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Archival material relating to the formal admission of women to the University of Oxford, including admissions records, annual reports, calendars, photographs, scrapbooks, minutes and letters.

October 2020 marked one-hundred years since women were granted the right to matriculate and therefore to take degrees at Oxford. Despite the significance of this landmark year, women had studied at the University long before 1920. In fact, they had been making their mark on the University and advocating for women's access to an Oxford education since the 1860s.

Education and Activism: Women at Oxford, 1878-1920, is a digital archive project that commemorates the centenary year by bringing together records of the former women's colleges (Lady Margaret Hall, Somerville, St Anne's, St Hilda's and St Hugh's) into a central digital archive. Through the digitization of more than 7,000 archival images, this project will change the way that we understand and research the history of higher education in Oxford, the United Kingdom and beyond.

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Archival material relating to the formal admission of women to the University of Oxford, including admissions records, annual reports, calendars, photographs, scrapbooks, minutes and letters. October 2020 marked one-hundred years since women were granted the right to matriculate and therefore to take degrees at Oxford.

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Introduction to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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Introduction to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written in the late 14th century by an unknown poet often called “The Pearl Poet” or “Gawain Poet,” is set in the legendary court of King Arthur. It tells the tale of Sir Gawain, one of Arthur’s knights, who accepts a mysterious challenge from the Green Knight: he must strike him with an axe, but in return, the Green Knight will deliver the same blow a year and a day later. This strange “beheading game” leads Gawain on a journey of courage, temptation, and moral testing, where his honor and humanity are put on trial.

The poem reflects the values of medieval society where knights were expected to defend their lords, protect the weak, and remain true to both God and king. The story, however, also reveals the tensions and struggles behind these ideals.

Culturally and historically, the poem comes from a world deeply shaped by feudalism, the Church, and Arthurian legend. The late 14th century was also a time of upheaval in England—plagues, wars, and social unrest were changing medieval life.

Literature like Sir Gawain provided both entertainment and reflection on moral questions: What does it mean to be honorable? How does fear affect our choices? How do humans balance faith, duty, and survival?

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The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the late 14th century, is one of the most important works of medieval English literature. The frame story (a story within a story) begins with a group of pilgrims traveling from London to Canterbury Cathedral, where they plan to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket, a famous martyr. To pass the time on their journey, each pilgrim agrees to tell stories, and these tales reveal their personalities, values, and flaws.

Chaucer’s “General Prologue” introduces readers to this diverse group of characters—from knights and squires to nuns, merchants, millers, and even ordinary workers—making the text a lively portrait of medieval society.

Historically, Chaucer wrote during a time of transition in England. The 14th century was marked by events such as the Black Death, the Peasants’ Revolt, and the decline of feudalism.

Social classes were shifting, and the Church—once the most powerful institution—was being questioned for corruption. The Canterbury Tales reflects these changes by showing not only nobles and clergy, but also common people with distinct voices and perspectives.

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The Black Death or the Bubonic Plague (1347–1351) had a profound impact on medieval literature and culture.

1. Focus on Death and Mortality

The plague killed millions across Europe, often wiping out entire villages. Themes of sudden death, the inevitability of mortality, and the importance of preparing one’s soul for judgment became common in literature. Works often included grim imagery of death and decay, such as the popular motif of the Danse Macabre (Dance of Death), showing skeletons leading people of all classes to the grave.

2. Religious Reflection and Criticism

Many works reflected deep religious concerns. Some emphasized repentance and the hope of salvation, urging people to live morally because life could end quickly. Others criticized the Church, which had lost credibility when prayers and rituals failed to stop the plague.

3. Shifts in Tone and Style

Writers often turned to allegory and symbolism to process the trauma of the plague. For example, works used vivid descriptions of suffering to make moral points about sin, judgment, and redemption. At the same time, humor, satire, and irony also became common ways to cope with fear and uncertainty.

