William the Conqueror’s Feudalistic Effects: British Literature Being a bastard son of a ruler normally meant one would never amount to much of anything, though, William the Conqueror broke this societal view. William the Conqueror achieved high prestige through the Norman Invasion: implementation of new rules, social class structure, and language; through the large influence of feudalism, William the Conqueror brought new ideas, muses, and inspirations to literature by authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland. William the Conqueror lived anything but an ordinary life; many scholars have explored his early life and coming to power Among these scholars was David Charles Douglas, previous historian of the Norman period at the
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William’s strong Norman background had an impact on how he ruled England; the institutional developments of his rule were under the influences of both Norman and English culture (Douglas 289). William intertwined his way of governing Normandy with the system England already had in place, causing many changes to occur two of those changes included the language, and the enforcement of a brand new class system, feudalism. William began to implement feudal society that “Claimed the rewards of conquest” (Douglas 265). The changes caused by this new system are described as “inexorably radical” for the higher class ranks (Douglas 265). An intellectually advanced source of information including a page on this impactful class system’s effect over knighthood, is the website LordsandLadies; LordsandLadies is the product of an influential web company, Siteseen Ltd, and authored by award winning scholar and Director of Education at Siteseen Ltd, Linda Alchin. Feudalism was based off of rewarding Knights for their military service with land, these rewards were called fiefs (Alchin 1). This led to more young men becoming interested in either regaining the land taken from their families by Norman power through the Domesday Book, or for their own wealth. Many people were outspoken in …show more content…
William Langland was born in the 1330’s around the West Midlands of England and began writing one of the greatest examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, Piers Plowman, around 1370. Piers Plowman was written with the purpose of satirizing the corrupt behaviors of knights and clergymen during this time period. This poem has three main characters, Dowel, Dobet, Dobest and through a series of visions and personifications of virtues (false, payment, truth, conscience) a quest for true Christian life is revealed. This story leads to the idea that knights became arrogant and corrupt due to the reward system by feudalism, and one particular source further highlights this assumption. This source comes from Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG), Denise Baker and student, Eric M. Sorenson; this pair worked together to formulate Sorenson’s thesis lengthily titled, “Quarrels of Sir Conscience: Langland’s Critique of knighthood in the Visio of Piers Plowman AND “And Harped at his Owhen Wille”: Developing Bardic Kingship in the Lay of Sir Orfeo.” This thesis delves into Langland’s work to deeply understand the events and societal influences that inspired him to right such a parodical work. From Sorenson, “Langland's literary knights highlight the flaws of contemporary knightly behavior” which can be attributed to the
William’s strong Norman background had an impact on how he ruled England; the institutional developments of his rule were under the influences of both Norman and English culture (Douglas 289). William intertwined his way of governing Normandy with the system England already had in place, causing many changes to occur two of those changes included the language, and the enforcement of a brand new class system, feudalism. William began to implement feudal society that “Claimed the rewards of conquest” (Douglas 265). The changes caused by this new system are described as “inexorably radical” for the higher class ranks (Douglas 265). An intellectually advanced source of information including a page on this impactful class system’s effect over knighthood, is the website LordsandLadies; LordsandLadies is the product of an influential web company, Siteseen Ltd, and authored by award winning scholar and Director of Education at Siteseen Ltd, Linda Alchin. Feudalism was based off of rewarding Knights for their military service with land, these rewards were called fiefs (Alchin 1). This led to more young men becoming interested in either regaining the land taken from their families by Norman power through the Domesday Book, or for their own wealth. Many people were outspoken in …show more content…
William Langland was born in the 1330’s around the West Midlands of England and began writing one of the greatest examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, Piers Plowman, around 1370. Piers Plowman was written with the purpose of satirizing the corrupt behaviors of knights and clergymen during this time period. This poem has three main characters, Dowel, Dobet, Dobest and through a series of visions and personifications of virtues (false, payment, truth, conscience) a quest for true Christian life is revealed. This story leads to the idea that knights became arrogant and corrupt due to the reward system by feudalism, and one particular source further highlights this assumption. This source comes from Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG), Denise Baker and student, Eric M. Sorenson; this pair worked together to formulate Sorenson’s thesis lengthily titled, “Quarrels of Sir Conscience: Langland’s Critique of knighthood in the Visio of Piers Plowman AND “And Harped at his Owhen Wille”: Developing Bardic Kingship in the Lay of Sir Orfeo.” This thesis delves into Langland’s work to deeply understand the events and societal influences that inspired him to right such a parodical work. From Sorenson, “Langland's literary knights highlight the flaws of contemporary knightly behavior” which can be attributed to the