Saxon and Middle Ages women with reference to romances, saints’ lives, legal records, manuscripts, biblical sources and all sort of didactic literature. More interesting will be the analyse of the responses given by women, with accent on how these concepts and images inflicted on them affected not only them, but also the society in the next decades.

The perfect age of a woman’s life

It is well-known that women were, from ancient times, considered inferior to men, and this applies to medieval women as well. A different status occurs for women in the ‘maidenhood’ phase of their lives, that is a group of saintly women reffered to as maidenly. They were young, yet not children; beautiful and desirable by men, yet virgins, unaffected by marriage, sex and motherhood. ‘The perfect age’, thus, is considered to be this ‘maidenhood’, which marked the transition from childhood to adulthood. Some representations include Blessed Virgin Mary or Pearl Maiden which are portrayed as delicate young women of marriageable age, considered to be the peak of feminity. Of course, some historians believe that wifehood, motherhood or even widowhood were ‘the perfect age’ of a woman, but what is true is that, in comparison, a man was ‘perfect’ when he reached the middle age. However, there are some debates regarding ‘the perfect age’ of a man.

Many studies describe three phases of a man’s life beginning from birth, ending with death, others mention four, five, six or even seven phases. Certainly, they all sustain Aristotle’s theory of life as a curve, from augmentum to status to decrementum. which can be explained through his words: ‘Every thing generated must grow, maintain ifself and then decay’. For sure, the prime of a man’s life, also known as the acme, was the middle age; this was the stage when we was considered fulfilled both mental and physical. The only one who analysed in detail and focused only on men and their levels of development was Mary Dove, who, in her works, proved that most of the visual and written representations of the age used female inspiration. For example, Aristotle compared in ‘Secretum Secretorum’ (‘The Secret of Secrets’) the four seasons with a woman’s cycle or Dante’s ‘Il Convivio’ (‘The banquet’) define the ages of soul using feminine imagery.

Moreover, lithurgical and literary sources mention the resurrection body as ‘the perfect age’ of a man’s life; this is because of St. Paul’s words in ‘Ephesians’: ‘until we all meet into the unity of faith and of knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ’. Nonetheless, some sustain ‘the perfect age’ to be 30, that is the age when Christ began his ministry, others mention 32/33, the age when Christ was crucified. In contrast, women are not as well-documented as men, the only figures being Pearl Maiden, the virgin martyrs and the Virgin Mary at her assumption or coronation, which were in their ‘perfect body’ when finding themselves in the stage of ‘maidenhood’.

Although women’s stages in life are not determined or linked in any way with men’s, one cannot simply state them as puericia, adolescencia, iuventus, senectus etc. Also, one cannot determine exactly ages for ‘maidenhood’ as there are many different sources. Some believe women became ‘fulfilled’ between their late teens and mid-twenties, others mentioned 12 as the age of consent (while for men it was 14), while medical discoveries pronounced that a girl is both physically and mentally stable at age 12-15, depending on the body development; criminal and civil responsibility came in middle teens. Marriage for English girls was hard, especially for noble classes: girls had to marry as soon as they entered ‘maidenhood’, whilst it was preferred for lower classes for girls to marry from late teens to mid-twenties.

Fig. 2 The death, assumption and coronation of the Virgin, late 13th century. From The Ramsay Psalter, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. M. 302, f. 4. Reproduced by permission of the Pierpont Morgan Library

Fig. 3 The coronation of the Virgin, early 14th

century. From The De Lisle Psalter, The

British Library. MS Arundel 83 PT 2 F134 v.

Reproduced by permission of The British

Library

Feminity

Specialised studies come up with a simple question: ‘What shape will have the resurrected men’s bodies?’, from where one can pose another one: ‘What shape will have the resurrected women’s bodies?’. Those are difficult to ask as literature’s representations overline different theories. Take as example Pearl Maiden, which is described in ‘Pearl’, a poem considered of great importance in Middle English Literature. In many ways, it is similar with Boccaccio’s ‘Olympia’ for they both describe an adventure through dream; in the latter, a father has a vision and speaks with his 5 and a half years-old daughters who died, but is now of marriageable age, while ‘Pearl’ is also about a vivid dream of a father who speaks with his 2 years-old dead daughter, which he calls ‘a maiden’. Thus, a very interesting description is made because the girl has 2 ages: one of 2, the age she was when she died (‘a faunt’ (161) or small child) and one of ‘a damyselle’ (361) or ‘maiden of menske’ (162).

What is interesting about her is her physical appearance, through which she emanates feminity: her dress is all white and covered in pearls, her skin is the purest white, with long loose golden hair, grey eyes and the likeness to a rose:

‘A py3t coroune 3et wer J)at gyrle/ Of marjorys and non o{)er ston,/ Hi3e pynakled of cler quyt perle,/ Wyth flurted flowrez perfet vpon’ (‘That girl also wore a decorated crown of pearls and no other stone, with high pinnacles of clear white pearl, with perfect flowers figured on it’) (205-8). Her hair is golden and hangs unbound around her face and on her shoulders: ‘As schorne golde schyr her fax [Denne schon,/ On schyldere3 {)at leghe vnlapped ly3te’ (‘her hair, that lay lightly on her shoulders, unbound, then shone like bright cut gold’) (213-14).’

The perfect courly ideal of feminine beauty is represented through this character. The fact that she is about to enter Heaven is made very clear near the end when the dream ends and she joins a group of one hundread thousands ‘vergynez’ to proceed meeting their bridegroom (1095-152). This is the moment when her 2 ages are combined as she transforms into something new, blending innocence and maturity.

