Download CHAPTER NINE: The Late Middle Ages: Social and Political

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100 Years War (Page 290-297)
I.
Hundred Year War and the Rise of National Sentiment
Medieval Governments are not secure. Fight over power, local lords, transfer ?
-England and France (Norman and Capetian respectively) kings used sophisticated
feudalism.
-Stressed duties of lesser to higher power, loyalty of nobles to king.
-This never became a centralized government. National pride deepened and created
international warfare.
(Underlying causes of the War: transition away from Medieval)
A. Causes of War
1357 to 1453- Edward III was an English king may have started the war.
1. Grandson of Phillip the Fair of France and said that he had a claim to the French
Throne.
2. French Barons chose Philip VI of Valois over 15 year old Philip the Fair.
3. Both were emergent territorial powers who were too close-proximity
4. Edward was actually a vassal of Philip and held fiefs in France
5. France hated them because it affected centralization
6. They quarreled over Flanders which was a French fief but influenced by England
because they were involved in manufacturing and depended on English wool.
7. There is also a long history of prejudice, disliked each other in port towns and high
seas.
(Direct/precipitating causes of the war?)
B. French Weakness
-Advantage- 3X in population, wealthier, fought on own soil
1. Disunity because of local social conflicts- struggling to leave behind feudalism.
2. Money- needed it for running the country, depreciated currency, borrowed from
Italian bankers.
3. King created Estates General in 1355- council of townspeople and nobles who levied
taxes but also used it to enrich them and created privileges in their region.
4. Bad Military. English infantry more disciplined and used the longbow which fired six
arrows a minute and could pierce armor or an inch of wood from 200 yards away.
5. Mediocrity of French royal leadership, not shrewd as the English kings.
(What advantages did each side have?)
C. Progress of War- Three Stages of Decisive Victories
(Why is England successful?)
Phase One
1. During reign of Edward III- embargoed wool to Flanders making rebellion
Jacob van Artevelde, a rich merchant led Flemish cities to revolt against France.
Wining this conflict he acknowledged Edward as the French king in 1341.
2. Battle of Bay of Sluys- Edward defeated the French fleet in June 23 but failed to
invade Flanders
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3. 1346- Battle of Crecy- attacked Normandy and took Calais but in doing so exhausted
both sides and the war went into a lull.
4. 1356- England won greatest victory near Poitiers and took the French king John II the
Good captive.
5. Power fell to the Estates General who got a Magna Carta type agreement to help
France’s privileged classes but were unorganized. They taxed peasants and force them to
repair stuff which caused the Jacqueline Rebellion- nobles put it down.
6. May 6th, 1360. England forced Peace of Bretigny of France.
Edward got control over England’s territories in France, had to pay ransom to get
John back but Edward said he did not have the right to the French throne- temporary
solution. France struck back in 1360’s, Edward dies in 1377.
(What were the problems in France?)
Phase Two
French Defeat and Treaty of Troyes
1. English effort decreased with Edward’s death- domestic problems.
2. During Richard II’s reign the English endured a similar uprising as the French. In
June 1381, peasants and artisan revolted led by John Ball, a priest and Wat Tyler a
journeyman. This revolt was brutally crushed but left country divided.
3. During Henry V’s reign the English attacked as French internal struggle increased.
They attacked Normandy and routed it while duchy of Burgundy watched, happy to avoid
involvement.
Later he realized that he would be easy prey and joined the rest of France.
May have won but the Duke was assassinated- Duke’s son pissed so joined
England.
4. Treaty of Troyes in 1420- got rid of France’s legitimate heir and made Henry V
successor to Charles VI. When both Henry V and Charles VI (France) died within
months of each other, the infant Henry VI became king of both England and France.
Son of Charles VI (France) went into hiding and became Charles VII upon his
father’s death, but he’s the real king to most of France. This unified the French in a
nationalistic coalition.
(Social problems: effect on people in England?)
Phase Three
E.
Joan of Arc and War’s Conclusion
1. Peasant who declared herself to be chosen by God to free the Port of Orleans from the
English and to save France- March 1429
2. King Charles VII under siege. So let her try- desperate- needed Orleans (port)
3. Situation perfect. England tired and she arrived with French troops.
Beat them at Orleans and won many victories and she got credit
Not a military genius but inspiration, confidence, identity.
