Chapter 11

The Late Middle Ages:Crisis and Disintegration in the

Fourteenth Century

Timeline

A Time of Troubles: Black Death and Social Crisis

“Little Ice Age”Small drop in average temperatures

FamineHeavy rain (1315 – 1317) led to food shortages

Population growth up to 1300 put pressure on food supply

The Black DeathMost devastating natural disaster in European HistoryBubonic Plague

Rats and FleasYersinia Pestis

Spread of the PlagueOriginated in AsiaArrived in Europe in 1347Mortality reached 50 – 60 percent in some areasWiped out between 25 – 50 percent of European population (19 – 38 million dead in four years)Plague returns in 1361 – 1362 and 1369

The fourteenth century was a era of crisis. A “little ice” age led to famine, but a greater disaster followed: the Black Death. The bubonic plague was spread by black rats’ fleas, carrying the bacterium Yersina pestis, while the pneumonic variety was transmitted through the air from person to person. It reached Europe in 1347. In a few years up to 50 percent of the population died, with higher mortality rates in urban areas. It returned every few years for centuries.

Map 11.1: Spread of the Black Death

Life and Death: Reactions to the Plague

Plague as a punishment from GodThe flagellantsAttacks against JewsViolence

Economic Dislocation and Social Upheaval

Labor Shortage + Falling prices for agricultural products = Drop in aristocratic incomesStatute of Laborers (1351) sought to limit wagesSocial MobilityPeasant Revolts

Jacquerie in France (1358)English Peasants’ Revolt (1381)

Revolts in the Cities Ciompi Revolt in Florence (1378)

Reactions differed. Some escaped into alcohol, sex, and crime. Others, believing the Black Death to be a punishment from God, attempted to atone for their sins through self-inflicted pain. The Jews became scapegoats. People fled, carrying the plague with them. The resulting labor shortage could benefit peasants, although the demand for products was also reduced. When the ruling classes reduced wage rates there were peasant revolts. The ruling classes quelled the revolts, but social upheaval continued to plague the post-plague world.

Chart 11.1: Background to the Hundred Years’ War: Kings of France and England

The Hundred Years’ WarCauses

Entanglement of French and English royal familiesKing Edward III (1327 – 1377) claims French crownFrench seize duchy of Gascony (1337) sparking war

Conduct and Course of the WarDifferences in the armiesBattle of Crecy (1346)Henry V (1413 – 1422)

• Battle of Agincourt (1415)Charles the Dauphin (heir to the French throne)Joan of Arc (1412 – 1431)

• Siege of Orleans• Captured by allies of the English in 1430• Burned at the stake (1431)

GunpowderWar ends with French victory (1453)

Map 11.2: The Hundred Years’ War

Wars were also part of the crisis, notably the Hundred Years War between England and France. In 1328 the French Capetian line ended. England’s Edward III (d.1377) claimed the French throne, but a cousin to the Capets, Philip of Valois, became king (d.1350). War soon began. Armored knights on horseback were the backbone of medieval armies, but English peasants using the longbow had begun to change the face of war. When the French king was captured, a treaty was signed in 1360: France agreed to pay ransom, the English received land in France, and Edward renounced his claim to the throne.

Using guerilla tactics, the French regained their lands, but in 1415 England’s Henry V (d.1422) invaded. The French cause was saved by Joan of Arc (d.1431), a young peasant woman, who claimed to have been told by an angel and saints that she should offer her support to the dauphin, the heir to the throne. Her leadership inspired the French, who also began to rely on cannon, and by 1453 France had won.

Political InstabilityBreakdown of Feudal Institutions

Scutage

New Royal Dynasties Financial Problems

Parliaments gain power

The Growth of England’s Political Institutions

Edward III (1327 – 1377)Parliament

• House of Lords• House of Commons• During Edward III’s reign, the English Parliament gained

control over taxes, increasing its power.

Richard II (1377 – 1399)Aristocratic factionalism

Henry IV (1399 – 1413)Deposed Richard II

The Problems of the French Kings

Weakness of the French MonarchyEstates-General

1357 meeting

Charles VI (1380 – 1422)Competition between the dukes of Burgundy and Orléans to control Charles

Germany & ItalyThe German Monarchy

Breakup of the Holy Roman EmpireHundreds of StatesElective Monarchy

• The Golden Bull (1356)• Weak kings

In Germany, dukedoms and city-states went their own way, independent of the Holy Roman Emperor, itself an elective office. Italy was divided into small kingdoms in the south, the Papal States in central Italy, and several city-states in the north, notably Milan and the oligarchic republics of Florence and Venice. Warfare was endemic.

