1. Crisis and Dissolution
The Late Middle Ages
Crisis and Dissolution

2. An Age of Adversity Economic problems Famine & Plague
Peasant Rebellions
Decline of the Papacy
Hundred Years War ( )
During the late Middle Ages, the last book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelations, inspired thousands of sermons and hundreds of religious tracts. The Book of Revelation deals with visions of the end of the world, with death, war, famine and disease (The Four horsemen of the Apocalypse). It is no wonder that this part of the Bible was so popular, Between , Europeans experienced a frightful series of shocks: economic dislocation, plague, war, social uprisings and increased crime and violence. Death, and the preoccupation with it makes the 14th c. one of the most wrenching in European history.

3. Economic problems Declining agricultural production
1300- “The Little Ice Age”
Declining agricultural production
Food shortages, malnutrition and famines
Diminished revenues from peasants
Silver shortage - Spiraling inflation
Knights turned to plunder and warfare
“The Little Ice-Age” brought longer winters- frost came early and stayed late! Along with long periods of torrential rains, ruing the wheat, oat and hay crops on which people and animals depended for survival.

4. The Black Death 1347-1352 Sicily Fleas on black rats C 20,000,000 dead
Divine punishment for human sin

5. Negative impact of the Plague included:
Panic- family, friends & villages abandoned
Food production plummeted
Jewish communities massacred
Church authority questioned
Economic and social tensions emerged into rebellions
New artistic forms focused on decay and death

6. Positive long-term impact of the Plague
Higher wages for manual labor
People questioned the authority of church leaders
Re-emergence of rational science
Re-discovery of the ancient past
New, questioning spirit- paved the way for the Renaissance
Ring a Ring O'Roses, A pocketful of Posies Atishoo! Atishoo! We all fall down!
It is thought that this children's ditty originates from the time of the plague and explains what was perceived to happen One of the first symptoms of the plague was a ring of red (rose) coloured spots A posy of herbs was meant to protect against the disease The victim sneezes and falls down (dead)

7. The Jacquerie, France, 1358
MayAt St. Leu the peasants of the town rise up and kill the local nobles (a knight, his wife and children) and burn the manor. The unrest quickly spreads, becoming the Jacquerie. A large force of the Jauques (9000?) reach the city of Meaux, where the French royal family is in residence. They are confronted by the Captal de Buch and the Comte de Foix, with about 120 followers. Pandemonium ensues, and on the narrow bridge connecting the fortress to the town, where the peasants cannot make use of their superior numbers many are slaughtered. Charles of Navarre faces Guillame Caen, the leader of the Jacques, in battle. Charles invites Caen to parley, seizes him and beheads him, according to some sources after crowning him King of the Jacques with a crown of red hot iron.
The Jacquerie was a popular revolt in late medieval Europe by peasants that took place in northern France in 1358, during the Hundred Years' War. The revolt centered in the Oise valley north of Paris. This rebellion became known as the Jacquerie because the nobles derided peasants as "Jacque" or "Jaque Bonhomme" for their padded surplice called "jacque".[1] Their revolutionary leader Guillaume Cale was also popularly known as Jacques Bonhomme ("Jim Goodfellow") or Callet. The word "Jacquerie" has become synonymous for peasant uprisings in general.

8. The Ciompi – Italy, 1378
In 1378, ciompi launched the Revolt of the Ciompi, a briefly successful insurrection of the disenfranchised lower classes, the popolo minuto, which remained as a traumatic memory for members of the major guilds and contributed to the support given to the Medici a generation afterwards, as stabilizers of Florentine order. The revolt briefly brought to power in 14th- century Florence an unprecedented level of democracy. The ciompi were defeated by the more conservative elements in Florentine society when the major and minor guilds closed ranks to re-establish the old order, a counter- revolution in which the knight Salvestro de' Medici played a prominent role.
In June 1378, the unguilded wool-workers took up arms and attacked government buildings. On July 22, the lower classes forcibly took over the government, placing the wool carder Michele di Lando in the executive office of gonfaloniere of justice, and showing their banner at the Palazzo della Signoria.They compelled the governing body, the Signoria, to establish additional guilds in order to grant the ciompi access to political office.1 During the time of ciompi control, they demanded the right to elect three of their own priors, the reduction of judicial corporal punishment, and reform the tax system.2
Conflicts between the traditional guilds and the ciompi became evident. On August 31, a large group of the ciompi that had gathered in the Piazza della Signoria were attacked by forces of the major and minor guilds led by the guild of butchers.3 In reaction to this revolutionary episode, the new ciompi guilds were abolished, and within four years the dominance of the major guilds was restored. By 1382, all the reforms that the ciompi had introduced had officially been eliminated.
The event was a traumatic episode for the Florentine upper classes.

9. Wat Tyler’s Peasant Revolt, aka The Great Rising, England, 1381
The end of the revolt: Wat Tyler is killed by Lord Walworth while Richard II watches, and a second image of Richard addressing the crowd
This rebellion, "the most significant in English History," occurred for a combination of reasons, virtually all of which were prompted by the Black Death. The plague that struck Britain from 1348 killed almost half the population. Those agricultural workers who survived now found their wages rising (by per cent) as demand for their services by competing landlords increased. However, the landlords were reluctant to pay the higher wages or allow workers to move to rival estates. Hit by this, three poll taxes and legislation which stated that wages could not rise above pre- plague levels, the ambitious and assertive Yeomen, (but not the poorest), of Essex and Kent rebelled. The 'