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Chapter 11
The Late Middle Ages:
Crisis and Disintegration in the Fourteenth Century
Spread of the Black Death
1. The origin of the Black Death was apparently in central Asia. It consisted of three elements: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicaemic plague. The
bubonic plague migrated west with the invading Mongols and rodents affected by ecological change. The most active carriers of the plague were
the Asian black rats that played host to the fleas that carried the bacillus. Pneumonic plague was a bacterial infection spread to the lungs. It was
more deadly than bubonic plague but occurred less frequently. Insects carried rare septicaemic plague that was extremely deadly. The plague
apparently arrived in Europe by Genoese merchant ships either from the Middle East or the Crimea, especially Caffa, which disembarked at
Messina in Sicily in October 1347. From here it spread across Sicily and then moved northward following the routes of trade. Within a year it had
reached England and by the end of 1550 the plague was in the Baltic.
2. Areas that lay outside the major trade routes (see Acetate 33, Map 10.1), such as Bohemia, appear to have been virtually unaffected.
3. The losses from the Plague were astonishing. Florence, Genoa, and Pisa with populations before the plague of nearly 100,000 suffered losses
of 50 to 60 percent. In England and northern France perhaps a third of the population died. Farming villages in northern France suffered mortality
rates of 30 percent and cities such of Rouen experienced loses of 30 to 40 percent. In Germany and England entire village disappeared. Overall,
assessments of those who died range from a quarter to half the population of Europe. This would place the loss at between 19 and 38 million (the
total population of Europe at this time is estimated at 75 million).
4. Among those shouldering the blame for the catastrophe were the Jews who were the object of pogroms, especially in Germany. One of the worst
was at Strasbourg in 1349 (see the text by Jacob von Könegshofen).
5. The plague did not end in 1351. There were major outbreaks again in 1361-1362 and 1369 and then recurrences every five or six to ten or twelve
years depending upon climatic and ecological conditions for the remainder of the fourteenth and all of the fifteenth centuries.
Questions:
1. What was the source of the Black Plague?
2. How was the plague transmitted so rapidly throughout Europe?
3. Why were some areas spared from the ravages of the plague?
Spread of the Black Death
 A Time of Troubles: Black Death and Social Crisis
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Change in weather patterns, 1315-1317
Famine, 1315-1317, 1330s, and 1340s
Black Death
 Bubonic plague
 Mongol migrations
 Yersinius Pestis
 50-60 percent death rate
 Pneumonic plague
 Plague arrives in Europe October, 1347
 European population decline 25 to 50 percent, 1447-1351;
thus, 19 to 38 million of 75 million
 From 1347 to 1450, 60 to 75 percent of the population
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Life and Death: Reactions to the Prague
 Flagellants
 Anti-Semitism
Economic Dislocation and Social Upheaval
 Noble landlords and peasants
 Wages
 Statute of Laborers, 1351
 Mobility
 Peasant Revolts
 Jacquerie, 1358
 English Peasant’s Revolt, 1381
The Hundred Year's War
1. Henry III (1216-1272) of England relinquished claims to all French territories previously held by the English monarchy except the duchy of
Gascony. As the duke of this territory, Henry pledged loyalty as a vassal to the French king. This presence would be a constant source of irritation
for the French.
2. Since Flanders was the chief market for English wool, England felt threatened when France began to intervene in the Dutch urban revolts
between artisans and wealthy merchants. Their fear was that the French would gain control of Flanders and then wreck the English wool trade.
3. The immediate cause of the war was the seizure of Gascony in 1337 by Philip VI (1328-1350) of France. This led the duke of Gascony, Edward
III (1327-1377) of England, to declare war.
4. In 1346 the English invaded Normandy and shortly thereafter met the forces of Philip IV at the battle of Crécy. The English victory was followed
by another resulting in the capture of the port of Calais.
5. The French suffered at the hand of the Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales, who ravaged the land between 1355 and 1357. In 1356 at
Poitiers he captured King John II (1350-1364) who was held in England for ransom. By the Peace of Brétigny (1359), the French paid John’s
ransom, Gascony was enlarged, John gave up feudal control over English lands in France, and Edward renounced his claims to the French throne.
6. The Peace of Brétigny was broken by Charles V (1364-1380) in 1364 as France went on the offensive and won back most of the French territory
except the coastline.
