Later Middle Ages – Crisis & Disintegration (14th Century)

Major Concepts and AP® Thematic Questions

  • Disintegration of Medieval Pillars
    • Collapse of feudalism\text{feudalism}, manorialism\text{manorialism}, and Roman Catholic Church authority.
    • Catalysts: Black Death, Hundred Years’ War, papal crises (Avignon & Great Schism).
  • Guiding AP® Questions
    • Roles of feudal / manor / Church systems in daily life.
    • Military & political change from the Hundred Years’ War.
    • Extent of Church power loss during the Great Schism.
    • Causes & diffusion routes of the Black Death.
    • Socio-economic impact of plague.
    • Shifts in art & literature signaling the medieval–Renaissance break.

Prelude to Disaster: Mongol Expansion & Trade Networks

  • 13th13^{\text{th}}–14th14^{\text{th}}-cent. Mongol empire from Russia to China.
    • Secured Silk Road, boosted East–West trade.
    • Trade caravans + flea-infested rats = vector for Yersinia pestis\textit{Yersinia pestis}.
  • Earliest recorded Asian outbreaks:
    • 13311331 NE China (province near Beijing lost ≈90%\approx90\% population).
    • 13301330s Central Asia; reached Samarkand 13391339, Caffa 13461346, Constantinople 13471347.

Black Death (1347-1351) & Recurrences

  • Types & Symptoms
    • Bubonic (most common): fever, lymphatic buboes, 50–60%50\text{–}60\% mortality.
    • Pneumonic: lung infection, airborne spread, faster lethality.
  • European Diffusion
    • Oct 13471347: Genoese ships bring plague to Sicily (Messina).
    • 13471347-13491349: radiates via trade routes—Italy → France/Spain → Low Countries & Germany → England → Scandinavia; E. Europe & Russia by 13511351.
    • Mortality: 25–50%25\text{–}50\% of ≈75\approx75 million Europeans ⇒\Rightarrow 19–3819\text{–}38 million deaths.
    • Cities hit harder: Florence, Genoa, Venice ≈50–60%\approx50\text{–}60\% loss; Rouen 40%40\%; entire German villages vanished ((170{,}000 \to 130{,}000) sites).
  • Later Waves: 1361–621361\text{–}62, 13691369, then ~every 5–125\text{–}12 yrs till late 15th15^{\text{th}}-cent.; population recovery only after ≈1500\approx1500.

Social & Psychological Reactions

  • Hedonism & Orgies (Boccaccio’s Decameron).
  • Flagellant Movement (1348-1350): public self-whipping for divine forgiveness; condemned by Pope Clement VI (Oct 1349).
  • Anti-Semitism & Pogroms: Jews accused of well-poisoning; 60+60+ German communities exterminated; many migrate to Poland/Russia (e.g., Strasbourg massacre, 1349).
  • Artistic Ars Moriendi
    • Francesco Traini, Triumph of Death (Pisa).
    • Macabre tomb iconography.

Economic & Demographic Effects

  • Labor Shortage ⇒ Wage Rise (e.g., reaper 2 sh → 8 sh + food).
  • Price Drop of Goods & Livestock Mortality (Henry Knighton quote).
  • Statute of Laborers (England, 1351): attempted wage freeze & restricted mobility.
  • Decline in Serfdom: conversion of labor services to cash rents; acceleration of manorial breakdown.
  • Peasant Holdings Shrink pre-plague; famine 1315–171315\text{–}17 kills ≈10%\approx10\% Europe, setting stage for higher mortality.

Social Unrest & Revolts

  • Jacquerie (France, 1358): peasants vs nobles; brutal suppression.
  • English Peasants’ Revolt (1381): cause = poll tax; leaders Wat Tyler & John Ball; temporary concessions, tax withdrawn.
  • Urban Revolts:
    • Ciompi (Florence wool workers) 1378–1382; brief guild rights.
    • Ghent 1381, Rouen 1382.

Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)

  • Root Causes
    • Dynastic: Edward III’s claim via Isabella vs Philip VI (Salic Law).
    • Feudal dispute over duchy of Gascony.
  • Military Innovation
    • English longbow (Welsh): rapid fire vs French crossbow/knights.
    • Cannon & gunpowder (late phase).
  • Key Phases & Battles
    • Crecy 13461346: English longbow victory; capture of Calais.
    • Poitiers 13561356: capture of French King John II; Peace of Bretigny 13591359 (ransom, enlarged Gascony).
    • French reconquest under Charles V 1364–801364\text{–}80.
    • Agincourt 14151415: Henry V’s triumph; Treaty of Troyes 14201420 makes him heir + marries Catherine.
    • Siege of Orleans 14281428 lifted by Joan of Arc (visions of Sts. Michael, Catherine, Margaret).
    • Crowned Charles VII at Reims 14291429.
    • Joan captured 14301430, tried for heresy/witchcraft, executed 14311431; exonerated 14561456; canonised 19201920.
    • 14531453 Battle of Castillon; English lose all except Calais.
  • Consequences
    • Rise of national monarchies; England enters civil War of the Roses; France centralizes, uses standing armies & taille tax.

