Download 5. The Black Death 1347-1353

AP European Civilization
Optional Summer Assignment
The following summer assignments are optional but strongly recommended. During the first weeks of class,
we will be studying the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This is a large historical time period with a lot of
information. By completing these assignments during the summer, students will be better prepared to handle
the increased work load associated with an advanced placement course. These assignments will be given for a
grade during the first week of the school year. If you do not complete them during the summer, you will
complete them then. There will be no penalty if you choose to wait until they are assigned in the school year.
1. Read the following document provided below: MEDIEVAL EUROPE:FROM THE FALL OF ROME TO THE
RENAISSANCE. Use the provided outline to take notes on the article.
2. Read Chapter 12 on the Renaissance and take notes in Cornell Note (See example) format. Please try to
summarize the information and only write down the most important facts. Use the questions at the
very beginning of each section to guide you. Outlines must be handwritten. (Typed notes not allowed)
3. The following map activities are also homework assignments in the first week of class and it takes a
good amount of time to complete. Completing them over the summer will be another way to minimize
your homework load in the beginning of the course and it will familiarize you with the locations of the
countries we will be focusing on throughout the course.
Here are some links to help you complete the maps:
http://www.europe-atlas.com/europe-physical.htm
http://www.mapsofworld.com/europe-political-map.htm
Cornell Notes Example:
In the left column, you
will be doing specific
interactions with your
notes in class.
Level 2 Question: Write the focus question provided in the textbook at the
beginning of the section here.
1. Outline notes on the Section
A. You may use any lettering or numbering for your notes
organization.
B. You may even just bullet facts.
C. Make sure you include concrete details, definitions of terms,
dates, people…
Summary: Write a summary sentence (22 words or less) that answers the
Level 2 question/focus question that you put at the beginning of your
notes.
Happy Reading!
Pre-Renaissance History Summary
Reading Outline: Fill in outline by defining and explaining the significance of the following terms.
1. The Fall of Rome
a. Roman Empire: 200 B.C. – 476 A.D. Roman Empire dominated Europe and Near East
b. Reasons for fall = internal political corruption; large empire hard to maintain economically, high
cost of warfare, social problems including immorality, religious and ethnic strife
c. Germanic tribes
d. Byzantine Empire
e. Dark Ages
f. Angles and Saxons
g. Franks
h. Charlemagne
2. Feudalism
a. Lord
b. Vassal
c. Fief
d. Serf
e. Manor (manorialism)
3. The Crusades
a. Muslims
b. Trade
c. Money
d. Decline of feudalism
4. Hundred Years' War
a. Causes of the war
b. Events that hindered course
c. Outcomes of war
5. The Black Death 1347-1353
a. Pandemic
b. How did it spread
c. Buboes
d. Impact on society
e. Theory of Contagion
6. The Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages
a. St. Thomas Aquinas
b. Scholasticism
c. Church hierarchy (Pope, bishops, priests…)
d. Anticlericalism
e. The Papacy at Avignon
f. The Great Schism
g. Council of Pisa
h. Council of Constance
i. Martin V
7. Conclusion
a. Renaissance
b. Humanism
Pre-Renaissance History Summary
MEDIEVAL EUROPE: FROM THE FALL OF ROME TO THE RENAISSANCE
A BACKGROUND READING LINKING CLASSICAL TO MODERN TIMES
1. The Fall of Rome
From approximately 200 B.C. to 476 A.D., the "civilized" areas of Europe and the Near East were dominated,
ruled, and imprinted with a lasting influence from the Roman Empire. At its greatest extent, the Roman
Empire stretched east to include Greece, Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia; it stretched south to
encompass Africa north of the Sahara from Egypt to the Atlantic; and, it stretched north and west in Europe
with its frontiers on the Danube and the Rhine and included Great Britain south of Scotland and Hadrian's
Wall. This great empire crumbled for a variety of reasons including: internal political corruption; economic and
social difficulties arising from ruling such a vast territory; the high cost of warfare to maintain the empire;
labor surplus problems largely caused by slavery; overindulgence by the citizenry; and immorality, indolence,
and reduced production causing heavy public welfare expenses. Religious and ethnic strife caused division of
the people of Rome from within while Germanic tribes invaded the Empire from the North and East. The fall of
Rome actually occurred gradually over a period of many years, but is usually set at 476 A.D., the year a
German chieftain, Odoacer, seized the city and proclaimed himself emperor.
