Edward III (plague and war of the roses)

After Henry III’s death succeded to him in 1272 his son Edward I, that in turn was succeded by Edward II and in 1327 Edward III ascended to the throne. Son of Edward II and the French king’s sister he claimed the crown of France after King Charles IV death. This claim, along with the fact that the French were threatening the Flanders, center of the English wool trading, led to the Hundred’s year war between the English and the French, from 1337 to 1453. The French won the war and England lost all of its possessions. During the war Black Death spread all over England. The cause of the plague were the flees on the rats that travelled in the ships from and to England. The war with the plague led to thousands of deaths thanks to the poor hygiene at the time. The lands were not cured so the market had less food and the prices of said food increased causing the people, poor and sick, to starve. People thought that the plague was a punishment from God so a religious movement called Lollardy was formed. The leader was John Whycliffe, the movement insisted on bringing the Church to its humble origin so they preached that churches shouldn’t be ornated. They also thought that Eucharist was only a symbolic part of the mass. They were called eretics from the Pope. Then the king needed money for the war and he imposed a poll tax that stated that every men older than fourteen had to pay. The tax was unfair because the poor had to pay the same amount of money as the rich. This led in 1381 to the peasant revolt.

In this period the middle class evolved, they were tailors, craftsmen and traders. The workers of the middle class were divided in gilds that regulated payments and apprenticeships.

War of the Roses was a war between two noble families for the English Crown. The families were the Lancasters and the Yorks that during the war both took the crown. The last battle of the war was the Battle of Bosworth, fought by Richard III for the Yorks and by Henry Tudor for the Lancasters, his mom was a Lancaster. Henry won in 1485, became king as Henry VII and started the Tudor dynasty. In 1485 The Middle Ages finished.