black death (1348-1350)
- bubonic plague (yersinia pestis)
- spread by rats, mice, and fleas
- quick because of travel across Europe and Asia
- 50-60% mortality rate
- half of Europe’s population wiped
- it reduced the workforce and serf labor was rare and important

the western schism/great schism (1378-1417)
- 1420: France was leading the war
- 1431: Joan of Arc burned at the stake
- 1300: Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip of France
- Pope Gregory died bringing the papacy back to Rome
- ended with the election of Martin V
- 1453: Ottomans conquered Constantinople (byzantine)
- 1378: Ciompi rebelled in Florence & protested for lower taxes

hundred years war (1337-1453)
- England and France
- 116 years
- food instability
- Code of Chivalry: behavior towards opponents (respect)
- longbow (battle of Agincourt), cannons on ships, gunpowder from China

a. The rediscovery of classical Greek and Roman texts led to a rebirth of learning in Europe called the RENAISSANCE
b. A political, cultural, and intellectual shift occurs as humanist thinkers focus more on individual achievement rather than purely religious affairs
c. Exploration of the Americas resulted in abundant food and wealth for European monarchs and merchants but great destruction for Indigenous people in the Americas and Africa.
d. While many Europeans rely on agriculture and subsistence farming, economic changes due to the connected hemispheres lead to innovation in financial systems and the rise of an economy
e. Monarchs, like Henry VIII, Charles V, and Ferdinand and Isabella, laid the foundation of modern political institutions

crusades
- traveled to different places that were in their “golden ages”
- traded knowledge and cultures
- connected them to the large trade routes in the Mediterranean
- helped Europe to gain wealth and knowledge

why did the Renaissance begin in northern Italy?
- trading routes emerged in Venice, Genoa, & Florence
- received goods and classical texts first

humanism/humanists
- believed more in secularism and individual achievement over religion
- secularism: “the principle of separation of the state from religious institutions.”
- they challenged the catholic church’s ideas
- start to sponsor artists to make their city look good and show their wealth
- Giovanni Boccaccio

art:

printing press
- Johann Gutenberg
- revolutionized education because books were more accessible
- led to the rise of specific cultures


Spain wants to get involved with this prosperous and wealthy trade but also avoid the Ottoman Empire

Columbus was supposed to find a direct route to the Indian Ocean trade but he ended up in the Caribbean

3 main motivations for exploration are gold, glory, & god.

Columbian exchange
- the Americas to Europe, Africa, and Asia and vice versa
- wealth shifts from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic region (new trading cities)
- more population leads to more cities
- more wealth and resources = the need for banks and joint stock companies

western Europe vs eastern Europe

nutrient-dense crops= population reaches pre-plague numbers despite environmental hardships

new monarchs and religion

henry the 8th- formation of the Anglican church
Queen Elizabeth 1- had wars to keep Protestantism as the religion because of the divide between protestants and Catholics
Ferdinand and Isabella- Reconquista united the provinces through Catholicism, and the Inquisitions led to the mass expulsion of Jews and Muslims