7. Another truce lasted from 1396 to 1415. In 1415 the French and English forces met at Agencourt resulting in an overwhelming English victory.
This was followed by the English conquest of Normandy.
8. The English cause in the war was aided by an alliance from 1419 to 1435 with Burgundy in east central France. The Burgundians captured mad
Charles V (1364-1380) of France and his capital, Paris.
9. After the death of Henry V (1413-1422) in 1422, Henry VI (1422-1461) was proclaimed by the English and Burgundians the king of France and
England.
10. By 1428 the English had laid siege to Orléans in order to gain access to the Loire valley. In 1429 this was lifted by Joan of Arc. The battle
proved to be decisive as France now went on the offensive. For the next two decades the English were pushed back as Normandy and Aquitaine
were recognized as French. By 1453 only Calis remained in English hands.
Questions:
1. Why were the English so successful in the first part of the war but unable to hold on to their gains in the second half of the war?
2. How was the Hundred Years' War one of nationalism for France?
The Hundred Years’ War
 Urban revolts
 Revolt of the ciompi in Florence, 1378
 Workers and peasants denied gains
 War and Political Instability
 Causes of the Hundred Years’ War, 1337-1453
 English claims to France
 Wool trade in Flanders
 Dispute over the right of succession in France
 Seizure of Gascony by the French, 1337
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Conduct and Course of the War
 Battle of Crécy, 1346
 Campaigns of the Black Prince (Edward, prince of
Wales), 1355-1357
 Battle of Agincourt, 1415
 Joan of Arc, 1429-1431
Political Instability
 Breakdown of traditional feudal institutions
 Land and military service replaced by contract
 Professional soldiers
 Lack of royal male heirs
 Financial problems of monarchs
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Growth of England’s Political Institutions
 Parliament
 House of Lords (Great Council of Barons)
 House of Commons
 Royal factionalism
Problems of French Kings
 Absence of national unity
 Estates-General – clergy, nobility, and the Third Estate
(everyone else)
 Taxes
 Insanity of Charles VI, 1380-1422
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German Monarchy
 Breakup of the German Empire
 Electorial system for monarchs
States of Italy
 Republicanism to despotism
 Growth of city-states
 Condottieri
 Milan
 Florence
 Venice
 Decline of the Church
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Boniface VIII and the Conflict with the State
 Boniface VIII, 1294-1303
 Unam Sanctam, 1302
 King Philip IV of France, 1285-1314
 French pope, Clement V, 1305-1314
 Papacy at Avignon, 1305-1377
 Church administration improved
 Use of excommunication
Great Schism, 1378-1415
 Papacy returned to Rome, 1378
 Pope Urban VI, 1378-1389
 Pope Clement VII, 1378-1409
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New Thoughts on Church and State and the Rise of
Conciliarism
 Marsiglio of Padua (1270?-1342)
 Defender of the Peace
 Denied temporal authority is subject to spiritual
authority
 Council of Pisa, 1409
 Pope Alexander V
 Three popes over the Roman church
 Council of Constance, 1414-1418
 Pope Martin V (1417-1431)
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Popular Religion in an Age of Adversity
 Performance of Good Works
 Mysticism and Lay Piety
 Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)
 Union of the soul and God
 Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)
 Preparation for the union
 Gerard Groote (1340-1384)
 Modern Devotion – imitate Jesus
 Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life
 Female mystics
Changes in Theology
 Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
 William of Occam (1285-1329)
 Only objects perceived by the senses are real
 Faith not reason
 The Cultural World of the Fourteenth Century
 Development of Vernacular Literature
 Dante (1265-1321), Divine Comedy
 Petrarch’s Sonnets to Laura
 Boccaccio (1313-1375), Decameron
 Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340-1400), The Canterbury Tales
 Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1430), Book of the City of
Ladies
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Art and the Black Death
 Giotto (1266-1337)
 Renaissance style
 The Ars Moriendi
 Society in an Age of Adversity
 Changes in Urban Life
 Sanitary ordinances
 Prostitution
 Family Life and Gender Roles
 Nuclear family
 Marriage
 Gender roles – women
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 Medieval children
 Schools
New Directions in Medicine
 Medical schools
 “Four humors” – blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile
 Surgeons
 Public health and sanitation
Inventions and New Patterns
 Mechanical clock
 Eyeglasses
 Gunpowder