Although the Western Roman Empire and the government in Rome itself fell, the Empire lived on in the East.
The Emperor Diocletian (reigned, 284-305) divided and reformed the Empire during his reign to increase
administrative efficiency. The Emperor Constantine (reigned, 324-337) had erected a new capital on the site of
the Greek city of Byzantium, which controlled the passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, calling it
Constantinople. Theodosius I (r. 378-395) was the last emperor to actually rule both portions of the Empire.
The Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire contained more diverse nationalities than the West. The dominant language
of the Byzantine Empire was Greek rather than Latin and it featured a much stronger influence from
Hellenistic, Semitic, and Persian cultures. The Byzantine Empire contained most of the Roman Empire's rich
commercial centers including Alexandria, Athens, and Damascus, as well as Constantinople. While Rome and
the western Empire fell, the Byzantine Empire survived at Constantinople (the modern city of Istanbul) until
1453 when it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. Only then did the city cease to be the cultural and
economic center of Byzantine rule in the East.
During the centuries of Roman rule, all of the civilized European world was united under a single government.
(The Romans called everyone who was not a Roman a barbarian.) When Rome fell, that union also vanished:
For centuries there was no unity and there were no nations as we know them today. As the many nomadic
Germanic tribes from northern Europe moved across the continent during this period, sometimes called the
"Dark Ages", what political organization did exist in Europe was based on the tribal organization of these
peoples. Only a few of these tribes were of much lasting importance. The Angles and Saxons established their
rule and culture in Great Britain (hence the name "Angleland") and the Franks (as in "France") dominated
northern and western Europe. The Vandals are remembered for their especially destructive behavior, and the
word Gothic (from the Goths) was later used to describe these tribes collectively.
Charlemagne (French for Charles the Great) was King of the Franks from 768-814 and was able to unite most
of Western Europe into the Frankish Kingdom which lasted from 800-860. On Christmas Day, 800 A.D., after
restoring Pope Leo III (reigned, 795-816) in Rome from which he had been driven by invaders, Charlemagne
(reigned, 768-814) was crowned by the Pope as "Emperor of the Romans". From that point until it was
dissolved in 1806 by Napoleon, this Frankish Kingdom was known as the Holy Roman Empire.
At this time in history, without modern communication methods and with travel more difficult and hazardous
than ever, it was difficult even for good rulers to maintain strict control over wide-spread lands. Thus,
governing rested mainly in the hands of the local nobility. When Charlemagne died, his empire passed to his
son, Louis I, "the Pious" (reigned, 814-840), who in turn divided the empire among his three sons in the Treaty
of Verdun in 843 A.D. These sections roughly became the main divisions of Western Europe we find today:
France, Germany and the middle kingdom of northern Italy. However, Charlemagne's grandsons, the rulers of
these three kingdoms were less than competent. Between their poor rule and the continuing invasions of
Europe by Muslims, Slavs, Magyars and Vikings (or Norsemen), Charlemagne's empire was lost except in name
and tradition.
