AP Euro Ch. 11 - Later Middle Ages

Great Famine

A terrible situation in 1315-1322 that hit much of Europe after a period of climate change that resulted in bad harvests.

Little Ice Age

A period of cooling temperatures and harsh winters that lasted for much of the early modern era.

Black Death

A deadly plague that swept through Europe between 1347 and 1351

Flagellants

A reaction to the plague. People believed that the plague was a punishment for a sin and would go around town and whip themselves for their sins

Giovanni Boccaccio

Wrote the Decameron, an eyewitness account dealing with what he saw happening around him (the plague and how people reacted to it).

Agnolo di Tura

Wrote an eyewitness report of the Black Death at Siena, Italy in which he claimed to have buried his own five children with his own hands

Hundred Years' War

A series of battles fought between France and England from 1337 to 1453

King Edward III of England

English monarch during the 14th century who started the Hundred Years' War in 1337 by attempting to take the French throne

Salic Law

Legal code that crown must be passed through male relatives; used by France in 100 Years' War to keep crown from Edward III

longbow

A very useful weapon in the Hundred Years' War, English archers were able to fire 6 arrows a minute with enough force to pierce a inch of wood

crossbow

a medieval weapon made up of a bow that was fixed across a wooden stock (which had a groove to direct the arrow's flight) and operated by a trigger

Philip VI of Valois

crowned the king of France when the last Capetian king, Charles IV, died without a male heir. He was Charles IV's first cousin.

Joan of Arc

French heroine and military leader inspired by religious visions to organize French resistance to the English and to have Charles VII crowned king

King Charles VII of France

Crowned king of France at Joan of Arc's urging. Had Joan pardoned by the pope following her death and the completion of the 100 Years' War

Representative assemblies

Deliberative meetings of lords and wealthy urban residents that flourished in many European countries between 1250 and 1450.

Babylonian Captivity

The period when all popes were French and resided in Avignon, France, starting with Clement V. This angered Italians and led to the Great Schism.

Great Schism

The division in church leadership from 1378 to 1417 when there were two, then three, popes

Conciliarists

People who believed that the authority in the Roman Church should rest in a general council composed of clergy, theologians, and laypeople, rather than in the pope alone.

William of Occam

A 14th century friar, philosopher, and theologian who was way ahead of his time. Argued for limited gov't and a separation of church and state

Marsilio of Padua

Church opponent; he claimed the Pope had no special power and that the Church was subject to the state

John Wycliffe

"Morningstar of the Reformation"; translated the Bible into English

Jan Hus

The leader of the Czech religious reforms; was convicted by the Council of Constance for heresy.

Confraternities

Voluntary lay groups organized by occupation, devotional preference, neighborhood, or charitable activity.

Jacquerie

A massive uprising by French peasants in 1358 protesting heavy taxation

Statute of Laborers (1351)

English Parliament passed this. It attempted to limit wages to pre-plague levels and forbid the mobility of peasants as well.

English Peasants' Revolt

Revolt by English peasants in 1381 in response to changing economic conditions

Fur-collar crime

generally non-violent crime committed by the upper classes. Generally involved extortion

Statute of Kilkenny

Law issued in 1366 that discriminated against the Irish, forbidding marriage between the English and the Irish, requiring the use of the English language, and denying the Irish access to ecclesiastical offices.

Dante

(1265-1321) Italian poet and writer. His greatest work is "The Divine Comedy."

Geoffrey Chaucer

English poet remembered as author of the Canterbury Tales (1340-1400)

Christine de Pizan

highly educated Renaissance-era woman who was among the first to earn a living as a writer; wrote books, including short stories, novels, and manuals on military techniques (in French); her The Book of The City of Ladies and other works spoke out against men's objections to educating women, and championed formal education for women

Council of Constance

The meeting in 1414-1418 that succeeded in ending the Great Schism in the Roman Catholic Church by electing Pope Martin V

Council of Pisa

1409; Tried to correct the Great Schism by firing both Popes and electing a new one, did not work, resulting in 3 popes operating simultaneously

1453

Date in which the Hundred Years' War ended and Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. Some historians point to this year as the end of the ancient world

Canterbury Tales

A collection of stories written in Middle-English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey. An example of a frame story - story (or stories) within a story

Guild

A medieval organization of crafts workers or trades people.

Avignon

City in France where the papacy held court from 1309-1376

Prague

Capital of Bohemia; birthplace of the Hussite religious faction

Battle of Crecy

First major battle of the Hundred Years' War. Showed that England had established a worthy army and the superiority of the longbow over the crossbow

Battle of Orleans (1429)

Siege broken by Joan of Arc; a turning point for the French armies in their eventual defeat of England in the Hundred Years' War

Aquitaine

A province in southern France where England held land, trigger of the Hundred Years' War