The period of the Late Middle Ages in Europe is characterized by the gradual establishment of political and social stability, by refined taste in the

Transcription

1 The period of the Late Middle Ages in Europe is characterized by the gradual establishment of political and social stability, by refined taste in the arts, by economic prosperity, by the development of law, and by a high degree of intellectual sophistication. Naturally, it would not reflect human culture if it did not also exhibit its share of violence, disorder, prejudice, and treachery.

2 How are the Late Middle Ages a Time of Great Troubles?

3 The Hundred Years War

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5 The Hundred Years War Fought from 1337 until The War is fought over who should become king of France: the King of England or descendents of the dead King of France. Edward the III of England declared that he indeed was the rightful ruler of Northern France. At first, the English seemed to be winning the war...

6 The Long Bow

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8 King of England and you, Duke of Bedford, who call yourself Regent of the Kingdom of France do right by the King of Heaven. Hand over to the Maiden who is sent here by God the King of Heaven, the keys to all the towns which you have taken and violated in France She is quite prepared to make peace, if you are willing to do right, so long as you give up France and make amends for occupying it. King of England, if you do not do so, I am a commander, and wherever I come across your troops in France, I shall make them go, whether willingly or unwillingly; and if they will not obey, I will have them wiped out. I am sent here by God the King of Heaven - an eye for an eye - to drive you entirely out of France - Letter from Joan of Arc to the English Commanders, dated March 22, 1429

9 Joan of Arc At the age of 13 Joan believed she had heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret bidding her to rescue the French people. Believing that God had commanded her to drive the English out of France, Joan rallied the demoralized French troops, leading them in battle. Clad in a suit of white armor and flying her own standard she liberated France from the English at the battle of Orleans. Ultimately captured and imprisoned by the English, Joan of Arc was condemned as a heretic and a witch and stood trial before the Inquisition in Joan was found guilty and was to be burnt at the stake but at the last moment she broke down and recanted everything. She eventually broke down again and faithful to her "voices," decided to become a martyr and was then burnt at the stake and became a national hero.

10 Battle Sites of the War

11 The Black Death

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14 The Black Death The violence of this disease was such that the sick communicated it to the healthy who came near them, just as a fire catches anything dry or oily near it. And it even went further. To speak to or go near the sick brought infection and a common death to the living; and moreover, to touch the clothes or anything else the sick had touched or worn gave the disease to the person touching.

15 The Black Death (Cont d) Those infected felt themselves penetrated by a pain throughout their whole bodies and, so to say, undermined. Then there developed on the thighs or upper arms a boil about the size of a lentil which the people called "burn boil". This infected the whole body, and penetrated it so that the patient violently vomited blood. This vomiting of blood continued without intermission for three days, there being no means of healing it, and then the patient expired.

16 The Black Death (Cont d) "How many valiant men, how many fair ladies, breakfast with their kinfolk and the same night supped with their ancestors in the next world! The condition of the people was pitiable to behold. They sickened by the thousands daily, and died unattended and without help. Many died in the open street, others dying in their houses, made it known by the stench of their rotting bodies. Consecrated churchyards did not suffice for the burial of the vast multitude of bodies, which were heaped by the hundreds in vast trenches, like goods in a ships hold and covered with a little earth." -Giovanni Boccaccio

17 The Origins? The dying [Mongols], stunned and stupefied by the immensity of the disaster brought about by the disease [... ] lost interest in the siege. But they ordered corpses to be placed in catapults and lobbed into the city in the hope that the intolerable stench would kill everyone inside. What seemed like mountains of dead were thrown into the city, and the Christians could not hide or flee or escape from them [... ] And soon the rotting corpses tainted the air and poisoned the water supply, and the stench was so overwhelming that hardly one in several thousand was in a position to flee the remains of the [Mongol] army. Moreover one infected man could carry the poison to others, and infect people and places with the disease by look alone. No one knew, or could discover, a means of defense.

18 The Death Dance

19 The Cremation of Strasbourg Jewry St. Valentine's Day, February 14, 1349 In the year 1349 there occurred the greatest epidemic that ever happened In the matter of this plague the Jews throughout the world were reviled and accused in all lands of having caused it through the poison which they are said to have put into the water and the wells-that is what they were accused of-and for this reason the Jews were burnt all the way from the Mediterranean into Germany On Saturday - that was St. Valentine's Day-they burnt the Jews on a wooden platform in their cemetery. There were about two thousand people of them. Those who wanted to baptize themselves were spared. Many small children were taken out of the fire and baptized against the will of their fathers and mothers. And everything that was owed to the Jews was cancelled, and the Jews had to surrender all pledges and notes that they had taken for debts. The council, however, took the cash that the Jews possessed and divided it among the working-men proportionately. The money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews. If they had been poor and if the feudal lords had not been in debt to them, they would not have been burnt Thus were the Jews burnt at Strasbourg, and in the same year in all the cities of the Rhine, whether Free Cities or Imperial Cities or cities belonging to the lords. In some towns they burnt the Jews after a trial, in others, without a trial. In some cities the Jews themselves set fire to their houses and cremated themselves.

20 The Flagellants

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