Download CHAPTER 10 The West in Crisis: The Later Middle Ages, 1300 – 1450

CHAPTER 10
The West in Crisis: The Later Middle Ages, 1300 – 1450
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I.
A Time of Death
Death by starvation and disease became the fate of millions as Europe’s population
plunged from about 74 million in 1300 to just 52 million by the 1340s, with the greatest
suffering falling on the poor, the very young, and the old.
A. Mass Starvation
Reaching the limits of its agricultural production, Europe by 1300 could no longer
continue to feed a growing population, resulting in widespread malnutrition, starvation,
and disease.
B. The Black Death
A savage epidemic, most likely bubonic plague, swept into Europe in 1348 and by 1351
had traveled as far as Russia, leaving in its wake approximately 20 million dead, or about
a third of Europe’s population.
II.
A Cold Wind from the East
Charging westward out of central Asia, Mongols and Turks put pressure on European
kingdoms and redrew the map of the West.
A. The Mongol Invasions
Highly skilled horsemen and warriors, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, the
Mongols transformed themselves from disunited tribes into a vast empire, which
eventually stretched from Korea to Hungary. Within their empire, the Mongols
reestablished the caravan routes that made trans-Eurasian trade possible, but the
fracturing of the Mongol empire in the fourteenth century hindered and eventually
destroyed this trade.
B. The Rise of the Ottoman Turks
At first mercenaries employed by the Mongols, outside of Mongolia itself the Muslim
Turks gradually became dominant, taking over central Asia. The most successful were
the Ottomans, whose dynasty lasted over 600 years, and whose empire continually
harassed a weakened Byzantium, overtaking the Balkans and eventually conquering
Constantinople in 1453, which was the end of the Byzantine Empire.
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III.
Economic Depression and Social Turmoil
In the fourteenth century, the economic expansion of the previous two centuries turned
into economic depression.
A. The Collapse of International Trade and Banking
Disorder in the Mongol Empire and pressure by the Ottoman Turks on Byzantium led to
a virtual collapse of overland luxury trade between east and west. This, in turn, caused
the collapse of Europe’s fledgling, and fragile, banking system.
B. Rebellions from Below
Despite a labor shortage created by the Black Death, the collapse of the luxury trade led
to a stagnation of urban workers’ wages. Governments made the situation worse by trying
to control wages and raise taxes, setting off revolts.
1. An Economy of Monopolies: Guilds
Medieval cities were controlled, politically and economically, by guilds, who
protected the interests of their trade or craft and whose regulations governed
virtually all aspects of their members’ lives. Their power and monopoly privileges
made them the focus of mounting social tension in a time of economic decline.
2. “Long Live the People, Long Live Liberty”
In Italy, the Netherlands, and France economic pressures caused workers to rebel,
demanding political rights and economic reforms. In the countryside, both France
and England experienced peasants’ revolts. None of these were successful, and
only the English peasants’ revolt in 1381 acted on a clear political vision of a
classless society.
IV.
A Troubled Church and the Demand for Religious Comfort
During an era of extreme suffering, people turned to religion, but the Church,
dangerously weakened in spiritual authority and moral leadership, was unable to provide
the solace people craved, leading them to seek alternatives.
A. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church and the Great Schism
Beginning in 1305, the popes voluntarily relocated from Rome to Avignon, known as the
Babylonian Captivity of the Church. There their subservience to the French kings
dangerously politicized the papacy and their lack of revenues led them into questionable
financial schemes. The determination of Pope Urban VI in 1378 to relocate the papacy in
Rome led to the Great Schism, which saw rival popes in Avignon and Rome. An attempt
to solve the problem of the Great Schism led to the Conciliar Movement, which argued
that a general council of the Church had greater authority than any pope, and thus was
competent to resolve the schism and initiate reform. The Great Schism was ended by the
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Council of Constance, which met between 1414 and 1417, but further reform by councils
was thwarted by popes who disliked any limitation on their authority.
B. The Search for Religious Alternatives
The weakened papacy was unable to control those who brought messages of direct
experience of God and a return to apostolic purity.
1. Protests Against the Papacy: New Heresies
Medieval religion was primarily sacramental, which emphasized the power of the
clergy over the laity. In a time of faulty clerical leadership, some reformers, such
as John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, argued for more equality between clergy and laity,
leading them to be condemned as heretics.
2. Imitating Christ: The Modern Devotion
Unable to find solace in the institutional Church, some turned to an intense,
deeply individual and internalized piety in a movement known as the Modern
Devotion, which mostly managed to avoid heresy, but whose emphasis on private
prayer and moral introspection in many ways presaged later Protestantism.
V.