2. Feudalism
After the breakup of Charlemagne's empire, European political organization was characterized by weak kings
and strong nobles or lords who ruled their estates rather independently. This kind of political organization is
known as feudalism. Feudalism was also a social and economic organization based on a series of reciprocal
relationships. The king in theory owned the land which he granted to lords who in return would give service,
usually in the form of military aid, to the king. Each of these lords was part of the nobility and therefore above
the level of true labor. The actual farming and other necessary labor on the land were performed by serfs who
were bound to the land and actually transferred from one landlord to another with its title. They produced the
necessities of the estate. In return, they received protection by the nobles and a share of the produce of the
land. The serf was not a slave in the true legal sense, for a class of slaves, usually non-Christian prisoners, did
exist. A small class of free men also existed having won their freedom for themselves and their descendants
for service to some past lord. They usually performed the special skills of craftsmen, artisans, and merchants
and were the beginning of a middle class.
During the Middle Ages, warfare was almost constant between lords who fought for power, land, or wealth.
Probably hardest hit by this near-constant warfare were the serfs whose homes and fields were often the
scenes of battles and suffered the damages. Indeed, the very slave-like status of the serf was due to his need
for protection from this warfare. Feudal manors provided both political and social organization, as mentioned
above. They also were individual economic units, nearly self-sufficient due to medieval warfare, the difficulties
of travel, and the resultant lack of trade. The feudal estate featured a manor-home, usually a fortified castle
surrounded by protective walls, belonging to the lord, surrounded by fields, herds and villages where serfs
lived and worked. The serfs by their labor provided everything needed on the estate.
An important economic characteristic of the period was the decline in travel, communication and trade. Under
the Roman Empire, there had been a great amount of trade between the widespread areas of the Empire.
Legions patrolled the roads and the roads linked the provinces. After the fall of Rome, with no government to
supply protection or to keep the roads and bridges repaired, travel became difficult and dangerous. This
danger, coupled with ignorance and lack of desire to change the situation by the powerful lords, whose
manors required little trade, led to the decline in travel and trade.
One reason for the early Middle Ages being designated as the Dark Ages is that education and learning also
declined. People were busy with their roles in life. There was no government to sponsor education. Because of
the lack of trade and travel, contact with the scholars of the ancient world was lost. However, while civilization
in Europe declined, learning and discovery was progressing in Asia and the Middle East. Europeans were
about to rediscover the wealth and more advanced civilizations of Asia.
3. The Crusades
Feudal Europe was a self-perpetuating society for almost a millennium. The lack of learning and education and
the lack of travel and trade tended to keep society as it was. Even if new ideas, products, and methods were
discovered, they were not widely introduced. More than any other factor, it was a series of religious wars
known as the Crusades that were responsible for bringing Europe out of the Dark Ages into the high Middle
Ages and eventually the Modern Age. These wars were fought by northern European Christian lords and kings
who were responding to a call from Pope Urban II (reigned, 1088-1099) to drive the Muslims from the Holy
Land in Palestine after the Turks began to restrict religious pilgrimages and persecute Christians in the Middle
East. The threat from invading tribes had lessened along with the opportunity to gain new lands. Also, the
Pope promised salvation to all who fought in these religious wars. Many of these lords went to the Middle
East to fight for God and glory. The Crusades went on over a period of time beginning in 1095 and lasting for
over 300 years. They were militarily unsuccessful, and many of the soldiers seemed more interested in looting
and fortune hunting. Also, the native Muslims proved a formidable foe. However, the Crusades were a turning
point in the history and development of Europe. The Crusades brought tremendous economic, social, and
political changes to Europe. First, trade was gradually re-established. During the Crusades, soldiers brought
back many of the products of the East including spices and textiles. As Europeans became more and more
accustomed to having these luxuries, they began to expand their trade. With increasing trade, there came a
need for new products to sell and people to carry on these transactions. Therefore, a whole new class in
society was created: the merchants and craftsmen of the middle class. Cities also began to grow as centers of
population and trade. Venice, Genoa, and Pisa in Italy became great port cities as the trade between the
Middle East and Western Europe passed through them. Italy thus became the gateway to Europe in the late
Middle Ages. Neither the independently wealthy cities nor the growing, newly wealthy, but non-noble, middle
class fit into the political or social structure of feudalism. Land had been the only real source of wealth in the
Middle Ages. However, the expanding use of money for trade made land ownership less important, as land
does not bring wealth unless it produces a surplus for sale. Thus, the feudal system was breaking down and
would eventually be replaced. The only question was what way of life would arise to take the place of this
long-entrenched system. Feudalism had dominated Europe politically, socially and economically since the
return of order after the fall of Rome.