4. Broader Social Perspectives

Because the Black Death disrupted social structures—weakening feudalism, raising wages for laborers, and creating tension between classes—literature began to reflect a wider range of voices. Writers like Geoffrey Chaucer included characters from multiple social classes in The Canterbury Tales, mirroring a society that was no longer dominated solely by nobles and clergy.

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The Black Death was a plague pandemic that devastated medieval Europe from 1347 to 1352. The Black Death killed an estimated 25-30 million people. The disease originated in central Asia and was taken to the Crimea by Mongol warriors and traders. The plague then entered Europe via Italy, perhaps carried by rats or human parasites via Genoese trading ships sailing from the Black Sea.

The disease was caused by a bacillus bacteria, Yersinia pestis, and carried by fleas on rodents, although recent studies suggest human parasites like lice may well have been the carriers. It was known as the Black Death because it could turn the skin and sores black while other symptoms included fever and joint pains. With up to two-thirds of sufferers dying from the disease, it is estimated that between 30% and 50% of the population of those places affected died from the Black Death. The death toll was so high that it had significant consequences on European medieval society as a whole, with a shortage of farmers resulting in demands for an end to serfdom, a general questioning of authority and rebellions, and the entire abandonment of many towns and villages. The worst plague in human history, it would take 200 years for the population of Europe to recover to the level seen prior to the Black Death.

What Were the Causes of the Plague?

The plague is an infectious disease caused by a bacillus bacteria which is carried and spread by parasitic fleas on rodents, notably the brown rat. Other parasites, including those living on human skin, may also have spread the disease. There are three types of plague, and all three were likely present in the Black Death pandemic: Bubonic plague, Pneumonic plague and Septicemic plague. Bubonic plague was the most common during the 14th-century outbreak, causing severe swelling in the groin and armpits (the lymph nodes) which take on a sickening black colour, hence the name the Black Death. The black sores which can cover the body in general, caused by internal haemorrhages, were known as buboes, from which bubonic plague takes its name. Other symptoms are raging fever and joint pains. If untreated, bubonic plague is fatal in between 30 and 75% of infections, often within 72 hours. The other two types of plague - pneumonic (or pulmonary) and septicaemic - are usually fatal in all cases.

What Were the Symptoms of the Plague?

The terrible symptoms of the disease were described by writers of the time, notably by the Italian writer Boccaccio in the preface to his 1358 Decameron. One writer, the Welsh poet Ieuan Gethin made perhaps the best attempt at describing the black sores which he saw first-hand in 1349:

We see death coming into our midst like black smoke, a plague which cuts off the young, a rootless phantom which has no mercy for fair countenance. Woe is me of the shilling of the armpit...It is of the form of an apple, like the head of an onion, a small boil that spares no-one. Great is its seething, like a burning cinder, a grievous thing of ashy colour...They are similar to the seeds of the black peas, broken fragments of brittle sea-coal...cinders of the peelings of the cockle weed, a mixed multitude, a black plague like half pence, like berries...(Davies, 411).

How Did the Black Death Spread?

The 14th century in Europe had already proven to be something of a disaster even before the Black Death arrived. An earlier plague had hit livestock, and there had been crop failures from overexploitation of the land, which led to two major Europe-wide famines in 1316 and 1317. There was, too, the turbulence of wars, especially the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) between England and France. Even the weather was getting worse as the unusually temperate cycle of 1000-1300 now gave way to the beginnings of a "little ice age " where winters were steadily colder and longer, reducing the growing season and, consequently, the harvest.

A devastating plague affecting humans was not a new phenomenon, with a serious outbreak having occurred in the mid-5th century which ravaged the Mediterranean area and Constantinople, in particular. The Black Death of 1347 entered Europe, probably via Sicily, when it was carried there by four Genoese grain ships sailing from Caffa, on the Black Sea. The port city had been under siege by Tartar-Mongols who had catapulted infected corpses into the city, and it was there the Italians had picked up the plague. Another origin was Mongol traders using the Silk Road who had brought the disease from its source in central Asia, with China specifically being identified following genetic studies in 2011 (although South East Asia has been proposed as an alternative source and actual historical evidence of an epidemic caused by plague in China during the 14th century is weak). From Sicily, it was but a short step to the Italian mainland, although one of the ships from Caffa had reached Genoa, been refused entry, and docked in Marseilles, and then Valencia. Thus, by the end of 1349, the disease had been carried along trade routes into Western Europe: France, Spain, Britain, and Ireland, which all witnessed its awful effects. Spreading like wildfire, there were plague outbreaks in Germany, Scandinavia, the Baltic states, and Russia through 1350-1352.

