The Late Middle Ages and the Plagues of Europe, 1300-1450 War, Pestilence, and Religious Crisis.
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Transcript of The Late Middle Ages and the Plagues of Europe, 1300-1450 War, Pestilence, and Religious Crisis.
The Late Middle Ages and the Plagues of Europe, 1300-1450
War, Pestilence, and Religious Crisis
Islam and the West
I. 100 Years War, 1337-1450
Clash of nation-state with feudal system
Failure of chivalry
Damage to authority figures
A. Causes
1. Vassalage
2. Economic growth in
Flemish textile towns
3. French succession
Edward III
4. Culture of Aristocracy
a. Crusades were over
b. 100 Years war offered combat opportunity
B. Conduct of the War
1. Early victories for the English
Crecy, Poitier, Agincourt
a. “yeomen archers”
2. English gained control of northern France
English soldiers left to feed themselves
3. Capetian Kingdom begins to unravel
a. French nobles untrustworthy
b. revolt of the Burgundians
c. forced peasants to pay
nobles’ taxes
C. Impact of the War
1. Widespread destruction
2. Waning respect for traditional authority
- 1429, Battle of Orleans
Joan of Arc
- Battle of Agincourt, 1415
yeomen archers
no room for
chivalry
3. New methods of war
1450, Battle of Formingy = gunpowder
4. Both France and England left weakened
Warfare and economic disturbance laid groundwork for “environmental disasters” of Late Middle Ages
II. The Black Death, 1347-1352
Xenopsylla cheopis
A. Environmental disaster in the making
1. 1300, nearly all arable land taken
- urban crowding
- trade with the East
2. 1347, Bubonic plague
arrives via Italian
trade routes
3. “Black Death”
6, 14, 18th centuries
137 million
(1/4 - 1/3 of Europe in 1300s)
B. Social, cultural and political legacy of the Black Death
1. Fascination with the macabre
Hans Holbein, The Dance of Death the King the Queen the Pope
2. Challenge to Church
3. Weakening of traditional bonds
4. Left Europe subject to invasion
Mongols - 1400s
Ottoman Turks - 1500 &
1600s
5. Plagues of insurrection
- short term: more opportunities
- nobles try to take advantage; war taxes
Jacquerie - 1358 the Great Rebellion of 1381
Wat Tyler’s revolt
III. Division of Christendom
The Avignon Papacy and the Great Schism in the Church
A. Avignon Papacy
1. 1305, College of Cardinals choose Clement V
a. suppression of Knights Templar
b. moved papacy to Avignon
c. ran Church like a business
2. 1370s, last French Pope dies
a. Rome, most of Europe wants Italian Pope
b. desperation of French King demands French
Pope
3. 1378- 1417, the Great Schism
a. Ends with Council of Constance, 1414-17
Pope John XXIII
Avignon Papacy and Great Schism…
a. represented a dreadful failure in leadership
at a time when Europe needed the Church
b. weakened the reputation and authority of
papacy in the eyes of both clergy and lay
people
c. Left the door open for theological and
literary challenges to Church hegemony
B. Theological challenges
1. John Wycliffe, 1340s-1380s
a. quality of sacrament
b. attacked Church as business
c. supported English nobles
2. Jan Hus = religion and nationalism
Bohemia
C. William of Ockham and “The Spirit of Truth” (d. 1349)
1. Church should have no role in secular affairs
2. Argued against Aristotelian theory
a. must argue from specific to general
b. Ockham’s razor
scientific method
D. Rise of Vernacular literature
1. As authority of Church declines, so does reliance
on Latin
2. Vernacular expression of cultural, national,
religious independence (Gutenberg press)
1. Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
allegory = who really
deserves to spend time in
the Inferno?
2. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
middle english
ribald, low brow comedy, social satire
Wife of Bath
3. Christine de Pisan, City of Ladies
a. status of aristocratic women
improving
b. all levels of patriarchy
challenged
Crises of the 14th Century weakened political, social and religious authority…
paves the way for Renaissance, Reformation…
the return of Greco-Roman humanism…
and the rise of the Early Modern West