4. Hundred Years' War
The 100 Years’ War (1337-1453) extended over the reigns of five English and five French kings who fought for
control of France. This struggle between England and France actually consisted of a succession of wars broken
by truces and treaties. The war had several contributing causes. Efforts of the French kings to control the
English-held province of Guyenne in southwest France angered the English. The French supported the Scots
against England, and the French attempted to control Flanders and the English wool trade there. English and
French sailors and fishermen quarreled over rights in the English Channel.
The war began in 1337. That year, King Philip VI of France declared he would take over Guyenne, and King
Edward III of England, whose mother was the sister of three French kings, claimed the French throne.
In the fighting that followed, the English won most of the battles. But the French won the war. English
resources were about a third as great as those of the French. Several events hindered the course of the war.
These events included peasant rebellions; pillaging in France by unemployed soldiers; outbreaks of plague,
now known as the Black Death, which struck both countries; and a peasants' revolt in England in 1381. The
war weakened the powers of the nobility and strengthened centralized government in both countries. The war
also marked the decline of feudalism, the rise of French unity, the development of new military tactics, and
the growth of English sea power.
English archers and infantry won the war's greatest victory in the Battle of Crecy (1346). The English also won
the Battle of Poitiers (1356). The Treaty of Bretigny in 1360 began a brief period of peace. But Henry V of
England renewed the fighting and emerged triumphant at the Battle of Agincourt (1415). The Treaty of Troyes
in 1420 made Henry V heir to the French crown.
After Henry V died in 1422, the French disputed the English claim to the throne, and war flared. By 1428, the
English had swept through northern France and laid siege to Orleans. Joan of Arc led a French army and ended
the siege in 1429. She became a prisoner of the English, who later burned her to death. The French continued
to win battles. By 1453, England had lost all its territory on the continent of Europe, except Calais. The French
took Calais in 1558.
5. The Black Death
The pandemic of bubonic plague that swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353 is known today as the
Black Death, though contemporaries called it the "Great Pestilence," and the disease itself was generally
known as peste. During these years, plague affected the lives of all Europeans, and killed nearly half of them.
Its impact was enormous, not only because of the tremendous loss of life, but because of the pessimism, fear,
suspicion, and even persecution of Jews (who were blamed for the disease) that followed.
In the long term, the Black Death may have increased economic opportunities and promoted a higher
standard of living for those who survived. Its rapid spread gave rise to the medical theory of contagion. This
scientific observation, in fact, is one reason that the epidemic is often cited as a turning point from the
medieval era to the Renaissance.
Plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is usually a disease of rats, not of man. Named for Alexander
Yersin, the nineteenth-century scientist who first isolated it, the bacillus is found naturally in rodent
populations, among which a small number of cases at any given time is common. Occasionally, however, the
disease becomes endemic, killing off large numbers of rats. When this happens, the rat flea, Xenopsylla
cheopis, which normally feeds on rodent hosts, turns to people instead. Their bite transmits the plague from
infected rat to man.
In medieval times, plague was most often carried by the common black rat, Rattus rattus, which lived among
the populace, feeding on grain stores and other foodstuffs. Some historians argue that the human flea, Pulex
irritans, may also have played a significant role in transmitting the disease, as it will feed on any available
blood source, moving indiscriminately between rats and humans.
Symptoms of plague develop quickly after infection. In man, the disease takes one of three forms: bubonic
(involving the lymphatic system), pneumonic (centered in the respiratory system), and septicemic (involving
the blood-stream).