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Although it spread unchecked, the Black Death hit some areas much more severely than others.

Medieval doctors had no idea about such microscopic organisms as bacteria, and so they were helpless in terms of treatment, and where they might have had the best chance of helping people, in prevention, they were hampered by the level of sanitation which was appalling compared to modern standards. Another helpful strategy would have been to quarantine areas but, as people fled in panic whenever a case of plague broke out, they unknowingly carried the disease with them and spread it even further afield.

There were so many plague victims and so many bodies that the authorities did not know what to do with them, and carts piled high with corpses became a common sight across Europe. It seemed the only course of action was to stay put, avoid people, and pray. The disease finally ran its course by 1352 but would recur again, in less severe outbreaks, throughout the rest of the medieval period.

How Many People Died of the Black Death?

Although it spread unchecked, the Black Death hit some areas much more severely than others. This fact and the often exaggerated death tolls of medieval (and some modern) writers means that is extremely difficult to accurately assess the total death toll. Sometimes entire cities, for example, Milan, managed to avoid significant effects, while others, such as Florence, were devastated - the Italian city losing 50,000 of its 85,000 population (Boccaccio claimed the impossible figure of 100,000). Paris was said to have buried 800 dead each day at its peak, but other places somehow missed the carnage. On average 30% of the population of affected areas was killed, although some historians prefer a figure closer to 50%, and this was probably the case in the worst affected cities. Figures for the death toll thus range from 25 to 30 million in Europe between 1347 and 1352. The population of Europe would not return to pre-1347 levels until around 1550.

What Were the Consequences of the Black Death?

The consequences of such a large number of deaths were severe, and in many places, the social structure of society broke down. Many smaller urban areas hit by the plague were abandoned by their residents who sought safety in the countryside. Traditional authority - both governmental and from the church - was questioned for how could such disasters befall a people? Were not governors and God in some way responsible? Where did this disaster come from and why was it so indiscriminate? At the same time, personal piety increased and charitable organisations flourished.

In agriculture, those who could work were in a position to ask for wages & the institution of serfdom was doomed.

The Black Death, as its name suggests, was given a personification for people to help understand what was happening to them, usually being depicted in art as the Grim Reaper, a skeleton on horseback whose scythe indiscriminately cut down people in their prime. Many people were simply bewildered by the disaster. Some thought it a supernatural phenomenon, perhaps connected to the comet sighting of 1345. Others blamed sinners, notably the Flagellants of the Rhineland who paraded through the streets whipping themselves and calling for sinners to repent so that God might lift this terrible punishment. Many thought it an unexplainable trick of the Devil. Still others blamed traditional enemies, and age-old prejudices were fed leading to attacks on, and even massacres of, specific groups, notably the Jews, thousands of whom fled to Poland.

Even when the crisis had passed, there were now practical problems to be faced. With not enough workers to meet needs, salaries and prices soared. The necessity of farming to feed people would prove a serious challenge, as would the huge fall in demand for manufactured goods as there were simply far fewer people to buy them. In agriculture specifically, those who could work were in a position to ask for wages, and the institution of serfdom where a labourer paid rent and homage to a landlord and never moved on was doomed. A more flexible, more mobile, and more independent workforce was born. Social unrest followed, and often outright rebellions broke out when the aristocracy tried to fight these new demands. Notable riots were those in Paris in 1358, Florence in 1378, and London in 1381. The peasants did not get all they wanted by any means, and a call for lower taxes was a significant fail, but the old system of feudalism was gone.