4. Charles forgot Joan- she’s captured by Burgundians in 1430- he doesn’t come
England wanted her discredited- she would demoralize France and make Charles
look bad
5. England handed her over to Inquisition to question her.
She was executed as a heretic in 1431.
Charles reopened trial 25 years later and said innocent, made a saint in 1920.
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6. 1435-Duke of Burgundy made peace with Charles and reunified and then freed
English lack. War ended in 1453 and England only had Calais.
(Why was France able to drive out the English?)
F. Effects
60 years of partial peace, 44 of hot war
Devastated France but caused France nationalism and finished transitioned to central
state
Burgundy became a major political power
-Force England to develop own cloth industry and foreign markets because Netherlands
switched alliances throughout.
Peasants in both countries worst off-supported with taxes and services
(Who did the war benefit the most? Which Country?)
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The Black Death- (Pages 297-304)
Preconditions and Causes
1. 90% of people worked the land- three field system increased arable land
2. Food supply went up, population went up, cities and trade went up as did agricultural
science
3. By 1300, population outstripped food and jobs
4. 1315-1317- crops failed, famine, urban areas withered, and were vulnerable to
bubonic plague which struck in 1348
5. Called “Black Death” because of discoloration- came into Europe from Asia by trade
routes thru seaborne rats from Black Sea.
6. Entered Europe through Italian ports to Spain, France, Netherlands
2/5 of population died by 15th century- 250,000,000 low estimates
(Causes? Description of the disease. Where do those people come from?)
A. Popular Remedies
1. Transmitted by rats or fleas reached lungs and spread by coughing and sneezing
2. No one had an answer as to why this was happening- catastrophe without explanation.
3. Popular medicine of the time believed in bleeding with leeches to restore people to
restore balance and get rid for foul matter.
4. Inspired obsession with death and dying and pessimism.
5. Many remedies because belief in corrupted atmosphere- poisonous fumes from
earthquake so were aromatic amulets as remedy.
-others became promiscuous, others left and secluded themselves.
-Flagellants beat themselves in penance until they bled. They wanted divine
intervention
- This became very disruptive and threatening to authority: the church outlawed
their processionals
- ineffective because dirty bodies probably actually helped transport the disease.
- Jews segregated because of Christian propaganda, due to their role as money
lenders there were pogroms in the cities.
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B. Death in Late Middle Ages
1. Deaths portrayed as terrible and inescapable and beginning of heaven and hell.
2. The Church encouraged people to watch dying, visit graves, reminders to avoid sin.
- Prince of the World Statue: Front side good, back side mortality.
C. Social and Economic Consequences
1. Whole villages disappeared: less population, labor supply and the noble’s estates
value went down.
2. Farms decline- Less people so the wages of farmers went up.
- serfs
- Luxury and manufactured goods value went up.
- Landlords were hurt: they paid more for products and labor and lost money for
profit on their crops.
(Why were the land lords hurt?)
3. Peasants revolt
-Some landowners turned to sheep pastures for wool and leased land.
-Others did repressive legislation to freeze wages and stop movement
- High Taxes or taille in France caused Jacqueline and Statute of Laborers in
England restricted wages and ability to leave land which caused revolts.
(Why were there revolts?)
4. Cities rebound
Hit hard at first but recover. Legislation extended the nobles land
-faced with death, people wanted the best- clothes, jewels, furs and silk.
-Shortage of artisans right away because of the apprentice system.
-Artisans had only one person to pass skills and business to them.
- Prices went up so people went to cities to learn artisan skills.
- Townspeople had good life, money and food is cheap. The nobles were hurt by
these conditions.
- The church lost land, political power but gained money due to their rendering
services for the dead.
(How did cities recover? What was the impact on the Church?)
D. New Conflicts and Opportunities
1. Increased importance of artisans causes conflicts with cities.
2. Economic and political power of trade guilds and artisans grew and demand for
products went up.
- Got voice in government from patricians and merchants.
- Caused conflict within Guilds. Masters wanted journeymen wanted to be
masters
3. After 1350, the nobles and church were on the defensive and could not challenge the
monarchy
-plague killed clergy and nobles, reducing their economic power.
