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Life during the medieval era
Medieval times in england
Life during the medieval era
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedic movie that discusses King Arthur’s journey to the English countryside to seek out knights who will join him at the round table in Camelot. He then decides that he and the knights must travel to find the Holy Grail. He ends up finding Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, Sir Robin, and Sir Bedevere and they travel through villages and experience satire events in history including first hand seeing the impact of the black plague and witnessing a witch trial. The middle ages took place around the 10th century. During this time period the social structure was divided into 4 classes which made up the feudal system. The lowest class that made up the majority was the peasants, which also included the serfs. The …show more content…
Others were more like slaves. They owned nothing and were pledged to their local lord. They worked long days, 6 days a week, and often barely had enough food to survive”(“Middle Ages History”). Knights were above the peasants and they were given land granted by the barons in exchange for their military services if the king needed it. They were responsible for protecting the baron who granted them land as well as the baron’s family and the manor they lived at. The knights were able to keep any amount of land they were given, and they gave out the rest to the serfs. The lord, or baron, was above the knight in the social class divide. They were given land by the king and in return they showed loyalty to the monarch. They provided the king with fully equipped knights if the king needed some to serve. If the baron “did not have an army, sometimes they would pay the king a tax instead. This tax was called shield money”(“Middle Ages History”). The king was at the top of the feudal system and held the most power and wealth. The king could not maintain control over all the land in England so he divided the land up to the barons which eventually …show more content…
In the middle ages, knights were viewed as those who would represent the greatest level of chivalry, considering it was part of their code. King Arthur talked to a peasant in the beginning of the film who expressed her said unhappiness about the government and her views did not align with King Arthur so he disapproved. The peasant described medieval Europe as a horrid place to live. There was also a lack of education among the peasants because in the British empire at that time, there were many small kingdoms owned by lords, under one king. All the peasants really knew was their own kingdom and their king, they were not really educated on the number or where other kingdoms were. During this time period, the peasants were viewed as the bottom of the food chain, and in the feudal system they were actually at the bottom. This meant that they had no real say in the government or how it was ruled, so this interaction did not seem accurate for the time period nor did it cause any impact because those who were high in the feudal system liked the strong divide between classes. The way of life during the middle ages was strongly influenced by past traditions and morals that had been passed down from generation to generation. One of these old traditions included
The feudal system was one that arose in England after the invasion and conquest of William I. It has been said that this was the perfect political system for this time period. Life was really hard back in the Middle Ages and safety and defense were really hard to come by after the empire fell. There were no laws to protect the poor, so they turned to their lords to keep them safe. The king was in complete control of the system and he owned all the land. One quarter was kept as private property and the rest was given to the church or leased
Life during the Middle Ages was full of social change, division, and classism. This feudal society of Britain was divided into three estates. (social classes) Within the second estate was the the knight who was a soldier for the king who fought in many battles. Even though the knight is expected to have the strength and the skills to fight in battle, all knights during the Medieval period additionally had a chivalrous aspect to them. Chivalry was the honor code of a knight which included bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women. Within the stories of the “Wife of Bath’s Tale” and “Le Morte d’Arthur”, the code of chivalry was broken by knights which show the corruption of England’s feudal society.
The film Monty Python and the Holy Grail satirizes the medieval “epic hero” through parodying actual heroes in medieval literature. The comedy film displays important medieval values in a humorous light and pokes fun at Arthurian legends. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and other tales of Arthur’s Knights of the Round table are heavily parodied through out the film. The medieval tales often include the knight errant, or a knight who wandered the lands in search of chivalrous adventures, and throughout the film Arthur and his newly formed gang portray the knight errant as foolish and cowardly.
The evolution of human society consists mainly of ineffective ruling regimes and oppressed peasants. Medieval Europe falls into this same pervasive cycle. Social and political hierarchies intertwine which creates a grossly inefficient system. Hereditary lineage determines nobility. Commoners possess no hope of social mobility. Every aspect of life is virtually preordained. These circumstances revolve around the figure Lanval by Mari de France. Mari de France introduces Lanval as a courteous and distinguished knight of King Arthur’s court. Lanval possesses the most moral nature of all of King Arthur’s knights, yet even so, the other knights of King Arthur’s round table despise him. The many knights neglect acknowledgment of his nature as does
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is a satiric comedy about the quest of King Arthur. The movie starts out with Arthur, King of the Britons, looking for knights to sit with him at Camelot. He finds many knights including Sir Galahad the pure, Sir Lancelot the brave, the quiet Sir Bedevere, and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot. Through satire and parody of certain events in history (witch trials, the black plague) they find Camelot, but after literally a quick song and dance they decide that they do not want to go there. While walking away, God (who seems to be grumpy) come to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They agree and begin their search. While they search for the Grail, scenes of the knight's tales appear and the reasons behind their names. Throughout their search, they meet interesting people and knights along the way. Most of the characters die; some through a killer rabbit (which they defeat with the holy hand grenade), others from not answering a question right from the bridge of Death, or die some other ridiculous way. In the end, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere are left and find the Castle Arrrghhh where the Holy Grail is. They are met by some French soldiers who taunted them earlier in the film and were not able to get into the castle. The movie ends with both King Arthur and Sir Bedevere being arrested for killing a real-life man who was a historian.