The States of ItalyThe States of Italy

Lack of centralized authorityRepublicanism to TyrannyDevelopment of regional states

• Milan• Florence• Venice

The Ponte Vecchio – Venice

The Decline of the ChurchBoniface VIII and the Conflict with the State

Boniface VIII (1294 – 1303)• Conflict with Philip the Fair of France• Unam Sanctam (1302)• Captured by French at Anagni

Clement V (1305 – 1314)The Papacy at Avignon (1305 – 1377)

Stay at Avignon leads to a decline in papal prestigeCaptives of the French monarchyNew sources of revenueCatherine of Siena (c. 1347 – 1380)

The papacy declined. Confrontation between France’s Philip IV (d.1314) and Pope Boniface VIII led to the removal of the papacy to Avignon on France’s border in 1305. From 1377 there were two competing popes. Some argued that a general council, not the pope, should rule the church, and Conciliarism did end the Great Schism. There was a preoccupation with salvation. Some turned to good works, others to mysticism and devotional movements.

Bridge at Avignon – The City of the Popes

The Great SchismPapacy returns to Rome in 1378Rival popes elected

Pope Urban VIPope Clement VII

The Great Schism divides EuropeCalls for systematic reform

Marsiglio of Padua (c. 1270 – 1342), Defender of the PeaceConciliarism

Council of Pisa (1409)• Deposed both popes and elected a new pope• Popes refuse to step down• Results in three popes

Council of Constance (1414 – 1418)End of the SchismPope Martin V (1417 – 1431)

Popular ReligionTrends

Mechanical paths to salvation

Mysticism and Lay PietyMeister Eckhart (1260 – 1327)Modern Devotion

• Gerard Groote (1340 – 1384) and the Brothers of the Common Life

Unique Female Mystical Experiences

Changes in TheologyChallenges to Scholastic ThoughtWilliam of Occam (1285 – 1329)

NominalismConsequences of William’s ideas

The scholastics’ confidence in reason was attacked: God’s existence could only be “proved” by faith. Vernacular literature was exemplified in Italy by Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch, Chaucer in England, and Christine de Pizan in France. In art, Giotto explored three-dimensional realism. After the Black Death, artists frequently portrayed subjects of death and decay.

The Development of Vernacular Literature and New Directions in Art

Dante (1265 – 1321)The Divine Comedy

Petrarch (1304 – 1374)Sonnets

Boccaccio (1313 – 1375)Decameron

Chaucer (c. 1340 – 1400)The Canterbury Tales

Christine de Pizan (c. 1364 – 1430)The Book of the City of Ladies

Art and the Black DeathGiotto (1266 – 1337)Morbidity of late fourteenth-century art

Giotto, Lamentation

Change & InventionChanges in Urban Life

Greater RegulationMarriageGender Roles

• Male: active and domineering• Women: passive and submissive

Medieval childrenNew Directions in Medicine

HierarchyTrends

Inventions and New PatternsThe mechanical clock

• New conception of timeGunpowder and cannons

The impact of the plague led to urban public health regulations, to younger marriages, and to a greater division of gender roles under the assumption that women were the weaker gender. Technological developments included the perfection of the clock and eyeglasses, and paper began to replace parchment. Finally, the development of gunpowder blew the Middle Ages into history.

A Medical Textbook

Mechanical Clock in the Prague Town Hall

Discussion QuestionsWhat impact did the Black Death have on medieval European society?What were the causes of the Hundred Years’ War?Who was Joan of Arc and what role did she play in the Hundred Years’ War?How did the Hundred Years’ War impact the relations between the English King and his Parliament?Why did the stay at Avignon lead to a decline in papal prestige?How was the Great Schism finally ended?How did Dante, Chaucer and Christine de Pisan reflect the values of their respective societies?How did the Black Death affect urban and family life?

Web LinksORB – Online Reference Book for Medieval StudiesThe End of Europe’s Middle AgesThe Black Death, 1347 – 1350Medieval Dance of DeathDe Re Militari – Society for Medieval Military HistoryThe Age of King Charles VThe World of DanteGeoffrey Chaucer