2. The Dark Ages/Middle Ages
We call this time the “Dark Ages” because life
was so limited and difficult for most people
compared to our time.
3. Hard Life for Peasant/Serf
• Cold
• Work was hard
• Little food
• Couldn’t read or write
• Didn’t understand the language of the church
because it was all in Latin
• Short life expectancy – often only lived to be
30 years old.
4. Ordinary people did not receive an education,
and could not read or write.
Education was for the wealthy or for the
religious leaders such as priests and monks.
5. There was very little travel beyond what could
be done on foot. People would be born, grow
up, and spend their entire lives in one
community.
6. It was a very violent time. Countries as we know
them with central governments were still being
developed. There were often battles between
neighboring castle owners.
7. The Feudal System
• The castle owner – a king, a baron, a duke, or
a knight – owned the land in and around the
castle.
9. Serfs
The people who lived on the land, worked for
the castle owner. They would give the majority
of their crops or products to
the castle owner in return
for their homes
and his protection.
12. The following video shows how
one person could play a pipe in
one hand and keep a beat or
play rhythms on the drum with
the other hand.
13. Hurdy Gurdy
• To play this instrument you turn the crank at the bottom, and it plays a long sound
on 2 or 3 notes that don’t change. Then you can push the white tabs like piano
keys, and you can get different notes. So you can play a melody and harmony at
the same time. The next video shows this.
14. Bagpipes
Blow in a pipe to fill a bag with air. Squeeze the air
out of the bag through the pipes to make music.
the big pipes only play one note each. The little pipe
plays many notes like a recorder. A video is next.
15. FIDDLE
• The next video will show this.
• This instrument is the ancestor of modern violin.
16. LUTE
• Ancestor of modern guitar
• The next video shows a lute being played.
17. ORGAN
• There were small portable organs as well as
church organs, pumped by hand. Watch how
this works in the next video.
18. Troubadours
• Traveling musicians – went from court to court
to provide entertainment for the nobility. They
sang popular songs, not church music.
19. Early music used shapes to show how sounds
moved up and down. These were called “Neumes”
20. Guido d’Arezzo
• Invented the “Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do ” system.
• Invented the staff. It had 4 lines.
• Teacher and Composer
24. Medieval Medicine
• Medicine was very primitive, used herbs for
medicine and blood letting – this was letting
you bleed into a bowl to get rid of “bad blood”
• Major diseases and epidemics
– Black/Bubonic plague
25. Ring around the rosey was a song
about the plague
Ring around the rosey – plague would start with
red round spots.
Pocket full of posey – a posey is a small bouquet
of flowers. People thought breathing through
flowers stopped the disease from spreading.
Ashes, ashes – the bodies were burned
We all fall down – millions died
26. The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347
when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port
of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea.
The people who gathered on the docks to greet the ships
were met with a horrifying surprise: Most of the sailors
aboard the ships were dead, and those who were still
alive were gravely ill. They were overcome with fever,
unable to keep food down and delirious from pain.
Strangest of all, they were covered in mysterious black
boils that oozed blood and pus and gave their illness its
name: the “Black Death.” The Sicilian authorities hastily
ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it
was too late: Over the next five years, the mysterious
Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in
Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population.
32. Robin Hood and Maid Marian
• The first musical play was written about the
Robin Hood legend
33. Glass windows – around 1200 A.D.
• Glass making improved and we now had both
clear and stained glass windows.
• In Europe, the art of stained glass reached its
height between 1150 and 1500, when
magnificent windows were created for great
cathedrals.
34.
35. Joan of Arc
• Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in France.
• She claimed to hear voices from Heaven telling
her what to do.
• Joan of Arc led the French army to victory over
the British at age 18.
• Captured by the British a year later, Joan was
burned at the stake because they didn’t believe
her about the voices from heaven.
• She was declared a Roman Catholic saint 500
years later, on May 16, 1920.
39. Crusades
• The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars
launched by the Christian states of Europe against
the Saracens who were Muslims. Crusades
started in 1095 when Pope Claremont preached
the First Crusade at the meeting of the Council of
Claremont. The preaching of the pope led to
many thousands of Medieval people immediately
affixing the cross to their garments - the name
Crusade given to the Holy Wars came from old
French word 'crois' meaning 'cross'. The
Crusades were not successful.
42. Gregorian Chant
• The Catholic Church was the only Christian
religion.
• The church service was known as the “Mass”
– Kyrie – “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy”
– Gloria – “Glory to God in the highest”
– Alleluias
– Credo – Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed
– Benedictus - Benediction
– Agnus Dei – “Lamb of God”
43. Pope Gregory organized church music
• The next videos show some of the typical
sounds of Gregorian chant.
• All church music was sung in Latin.
44. Medieval Art
• Flat – no sense of dimension
• Babies look like miniature adults
• Church themes
• Mary and Baby Jesus
• Many Halos
• Cherubs – baby angels
45.
46.
47.
48. Cathedrals – huge stone churches in
major cities
• Notre Dame Cathedral is an impressive
example of medieval architecture. Started in
1163 and completed in 1330, Notre Dame
Cathedral has a dramatic exterior, two broad
towers, and plenty of sweeping arches. The
gothic exterior is full of intricate details and
the ornate interior is light and airy.
