Medieval university

Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio both use frame stories to get a message across through their writing. Money is the root of all evil is a theme seen in “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Chaucer, and people make great sacrifices for the ones they love is a theme in “Federigo’s Falcon” by Boccaccio. These two selections contrast with each other because the theme in “The Pardoner’s Tale” shows that people act selfishly out of greed while the theme of “Federigo’s Falcon” shows that people act…

The “Black Death” was one of, if not the most devastating pandemics to sweep the earth since humans have populated it. It was widely thought to be caused by a bacteria called Yersinia Pestis and in recent studies and research, evidence has made a strong case for the confirmation of that bacteria as the cause of the Black Death. Graves in Europe that were tied to that time period and the Black Death showed traces of that bacteria in both southern and northern Europe (Haensch et al. 4). In the…

The fabliau genre has been a long-standing tradition in medieval writing. However, because of the reoccurring characteristics of the fabliau, it is a genre that is viewed as one-sided. Because of this, the fabliau genre is most often compared to and associated with the courtly love genre of writing during that time. Writers and poets of similar professional standing wrote both genres and both styles of writing were intended to be read by a similar audience. French writers in both genres…

The Black Death is a high mortality rate disease, patient died within just one day after they first touch it. As Italy writer Giovanni Boccaccio described in his work The Decameron, “How many valiant men, how many fair ladies, breakfast with their kinfolk and the same night supped with their ancestors in the next world” (the Black Death and the Transformation of the West, 40.) What a tragic scene! Imagine there were numerous people died everyday, you will never know were the people lying on the…

Shakespeare and the Bubonic Plague The bubonic plague, also known as the black death, was an epidemic that struck during the Elizabethan age and spread throughout Europe, killing millions. The plague started in the early 1300s in China, mainly affecting rodents, but it didn’t take long for it to be spread to humans (“Shakspeare and the Bubonic Plague”). It spread to Europe by Italian merchants, and it soon developed the nickname, the black death, due to the grotesque black spots that appeared…

Feudalism in Europe during the 1300’s was extremely common. Under Feudalism, a kingdom was split into sections and given to nobles by the king. The nobles who owned these lands controlled the resources made off the land and pledged their loyalty to the king (Newby 1). While The Black Death was killing off a third of Europe's population Europe's hardest workers were being killed off, making it very difficult for landowners to find skilled laborers causing a high demand for workers, yet most…

Benedictow, Ole J. "The Black Death: The Greatest Catastrophe Ever." History Today. 01 Mar. 2005: 42. eLibrary. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. This article had many reason and caused that helped me alot. The Black Death was a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The infection was spread through rodents that was in human habitation. The rats was normally house rats the spread the disease. The infection to up to five days before 80 percent of the people were…

The Bubonic Plague also known as “Black Death” because of its dark patches is a bacterial infection caused by infected fleas from small animals such as rats. The disease only takes about seven days to start feeling its symptoms. It killed about seventy five million people in Europe and more than sixty percent of its whole population. As more deaths occurred over the next several years the economy and livestock started decreasing and becoming more scarce. The outbreak cause much depression and…

The Dark Ages, also known as the Middle Age, was a period of time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance, in which a number of religious conflicts arose. Many people argue whether the Middle Ages were actually dark, or if the term “Dark Age” is an inaccurate description. Although there were several advancements made, there was also an immense decline in the economy which caused many problems. The Middle Ages were, in fact, a difficult time for Europeans to…

Courtly Love in The Canterbury Tales Courtly love can be described as a medieval conception of love that emphasizes nobility and chivalry. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales depicts some criteria necessary for true courtly love; however, not in a traditional sense. This allows us to compare it to today’s society, since courtly love still exists, but in a non-traditional way mainly through media instead of actual relationships. The media is perhaps one of the…