Late Middle Ages | AP Euro

What does the presence of peasants, merchants, and nobles in the fresco suggest about the artist's message regarding death?

It suggests that death comes for all social classes, regardless of wealth or power, referencing the Black Plague's impact.

What social issue does the fresco highlight besides the preoccupation with death?

It highlights social inequality, showing how different social classes lived very different lives, with lower classes often being treated as inferior

How does Joan of Arc explain her actions and decisions in battle?

She states that all her actions were in obedience to God's command.

How would the interrogators likely have regarded Joan of Arc's answers during her questioning?

They likely viewed her answers as bogus, as they believed only the King could enact God's will.

What criticisms does Raimon de Cornet have regarding the church hierarchy?

He criticizes the Church for prioritizing money over morality, including practices like bribery and selling pardons.

How did popular poems in the fourteenth century reflect and shape attitudes toward the church?

They reflected the corruption of the Church and helped spread awareness of its indiscretions, fostering dislike among the population.

What are the legal requirements for rural laborers and urban artisans regarding work?

They are required to work if healthy and able, with penalties of jail time for non-compliance.

Why were the work requirements for laborers likely ineffective?

Many people were unwilling to work due to poor conditions and health risks, leading to social tensions and revolts.

How does Christine describe the ideal artisan's wife?

• Strict

• Disciplined

• Supportive of her husband's work.

What evidence does Christine provide for why craft guilds required masters to be married?

She argues that a good wife must understand her husband's craft and manage his workers to ensure the workshop's success.

How are economic and moral virtues linked in Christine's perspective?

She believes that a wife who stays home and avoids gossip saves money and keeps her husband happy, thus preserving their economic stability.

Why might Meister Eckhart's preaching have been seen as a threat to church leaders?

His teachings encouraged independence from traditional church practices, potentially leading to a loss of followers and income for the Church.

What attracted pious Christians to mysticism during the late Middle Ages?

Mysticism offered a way to connect with God without relying on the Church, which was fragmented and lacked leadership.

Great Famine

• Lasted from 1315-1332 (17 years)

• Caused by colder and harsher climate

• Thought to be similar to the “seven lean years” that Egypt had

• Caused prices to skyrocket after it ended as the livestock had diseases

Black Death

Arrived in 1347 via ships used by merchants that were infested with pests that carried the disease and killed 1/3 of Europe’s population

Flagellants

Group of Christians whipping themselves as “payment” for their own and societies sins because they thought the Black Plague was God’s punishing them

Causes, Course, and Consequences of the Hundred Years’ War?

Causes

• Political Dispute between England and France about who would take over the French Throne

• Territorial dispute between King Edward III and King Philip

• The Flemish supporting King Edward III due to their reliance on English wool that gave them their money

Course

• French attempted to raid Europe but failed

• Europe retaliates and conquers majority of its country

• Europe loses and French get all their land back thanks to Joan of Arc

Consequences

• Negative Economic Effects (Increased Tax’s, lots of money lost)

• Loss of important authoritative figures (Sheriffs, corners, jury men, etc)

• Political Growth (Early forms of Democracy)

• Unity and Nationalism

Representative assemblies

Essentially just early democracy that allowed people to create their own laws which the government, usually the monarch or king, had to approve first and explain why or why not it was approved. (FEDERAL STATES)

Babylonian captivity

The new pope was pressured into residing in Avignon rather than Rome (1309-1376). It's originally interpreted as the seventy years the ancient Hebrews were held in captivity by the Babylon’s.

Great Schism

A period of time when there were two and even three, later on, popes simultaneously leading the church, each being supported by different European countries that despised one another and represented a divergence in the Church's leadership.

Conciliarists

People agreed with the idea that the best way to reform the church was by assemblies and councils (essentially a democracy) that represented the Christian people as opposed to the Pope holding all the power.

Confraternities

Groups consisting of Christian men and women that weren't a part of the Church, but created one of their own that was not under the control of the Pope or any other religious figures.

Jacquerie

An enormous rebellion in 1358 by French peasants protesting the increasing taxation put on them.

English Peasants' Revolt

Revolt because worsening economic conditions they were experiencing with higher taxes alongside being forced to work for the same wage.

Statute of Kilkenny

A law that prevented the marriage between immigrants (The English) and the native people (The Irish), alongside requiring them to speak the English language, have English names, ride on a horse with a saddle, wear English clothes, and rendering them unable to go inside of any Irish churches or monasteries.

Why did the church come under increasing criticism?

• Corrupt Church Officials

• Great Schimish = Lack of leadership = Religious figures make own idea of how Church should lead/changes to be made

• War against present-day Czech Republic

What explains the social unrest of the late Middle Ages?

• Peasant Revolts

• Lower-class citizens not liking Capitalism

• Young unmarried men with no responsibilities

• Increasing Crime rates and exploitation of the lower-class

• Widespread discrimination of other ethnic groups

• Racist Laws “protecting the purity of blood”

How did climate change shape the late Middle Ages?

Degradation of the overall health from Famine (from cold weather) of the population allowing diseases to run rampant which caused workers to rebel because of the horrible working environment, growing ethnic tensions and increased crime rates. They did flourish politically and culturally with a new system of representation, new works of literature, and more

How did the plague reshape European Society?

• Better hygiene standards

• Cities began to close off their gates

• Improved behavior as plague was interoperated as a punishment of God (forming Flagellants) alongside killing their fellow Jews

• Showed peoples obsession with the amount of death happening (from literature and art)

• People who survived enjoyed higher standard of living and wages