After the major famines in 1358 and 1359 and the occasional resurgence, albeit less severe, of the plague in 1362-3, and again in 1369, 1374 and 1390, daily life for most people did gradually improve by the end of the 1300s. The general welfare and prosperity of the peasantry also progressed as a reduced population reduced the competition for land and resources. Land-owning aristocrats, too, were not slow to pick up the unclaimed lands of those who had perished, and even upwardly mobile peasants could consider increasing their landholdings. Women, in particular, gained some rights of property ownership they had not had before the plague. Laws varied depending on the region but, in some parts of England, for example, those women who had lost husbands were permitted to keep his land for a certain period until they remarried or, in other, more generous jurisdictions, if they did remarry then they did not lose their late husband's property, as had been the case previously. While none of these social changes can be directly linked to the Black Death itself, and indeed some were already underway even before the plague had arrived, the shock wave the Black Death dealt to European society was certainly a contributing and accelerating factor in the changes that occurred in society as the Middle Ages came to a close.

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The Black Death was a plague pandemic that devastated medieval Europe from 1347 to 1352. The Black Death killed an estimated 25-30 million people. The disease originated in central Asia and was taken...

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Camille Saint-Saëns’ orchestral piece Danse Macabre (1874) was inspired by a medieval idea that grew out of the devastation of the Black Death: the Danse Macabre, or “Dance of Death.” During the plague years of the 14th century, people across Europe were surrounded by sickness and sudden loss, and art and literature often reminded audiences that death comes for everyone—rich and poor, young and old, noble and peasant alike. Paintings, poems, and carvings showed skeletons leading people of all classes in a grim dance, symbolizing the universality of death.

Saint-Saëns took this haunting medieval image and set it to music. In his piece, Death is imagined as a fiddler who calls skeletons from their graves at midnight to dance until the rooster crows at dawn. The eerie violin, xylophone “bones,” and shifting melodies capture the mix of fear and fascination people in the Middle Ages felt when thinking about mortality.

While the music was written centuries after the Black Death, it reflects how that tragic time shaped medieval culture and art—and how the theme of life’s fragility still resonates in later works.

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The Middle Ages Interactive - Annenberg Learner

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Discover what it was like to live during the Middle Ages. Explore topics such as Feudal Life, Religion, Homes, Clothing,…

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New orders

Cistercian 'white monks' (named after the colour of their habits) established, as their rule demanded, monasteries 'far from the haunts of men'. These included Rievaulx Abbey, North Yorkshire, which by the 1160s housed 650 monks. The plainness of early Cistercian architecture reflected the austerity of their lives. But other monastic orders allowed more elaborate decoration, as at Cluniac Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk, and Wenlock Priory, Shropshire.

'Canons regular' were communities of priests who often ministered as vicars of parish churches. The early 12th century saw a huge surge in the popularity of communities of Augustinian 'black canons', such as Kirkham Priory, North Yorkshire, and Lanercost Priory, Cumbria.

Little Mattersey Priory in Nottinghamshire is one of the few surviving relics of the only exclusively English order, the Gilbertines. Some of their other foundations were 'double monasteries', housing both men and women.

Quite distinct from monks because they worked 'in the world' (rather than abbeys and priories) were the four orders of friars: the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites and Augustinians. They were inspired by the teachings of St Francis of Assisi to commit to a life of evangelical poverty, living among the poor.

In the later medieval period few new monasteries were founded, with the exception of those of Carthusian hermit-monks, such as Mount Grace Priory, North Yorkshire, in 1398. But despite the crisis of the Black Death, many older monasteries revived and thrived, often commissioning lavish new building works.

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William the Conqueror imposed a total reorganisation of the English Church. He had secured the Pope's blessing for his invasion by promising to reform the 'irregularities' of the Anglo-Saxon Church, which had developed its own distinctive customs. Throughout the medieval period, the Church was a pervasive force in people's lives.

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Feudalism in the middle ages was a strict hierarchical system, based on land being exchanged for military service, and allegiance to the king under oath. Medieval Feudalism began first in France around the 9th century. However, before the middle ages, Feudalism in Europe was being used by the Romans to a certain extent.