An Age of Continuous Warfare
Europe was further weakened when the two largest and previously stable monarchies,
France and England, engaged in a prolonged conflict that drained resources and deepened
and lengthened the economic depression. The resulting desire to strengthen and control
military resources led monarchs to begin to transform feudal states into the beginnings of
modern ones.
A. The Fragility of Monarchies
Monarchy depended upon the support of aristocracy, but that aristocracy was protective
of its privileges and both weakened and occasionally threatened monarchy, especially
when weak kings combined with a disputed succession.
B. The Hundred Years’ War
The causes of this war sprang from the feudal relationship between the kings of England
and the kings of France, as well as differences between English and French royal
succession traditions, which resulted in the king of England having, in his view, a claim
to the French crown. This was not a continuous conflict but a series of occasional battles,
in which the French, numerically superior, usually fell victim to superior English
discipline and weaponry.
1. From English Victories to French Salvation
English successes, including the capture of the French king in battle, led to what
appeared to be English victory by 1420. Ruling France, however, proved more
difficult than conquering it. Beginning in 1429, the French rallied and, led by
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Joan of Arc, began to turn the tide against the English, leading to eventual French
victory in 1453.
2. The Hundred Years’ War in Perspective
Other European areas were occasionally drawn into this Anglo-French conflict, so
that at certain times this was a European-wide conflict. The war also prolonged
the Great Schism and helped hasten the decline of the economy. It devastated
France, adding to the death toll from the plague, and resulted in England
becoming more English, as the English aristocracy’s ties to France were broken.
C. The Military Revolution
This refers to the gradual replacement of heavily armored cavalry by disciplined infantry,
armed with new weapons such as the longbow and gunpowder. However, in order for this
infantry to be effective, armies became much more complex organizations and were
much more expensive, leading royal governments to pursue centralizing policies that lay
the foundations for the modern state.
VI.
The Culture of Loss
The anxiety produced by the widespread suffering of this era caused Europeans to be
preoccupied with death.
A. Reminders of Death
Death became a pervasive cultural theme, reminding people that life was fleeting and
death inevitable. Moralists emphasized ethical behavior and repentance, while they and
artists graphically depicted death and dying.
B. Illusions of a Noble Life
Seeking an escape from the reality of death, nobles indulged in fantasy worlds, especially
an intensified, otherworldly chivalry which was belied by both the lavish, often sensual
life-styles of the nobility and the nobles’ exercise of worldly power.
C. Pilgrims of the Imagination
Another form of escape was the pilgrimage, which became a model for creative literature.
1. Dante Alighieri and The Divine Comedy
One of the richest, most fantastic of these literary pilgrimages, The Divine
Comedy imagined a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.
2. Giovanni Boccaccio and The Decameron
In contrast to the loftiness of Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece, Boccaccio’s
collection of tales is a celebration of life in the face of death.
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3. Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer interwove the worldly and the spiritual in this collection of pilgrims’
tales.
4. Margery Kempe and The Autobiographical Pilgrimage
Understanding her own life as a spiritual pilgrimage, Margery Kempe dictated the
first autobiography in English to provide guidance to other pilgrims.
5. Christian De Pisan and Early Feminism
Neither escapist nor a spiritual pilgrimage, the works of Christine De Pisan
addressed the issues of the day, especially the cause of defending women in a
male-dominated society.
D. Defining Cultural Boundaries
During this period, systematic discrimination against certain ethnic and religious groups
increased as ever-higher levels of religious uniformity spread intolerance.
1. Spain: Religious Communities in Tension
Once home to thriving communities of Muslims, Jews, and Christians, the Later
Middle Ages saw the now-dominant Christian kingdoms becoming increasingly
intolerant, eventually outlawing the practice of Islam and forcing Jews to either
convert or face expulsion or murder.
2. German and Celtic Borderlands: Ethnic Communities in Tension
In Ireland as well as Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, ethnic divisions hardened,
with laws forbidding intermarriage and restricting citizenship or guild
membership.
3. Enemies Within
After the Black Death, vague biases and dislikes towards minorities hardened into
systematic persecution and violence, especially against Jews and alleged witches.
VII.
Conclusion: Looking Inward
In a catastrophic century, Europeans turned inward, as political and religious frontiers
shifted and Europeans sought to reinforce their identity as Christians as well as becoming
more aware of the country in which they lived. Thus people in the West began to think
more self-consciously in terms of “us” and “them.”
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TIMELINE
Insert the following events into the timeline. This should help you to compare important
historical events chronologically.
