10/11/2013 Chapter 9 The Late Middle Ages: Social and Political Breakdown (1300 1453) Black Death, 1348 1350 Precursor: overpopulation & malnutrition Agricultural improvements increase food supply; European population doubles, 1000 1300, thereafter outstripping food production 1315 1317: crop failures produce worst famine of Middle Ages Bubonic plague ( Black Death ) followed trade routes from Asia into Europe, probably via fleas on rats from Black Sea area Popular remedies: relevant medical knowledge absent Aromatic amulets Temperance & moderation Promiscuity & abandon Flight & seclusion Self-flagellation Black Death (cont.) Economic consequences: Dramatic labor shortage, climbing wages for laborers & artisans Falling agricultural, climbing luxury prices noble landowners hardest hit Attempts to freeze wages & force peasants to stay on land peasant revolts Cities (artisans) benefit from demand for luxury goods Political/social consequences: Artisan guilds win some political power Kings take advantage of weakened nobility & church 1
10/11/2013 Hundred Years War (1337 1453) Nominal cause: English king Edward III s claim on French throne, thwarted by accession of first Valois king, Philip VI (r. 1328 1350) Larger cause: English-French territorial, commercial, & cultural rivalry French weakness: larger & wealthier, but more internal discord Hundred Years War (cont.) First phase (under Edward III) Flanders allies with England, recognizing Edward as king of France, 1340 English seize Calais, 1346 English rout near Poitiers, 1356; French king John II taken captive 1360 treaty: John II ransomed, English claims in France recognized, Edward renounces claim to French throne Second phase (Treaty of Troyes) English war effort flags due to peasant revolts Recommences with English victory at Agincourt, 1415 Duchy of Burgundy joins English Treaty of Troyes, 1420: named English Henry V successor to French Charles VI, but both soon die 2
Hundred Years War (cont.) Third phase (Joan of Arc) French teenage peasant Joan of Arc declares call from God to deliver besieged Orléans from English Tired English repulsed, followed by string of French victories Joan captured 1430, tried & burned as heretic at English-held Rouen English forced back, conclude war with Calais as only French possession (1453) Summary: 68 years of peace, 44 of war; France devastated, but national feeling awakened; English & French peasants suffer most from taxes & services Late Medieval Church Papal monarchy established by Pope Innocent III strengthened the church politically, but weakened it spiritually undermined popular support Innocent s successors: tightened & centralized church legal proceedings; elaborated clerical taxation; broadened papal powers of appointment Demise of Hohenstaufens took away galvanizing enemy of church, made it vulnerable Boniface VIII (r. 1294 1303) vs. Philip the Fair (r. 1285 1314) French & English kings raise taxes on clergy; Boniface decrees new taxes need papal consent French king Philip the Fair cuts off flow of money to Rome; Boniface concedes Boniface issues Unam Sanctam (1302), as confrontation with Philip ramps up, asserting subordination of temporal to spiritual power French army assault & molest Boniface, who later dies Result: popes never again seriously threaten European rulers 3
Avignon Papacy (1309 1377) Pope Clement V moves papal court here to escape strife of Rome To get needed revenue, papal taxes go up, and sale of indulgences begins Pope John XXII (r. 1316 1334) most powerful Avignon pope John Wycliffe (d. 1384) and John Huss (d. 1415) Lollards: followers of Wycliffe, English spokesman for rights of royalty against popes; challenged indulgences, papal infallibility, transubstantiation anticipates Protestantism Hussites: followers of Huss, rector of University of Prague similar to Lollards Great Schism (1378 1417) Urban VI and Clement VII rival popes; England & allies support Urban, France & allies support Clement Conciliar Theory: idea that a representative council could regulate actions of pope Council of Pisa (1409 1410): deposed Urban & Clement (who refused to step down), elected Alexander V three contending popes Council of Constance (1414 1417): provided for regular councils every few years Council of Basel (1431 1449): height of conciliar government of church; negotiated directly with heretics (Hussites) Results of conciliar movement: greater religious responsibility to laity & secular governments Mongol Rule in Russia (1243 1480) Mongols, or Tatars, sweep through China, Islamic world, & Russia, 13th c. Ghengis Khan (1155 1227) invades Russia, 1223 Russian cities become tribute-paying principalities of part of Mongol Empire known as the Golden Horde Russians impressed into Mongol military service, women taken as wives/concubines, some sold into slavery Partial Islamization of Russian society 1380: beginning of Mongol decline in Russia; ends 1480 under Ivan the Great 4
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