The best-known symptom of bubonic plague were buboes—hard, extremely painful, swollen lymph nodes—
which filled with blood and pus, turned black, and often burst, giving the disease its common name. The
buboes were accompanied by a high fever, headache, chills, body aches, and sensitivity to light. At least half
the people who contracted this form of the plague died.
Those who suffered from pneumonic plague usually had no buboes, but their lungs filled with fluid and blood,
and they too endured raging fevers, sweats, and pain. Almost no one survived infection with this form, and
unlike bubonic plague, pneumonic plague could be transmitted directly from one person to another. The
septicemic form of the disease, which occurred when the bacillus invaded the blood stream, often killed its
victims so quickly that symptoms rarely even had time to develop.
Impact
The plague wreaked enormous and long-lasting consequences. After the initial pandemic, known as the Black
Death, it remained an active health threat for over 500 years. (The last pandemic started in Asia in 1894; by
the time it ended in 1908, over 6 million people had died.) In the centuries that followed, port cities were
most often affected, but all areas faced at least some risk. Subsequent epidemics prompted many negative but
predictable reactions, including fear, blame, suspicion, and isolation.
Firsthand accounts of the Black Death refer repeatedly to the social breakdown that occurred as people tried
to protect themselves, neglecting traditional ties and obligations to friends, neighbors, and even children and
family. Plague victims and their families were isolated, sometimes even walled up inside their houses and left
to die. It is clear that contemporaries were profoundly fearful, not only of the disease itself, but of the changes
it produced in morality, beliefs, and social relations.
The people of the time believed that one or more factors had caused the plague, particularly divine
punishment for mankind's sin. Many communities prayed, made pilgrimages, and held ritual processions in
attempts to appeal for God's mercy. Patron saints of plague victims emerged, the first being the ancient
martyr Saint Sebastian; later Saint Roch, himself a victim of the disease, was canonized. An extreme religious
group, the flagellants, roamed the cities and towns of Central Europe holding public confessions and
performing displays of piety in which they used whips, known as flagella to scourge themselves.
The most extreme response to the terror of the plague was the scapegoating of Jews, who were rumored to
have poisoned communal wells to spread disease. This produced a hysterical campaign of ferocious violence
against Jewish communities, many of which were entirely destroyed in mass executions.
An important result of the Black Death was the development of a crude theory of contagion. Until the advent
of germ theory in the nineteenth century, disease was believed to result from an imbalance of the four basic
humors within the body (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile or choler). The humoral theory held that
just as the world was composed of four basic elements (earth, air, fire, water), the human body was composed
of four constituents, called humors, which were maintained in individual proportions in each body. Since
disease was thought to result from humoral imbalance, there was little thought that one person could "give"
disease to another.
When plague began to spread in the mid-fourteenth century, observation and experience seemed to point to
a form of contagion. The disease spread quickly within households, often taking entire families. Those in
closest contact to the sick, such as caretakers, clergy, and medical professionals were frequently the next to
fall ill, seemingly because of their simple proximity to the disease. Thus, a belief in the transmissibility of
plague developed long before a formal medical theory was proposed. It was not until 1546 that the Italian
physician Girolamo Fracastoro (c. 1478-1553) argued that illness could be spread directly from person to
person via "seeds" that could travel short distances or become embedded in textiles for longer trips.
This belief in contagion reinforced people's natural tendency to flee in the face of in impending epidemic, but
it also gave weight to municipal responses that emphasized exclusion and isolation. By the late fourteenth
century, the Italian town of Ragusa required arriving ships to wait at sea for a period of 40 days in order to
confirm the health of the crew. Thus the quarantine (from the Italian quaranti giorni, or 40 days) was born. In
subsequent decades, cities and towns began to restrict entry in times when plague threatened, often requiring
health "passports" for admittance. Once plague broke out within cities, they employed a practice of isolation,
building plague hospitals, called lazarettos, outside the city walls and placing those diagnosed with the disease
in them, using force if necessary. While certainly a rational response to contagion, it did little to prevent the
movement of rats and their fleas, which continued to roam the city freely.