In her feminine appearance, there are 3 important aspects to be remarked: her courtly beauty, her loose golden hair and her crown. However, ‘maidens’ are often described as having a fragile figure: pale skin, sparkling grey or blue eyes, curved dark eyebrows, red lips, delicately rose cheeks with a slender body, small breasts and narrow waist. Geoffrey of Vinsauf, in ‘Poetria Nova’, remarks: ‘Let the upper arms, as long as they are slender, be enchanting. Let the fingers be soft and slim in substance, smooth and milk-white in appearance, long and straight in shape . . . Let the snowy bosom present both breasts like virginal gems set side by side. Let the waist be slim, a mere handful … let the leg show itself graceful; let the remarkably dainty foot wanton with its own daintiness.’ Moreover, her maidenly status is well-suggested by her crown of pearls and flowers, which resembles angels’ aura in Heaven: ‘a circlet shining brighter that the sun, called aureola in Latin’

One thing is certain: while taste changed through time, related to cultural and political contexts, Medieval Literature opted for those gracefully figures such as Pearl Maiden’s. Ideal women had to have a delicate appearance, for they were the product of clerical culture and thus, they represented wifehood, motherhood, and nonetheless purity, virginity and innocence.

The perfect queen

A particular character in all this Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Era was, indeed, the queen. Looking through time, it is clear that all rulers preferred young virgins of noble, royal blood, to be their loyal wives. However, there were 3 exceptions: Eleanor of Aquitaine who, at some point, was the most suitable bride in all Europe because of her lands, Joan of Kent, a royal lady who actually never became queen and Joan of Navarre, whose second husband was himself a widower. But what made a queen perfect? What were the qualities that she had to have in order to prove herself worthy of her husband who was literally the king?

Essencially, the queen was a potential mother; the king had to make sure that he will have sons who will inherit the throne, so a fertile queen was necessary. There are several mentions of this characteristic women must have had, including the lords cheers when they find out the hero from the anonymous dream romance ‘The Isle of Ladies’ had found himself, finally, a queen, after 7 years of searches: ‘Fur faste desired they an heyer’. This being said, it is rational to state that a king would desire a virgin wife, who would not have been ‘tried out’ and who would ensure true hereditary succession. Moreover, this provided security for the king for the fact that there weren’t any children from previous marriages who would inheritate material possessions and thus, bring shame and separate the family. Childbearing was not essentially something that kings desired; for example there was Edward the Confessor’s lack of heirs which birthed a legend according to which his wife, Eleanor of Provence, would have been a goddess, an ideal queen.

When talking about politics, the queen did not have much to say; diplomatic matters were discussed only between the king, his advisers and civic authorities. Anyhow, a queen’s strategic powers stood out when the local king married a foreign-born queen, allowing him to strengthen and maintain good relations with outsider kingdoms. In the same way, rulers could pick a wife from conquered communities, just like Henry I chose Edward the Confessor’s great-great-niece, the Anglo-Scottish princess Eadgyth, as his bride, in a desperate attempt to toughen the alliance between England and the Norman conquerors.

These traits were not the only ones a queen must have in Anglo-Saxon and Middle Ages; like in any other marriage, a ruler should have by his side a woman worthy of her husband. As the author of ‘The Solace of the Game of Chess’ explained, a queen must be wise so that she could be a confidant to her husband and provide good education for their children, celibate to implement a good model to her subjects and, nonetheless, beautiful. A ‘good princess’ is described as intelligent, educated, encouraging and calm, as Christine de Pisan suggest: ‘men are by nature more courageous and more hot-headed… But women are by nature more timid and also of a sweeter disposition, and for this reason, they can be the best means of pacifying men’.

The power of women

Although throughout the Anglo-Saxon period women have been seen as fragile, pure beings, in the Middle Ages things changed: a lot of writers, historians and philosophers wrote about how female sexuality led to a downfall of worthy men. Thus, women expressed themselves through art, more exactly by creating embroidery which perfectly illustrated the concept of ‘Power of Women topos’. The late 14th century German embroidery known as The Malter Embroidery is one of the examples of this form of art that empowered women. In brief, it sustains the idea that instead of focusing of the negative aspects, it embraces the positive ones, such as love and female sexuality. Smith wrote:

‘the representational practice of bringing together at least two, but usually more, well-known figures from the Bible, ancient history, or romance to exemplify a cluster of interrelated themes that include the wiles of women, the power of love, and the trials of marriage … to prove beyond a doubt that women exercise a power that no man, however superior his mental, physical and moral endowments, can resist’.

The embroideries represented a large variety of narrative scenes that suggested different symbols, depending on the viewer’s cultural background, experience and taste or even personal issues such as gender, age or geography. One such piece of art is the one held in Augustiniam Museum in Freiburg im Breisgau, which measures approximately 490 cm in length and 60 cm in height. (Fig 2)

Fig. 2 The Malterer Embroidery in Augustiniam Museum

in Freiburg im Breisgau

Using a technique known as ‘coister stitch’, which was popular among German an Swiss nuns and lay women, it is made of coloured wool thread on a tan linen backing. Divided into 11 scenes, it represents the famous love stories commonly associated with the literary and artistic tradition of ‘The Power of Women topos’. For example, the first two images illustrate the well known Old Testament story of Samson and Delilah and thus, the power of women and their sexuality over men of strength. Samson the Nazarene falls in love with a young woman, Delilah who promised him great wealth in exchange of the secret of his strength (his uncut hair). Of course, Delilah tricks him and manages to cut his hair and take him into custody, serving as a symbol for the loss of his powers in the hands of a beautiful young woman.