- 100 Years War showed paid army better than noble’s army.
(How important was the Plague to changing the course of history? What was the
effect on the clergy, nobles, monarchy, peasants, merchants, artisans?)
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Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival
1. The Late Medieval Church
Situation- seemed like the Pope was in a good position
Frederick II was done, pressured removed and the French King Louis IX supports
the church. Two Crusades were conducted.
There were seven years where Rome was reunited with Eastern Church- Council
of Lyons in 1274 because they needed aid against the Turks.
This was actually not a good situation.
A. 13th Century Papacy
1. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) was the height of power but also had elaborated
doctrine of papal plentitude of power so declared saints, disposed of benefices, created
papal monarchy- politically turned church into secular power, so strengthened politically
but weakened as a spiritual body. Different bodies and part of reason for Protestant
Reformation
2. Urban IV perfected political with Rota Romana which tightened legal proceedings.
Created clerical taxation as a fixed program, determined appointments for offices as
“benefices,” ran law and courts and international bureaucracy and had secular goals.
3. The effect was less popular support and dioceses (local) authority. Rome’s interests
controlled all; lower clergy appealed to Rome because of disciplinary actions against
them. Heretical movements developed and people like St. Francis of Assisi protested
materialism of the church.
4. Political Fragmentation before the Pope had been leaders of anti-imperial Guelf or
propapal, were now on the defensive because the emperor was now the power.
Rulers in Italian politics tried to manipulate College of Cardinals instead of Emperor so
to have control over their decisions.
Pope Gregory X even requested Cardinals on deaths of Pope so no outside influence.
This did not work.
5. So political that deadlocked in a conclave. They elected an incompetent Pope who
resigned in a few weeks and later died but very suspicious, supposedly killed for political
reasons- keep papacy alive.
6. College quickly acted and got Pope Boniface VIII in to power who was a nobleman
and politician. He served from 1294 to 1303.
B. Boniface VIII and Phillip the Fair- A Struggle
1. This pope came to power with England and France were maturing as nation states.
England was developing a monarchy and Parliament to have a unified kingdom.
France with Philip IV the Fair made them a centralized monarchy. A ruthless
leader, Philip wanted England out of France and wanted to control Flanders. He
envisioned a French hegemony within the Holy Roman Empire.
2. The Pope had visions and memories of bringing emperors to their knees, however, the
countries were too strong.
3. France and England were on the brink of war which might have started earlier (100
Years War) had Edward I not gotten preoccupied with a rebellion in Scotland. Both
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countries were taxing the clergy to get ready of war and under the pretext of funding
another crusade.
Boniface was pissed and saw this as an attack. As a result he issued Clericis Laicos as a
statement that forbid lay taxation of the clergy.
-In England Edward I retaliated by denying clergy to be heard in court, they were not
protected.
- In France, Philip the Fair forbade exportation of the money from France to Rome so no
revenues so Boniface said he could in an emergency and canonized Louis IX as a saint.
- Also under attack from Italians were groups who wanted to invalidate his election
because he blamed him for forcing and murdering Celestine V.
4. In 1300, things change. It was a “Jubilee Year” so Boniface was back into the
spotlight. Catholics who visited Rome and fulfilled conditions had sins remitted so
thousands went. He also went to Scotland and championed Scottish resistance to
England which further pissed off England.
5. Philip hurt Boniface by arresting Parisian legate, Bernard Saisset, a bishop and a
secular lord for heresy and treason. Trial and conviction were held in the King’s court.
Philip wanted Boniface to recognize this action, and to surrender power if he did.
Boniface said Saisset was a defender of the Clerical independence, demanding his
release and revoked agreements on clerical tax.
- The pope then issued Ausculta Fili or “Listen My Son” to Philip saying “ “God
has set Popes over kings and kingdoms
6. Unam Sanctum- Philip unleashed a ruthless antipapal campaign.
-On the defensive, Boniface issued the Unam Sanctum against state control of
national churches. It said that temporal authority was “subject” to spiritual power of
church.
7. After this France and Colonnas family took action
- Guillame de Nogaret (Philip’s Chief Minister) decreed him as a heretic and
criminal and led his army and beat him. The army almost executed him before the
aroused crowd took him home.
- Boniface died in 1303.
