The middle ages

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Data:	16.10.2000
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The chronological limits of Middle Ages are 449 when the Angles,
Saxons and Jutes invaded the Britain, and 1485 when the house of
Tudor begins to rule England.
The Middle Ages was divided in two parts: Old English or Anglo-
Saxon period and Middle English or Norman period.
The Old English period starts in 449 when the tribes of the Jutes
from Denmark and of the Angles and Saxons from Northern Ger-
many started to invade Britain defeating the original Celtic people.
The country was divided into seven kingdoms.
Anglo-Saxon society was based on the family unit which branched
out to the clan, the tribe and the kingdom.
The code of values was based on courage, loyalty of the people to
their ruler and the generosity of the ruler to them.
Towards the end of 6th century Christianity began to spread and
Saint Agustine established a monastery at Canterbury; it brought
written documents.
The culture of this period was a fusion of two alien components:
one, the language, literary forms of North Germany; the other the
moral values of Rome.
The Anglo-Saxon culture was a military culture based on the prac-
tice of war.
The Norman period starts in 1066 when the Normans invaded En-
gland whit the battle of Hastings.
The Normans imposed the French language and until the 14th cen-
tury in England were spoken three languages: French among the
nobility, Latin among the clergy and the English among the com-
mon people.
The Church controlled money, men and land; the conflict between
Church and State became inevitable and the Archbishop of Canter-
bury was murderer.
In the 13th century feudalism began to decline and in 1215 King
John to sign Magna Carta.
In 1381 the discontent began to grow among the poor and there
is the Pesants' Revolt.
Abroad there was the Hundred years' war (1337-1453).
After there is the War of the roses between the house of Lancaster
and the house of Yorke.
“War of roses” because the emblems of two houses are a white rose
and a red rose.
The end of conflict saw the union of the feuding families and the
foundation of the Tudor line on the English throne.
The social system was based on birth, profession and the other
factors.
At the top of the social scale was the nobility and below them were
the knights.
Next, traders and freeman; at the bottom were the villeins.
The womans were inferior to men, their duty was to cook food for
the family and keep the house in good order.