Download Chapter 11, Section 1: A Time of Troubles: Black Death and Social

Chapter 11
The Later Middle Ages: Crisis and Disintegration in the Fourteenth Century
Chapter 11, Section 1: A Time of Troubles: Black Death and Social Crisis
1. Famine and Population
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Toward the end of the thirteenth century, Europe was affected by a “little ice age.”
o This caused a small drop in average temperatures which led to heavy rains from 13151317; this caused serious food shortages and thus famine.
 In the early 14th century, Europe’s population was large relative to agricultural
production capabilities; much marginal1 farmland was in use to support this
population. Heavy rains wiped out the marginal farmland.
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The loss of productive farmland led to less food for the population. Less food for the population
led, of course, to famine (massive starvation).
o The fact that Europeans were so weakened by this famine made them more susceptible to
many diseases.
2. The Black Death

The most devastating natural disaster in European history was the Black Death.
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Bubonic plague, the most common and most important form of plague in the time of the Black
Death, was spread by black rats infested with fleas who were host to the deadly bacterium Yersinia
pestis.
o The mortality reached 50-60 percent in some areas of Europe.
I. Spread of the Plague
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The rats originated in Asia and made their way to Europe by 1347.
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The Plague wiped out between 25-50 percent of the European population (between 19-38 million
dead in four years).
II. Life and Death: Reactions to the Plague
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Many saw the plague as a punishment from God.
o The flagellants wandered from town to town beating themselves to try to atone for
humanities’ sins and win God’s forgiveness.
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Others blamed groups of people for the Plague, especially Jews.
o Pogroms against Jews were especially fierce in Germany.
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The prevalence of death from the plague caused many to treat life as something cheap and passing.
3. Economic Dislocation and Social Upheaval
I. Noble Landlords and Peasants
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The plague wiped out a large percentage of the people who could work. Thus, the plague led to a
labor shortage.
o When there is a labor shortage, the people available for labor can charge more for their
services. Thus, peasant labor cost more for farm owners after the plague.

Less overall people also meant that less food was being eaten; thus there was lower demand for
food than before the plague.

The combination of these two economic factors led to a drop in the incomes of the people who
owned farmland: the aristocrats.

In mathematical form: Labor shortage/higher labor wages + falling demand for agricultural
products = lower aristocratic incomes

The Black Death had accelerated the process of freeing laborers (serfs) from the feudalism of the
Middle Ages. Aristocrats all throughout Europe tried to reverse this trend.
o In 1351, the English Parliament passed the Statute of Laborers. This statute attempted to
keep peasant wages low and to restrict peasant mobility (movement from place to place).
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low quality
II. Peasant Revolt in France

Peasants resisted the aristocratic legislation. In many places, they revolted.
o Jacquerie in France (1358)
III. An English Peasant Revolt
o English Peasants’ Revolt (1381)
IV. Revolts in the Cities

There were also revolts in the cities.
o Ciompi Revolt in Florence (1378)

In the end, although European peasants and workers made a valiant effort to free themselves of
their social “superiors,” they failed. All of the above named revolts failed to achieve their
immediate goals; but they provide early examples of challenges to established authority.
Chapter 11, Section 2: War and Political Instability
1. Causes of the Hundred Years’ War

Tense relations between England and France began when the Capetian 2 king died with no male
heir in 1328; the closest male heir was King Edward III of England.
o Rather than allow Edward III to rule France and England, the French nobility chose
Philip VI, a cousin of the previous Capetian king, as king of France.
 This angered Edward III since he thought of himself as the rightful heir to the
French crown.

Edward III was not just king of England; he also had claim to land on the French mainland,
Gascony. The French feudal system (similar to feudalism elsewhere) required that all lords of the
land recognize the superiority of the king of France. Since Edward III was lord of Gascony, he
was technically required to recognize the superiority of King Philip VI of France.

