The start of the Medieval Period started with the fall of Rome. These times were “barbaric” to say the least, this time was not structured as later periods were. The code of chivalry was created to keep the knights in line. In some stories, knights were the heroes that saved princesses from dragons, but in Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale the knight was not as good as knights are told out to be in fairy tales. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale reflected the history through the code of chivalry and how one knight was treated for behaving disrespectfully to a woman. In the Medieval Period the government system was well thought out and played a major role in the daily lives of the people.
The government in the Medieval period was consisted of King and Emperors, but they were not that powerful. No matter how hard they tried, they could not get the people to listen to them. The government system had its faults but grew from their mistakes. In Chaucer’s tale he presents in his story the different social classes and their roles and values of each role. The religious beliefs of the Medieval Period were dominated by Catholicism, as other religions were frowned upon. During this time period, Islamic practices started and grew more powerful throughout these times. In the story of Wife of Bath’s Tale, Chaucer described the outlook on religion and the major role it played in the Medieval Period. The historical, social, and religious beliefs of the Medieval period were reflected in Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale.
During the Medieval period Catholicism rose as the main religion that was studied, practiced, and taught. Whether you were a peasant or Lord, your life was dominated by Christianity. There were religious schools, monasteries, and convents for those devout to the faith. The dominance of the Catholic Church was one of the characteristics of the Medieval Period. In this period, people were highly concerned about where their souls would go after their death. The Crusades were six holy wars that happened due to a series of popes called the aid of western Catholics to help the eastern Byzantine allies. There were battles of those who want to claim the Holy Land which led to back and forth fighting trying to gain control over the land in the Middle East.
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In the Knight’s Code of Chivalry, a knight was expected to be strong and have combat skills, but also be able to control their temper of the aggressive side of being a warrior. “The Code of Chivalry was the code of conduct followed by the Knights during the medieval period” (Knights Code of Chivalry, 2014). The code of chivalry is a moral system which brought up qualities idealized such as bravery, honor, strength, and respectful of women. Even though the Knights followed the Code of Chivalry, they were often thought of as thugs rather than heroic and honorable Knights. Knights should have faith in their beliefs and hold onto virtues that they possess.
Women in the Medieval period were sub superior to the men of the house. The women were dependent on the social class of the men in their families. All women of the house were to be sub superior to all men of the house, including their brothers. “Unlike men, women are not usually described by what they do but by their marital condition. Thus, the medieval mind tends to categorize women as follows: maidens, wives, nuns, and widows.” (Mortimer, 2008). Women were not treated like women are now. Men did not treat women with respect, and women were often raped and taken advantage of very often. It was very cruel how women were treated, and they were treated like this for years after the medieval period.
“At the same time the women are led to believe that they are the physical manifestation of lust and that their wombs will suffocate from excess seed unless they have sex regularly. For unmarried women this presents something of a problem” (Mortimer, 2008). Women were often victims of sexual assaults, it is not because they were of lower status then men, and it is because men gave into their lustful thoughts. The women were blamed, by which it was a woman that persuaded Adam into eating the fruit that was forbidden, that they ruined any chances of living in paradise. Many women did not just stay at home to cook and clean, they also went out to work in fields, as well as feed and put clothes on their families back.
In Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale, the Code of Chivalry was portrayed through a young Knight in which commits a crime. This Knight took the Code of Chivalry and was not the noble man he vowed he would be. One day, the young Knight crosses paths with a young and beautiful maiden. He was overcome by lust and raped her; the court was scandalized by the occurrences that happened. The King’s court decided that the right thing to do was to put the Knight to death for his crimes he committed, but the Queen thought otherwise.
“But that the Queen, and other ladies too, implored the King to exercise his grace so ceaselessly, he gave the Queen the case and granted her his life, and she could choose whether to show him mercy or refuse.” (Foresman, 1989). The Queen tells the Knight that if he in the time of one year, can find an answer to her question, he will be freed from the charges that are against him. The Queen’s challenge for the Knight was, to discover what women want most in the world and bring back what he finds to the court. If he cannot find the answer, or if his answer is wrong, he will be decapitated.
The woman that helped him discover what women really wanted, asked the knight to marry her, this women’s features tell him that she is old and not as beautiful as other women, however; he decided to marry her. On the night of their wedding, he would not look at his wife because her appearance was wrinkled and aged. She then asked if he would rather a young, beautiful woman that would run off with other men or an older more loyal wife. He then decided he would rather trust her opinion and asked her to choose what she thinks is best. Because of the Knight’s answer, his wife became beautiful and good. A young and beautiful yet loyal wife, she changed into a woman he craved for and the Knight was satisfied.
