AP Euro: Unit 1 - Crisis and Disintegration in the 14th Century

The Black Death (1346-1353)

• pre-plague in Europe: 
  • good harvest led to a booming population
  • large coastline allowed for shipping to almost any part of Europe
• factors for spread:
  • heavy rains destroyed crops --> food shortages --> less work for peasants --> lots of people moved out of the countryside and into the city --> overcrowding --> not enough jobs --> most people became beggars --> malnourishment
  • exporting goods and trading
  • poor hygiene (no waste system)
• arrival of plague: siege on city of Caffa by Mongols where bodies of Mongols infected with the plague were catapulted into the city --> citizens got infected and when the siege was lifted, Mongols retreated and trade resumed --> plague found its way onto trade ships which spread it to every port they stopped at
• types of plague:
  • bubonic 
    • transmission: fleas bit rats with Yersinia Pestis which bit humans, contact with buboes
    • symptoms: high fever, aching joints, swollen lymph nodes, buboes
  • pneumonic - airborne form of bubonic plague, infection of lung tissue
    • transmission: breathing in bloody sputum
    • symptoms: coughing bloody sputum
• plague doctors: 
  • treated everyone in a town
  • did little to cure
  • helps us document dead victims of the plague
  • their infamous beak masks might've helped prevent transmission
• social and economic effect:
  • cities with the most trade were hit the hardest
  • 25-50% of the population was dead
  • less goods
  • less labor --> peasants charge more for labor --> they spent their money on scutage payments (they paid their way out of enlistment in the army)
    • monarchs could then hire professional soldiers but it was expensive
  • nobles had a less luxurious lifestyle --> they imposed taxes on peasants --> peasants revolted
• effect on the church: *Europe was deeply religious in the 1300s
  • the church's explanation for the plague was a weird alignment of planets which caused a toxic gas (God's punishment)
  • burials were considered a necessity but priests refused to give them out of fear for their own lives --> many people turned against the Church
  • extreme Christian groups (Flagellants) emerged
    • they traveled around and performed acts of penance (whipping themselves) to gain forgiveness from God
    • they prompted crazed reactions from the places they visited such as pogroms on Jews and attacks on church officials who opposed them
    • local rulers crushed these movements and they were gone by 1350

100 Years' War (1337-1453) (14th-15th century)

• start: French and English territorial disputes along with disputes over the succession to the French throne
  • the French king died and his daughter's son was next in line for the French throne but he was English so the French chose a cousin of the king as king instead so...
  • the English didn't give homage to the cousin which led the French to seize English holdings in Gascony
• early war: the English tore the French apart with their barbed arrows and longbows that were able to pierce armor
  • English strategy: 
    • their goal was to ravage the French countryside
    • they used longbows, barbed arrows, and pikes
    • unexperienced soldiers (enlisted peasants)
    • didn't follow chivalry (they killed sons of nobles who were knights)
    • since they were on the offensive (they were attacking), they had an advantage
  • French strategy: 
    • they had professional soldiers (knights and chivalry) who wore heavy armor
    • on the defensive
    • financially and resource stable since the war took place in their territory
    • had cannons later in the war
    • they rode horses into battle and had their crossbowmen cover the knights with fire
• the French continued to lose; the French king got captured, they had some victories but had huge casualties
• Joan of Arc: peasant woman who had visions to save France
  • she crowned the dauphin as king and accompanied the French army to Orleans which motivated them to win
  • she was captured by the Dutch (English's ally) and burned at stake for witchcraft 
  • she was granted sainthood later
  • her capture helped the war reach a turning point
• the war resulted in division in Europe: 
  • England: 
    • development of parliament
    • kings and parliament had disputes (mostly on taxation)
  • France: 
    • 3rd estate (general public) and the other 2 estates (nobles and clergy) had disputes; taxes were only levied on the 3rd estate and they didn't have a voice
  • Holy Roman Empire: 
    • 100s of independent kingdoms run by local lords
    • the king/emperor was elected instead of chosen from one royal bloodline
    • the emperor was powerless to control local fights
  • Italy: 
    • larger city states consumed smaller ones through fights by condottieri (hired mercenaries)
    • several government types; Venice/Florence - republics, Milan/Naples -monarchies, papal states - theocracy

Arts and Culture Post-Plague + Decline of the Catholic Church

• change of the seat of power: 
  • official HQ for the church had been Rome since Christianity became the Roman Empire's official religion
  • pope Clement V moved the papacy to Avignon, France
• Avignon papacy:
  • controversial
  • majority of the new cardinals appointed were French (and not Italian!!)
  • taxes on the clergy for the pope and cardinals to live luxuriously
  • authority of the pope declined; Avignon became a symbol of the church's power abuse
• Great Schism: 
  • pope Gregory returned the papacy to Rome and died
  • Italians refused the election of a French pope so Romans chose an Italian (pope Urban) and replaced the French cardinals and forced them to leave
  • once back in France, the French cardinals elected a new pope (Clement VII) under threat if violence from the Romans
  • now there were 2 popes, 2 colleges of cardinals, and followers of the church were split into supporters of Clement or Urban
  • damaged credibility of both groups (both claimed each other as anti-Christ) and faith in God in general
  • also both parties imposed new taxes (further monetary abuses by the church)
• effect of the plague, 100 Years' War, Great Schism on art and literature:
  • newfound fascination with death, unhappiness, hopelessness, church corruption, reality
  • people began to think life was fleeting and they had to make the most out of it
• famous writers: all wrote in vernacular (didn't follow the Church who insisted people should write and speak in Latin)
  • Dante 
    • He wrote the Divine Comedy (journey though hell, purgatory, and heaven) which gives insight into thinking of medieval people
  • Petrarch
    • He wrote sonnets about a married woman he knew
    • realistic 
  • Christine de Pizan
    • She wrote court gossip, advancement of women's causes, advice to women, and rejected women's dependence on men
  • Chaucer
    • He created Canterbury Tales, wrote different point of views, and is best known for prose (colloquial literature)

Effects of the Schism

• competing popes in Rome and Avignon were damaging the Church's authority
• Defender of Peace by Marsiglio of Padua argued that the church's authority derived from a community of faith not just 1 person
  • the clergy only served to administer the affairs of the church on behalf of Christians
  • the final authority in spiritual matters must reside in a general council
    • his ideas spawned conciliarism which was the belief that only a general assembly with both sides of the schism working together could end the conflict
    • disagreements arose about who attends the council --> church law decreed only a pope could call for a meeting --> neither popes would so it had to be called by the cardinals or Roman Emperor
• council of Pisa: 
  • elected a new pope
  • tried to get existing popes to step down
  • neither would so now there were 3 popes with no one supporting the new one
• council of Constance: 
  • called by the emperor
  • the 3 popes resigned/were removed from power
  • new pope was elected (Martin V)
• damage to the Church's reputation was immense
• new ways to strengthen faith:
  • nobles built chapels in homes
  • pilgrimages became popular
  • charity 
• mysticism: immediate and personal oneness with God
  • Meister Eckhart spread the mystical movement from Germany; he preached that salvation was possible for anyone who pursued it wholeheartedly
• Modern Devotion: to achieve oneness with God, you have to imitate the life of Jesus by doing good and teaching people the Bible
  • the movement also included women and established schools
  • Modern Devotion had no affiliation with the Church
• Life and religion revolved less around the Church

Technological Advances

• establishment of (ineffective) public sanitation laws, (ineffective) hospitals, doctors, and apothecaries
• development of clock, cheaper paper, and eyeglasses
• increased usage of gunpowder