There are many common themes mocked in the movie “Monty Python the Quest for the Holy Grail”. Religion, Knightly Behavior, Noble Quests etc. I believe the movie showed how the old stories and plays kind of exaggerated these themes, and they aren’t as mighty as they are made out to be. I think Knights and Kings weren’t really as bold and courageous as stories told and this movie kind of showed it. There are exceptions though, as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, he took the challenge and stuck his neck out so no one else would have too and he did it bravely (he had a little bit of a scared moment) but he also admitted he was wrong for messing with the Green Knight’s wife. But in Monty Python, it showed how Knights also did things cowardly, as when Lancelot went to save the “damsel” in distress and killed almost everyone in the castle.
Malory, Thomas. King Arthur and His Knights: Selected Tales by Sir Thomas Malory, ed. Eugene Vinaver (London: Oxford UP, 1975) 124-25.
One of the most enduring myths in the Western world is that of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Regardless of the origins of the tales, the fact is that by the time they had been filtered through a French sensibility and re-exported to England, they were representations of not one but several ideals. Courtly love and chivalry and the various components thereof, such as martial prowess, chastity, bravery, courtesy, and so on, were presented as the chief virtues to aspire to, and the knights as role models. Arthur's eventual fall is precisely because of having failed at some level to fulfill these ideals in his life.
In Medieval Times knights are the protectors. The knights fight for, and obey the king. And for that reason Knight’s are in high rankings in the class system, compared to the peasants and merchants. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, people are going on the pilgrimage to Canterbury for Salvation. The knight is Chaucer’s ideal of a night should be. The knight is a highly principled killer who travels the world and fights for what he believes in with unequivocal bravery and valor.
In the Medieval Period, knights dedicated their lives to following the code of chivalry. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, a number of characters performed chivalrous acts to achieve the status of an ideal knight. Their characteristics of respect for women and courtesy for all, helpfulness to the weak, honor, and skill in battle made the characters King Arthur, King Pellinore, and Sir Gryfflette examples of a what knights strove to be like in Medieval society. Because of the examples ofchivalry, Le Morte d’Arthur showed what a knight desired to be, so he could improve theworld in which he lived.
During the Medieval Times, knights hold high status and are seen as sovereign, yet their actions are contradicting. Knights stand for loyalty, justice, and chivalry; however, most are liars, cheaters, and foolish. Throughout medieval literature, authors create characters that contain both attributes and utilize literary elements to highlight this medieval crisis. Many Knights maintain a loyal and noble character because chivalry outlasts hypocrisy.
"King Arthur in Legend: The Holy Grail." Britannia: British History and Travel. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .
The movie Monty Python and The Holy Grail is based on stories such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and Green Knight. The movie tells the basis of the stories by revolving around a technique called satire. Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to tell something in a funny tone or in a way that creates laughter. Satire was used in the film Monty Python and The Holy Grail to turn common medieval themes such as Chivalric code and Knightly behavior, characteristics of a noble quest and role of religion into a corny, yet laughable manner. Monty Python exemplifies many similar themes when comparing the movie to readings such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Knights were an integral part of medieval society. They originally began with primitive warriors such as the Mongols who fought on horseback for added speed and power, but quickly advanced to chivalrous gentleman such as the Normans. Much has been written about medieval knights with the most famous being a series of legends about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Arthur and his knights were the ultimate example of what a perfect knight should have been. They were brave and skilful in battle, but merciful to their enemies once vanquished. They were courteous to ladies, and never ate or drank to excess.
In the Medieval Period, life was either very great or very bad, according to your class. Only 2 classes existed during this time: the nobles, such as kings and knights who lived inside the castle, or the peasants, such as working-class people who lived in often unspeakable conditions. The peasants treated the nobles with the utmost respect, for if they didn’t, then the nobles could have them beheaded. (Sanders, p 34). The nobles were almost always the ones who owned land, and the peasants worked on this land in exchange for a small portion of it, in a sense, rented out in exchange for the labor. Peasants often worked 16-hour days as long as they could see into the nighttime and got very bad nourishment. The noble was not interested in the health of the peasants working on his land, as there was a significant supply of others who were very willing to take his or her place.