In the medieval period there were many classes of social life. The King and his family were considered “popular”, they were looked upon with reverence and treated kindly. The King and Queen were the ones who people went to for help because they were fair and helpful, they didn’t want anything bad to happen to those who were kind. The King is the highest part in the social chain, he gives orders and grants permission to those who ask of land or fiefs. There were very distinctive social class systems, most of the people in the Medieval period were peasants. The lowest were peasants, they were at the bottom of the chain because they were the poorest of all the social classes. Knights were very common in this time period.
Knights were to protect the King in battle, and they would assist the King in court to keep watch for any misbehavior that occurs. “Society in much of the Medieval Europe was organized into a “feudal” system, which was based on the allocation of land in returns for services.” (Hopkinson, et al., 1996). The government played a big part in upholding the law by punishing those who broke it, these law breakers were punished with harshness to go along with their crimes they committed. The King and his court were in charge of deciding on which punishment would be given to those who disobeyed the law in any way.
In Chaucer’s, Wife of Bath’s Tale, the social classes were portrayed in his story by the King’s and the Knight’s positions. The King’s position was far superior in the story compared to the Knights or any other character in the story. In the tale, the government played a big part by how the King and courts were portrayed and how they worked. The court and the King decide the appropriate punishment for any crime that was committed. “So much petitioning of the king for her, that he condemned the knight to lose his head” (Foresman, 1989).
The Knight in this tale was found guilty of raping a young woman and was said to be put to death. The courts and their King made a right accusation as to what the Knight’s punishment should have been. But this one time, the Queen’s decision overrode the King’s punishment. This Knight was given a chance to better his way because the Queen granted this opportunity, but if the answer was not found he would lose his head. The Queen and the other maidens came together and decided that he should be given a chance to find the true wants of women. The Knight, with the help of the woman that became his wife, was given a second chance to life a full live and found a spouse who he would treat right.
The Medieval Period was dominated by Catholicism, after the fall of Rome the Catholic Church was the most powerful. “After the fall of Rome, no single state or government united the people who lived on the European continent. Instead, the Catholic church became the most powerful institution of the medieval period” (Editors, 2010). The government did not hold power like the Catholic Church, even united, the governments were not as powerful. The Kings took this as an opportunity to use that power for protection from their allies. During the medieval period the Catholic Church benefited from the great leadership of many outstanding Popes. “At its height, the medieval Islamic world was more than three times bigger than all of Christendom” (Editors, 2010). Islam rose because the Prophet, Muhammad, died. Muslim “armies” grew with power and took over large parts of the Middle East. At this time Islamic worlds were more widespread then Christianity. Islamic teachings were spread three times as much as Christianity.
In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, Catholicism played a part in the tale because the Catholic faith took a big part of how the government played their parts. Seeing that the Church had most of the power, it impacted the government in how it worked. The Church’s teachings greatly affected how the people saw everything around them especially when it came to the fate of their souls. In Chaucer’s tale, the court’s decision was chosen because they know how horrible it was for a man to rape a woman. “This act of violence made such a stir, so much petitioning of the king for her,” (Foresman, 1989). The King was taken aback by the occurrences that happened with the Knight and the maiden. The King and his court, as Catholics, thought the only proper punishment would be for this Knight to lose his head for he should not be trusted around women after this lustful event occurred.
When the fall of Rome happened, many things changed in the government, social classes, and with religion. People during this time had to work hard to earn a modest amount of money to buy food for their family. The children were married-off young and education for women was not accepted, education in general was very limited. Children were kept at home to work, but many children died young from illnesses and the lack of medicine required to help them. The religion was dominated by Roman Catholicism, other practices were very uncommon. It was not the best decision to differ your religious beliefs from Catholicism during this period as those against their beliefs were thrown out and ignored.
There were many problems with war and plague during the medieval period. The government system was well thought out and played a major role in the daily lives of the people. The government in the Medieval Period was consisted of Kings and Emperors, but they were not that powerful as no matter how hard they tried, they could not get the people to listen to them. The government system had their faults but grew from those mistakes. The historical, social, and religious beliefs of the Medieval period were reflected in Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale.
