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The Middle Ages

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Luiz Gustavo Machado
Mrs. Phillips
British Literature
6 January 2016
The English Middle Ages The middle ages (1066-1485) is known as the Dark ages for representing cultural and economic deterioration following the decline of the exuberant Roman Empire. However, a variety of important events that took place in that period, mainly in England, helped shape society as we know it today. Feudalism was created in the middle ages with the king at the top of military, political, and economic hierarchy, nobles owning the land, and peasants, or vassals working on the land. Living conditions were hard in general, but life was especially hard for peasants. The crusades marked the period with knights sent to Jerusalem to fight against Muslims, demonstrating the immense power of the Roman Chaotic Church, in all areas of people’s lives. The Black Death, or bubonic plague, was also a relevant event that killed one third of the population of western Europe. The British middle ages influenced the development of society through the politics, the religion, and the literature of the era. Politics was a key factor in the development of England in the middle ages. For example, the impact of the new political regime when the Normans conquered England. The Normans (1066-1154) and the Angevins (1154-1399) created political institutions that set England apart from the rest of Europe (“England”). Henry II was the first Angevin king of England and Richard I, the lionhearted, was his son who went in

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