If any good can be said to have come from the Black Death, it's that those who survived were able to improve
their place in society afterward. The tremendous loss of population created much economic opportunity, and
many scholars believe that it hastened the end of serfdom by making labor both scarce and valuable. The
plague's most surprising result, however, was the intellectual and artistic flowering of the Renaissance, which
followed quickly on its heels. The intellectuals who emerged as the first generation of Renaissance humanists,
such as Frances Petrarch (1304-1377), were survivors of the Black Death; their successors continued to strive
and achieve despite the constant threat of plague.
6. The Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages
The Roman Catholic Church was the only center of knowledge during the Middle Ages and learning was mostly
religion-centered. True scholarship lived on in the monasteries where devout monks had withdrawn from the
corruption and violence of the outside medieval world. There they preserved the ancient writings of the
advanced civilizations of Greece and Rome. This treasure trove of knowledge from the Classical Age awaited
its discovery by people in the future who cared more for these achievements. The dominant philosophy of the
late Middle Ages was best articulated by St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) and known as scholasticism.
Although Aquinas' scholasticism attempted to reconcile all new knowledge with accepted Christian dogma, it
ran into many problems. Learning emerged from the Dark Ages and the long conflict between science and
religion was about to begin. Under scholasticism, if reason and religious dogma clashed, reason must always
give way because religious knowledge was considered to be without error. In fact, nearly everything in feudal
Europe seemed to be religiously centered. Religion and the after-life became the focal point of thought and
living. The influence of religion can also clearly be seen in the art, architecture, literature, and music of the
time. Perhaps because life was so hard on earth, the peasants endured it concentrating on and longing for
their reward in the afterlife.
The Roman Catholic Church remained the only stable and unifying institution left over from the old Roman
days and therefore came to dominate the lifestyle of the feudal era. The late-medieval church was vast and
complex, the single largest and most diverse political institution of the Renaissance. In theory, the church's
governmental structure was a pyramid in which the papacy sat at the top. The pope and his officialdom at
Rome supervised the activities of scores of bishops and archbishops throughout Europe, who, in turn, oversaw
thousands of priests and their parishes. Numerous religious orders of monks, nuns, and friars scattered
throughout Europe often stood outside the structure of the provinces of the church known as diocese. Over
the centuries, these orders had amassed significant wealth, and many enjoyed exemptions from the control of
Europe's bishops and archbishops. Most owed allegiance to their order, which the papacy ultimately
supervised; that tie could be tenuous when hundreds of miles separated an abbey or a monastery from the
church's capital. The administrative complexities of the Roman Church may have been considerable, but so
were the numerous roles the institution fulfilled in society. In the spiritual realm, the church provided a
necessary link between God and humankind by virtue of its performance of the sacraments and rituals. For the
orthodox, there was no salvation outside the church. In the political realm, the institution was an international
force that jealously maintained its power against the encroachment of kings and princes. And locally, the
church performed numerous practical functions in society. It administered an effective and sophisticated
judicial system to which, in theory, all Europeans could bring cases. As Europe's largest landholder, it was a
financial powerhouse, levying taxes and collecting revenues that were the envy of many princes. Its
monasteries and convents produced rich storehouses of agricultural goods that were sometimes sold on the
urban market; many of these institutions ran breweries and distilleries that could compete more successfully
against private concerns because of the church's widespread exemption from local taxation. And finally,
religious orders like the Carthusians and the Cistercians were important breeders of sheep and livestock who
influenced the international market in wool.
Anticlericalism
Its worldly wealth and power, though, subjected the church to criticism. A general anticlerical spirit, motivated by the
hatred of the clergy's special rights and privileges, grew as well. The corruptions people identified—sexual immorality
among the clergy, the holding of multiple offices by clerics, and the selling of dispensations from church law, to name
just a few—had long existed.