Feudal System Definition

To define the Feudal system, we need to simplify the term Feudalism as a political, militarist and social system. By definition, it is the granting of lands (a fief), from the Lord to the Vassal, in exchange for allegiance, military services and financial aid. The Lord could be the King, and so the Vassal would be the Baron, for example, which is the highest relationship in the feudal pyramid .

What are Fiefs and Vassals?

Fiefs and Vassals are terms that are commonly associated with Feudalism. Fiefs are a source of income, that is granted to a person of lower status (Vassal), in exchange for services. In Feudalism, the fief is land granted, and all that comes with it (houses, peasants etc). Vassals are the free men who hold a fief given to them by their Lord.

What are Villeins and Serfs?

Villeins and Serfs were Peasants who belong to the Knights in the fourth tier of the Feudal pyramid. Villeins held land given to them by their Lord, the knight, but were not allowed to sell it. Nor could they leave without permission. Serfs did not have any land, instead they worked on their Lord's manor house lands, providing common services.

Free Peasants rented land from their Lord and had freedom to move about. Peasants who were not freemen, were owned by the Lord, and were sold with the land upon which they worked.

What is Feudalism and how did it work?

So what is Feudalism and how did it work? As defined above, Feudalism incorporates a pyramid of social hierarchy, with the King sitting at the top. He would grant his favoured noblemen, the tenants-in-chief (Dukes, Earls and Barons), land which included houses, animals, tools and even peasants. In exchange, the tenants-in-chief would swear an oath of allegiance to the King, along with supplies of soldiers and money. This forms the first and second tiers of the Feudal pyramid.

Each tenant-in-chief would divide up his fief among his knights, in return for loyalty, protection and military services. This forms the third tier of the Feudal pyramid. As part of the agreement, the knights also had to protect their Lord's (the tenants-in-chief 's) manor from attack.

Each knight would keep as much of his fief as he liked, and the rest would be divided up among his villeins and serfs. In exchange, the villeins and serfs would work the land, providing food and services to their Lord, the knight. This forms the fourth tier of the Feudal pyramid.

Why Feudalism arose in western Europe

Feudalism arose in western Europe because the security of the Roman Empire had collapsed. Individual warlords seized local lands, and there was no way to control all the regions. Feudalism, brought over by the Normans to England, offered a structure that could protect the country while bringing control to each local area. Having each social tier pledging allegiance to their Lord and providing the military, financial and farming services, produced a seemingly orderly platform to govern the country from.

This platform would be able to resist invasion, rebellions and threats to the king. In short, Feudalism developed as a way for medieval societies to protect themselves. A structure that would last for centuries, and form the basis of the social classes seen today.

Feudal Lords

Feudal society relied upon their Feudal Lords for the land they lived and worked on. Each vassal would owe their existence to their Lord, and in return pay them vassalage for the privilege. Feudal Lords could be the King himself, the Barons or the Knights. Any of the top 3 tiers of the Feudal pyramid.

Decline of Feudalism

What caused Feudalism in the middle ages to decline? In the end, Feudalism declined due to four major factors, political changes, war at home and abroad, devastating disease, and social uprising against the state.

The Magna Carta and Political Movements on the Decline of Feudalism

Different people fitted into different tiers within the Feudal system. The ones at the bottom had the least rights. However, as time moved on, the rights of people began to rise. The Magna Carta was one document that outlined the relationship between the King and his Barons, but would provide a foundation for rights to the ordinary people too. Magna Carta enforced common law onto the King, and would later provide the rights of all free men to own and inherit property, and to be protected from excessive taxes.

Further political movements occurred where ordinary people would be given rights to face trial, and in Edward I's time, these people could even become a member of Parliament. These gains in human rights, however small, would chip away at the very core of Feudalism.

The Hundred Years War on the Decline of Feudalism

When the Hundred Years' War began in 1337, England and France required huge sums of men to fill the military ranks. The knights of the land could only fill the noble positions of cavaliers and men-at-arms. So for positions like archers and spear men, the king had to call upon the Peasants of the manors.