In 1337, Edward III refused to give this recognition to King Philip VI, believing himself to be the
true heir to the throne of France. The Hundred Years War began because of this kingly vanity.
2. Conduct and Course of the War

The French army had a more socially stratified army (nobles were divided from and looked down
upon the unpaid peasant foot soldiers).
o They relied on the crossbow, a powerful, but slow-to-operate archery weapon.

The English had a more socially egalitarian3 army (foot soldiers were more appreciated and paid).
o They relied on the longbow, a less powerful, but quick-to-operate weapon.
I. Early Phases of the War

Edward III’s early campaigns in France achieved little.

Edward III invaded Normandy in northern France in 1346. The French, led by Philip VI, attacked
the British at the Battle of Crécy. The British defeated the French.

Edward III and his son Edward, the Prince of Wales (the Black Prince) attacked the countryside,
wreaking havoc on the peasantry, and attempted to avoid battle with the French military.

In 1356, King John II of France attacked the Black Prince at the Battle of Poitiers. The French
were defeated again; this time, King John II himself was captured.
o Under the Peace of Brétigny, signed in 1359, the English gained lands in Gascony in
exchange for the return of King John II to the French.
 The Peace of Brétigny did not stop the fighting. By 1374, the French, led by
their new king, Charles V, recovered the lands that they had previously lost.

In 1396, a twenty year truce was negotiated.
II. Renewal of the War

In 1415, Henry V of Britain broke the truce by invading France.
o Immediately, in 1415, the French suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Agincourt.
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member of the Capet family, a family that had ruled the French throne for centuries.
equal
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o
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III.
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IV.
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Henry V went on to conquer all of Normandy (an area of northern France). Allying
himself with the duke of Burgundy, he forced the French king Charles VI to sign the
Treaty of Troyes in 1420, which gave the British control of all northern France.
By 1428, the British were moving into central France.
Joan of Arc
Born in 1412, Joan of Arc experienced religious visions at a young age. Citing these visions as a
sign from God, in 1429 Joan convinced the dauphin prince (future king) Charles to let her assist
the French armies.
Joan of Arc led the French armies on a turnaround. She inspired the French armies to retake
Orléans from the British; she then led a remarkable campaign through France, defeating the
British all the way.
She was captured by Burgundian army (the Duke of Burgundy was allied with the British), turned
over to the British in 1430, and burned at the stake as a witch.
End of the War
Joan of Arc’s accomplishments proved decisive.
The war went on for two more decades, but in the end the British retained only the city of Calais.
Officially, the war ended in 1453.
The Chinese invention of gunpowder, which made its way to Europe by the 14 th century, proved
enormously helpful to the French in expelling the British.
3. Political Instability

The feudal relationships of the past started to break down in lieu 4 of scutage.

In many places, nobles were constantly challenging each others’ and their king’s power.
Sometimes, new dynasties took power over older dynasties.
o Such a concentration on military readiness led to financial problems for many monarchs
in Europe.
 For example, armies paid by scutage payments were more expensive than feudal
armies. That being said, these more professional armies were also more
effective.
4. The Growth of England’s Political Institutions

Because Edward III constantly needed money to fight the Hundred Years War, he relied on
Parliament, a representative organization, to raise money. Because he relied on Parliament so
much, it gained power.
o Two houses of Parliament developed.
 House of Lords – composed of aristocrats and church leaders.
 House of Commons – composed of municipal leaders

Even though the House of Commons had some powers, it began as a
“lesser house.”

After Edward III’s death (he reigned for 50 years from 1327 – 1377), England began to experience
aristocratic factionalism (fighting between privileged people and their armies for power).
o Richard II ruled from 1377-1399, when Henry of Lancaster deposed and executed him.
Henry of Lancaster became Henry IV and ruled from 1399-1413.
5. The Problems of the French Kings

France had a weakness in that many nobles vied for power in a relentless struggle for power; in
other words, France was very divided.

