Download Prelude to the Modern World

Prelude to the Modern World
Ch. 11: The Plague
• Middle Ages not a gap in which “nothing
important” occurred (Powell)
• Evidence of events/triggers that brought on the
Renaissance:
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Sicilian Vespers, 1282
Black Death, 1348
Peasant rebellions, late 14th C.
Hundred Years’ War, 1337-1453
Rise of heretics, 14th C.
Communications revolution, 1452
Sicilian Vespers
• Last great attempt to
reunify W. & E.
churches
• Revolt against French
soldiers, planned by
Peter III of Aragon to rid
Sicily of Charles of
Anjou
• funded by HRE of East
to prevent Charles
invasion of
Constantinople
Black Death, 1348-1351
The Decameron, 1353
The Danse Macabre (allegory on
the universality of death)
The Peasants’ Revolt, London 1381
Causes:
• Large income gap as
economy grew. Wages
stagnant, prices rising
• Priest John Ball alluded to
idea that nobility was
unnecessary & even
thwarting the will of God:
"While Adam delved (dug)
and Eve span, who then was
the gentleman?"
• Poll tax on peasants
John Ball encouraging Wat
Tyler’s rebels, 1381
Effects:
On the surface, the peasants were crushed, their demands denied,
and many executed. However, the land owners had been scared,
and in the longer term several things were achieved.
1. Parliament gave up trying to control the wages the landowners
paid their peasants.
2. The hated poll tax was never raised again.
3. The Lords treated the peasants with much more respect. They
made more of them free men ie. they were not owned as part of
the land. This benefited in the end, as free men always work much
harder.
4. This marked the breakdown of the feudal system, which had
worked well during the early Middle Ages, but was now becoming
outdated as attitudes were beginning to change.
Hundred Years’ War, 1337-1453
Causes:
Battles:
Crisis in succession of French throne:
• English claim to Duchy of
Aquitaine and crown after death
of last Capetian King Charles IV
1328
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English better trained, use of the
longbow to defeat cavalry
Battle of Sluys, 1340 naval battle
Battle of Crecy, 1346
Battle of Poitiers, 1356
Although victorious, most French
refused to accept English rule
Siege of Orleans, 1429 Joan of Arc
instrumental
War died out as English conceded
difficulty of occupying territory
English permanently removed from
France with small exception: Calais
Effects Hundred Years’ War:
England:
• Parliament strengthened,
especially House of
Commons, compared to
power of monarchy
• Right to introduce tax
legislation (closer to the
people)
• Power to impeach
• Country more unified in
geography and language
France:
• Monarchy strengthened,
weakening of EstatesGeneral
• King sole power to tax:
– Gabelle
– Taille (1st & 2nd estates
exempt)
Charles VII “the
Victorious”
The Great Schism – 11th Century
Eastern Orthodox Church
• Greek Orthodox Church
dominant in Byzantine
Empire (modern-day
Balkans, E. Europe, Russia)
• Great Schism (1054) split
Church between Rome and
Constantinople
• Invasion of Ottoman Turks
in 1453 led to fall of
Byzantine Empire
– Constantinople = Istanbul
– Scholars fled to W. Europe
Fall of the Byzantine Empire
(1453)
• The Ottoman Empire spread
northeast and took control
of the Balkans and
threatened Austria and
Hungary
Crisis in the Western Catholic
Church – 14th Century
Babylonian Captivity (13091377)
• W. & C. Europe dominated by the Church •
since the fall of Rome
• Clergy more powerful than secular
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authority
• Popes more powerful than Emperors
• 1305: struggle between the pope and the
French king over the right to tax led to the
election of a French pope who moved
papacy to Avignon, France
– 7 successive popes resided at Avignon
– Damaged papal prestige
– Led to fiscal exploitation in Church
Great Western Schism (13771417)
1377: 2 popes elected – one in
Rome; one in Avignon
Conciliar Movement (1409-1418)
created a council of cardinals
more powerful than the pope;
Council of Constance (1414-18)
elected Martin V who reasserted
papal authority & ending Avignon
papacy
The Great Western Schism
Heretics
John Wyclif
Lollards
• churchmen should be poor
• church property taxable
• “every Christian a priest”
• Church out of secular matters
• Scripture only true source
Wyclif (founder) translated New
Testament into vernacular
English
• Taught faith not works
• Died 1384 but convicted
heresy 1428
Jan Hus
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Disciple of Wyclif
Hussites: large rebellions 14th C.
Burned at stake as heretic in 1415
“God will raise up man whose
calls for reform will not be
suppressed”
Joan of Arc
• Burned at the stake 1431 as a
witch
• Tried to unify France & expel
English occupiers
Jan Hus
Joan of Arc
1452: Communications Revolution
• Creation of the Roman
alphabet (based on
Greek) simplified ability
to read
• Printing press, paper,
and movable type more
useful to Europeans
because of simple
alphabet
• Gutenberg, 1452 1st
Bible