8. Benedict XI, Boniface’s successor, excommunicated Nogaret but nothing else and
Benedict’s successor Clement V was forced into French subservience. He released
Nogaret and said that Unam Sanctum was not meant to diminish royal power.
-Clement moved Papal Court to Avignon in Southeast France because the city
belonged to the church and made residence. The court stayed there until 1377. This
marked the end of the Pope’s threatening of state power.
C. The Avignon Papacy (1309-1377)
Control
1. The Papacy became dominated by France which controlled the College of Cardinals.
Indulgences, Purgatory
2. It cut off the Roman estates so taxes were expanded to there in the first year of church
office, added indulgences (first time) so developed church doctrine on Purgatory so
people would buy them, even allowing them to buy for dead relatives in the 12th century.
3. The effect of all this was that the Church got a reputation for materialism and political
scheming.
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Pope John XXII
4. Pope John XXII was the most powerful Avignon pope who tried to get Papal
independence and return to Italy. The Visconti were the powerful ruling family in Milan.
William of Ockham, Marsilius De Padua, Defender of the Peace
He also challenged the election of Louis IV as emperor so Louis deposed him.
-Louis got Spiritual Franciscans (Absolute Purity) to write against him.
-William of Ockham and Marisilus De Padua both wrote against John and for
royal cause which in turn caused them to be labeled as heretics.
-Marisilus of Padua wrote “Defender of Peace” and said that the government was
independent of the church and clergy should only deal with spiritual matters. The Pope
couldn’t judge because he had to await eternal punishment and couldn’t excommunicate.
The Pope was subordinate to members of society and the emperor was the ruler.
5. John XXII made the Papacy sophisticated international agency and mastered money
matters in Europe. Successors followed and the Papacy remained in Avignon for none
other than political reasons.
6. National Opposition to the Avignon Papacy
-As the Church tried to get more money, England, France and Germany all passed
laws to stop it. The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges in France (1448) recognized the right
of the French church to elect their own clergy with Papal consent, which limited appeals
to Rome.
7. John Wycliffe and John Hess
-Popular religious lay movements in England looked to the writings of Wycliffe
against the Church.
-Wycliffe was an Oxford man who wrote of the rights of royalty against the
Church. He thought:
the clergy should live in poverty so the government could confiscate their
property.
that title did not matter but personal merit did.
This attitude was dangerous then anyone could challenge the Popes and Kings if they act
immorally. Therefore there was a challenge of
Papal infallibility,
role of indulgences,
authority of scripture,
dogma of transubstantiation,
bible taught in vernacular
supported changing to clerical poverty
was first groups like nobles or lower clergy but later often English peasant revolt and
egalitarian ideas became to the front in 1410.
Hussites
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The Hussites had the writings of Hess from Bohemia. Hess was rector of
University of Prague and was a strong nationalist and also an advocate of religious
reform. He preached that even laypeople could take communion and bread and wine.
Wycliffe’s teachings clearly influenced them thru travel.
Hess and Wycliffe and were excommunicated but went to Council of Constance for an
audience. He was accused of heresy by the king and dies at the stake. Hussites were
pissed off and led religious movement by force and used military to get reforms
eventually.
D. The Great Schism (1378-1417) and the Conciliar Movement to 1449.
-Pope Gregory XI reestablished the Papacy in Rome in 1377 ending the
“Babylonian Captivity” of the Church in Avignon. This term is a reference to the
Israelites captivity in Egypt. This return to Rome was short lived.
Urban VI and Clement VII
Gregory dies and the Italian Cardinals elect one of their own Urban VI to be Pope.
He announced his intentions to reform the Curia, an unexpected challenge to the mostly
French Cardinals. They wanted the Papacy back in Avignon and announced that they
would split from the Roman church. French King Charles V gave support to the schism
because of his desire for continued French influence and hence the Great Schism.
Within months of Urban’s election, thirteen Cardinals (1378) formed a conclave
after Urban’s election and elected Pope Clement VII, cousin of the French king because
he said that he had been forced to vote for Urban by the Italian mob of cardinals who
surrounded him..