The French representative body, called the Estates-General, was made up of three estates, or
bodies.
o The First Estate – the clergy
o The Second Estate – the nobility
o The Third Estate – everyone else.

Constantly at odds with the other two estates and the king, in 1357 the Third Estate made an
agreement with John II’s son, Charles: they agreed to pay a tax increase that went towards paying
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instead of or replaced by
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the British for the ransom of his father. In exchange, the Third Estate received future tax
considerations.
o John II and Charles reneged5 on this deal in 1358; the Estates General was crushed.
When John II’s son became King Charles V, he fought successfully against the British in the
Hundred Years War. This military success allowed him to expand his own monarchical powers.
Charles VI became king in 1380.
o Charles VI was insane; several months of his life were marked by his refusal to bathe;
also, he spent some time under the impression that he was made of glass. Since his
insanity made him weak, his rivals, especially the dukes of Burgundy and Orléans, fought
for his kingdom.
 When Henry V renewed the Hundred Years War, the French were in the midst
of this civil conflict.
 The Duke of Burgundy sided with the English while the Duke of
Orléans sided with the French monarch against the British.
6. The German Monarchy

Although the Holy Roman Empire, whose core consisted of the lands of Germany, existed as an
institution, the lands within it were divided into hundreds of virtually independent states. In other
words, it was not at all a united empire.
I. Electoral Nature of the German Monarchy

The Golden Bull, issued in 1356 by Emperor Charles IV, ensured that the Holy Roman Emperor
was elected by seven individuals.
o This ensured that the emperor always owed his authority to others; because of this, he had
little real power.
7. The States of Italy

Italy, which failed to develop a centralized monarchy, was divided into many small states and citystates.

In fourteenth century Italy, two general tendencies can be discerned: 6
1. The replacement of republican governments by tyrants.
2. The expansion of larger states and city-states at the expense of smaller ones.
I. Duchy of Milan

Milan and its surrounding areas were ruled by the Visconti family, who established themselves as
hereditary despots.7
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Giangaleazzo Visconti purchased the title of duke from the Holy Roman Emperor in 1395.
II. Republic of Florence
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The government of Florence was dominated by the popolo grasso, or “fat people.”
o These popolo grasso established a new constitution called the Ordinances of Justice.
 The Ordinances of Justice provided for a republican government run by seven
major guilds.
 Eventually, other guilds managed to work their way into the government.

By 1382, however, the popolo grasso were back in control of the Florentine government.
o The popolo grasso called Florence a republic, but it was really an oligarchy.8
III. Republic of Venice

In the constitution of 1297, patricians 9 took control of the Venetian government, giving political
power to the Great Council.
o The Great Council gave political power to about two hundred families.

The Venetian government was respected by its contemporaries10 for being extremely stable.
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to take back
seen
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tyrants
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government run by a few individuals
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nobles
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people who lived at the time in question
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Chapter 11, Section 3: The Decline of the Church

The Roman Catholic Church wanted both spiritual and temporal11 authority in Europe. This
brought the papacy into conflict with European monarchs.
1. Boniface VIII and the Conflict with the State

In the late 13th century, King Philip IV of France attempted to tax clergymen living in France.
o Boniface VIII believed that no secular ruler should have the right to tax clergymen, even
if those clergymen lived in their kingdom.
o In 1302, Boniface VIII issued the Unam Sanctam which called for papal superiority in all
temporal matters. He then excommunicated Philip.
o Philip responded by kidnapping Boniface. Boniface was retrieved by Italian nobles, but
died soon after from the shock he suffered from the experience.
o Philip then put pressure on the College of Cardinals (the group of church leaders who
elect the new pope) to elect a French pope; they did in Clement V.
 Rather than live in Rome, Clement V decided to live in Avignon in the Holy
Roman Empire, just across the border from France.