These Peasants had been working the land and providing manorial services to their Lords, and when called up for military service, there were less and less workers to farm the lands. Meanwhile, they were getting trained and improving their social status. With the war continuing on and off for a hundred years, the feudal system was struggling to cope.

The Black Death on the Decline of Feudalism

Not long after the Hundred Years' War started, disease would soon begin to take its toll on Europe's population. The Black Death had begun. In 1348, the Plague had reached London and over the next two years it killed half it's population. The Black Death would creep over the country like a dark blanket of death, wiping out entire towns and causing devastating losses for manors. Some Peasants fled their manor in fear, ignoring the law that kept them there. Feudalism was struck another blow, with fewer and fewer people around to form the strict hierarchy of the system.

The Peasant's Revolt on the Decline of Feudalism

Conditions facing the Peasants were still bleak. War and disease was wiping out the European population, and fewer workers were working the lands. When demand for the work remains, and supply of the workers fall, their perceived value rises. However, Knights and Barons did not change working conditions in line with these rises.

The inevitable had to happen, and the Peasant's revolted. Uprisings occurred in the second half of the 14th century, and the famous Peasant's Revolt in 1381 became a major date for the abolishment of Peasantry. King Richard II managed to diffuse the revolt, but would later reinstate serfdom. However, too much had happened, and Peasant's rights would gradually rise to the demise of the Feudal system.

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What is Feudalism in the Middle Ages - DiscoverMiddleAges

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Feudalism in the middle ages was a strict hierarchical system, based on land being exchanged for military service, and allegiance to the king under oath. Medieval Feudalism began first in France around the 9th century. However, before the middle ages, Feudalism in Europe was being used by the Romans

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Trade was vital in medieval times because it connected people, regions, and cultures that otherwise lived very isolated lives. Local markets and fairs allowed peasants, craftsmen, and merchants to exchange goods such as food, cloth, and tools.

Larger trade routes—by land and sea—linked towns and kingdoms, bringing in valuable products like spices, silk, and precious metals from distant places such as Asia and the Middle East. These goods were not only desirable for their luxury but also showed status and wealth, especially for nobles and monarchs. Trade helped towns grow into bustling centers of commerce, and many cities, such as Venice and Constantinople, became powerful because they controlled major trade routes.

Beyond wealth, trade also shaped medieval society by spreading ideas, technology, and culture. Contact with other regions introduced new crops, scientific knowledge, and even artistic styles. For example, Europeans learned advanced mathematics and medicine from the Islamic world through trade and contact during the Crusades.

Trade also helped weaken feudalism, since merchants and townspeople gained wealth and independence outside of the strict control of lords.

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The Crusades were a series of military campaigns between the 11th and 13th centuries, launched mainly by Western European Christians to capture and defend the Holy Land (especially Jerusalem) from Muslim control.

The cause of the First Crusade (1096–1099) began when the Byzantine Emperor asked for help against Muslim advances, and Pope Urban II called on knights to take up arms, promising both spiritual rewards (forgiveness of sins) and earthly glory. Over time, there were about eight major Crusades, though some argue there were 9. These expeditions stretched over nearly 200 years, involving battles in the Middle East, Spain, and even against Christian groups in Europe.

The Crusades had lasting effects. They increased contact between Europe and the Middle East, leading to greater trade, the introduction of new knowledge (such as medicine, mathematics, and science from the Islamic world), and cultural exchange. They also weakened feudalism because many lords left their lands to fight, which gave more independence to towns and merchants. However, the Crusades also caused deep mistrust between Christians and Muslims, and even between Western and Eastern Christians, especially after the sacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade (1204).

For many knights, the motive for joining the First Crusade was a mixture of religion, duty, and opportunity. Spiritually, they were promised indulgences (the forgiveness of sins) if they fought for Christendom. Socially, knights saw it as a way to demonstrate their honor and live up to the code of chivalry, while others hoped for land, wealth, or adventure in the East.