Political Instability & State Trends

  • England
    • Parliament’s growth under Edward III (tax consent; “power of the purse”).
    • Lords (hereditary peers + bishops/abbots) vs Commons (knights, burgesses).
    • Deposition of Richard II 13991399; Lancastrian Henry IV.
  • France
    • Estates-General (clergy, nobility, Third Estate) limited to north; fails to secure taxation rights (Etienne Marcel attempt 13571357).
    • Civil war: Burgundians vs Armagnacs/Orleanists; madness of Charles VI.
  • Holy Roman Empire
    • Golden Bull 13561356 formalises seven electors.
    • Hundreds of autonomous states; weak emperors.
  • Italy
    • Fragmented: Milan (Visconti dukes), Florence (Ordinances of Justice 1293; merchant oligarchy; Ciompi revolt), Venice (Great Council closed 1297; Council of Ten executive), Papal States, Kingdom of Naples.
    • Condottieri mercenaries dominate warfare.

Papacy in Crisis

  • Boniface VIII vs Philip IV of France
    • Bull Unam Sanctam 13021302 asserts papal supremacy; French arrest attempt (Anagni outrage).
  • Avignon Papacy (1305-1377)
    • Clement V relocates; 113/134113/134 new cardinals French; increased papal taxes; construction of palace; criticism by Catherine of Siena.
  • Great Schism (1378-1417)
    • Urban VI (Rome) vs Clement VII (Avignon) ⇒ 22, later 33 popes (Pisa 1409 elects Alexander V).
    • Ended by Council of Constance (Sigismund) 1414–181414\text{–}18; election of Martin V; conciliarism theory (Marsiglio of Padua’s Defender of the Peace).

Religious Life & Mysticism

  • Lay Piety: indulgences, flagellants, pilgrimages, focus on purgatory; family chapels.
  • Mystics:
    • Meister Eckhart (Germany) – union with God via inner path.
    • Gerard Groote & Brothers/Sisters of the Common Life (Modern Devotion): imitate Christ through service.
  • Female Mystics: Catherine of Siena’s Eucharistic fasting.

Vernacular Literature & Intellectual Shifts

  • Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Divine Comedy (Inferno–Purgatorio–Paradiso); Virgil = reason; Beatrice = revelation.
  • Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) sonnets to Laura; “father of humanism.”
  • Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) Decameron—ten youths fleeing plague.
  • Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1340-1400) Canterbury Tales; East-Midland dialect foundation of English.
  • Christine de Pizan (1364-1430) Book of the City of Ladies; early feminist defense; Song of Joan of Arc 14291429.
  • Philosophy: William of Ockham—nominalism; limits of reason ⇒\Rightarrow separation of faith & science.

Visual Arts: Toward Renaissance

  • Giotto (1266-1337)
    • Frescoes in Arena Chapel, Padua (e.g., Lamentation).
    • Three-D space, emotive realism; departure from Byzantine stylization.
  • Macabre Motifs: skeletal Death, danse macabre.

Urban Life, Gender Roles & Medicine

  • Municipal Regulation Post-Plague: sanitation ordinances; closure of bathhouses; licensed brothels (red hats; designated quarters).
  • Family & Marriage: earlier marriages post-plague; gender theory (Aristotle/Aquinas) reinforces male dominance; yet women gain some economic roles (brewing, textiles, widow-run shops).
  • Children & Education: grammar & Latin schools (Florence 8–108\text{–}10k pupils); hospitals for foundlings (1420s-30s).
  • Medical Hierarchy
    • University physicians (four-humor theory).
    • Surgeons (practical rise post-1348), barber-surgeons, midwives, apothecaries.
    • City boards of health, quarantine laws, vernacular surgical manuals.

Technology & Inventions

  • Clocks: 1st striking clock Milan 13351335; Giovanni di Dondi’s astronomical clock c.1360c.1360—regularized time discipline.
  • Eyeglasses: improved 14th14^{\text{th}}-cent.; aided by shift from parchment to cotton-rag paper.
  • Gunpowder & Cannons: Chinese → Mongol → Europe; early mishaps (Scottish King James II killed by "Lion" cannon 14601460); rendered castles & armored knights obsolete.

Legacy of the Fourteenth Century

  • Period of crisis (Death, Famine, War, Church division) yet incubator for:
    • Centralized monarchies and standing armies.
    • Vernacular humanist literature and realistic art → Renaissance.
    • Technological advances (clock, cannon) reshaping daily life & warfare.
    • Shift from feudal/manorial economy toward wage labor & early capitalism.