Thus, Philip asserted his power over the pope and got away with it.
2. The Papacy at Avignon (1305-1377)

Although they developed an efficient bureaucracy, the Avignonese papacy became a symbol of
French abuse.
o All seven of the Avignonese and 113of the 134 new cardinals created by the papacy were
French. Many believed that the French monarchy controlled the Avignon papacy.
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Among others, Catherine of Siena beseeched 12 Pope Gregory XI to move the papacy back to
Rome.
3. The Great Schism

In 1377, Pope Gregory XI, perhaps realizing that the papacy was losing power and that a drastic
change was needed, moved the papacy back to Rome.

In 1378, Pope Gregory XI died. Under threat of death from Roman mobs to elect an Italian as the
new pope, the College of Cardinals elected Urban VI, an Italian, as pope.
o Pope Urban VI took up residence in Rome.

Once the Cardinals in the College were freed by the Roman citizens, the French Cardinals in the
College decreed13 that their election of Urban VI was coerced and that, therefore, it should not
count.
o They immediately elected Clement VII, a Frenchman, as Pope of the “real” Catholic
Church. Clement VII took up residence in Avignon while Urban VI remained in Rome.
 There were two popes living in two cities. This is the Great Schism.

France, Spain, Scotland, and southern Italy supported Clement, while England, the Holy Roman
Empire, Scandinavia, and most of Italy supported Urban.
o Both popes denounced the other pope as the antichrist.
 As happens when a person’s faith is shaken, people in Latin Christendom
responded to the idea of two popes with uncertainty, fear, and anger.
4. New Thoughts on Church and State and the Rise of Conciliarism

Marsiglio of Padua wrote Defender of the Peace, in which he called for ecclesiastical 14 authority
in only spiritual affairs, and not in temporal affairs. Moreover, he proposed that final authority
should rest not with the pope, but with a representative general church council. This idea is called
conciliarism.
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secular or non-religious
begged
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officially stated
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church
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I. The Conciliar Movement

In 1409, realizing that the church was losing influence because of this crisis, both popes cardinals’
(both Colleges of Cardinals) decided to call a council in Pisa to elect a new pope. At the Council
of Pisa, the cardinals decided to depose the two current popes and elect a new pope, Alexander V.
o The two original popes refused to step down. There were now three popes!

The Colleges of Cardinals having failed in their attempt to resolve this crisis, leadership now
passed to the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund.
o Sigismund called the Council of Constance from 1414-1418. While there, all three popes
resigned or agreed to step down. The Council then elected Martin V as the new, and
only, pope. The Great Schism was over.
5. Popular Religion in an Age of Adversity

All of the problems with the church led to a popular loss of faith in the institutional church, but not
to loss of interest in Christianity itself.
o The Black Death led people to become preoccupied with death and the afterlife.
o Popular religion placed an emphasis on a mechanical path to salvation. It became
popular to believe that a certain amount of penance and/or good deeds could speed up the
path to heaven for oneself or for deceased loved ones.
I. Mysticism and Lay Piety

Mysticism, the idea that one can experience oneness with God, became a popular notion during
the fourteenth century.

The Modern Devotion, founded by Gerard Groote in the Netherlands, stressed the idea that people
should seek to imitate Jesus and lead lives dedicated to serving the needs of fellow human beings.
o The spread of Modern Devotion schools and ideas into Germany attests to the strength of
Christian spirituality even if the church had lost credibility.
II. Unique Female Mystical Experiences

A number of females, the most famous of whom was Catherine of Siena, had supposedly mystical
religious experiences.
o Fasting and then eating the Eucharist (a piece of bread that supposedly contains the body
of Jesus) was a popular way to express mystical belief.
6. Changes in Theology

Through the idea of nominalism, William of Occam asserted that faith cannot be proved
scientifically; specifically, the only things that can be tested and understood scientifically are those
which can be sensed (seen, smelled, etc.).
o Nominalism had a lasting influence on rational analysis. Additionally, it weakened the
synthesis of faith and reason that had characterized the later Middle Ages.
Chapter 11, Section 4: The Cultural World of the Fourteenth Century
1. The Development of Vernacular Literature

