CHAPTER 9

THE LATE MIDDLE AGES:Social and Political Breakdown (1300-1453)

Black Death, 1348–1350precursor: overpopulation & malnutrition

agricultural improvements increase food supply; European population doubles, 1000–1300, thereafter outstripping food production1315–1317: crop failures produce worst famine of Middle Ages

bubonic plague (“Black Death”) followed trade routes from Asia into Europe, probably via fleas on rates from Black Sea areapopular remedies: relevant medical knowledge absent

aromatic amuletstemperance & moderationpromiscuity & abandonflight & seclusionself-flagellation

Black Death (cont.)economic consequences:

dramatic labor shortage, climbing wages for laborers & artisansfalling agricultural, climbing luxury prices—noble landowners hardest hitattempts to freeze wages & force peasants to stay on land peasant revoltscities (artisans) benefit from demand for luxury goods

political/social consequences:artisan guilds win some political powerkings take advantage of weakened nobility & church

The CulpritsThe Culprits

The The SymptomsSymptoms

Bulbous

Septicemic Form:

almost 100% mortality rate.

The Disease The Disease CycleCycle

Flea drinks rat blood that carries the

bacteria.

Flea drinks rat blood that carries the

bacteria.

Flea’s gut cloggedwith bacteria.

Flea’s gut cloggedwith bacteria.

Bacteriamultiply inflea’s gut.

Bacteriamultiply inflea’s gut.

Flea bites human and regurgitates blood into human wound.

Flea bites human and regurgitates blood into human wound.

Human is infected!Human is infected!

Attempts to Stop the Attempts to Stop the PlaguePlague

A Doctor’s Robe

“Leeching”

Attempts to Stop the Attempts to Stop the PlaguePlague

Flagellanti:Self-inflicted “penance” for our

sins!

Attempts to Stop the Attempts to Stop the PlaguePlaguePograms against the

Jews

“Jew” hat

“Golden Circle” obligatory badge

Medieval Art & the Medieval Art & the PlaguePlague

An obsession with death.

The Mortality Rate

353099930% - 70%

25,000,000 dead !!!

Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453)

nominal cause: English king Edward III’s claim on French throne, thwarted by accession of first Valois king, Philip VI (r. 1328–1350)larger cause: English-French territorial, commercial, & cultural rivalryFrench weakness: larger & wealthier, but more internal discord

The French nobility selected Philip of Valois, a cousin of the last king through the male line.

He founded a new French dynasty that ruled through the 16c.

He was chosen in preference to King Edward III of England, whose mother was the daughter of the late king, Philip IV.

In 1340, Edward claimed the title “King of France.”

1. Controversy Over Succession

1. Controversy Over Succession

2. Fr. Land Belonging to Br. Kings

A longer standing issue was the status of lands within France that belonged to English kings.Edward was actually a vassal of Philip’s, holding sizable French territories as fiefs from the king of France [it went back to the Norman conquest].

3. Conflict Over Flanders

Wool industry.

Flanders wants its independence from French control.

Asks England for help.

The ‘dagger’ pointing at the ‘heart’ of

England!

4. A Struggle for National Identity

France was NOT a united country before the war began.

The French king only controlled about half of the country.

Hundred Years’ War (cont.)First phase (under Edward III)

Flanders allies with England, recognizing Edward as king of France, 1340English seize Calais, 1346English rout near Poitiers, 1356; French king John II taken captive1360 treaty: John II ransomed, English claims in France recognized, Edward renounces claim to French throne

Second phase (Treaty of Troyes)English war effort flags due to peasant revoltsrecommences with English victory at Agincourt, 1415Duchy of Burgundy joins EnglishTreaty of Troyes, 1420: named English Henry V successor to French Charles VI, but both soon die

Hundred Years’ War (cont.)Third phase (Joan of Arc)

French teenage peasant Joan of Arc declares call from God to deliver besieged Orléans from Englishtired English repulsed, followed by string of French victoriesJoan captured 1430, tried & burned as heretic at English-held RouenEnglish forced back, conclude war with Calais as only French possession (1453)

Summary: 68 years of peace, 44 of war; France devastated, but national feeling awakened; English & French peasants suffer most from taxes & services

Military Characteristics

The War was a series of short raids and expeditions punctuated by a few major battles, marked off by truces or ineffective treaties.

The relative strengths of each country dictated the sporadic nature of the struggle.