The Papacy at Avignon
For most of the fourteenth century both the possibilities and limitations of papal power were brilliantly displayed, not in
Rome, but in the city of Avignon, just inside the southern borders of France. The period in which the papacy ruled from
Avignon lasted from 1309 until 1378 and was known even in the fourteenth century as the "Babylonian Captivity," a
phrase that likened the papacy's relationship to France with Israel's bondage in Babylon. During this period the cost of
papal government steadily rose. To create sufficient revenue to meet their expenses, the popes moved to centralize
their administration of the church and to identify new sources of revenue. The papacy, for instance, reclaimed its rights
of reservation, that is, the power to appoint clerics to key offices in the church. While vacant, the income from these
offices flowed to the popes, and the papacy began to levy fees on those who wished to be appointed to them. To
manage this system, a large bureaucracy developed in Avignon, and bribes became commonplace. For these reasons,
Avignon became synonymous in the minds of Europe's rulers with corruption. Such feelings produced measures like the
Statutes of Provisors (1351) in England, an act of Parliament that prohibited the pope from appointing non-English
subjects to church offices. At Avignon, the church's dependence on revenues from the sale of indulgences grew, too. All
these innovations in papal finance and government caused a decline in papal prestige and a growing distaste for the
rising flow of wealth into the church's coffers.
The Great Schism
These problems paled in comparison to the dilemmas that arose after the papacy's return to Rome in 1378.
Soon after he re-established papal government in the city, Pope Gregory XI died, and the College of Cardinals
elected an Italian to assume the office as Urban VI. Within months, Urban's attacks on the worldliness and
corruption of the church's cardinals had alienated many, and a faction of the college met to depose him. In his
place they elected Cardinal Robert of Geneva who took the name Clement VII. Urban, for his part, refused to
resign, and instead he excommunicated the rebel cardinals and their pope. He created a number of new,
mostly Italian cardinals to replace them. Clement VII now refused to step down, and he left Rome for Avignon,
where he and the majority of the original College of Cardinals set up a rival papal court. For almost forty years
this Great Schism prevailed in the European church, with international politics determining which pope a
specific nation recognized. England, Ireland, parts of Germany, and most of Italy remained loyal to the pope at
Rome, while France, Castile, Aragon, Portugal, and Scotland recognized Avignon. The resulting confusion
eroded the notion of the church as the sacred instrument of God on earth. Instead more and more people saw
the church as a human institution. The schism thus helped to create an audience for the teachings of figures
like John Wycliffe in England and John Huss in Bohemia, both of whom attacked the wealth and secular power
of the church and instead insisted that Rome would do better to concentrate on its spiritual mission.
In 1409, representatives of both papal governments and church officials from throughout Europe met in the
Italian city of Pisa to consider ways of healing the breach in the church. After deliberating, the council decided
that both papal governments were invalid and it called for the resignations of the Avignon and Roman popes.
When neither would resign, it declared them antipopes and elected a new pope, Alexander V. For a time both
Avignon and Rome held out against the new Pisan pope, and factions throughout Europe supported each of
the three papal governments. Thus the Council of Pisa, which had been called to heal the breach,
inadvertently worsened the crisis for a time. In 1413, a second council convened at Constance in Germany.
There church officials successfully obtained resignations from the Pisan and Roman popes, and deposed the
Avignon pope when he refused to resign. They elected Martin V to serve as the indisputable leader of the
church, who now enjoyed loyalty from all parts of the church.