Although Latin remained the official language of the church and states of Europe, the fourteenth
century witnessed the growth of vernacular languages. 15 The writing down of these languages by
different authors contributed to their preservation and growth.
I. Dante (1265-1321)

Dante wrote the Divine Comedy in Italian vernacular.
o In the “Inferno,” one part of the Divine Comedy, Dante is led by his guide, the classical
author Virgil, on a tour of hell.
II. Petrarch (1304-1374)

Petrarch wrote sonnets to Laura, the married woman whom he loved, in the Italian vernacular.
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refers to the language of a local area. Specifically, Latin split into five vernacular languages: French,
Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian. Additionally, different dialects (versions of the same
language) developed throughout the individual states.
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In his writing, Petrarch examined his own thoughts and feelings; this reveals a sense of
individuality stronger than in any previous medieval literature.
III. Boccaccio (1313-1375)

Boccaccio wrote the Decameron. Set at the time of the Black Plague, the Decameron reflects an
acceptance of basic Christian values; however, Boccaccio does also occasionally present society
from a secular point of view.
IV. Chaucer (1340-1400)

Geoffrey Chaucer helped form the English vernacular in The Canterbury Tales.
o In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer portrayed many different elements of society, writing,
for example, the Friar (representing the church) as a corrupt and self-indulgent character.
V. Christine de Pizan (1364-1430)

Feminist author Christine de Pizan helped develop French vernacular in The Book of the City of
Ladies.
o In The Book of the City of Ladies, she lambasts the idea that men are superior to women
and urges women to defend themselves against the ravages of men.
2. Art and the Black Death

Giotto (1266-1337), a Florentinian, Giotto painted to imitate nature. This realistic style represents
one of the first instances of Renaissance style art.

Francisco Traini based his art on ars moriendi, the art of dying. Ars moriendi reflects the fact that
the Black Death had seeped its way into the art world.
Chapter 11, Section 5: Society in an Age of Adversity
1. Changes in Urban Life

The Black Death motivated city-governments to place greater regulation on urban activities.
o New ordinances16 against waste products in the streets were put in effect in an attempt to
clean cities.
o Prostitution was regulated so as to create taxable income for the city governments. It also
served to give restless men a sexual outlet.
I. Family Life and Sex Roles in Late Medieval Cities

The basic unit of the medieval family was the nuclear family: husband, wife, and children.

Before the Black Death, late marriages were common; after the Plague, people began to marry
younger, reflecting both new economic opportunities and a new reluctance to postpone living in
the presence of so much death.
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Trained in the Aristotle-tradition, professionals in the universities of Europe learned that men were
naturally domineering while women were naturally submissive.
o This led to legal systems that limited the legal capacities of women.
II. Medieval Children

Urbanite parents of the later Middle Ages placed great importance on educating their young.
Emphasis was also placed on effective hospitals for children.
2. New Directions in Medicine

The medical field during the Middle Ages was very hierarchical: physicians were above surgeons
who were above midwives, barber-surgeons, and apothecaries.

When the Black Plague hit Europe, the medical community was unprepared.
o As a result of the plague, surgeons, since they had much practical knowledge, were given
as much prominence as physicians.
o Medical textbooks were re-written in vernacular languages.
o City governments gave greater attention to public health legislation.
3. Inventions and New Patterns
I. The Clock
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laws
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III.
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Throughout most of the Middle Ages, time was determined by natural rhythms (daybreak and
nightfall) or church bells that were rung about every three hours.
Clocks made it possible to plan one’s day more accurately and to live life with more regularity.
Eyeglasses and Paper
Eyeglasses made their first appearance in the fourteenth century.
Paper greatly improved in quality during the fourteenth century.
Gunpowder and Cannons
Invented earlier by the Chinese, gunpowder greatly influenced future European warfare.
Gunpowder, along with cannons, made castles, city walls, and armored knights obsolete.
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