The “Two Headed Thing”
Now the Church had become a “two-headed thing” with two popes and a
Christian scandal on hand. Countries took sides:
England and Allies (Hungary, Bohemia, Poland and Holy Roman Empire)
recognized Urban (the de facto pope)
France and her allies (Naples, Scotland, Castile and Aragon) supported Clement
Two Logical Solutions
1. Get both to resign and elect a new Pope.
2. Get one or the other to resign and let the unresigned be Pope.
Final solution was to let a special council force the deposition of both and restart.
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3. Conciliar Theory of Church Government
Legally only the Pope could call a church council. Either Pope knew that a
council could cost them their jobs. The deposition of a Pope against his will was a
serious matter comparable to the idea of a king being forcibly deposed by a representative
assembly. Both sides wanted a representative council to regulate the actions of the Pope.
The Conciliarists defined the Church as whole body and the Pope as one elected
part. According to them the Pope’s role was supposed to maintain unity of Church and
the Council had greater authority than the Pope. Obviously the Pope(s) thought
differently as this threatened their political power and the unity of the Church.
4. Council of Pisa. (1409- 1410)
Conciliarists convened a council in Pisa in 1409. Cardinals representing both
Popes voted to depose both Popes and elected Alexander V. As neither Pope was willing
to step down so there are three Popes and Christianity faces a “spectacle” of three popes.
The majority of Christians accepted Alexander and this Pisan successor John XXIII, but
the Rome and Avignon Popes still sat on their thrones.
5. Council of Constance (1414- 1417)
Emperor Sigismund told John XXIII (Alexander’s successor) to summon a new
council in Constance in 1414. The Roman pope, Gregory XII, recognized this council.
In a declaration called Sacrosancta asserted it’s power and elected Martin V after the
deposition or resignation of the Roman and Avignon popes. The Council has never been
deemed official but in the same light the schismatic popes of Avignon and Rome have
not been recognized either.
6. Council of Basel (1432)
The Conciliar government of the church was at it’s peak of power when the Council met
in Basel. The Hussites of Bohemia presented the 4 Articles of Prague as the basis for
negotiations. In these Articles they outlined four changes:
lay people to get the Cup, Bread,
free and itinerant preaching,
exclusion of Clergy from holding secular offices and owning property and,
just punishment of clergy who commit mortal sin.
In 1433, the Emperor, the Council and the Hussites reached agreement. TheBohemians
got control over their own church in a similar manner to that of the French and English.
Three of the four Prague Articles were given: Lay people were given the Cup, free
preaching by ordanined clergy and punishment of clergy and laity for mortal sins.
At the end of the Hussite wars and reform legislation and appointment had been
curtailed. This power taken by the Council created problems for the Pope who negotiated
a reunion between the Eastern and Western branches of the church, thereby restoring
power to the Roman Pope and effectively disbanding the council at Basel which finally
collapsed in 1439. In 1460 thru the Papal Bull Execrabilis the Pope condemned appeals
to councils and made them “null and void”.
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Effects of the Conciliar Movement
The Conciliar Movement was dead but brought up two ideas
1. The leader of an institution should provide for the well-being of those in the
institution.
2. It removed Papal leadership and gave secular control of national churches to
the governments. Kings and local officials asserted control over their country’s churches.
The Papal States become one of many Italian states and dealt with on the grounds of
national policy.
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Medieval Russia
In the late 10th century, Prince Vladimir of Kiev asked many of the world’s religions to
Kiev, to choose a religion. He chose Greek Orthodoxy, providing a religion and linking
the Russians to the Byzantine Empire.
Politics and Society
After Vladimir, Yaroslav the Wise, built Kiev into a great political and cultural center
and began to attempt to lessen the power of the Byzantine emperors. Following his death
the Russians divided themselves into three categories: the Great Russians, the White
Russians and the Little Russians (Ukrainians). As these groups fought for control, the
government of Russia became a combined monarchy, aristocracy and a democracy made
up of all adult males. Freedmen and slaves were the issue which most divided the
Russians.
Mongol Rule (1243-1480)
In the 13th century, Mongol armies swept over China and Russia. Russian cities became
tribute paying principalities of the Mongol Empire. The Mongols intermingled in the
Russian society and did not, however, change the political and religious institutions
bringing them peace and prosperity.
Liberation
As the Mongol control decreased the Russian gathered their resources and gradually took
over control.
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