Reign of Mehmed II, “The Conqueror”
Hundred Years’ War
Battle of Agincourt
Reign of Genghis Khan
Life of Joan of Arc
Fall of Constantinople and death of last Byzantine emperor
Reign of Richard II of England
______ 1206-1227
______ 1337-1453
______ 1377-1399
______ 1412-1431
______ 1415
______ 1451-1481
______ 1453
TERMS, PEOPLE, EVENTS
The following terms, people, and events are important to your understanding of the chapter.
Define each one.
Bubonic plague
Guilds
Babylonian Captivity of the Church
Great Schism
Indulgences
Conciliar Movement
Hundred Years’ War
Modern Devotion
Black Death
Genghis Khan
Mehmed II, “The Conqueror”
Dante Alighieri
Giovanni Boccaccio
Geoffrey Chaucer
Reconquista
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MAP EXERCISE
The following exercise is intended to clarify the geophysical environment and the spatial
relationships among the important objects and places mentioned in this chapter. Locate the
following places on the map.
Venice
Genoa
Constantinople
Athens
Rome
Naples
Sicily
Pickup map from Kishlansky Study Guide, page 64
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MAKING CONNECTIONS
The following questions are intended to emphasize important ideas within the chapter.
1. What was the Black Death? How did it affect Europe socially and politically?
2. How did the residence of the papacy at Avignon and the Great Schism affect the Church?
What was conciliarism?
3. What were the causes of the Hundred Years’ War? Who won? What was the impact on
the two nations involved?
4. What role did the Hundred Years’ War play in the evolution of a modern military
apparatus in Europe? In what ways could it be said to mirror the transformation of the
state in this period?
5. What does the street play, “The Dance of Death,” tell us about the culture of loss that
permeated the late Middle Ages?
DOCUMENT QUESTIONS
1. In “Marco Polo and Tibetan Religion,” what would compel Marco Polo to determine that
the acts of the Bakhshi are “the arts of the Devil”?
2. In “Dante Describes Hell,” what does his description of the fate of frauds tell us about
medieval Christianity?
PUTTING LARGER CONCEPTS TOGETHER
1. To many Europeans living in the post-1350 Middle Ages, the events they witnessed
seemed to prestage the end of the world. How did the events of the later Middle Ages
reflect the four horsemen of the Apocalypse—famine, pestilence, war, and death. Were
they right? Was Europe fundamentally different in political and social structure as a
result of the catastrophes of the later Middle Ages?
2. How did forces outside Europe, in particular the Mongol and Ottoman Empires, affect
conditions in the West? Consider, too, the impact of internal strife on the continent. In
what ways did European states adapt to these changing circumstances?
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SELF-TEST OF FACTUAL INFORMATION
1.
Which statement about the Black Death is not true?
A.
B.
C.
D.
2.
Which statement about the Mongols is not true?
A.
B.
C.
D.
3.
It provided benefits for widows and injured workers.
It was open to everyone.
It set prices and wages within the craft.
It set standards for training and competence in the craft.
During the Babylonian Captivity the pope resided in
A.
B.
C.
D.
6.
Besieged Constantinople with an enormous cannon.
Used Constantinople as a base to threaten Christian Europe.
Kept the title “Roman Emperor” after capturing Constantinople.
All of these.
Which statement about a craft guild is not true?
A.
B.
C.
D.
5.
They overwhelmed enemies with massive armies.
They excelled as horsemen.
They swept across Asia and even into Russia and Hungary.
They maintained peace and order, thereby permitting a revival of trans-Eurasian
trade.
The Ottoman Empire
A.
B.
C.
D.
4.
It seemed to have no known cause at the time.
It began in Ireland and Britain in 1348 and spread to Italy by 1350.
It occurred after several major famines had already weakened Europe.
It killed one-third of Europe’s population.
Avignon.
Burgundy.
Siena.
Flanders.
The Great Schism refers to the
A.
B.
C.
D.
Conflict between church and state.
Theoretical difference between power and authority.
Period when there were two or more popes.
Division between Orthodox and Catholic Christianity.
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7.
The fifteenth-century best-seller Imitation of Christ
A.
B.
C.
D.
8.
Joan of Arc
A.
B.
C.
D.
9.
Besieged Orleans.
Dressed in distinctly feminine flowing robes.
Fought in the Wars of the Roses.
Became a symbol of French national pride.
A “harquebus” was a
A.
B.
C.
D.
10.
criticized corruption in monasteries.
denounced Pope John XXIII.
reflected Modern Devotion’s emphasis on individual piety.
described Cathari doctrines.
communion wafer.
pPilgrimage.
dance of death.
gun.
Which statement best describes Dante Aligheri’s Divine Comedy?
A.
B.
C.
D.
It presents an allegorical trip through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
It contains over 100 humorous or satirical short stories for entertainment.
It is an autobiography about pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Spain, and Germany.
It relates the heroism of Joan of Arc.
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