The Latin West & Renaissance

Overview1200-1500

Where We’re Headed

• More land cultivated 1200-1500– New farming techniques– Better machinery– 9/10 lived in countryside

• Famine, epidemics, & war often• Black Death + Social Changes (peasant

revolts) = many released from serfdom and improved rural life

• How did we get to The Renaissance? And, was it really a thing?

Rural Life• 1200- most Western Europeans lived as serfs on

large estates owned by nobility & church– Owed landlord share of harvests & labor– Received meager returns for work– 15-30 peasant families supported one noble household

• Church VERY important in defining social conduct & laws– Great concern for avoiding sin– Ultimate goal to get to heaven

• Gender Roles– Men and women worked fields– Equal labor NOT equal decision making– Women subordinate to men

• Poverty stemmed from rapid population growth, inefficient farming, & social inequality

Farming• New technology– Three Field System –

farmers grew crops on 2/3 of land, alternating crops, while third field left fallow

• New settlements– Germans migrated east of the Elbe River & into Baltic

states– Order of Teutonic Knights conquered & administered

what would become Prussia in the 13th century– Settled on lands conquered from Muslims &

Byzantines– Drained swamps & cleared forests– Not all the best soil or land crop yields fell more

people lived at edge of starvation

Threats to Population• For most, there was not enough to eat & life expectancy

was short since many children died– Average life expectancy for royal family of Kingdom of England

in 1276 was 35 years– Dropped to 29.8 during Great Famine– Dropped to 17,33 during Black Death

• Famines– Great Famine 1315-17 affected much of

Europe• Millions of deaths• Clear end to period of growth & prosperity from

11-13th centuries• Universal crop failures duet o bad weather• Extreme levels of crime, disease, mass death, and

infanticide through 1322

– Undermined the authority of the Catholic Church (praying didn’t stop the famine)

– Rape & murder more common than today & increased in famine– Undermined confidence in Medieval governments (didn’t deal

with crises)

Threats to Population• Black Death originated in China & spread by Mongol

armies to the Black Sea; traders brought to Europe• Some places lost 2/3 population• Average loss 1/3 population in Western Europe• Symptoms

– Boils in groins & armpits– Black blotches on skin– Severe pain– Usually die within days

• Some towns closed gates & burned victims’ possessions

• Psychological impact– Increased religiousness – Reckless enjoyment

• Periodic returns of the plague thwarted population growth recovery

Social Rebellion• Black Death triggered social changes in western

Europe• Skilled & manual laborers demanded higher pay• Peasants rose up against wealthy nobles &

churchmen• Specific Rebellions

– Jacquerie, France 1358– Wat Tyler’s Rebellion,

London 1381

• Serfdom practically disappeared as peasants bought freedom or ran away

• Free persons bought land• Employers in urban areas raised wages to attract

workers• Overall economy shrank with decline in population,

but per capita production actually rose

Urban revival• Most growth resulted

from manufacturing and trade

• Hanseatic League – association of trading cities in the Baltic

• Trading fairs in the Champagne region of Burgundy– Exchange manufactured goods, livestock, and farm

produce– Remained important regional markets

• Most residents lived in poverty & squalor, not wealth

• Cities lacked civic amenities like public baths & water systems (they had these in the Islamic Middle East)

Civic Life• Most northern Italian & German cities were independent

states, like those port cities in the Indian Ocean Basin– Autonomy enabled adaptation to changing market conditions

more quickly– Urban life promoted social mobility

• Jews – mostly lived in cities– Spain had highest tolerance from earlier Muslim rulers– Endured violent religious persecutions or expulsions in times of

crisis, like the Black Death– Spanish monarchs expelled all Jews in 1492! (Bad idea – lost a

lot of intellectuals)

• Artisan Guilds dominated life– Brought together craft specialists to regulate business practices

& set prices– Trained apprentices– Promoted interests in government– Denied membership to outsiders, protecting interests of families

already in them– Perpetuated male dominance of skilled jobs

Women’s Lives• Sometimes could

join guilds• Poor women toiled

in non-guild jobs in textile industries, food/beverage trades

• Received lower wages than men

• Could advance through marriage to wealthy men

Banking• New class of wealthy merchant-

bankers by 15th century• Specialized in money changing,

loans, and investments• Princes & kings supported wars and

courts with credit• Predominated by Jews– Christians considered charging interest

siful– Christian bankers devised ways to get

around condemnation of usury

The Renaissance• During Middle Ages, people lived amid

reminders of achievements of the Greeks & Romans– Wrote in version of Roman language– Traveled their roads– Similar laws– Yet, learning of Greco-Roman works disappeared

with rise of biblical scriptures

• Renaissance characterized by a revival in intellectual activity and Greco-Roman culture

• Usually divided between Italian Renaissance (14th-15th century) and Northern Renaissance (15th-17th century)– Began in northern Italy & spread to northern Europe– Seen as break with an age of darkness

Characteristics of the renaissance• Foundation of Dominicans & Franciscans, who

established independent colleges after 1200• Universities – degree-granting corporations

specializing in research & advanced teaching• Humanism – study of humanities (grammar, rhetoric,

poetry, history, languages, and moral philosophy)– Not just about the Church anymore!– Interest in the human experience & human achievement– Ideas spread via printing press

• Printing Press – innovated by Johannes Gutenberg to become more affordable & faster– Increased literacy– Facilitated spread of knowledge– Augmented innovation (read a book, build on that idea,

publish another book, etc.)– Translations to the vernacular

Renaissance art & Literature• Wealthy families & the

Church fostered the arts– Paid for artists to live &

create– Lorenzo de’Medici

example

• Revived the “lost art of painting”– Advancements in paints– Perspective

• Sculpture• Architecture• Famous artists

– Leonardo da Vinci– Michelangelo– Filippo Brunelleschi

Impact & Legacy of the renaissance• Great works of art and literature +

advancements in science• Reformed education with rise of universities

and other schools• Aided development of vernacular literature• Developments in diplomacy• Gave rise to archaeology & historical criticism• Intellectual & moral revolution – humanism –

earthly life is worth living for its own sake– Decreased power of the Church– Impulse to religoius reform– Can think & investigate without endangering

welfare of your soul

But, was it really a thing?• Critics debate the usefulness of the “Renaissance”• Spanned over hundreds of years – the average person

had no clue anything revolutionary was going on!– Didn’t change daily life of the masses– Poverty, warfare, religious & political persecution actually

worsened in this era– Greater gender dichotomy

• Was it just a period of nostalgia for Greco-Roman times?

• Not so much an “advance” from the Middle Ages, as their societies & economies were so similar throughout

• Note – many historians now use “Early Modern” to describe this period

• Crash Course https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vufba_ZcoR0