French Advantages

Population of about 16,000,000.

Far richer and more populous than England.

At one point, the French fielded an army of over 50,000 at most, Britain mustered only 32,000.

British Advantages

Weapons Technologies.

In almost every engagement, the English were outnumbered.

Britain’s most successful strategies:• Avoid pitched battles.• Engage in quick, profitable raids

Steal what you can. Destroy everything else. Capture enemy knights to hold for ransom.

The use of the English defensive position was the use of the longbow.Its arrows had more penetrating power than a bolt from a crossbow.

Could pierce an inch of wood or the armor of a knight at 200 yards!

A longbow could be fired more rapidly.

6 arrows per minute.

The Longbow as a Weapon

The Longbow as a Weapon

The British Longbow:The Battle of Poitiers, 1356

The British Longbow:The Battle of Poitiers, 1356

Early English VictoriesEarly English Victories

Joan of Arc (1412-1432)

The daughter of prosperous peasants from an area of Burgundy that had suffered under the English.

Like many medieval mystics, she reported regular visions of divine revelation.

Her “voices” told her to go to the king and assist him in driving out the English.

She dressed like a man and was Charles’ most charismatic and feared military leader!

Cannons Used at Orleans

Cannons Used at Orleans

Joan Announces the Capture of Orleans to

the King

Joan Announces the Capture of Orleans to

the King

Joan of Arc (1412-1432)She brought inspiration and a sense of national identity and self-confidence.

With her aid, the king was crowned at Reims [ending the “disinheritance”].She was captured during an attack on Paris and fell into English hands.

Because of her “unnatural dress” and claim to divine guidance, she was condemned and burned as a heretic in 1432.

She instantly became a symbol of French resistance.

Joan as a “Feminist” Symbol Today?

The End of the War

Despite Joan’s capture, the French advance continued.

By 1450 the English had lost all their major centers except Calais.

In 1453 the French armies captured an English-held fortress.

This was the last battle of the war.

There was not treaty, only a cessation of hostilities.

France Becomes Unified!France Becomes Unified!

France in 1337

France in 1453

Late Medieval Church

papal monarchy established by Pope Innocent III strengthened the church politically, but weakened it spiritually—undermined popular support

Innocent’s successor’s: tightened & centralized church legal proceedings; elaborated clerical taxation; broadened papal powers of appointment

demise of Hohenstaufens took away galvanizing enemy of church, made it vulnerable

Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) vs. Philip the Fair (r. 1285–1314)

French & English kings raise taxes on clergy; Boniface decrees new taxes need papal consentFrench king Philip the Fair cuts off flow of money to Rome; Boniface concedesBoniface issues Unam Sanctam (1302), as confrontation with Philip ramps up, asserting subordination of temporal to spiritual powerFrench army assault & molest Boniface, who later diesresult: popes never again seriously threaten European rulers

Avignon Papacy (1309–1377)

Pope Clement V moves papal court here to escape strife of Rome

to get needed revenue, papal taxes go up, and sale of indulgences begins

Pope John XXII (r. 1316–1334)—most powerful Avignon pope

John Wycliffe (d. 1384) and John Huss (d. 1415)

Lollards: followers of Wycliffe, English spokesman for rights of royalty against popes; challenged indulgences, papal infallibility, transubstantiation—anticipates Protestantism

Hussites: followers of Huss, rector of University of Prague—similar to Lollards

Great Schism (1378–1417)

Urban VI and Clement VII—rival popes; England & allies support Urban, France & allies support ClementConciliar Theory: idea that a representative council could regulate actions of popeCouncil of Pisa (1409–1410): deposed Urban & Clement (who refused to step down), elected Alexander V—three contending popesCouncil of Constance (1414–1417): provides for regular councils every few yearsCouncil of Basel (1431–1449): height of conciliar government of church; negotiated directly with heretics (Hussites)results of conciliar movement: greater religious responsibility to laity & secular governments

Mongol Rule in Russia (1243–1480)

Mongols, or Tatars, sweep through China, Islamic world, & Russia, 13th c.Ghengis Khan (1155–1227) invades Russia, 1223Russian cities become tribute-paying principalities of part of Mongol Empire known as the Golden HordeRussians impressed into Mongol military service, women taken as wives/concubines, some sold into slaverypartial Islamization of Russian society1380: beginning of Mongol decline in Russia; ends 1480 under Ivan the Great