7. Conclusion: Middle Ages to Renaissance
The increasing wealth, wider travel, and a greater knowledge of the outside world -- led to a new philosophy
and outlook on life. Whereas during the Middle Ages, the Church provided the main source of inspiration, now
there was a new interest in and concentration on man himself and the world in which he lived. This new age
we call the Renaissance, the rebirth of the human spirit. We find this changing outlook on life reflected in the
art, the architecture, the literature, the music, a new interest in learning and scientific discovery, the
rediscovered curiosity about the world bringing exploration and discovery, and in new political ideas. This new
philosophy which was human-centered and emphasized human reason was called humanism and dominated
the period of the Renaissance.
This new age brought many lasting changes to Europe. Most of the changes, however, did not come quickly or
easily. For many centuries, much of the history of Europe would feature a clash between the old traditions of
the Middle Ages and the new ways of the so-called modern world.
Reading adapted from the following sources:
APEC Summer Reading Article A Background Reading Linking Classical to Modern Times
The 100 Years’ War: Allmand, C. T. "Hundred Years' War." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2010. Web. 12 Aug.
2010.
The Black Death: Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 2: 700 to 1449. Detroit: Gale, 2001. p129132.
The Roman Catholic Church: World Eras. Ed. Norman J. Wilson. Vol. 1: European Renaissance and Reformation, 13501600. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. P.391-394.
Europe MAP #1
Map#1: Locate and label all countries, cities, islands, bodies of water. Map#2: Locate and label rivers, mountains, and
land peninsulas.
On map #1, locate and label the following countries:
Albania
Hungary
Austria
Iceland
Belgium
Ireland
Belarus
Italy
Bosnia (and Herzegovina)
Kosovo
Bulgaria
Latvia
Croatia
Lithuania
Czech
Republic
Spain
Denmark
Sweden
England
Switzerland
Estonia
Turkey
Finland
Ukraine
France
United Kingdom
Germany
Wales
Greece
Portugal
Romania
(Republic of) Russia
Scotland
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Luxembourg
Macedonia (FYROM)
Moldova
Montenegro
Netherlands
Northern Ireland
Norway
Poland
Cities: (For the cities you may use a key but be sure to include it):
Amsterdam
Istanbul
Prague
Athens
Kiev
Reykjavík
Barcelona
Chişinău (Kishinev)
Riga
Belgrade
Lisbon
Rome
Berlin
Liverpool
Rotterdam
Bern
Ljubljana
St. Petersburg
Bratislava
London
Sarajevo
Brussels
Madrid
Skopje
Bucharest
Marseilles
Sofia
Budapest
Milan
Stockholm
Copenhagen
Minsk
Tallinn
Dublin
Moscow
Tirana
Edinburgh
Munich
Venice
Florence
Naples
Vienna
Frankfurt (am Main)
Oslo
Vilnius
Geneva
Paris
Warsaw`
Hamburg
Podgorica
Zagreb
Helsinki
Bodies of Water and Islands
Aegean Sea
English Channel
Baltic Sea
Straits of Messina
Corsica
Cyprus
Dardanelles Straits
Adriatic Sea
Atlantic Ocean
Straits of Gibraltar
Mediterranean Sea
Black Sea
Bosporus Straits
North Sea
Crete
Caspian Sea
Sardinia
Sicily
Peninsulas: See list on map #2
On map #1 the only coloring will be to shade the peninsulas each a different color. You can use the same key as on map
#2 and you only put in the name of the peninsula on map #2
Europe MAP #2
On map #2, locate and label the following rivers, mountain ranges, and peninsulas:
Locate and label each of the following peninsulas. Shade each peninsula a different color:
Asia Minor
Balkan
Brittany
Crimean
Iberian
Italian
Normandy
Scandinavian
Draw (in blue) and label each of the following rivers. Be sure that the river’s source and end can be seen:
Danube
Dnieper
Don
Elbe
Loire
Oder
Rhine
Seine
Thames
Volga
Locate and label each of the following mountain ranges (you may use brown to shade the range or draw them in):
Alps
Apennines
Carpathians
Caucasus
Balkans
Pyrenees
Urals
Map 1:
Map 2: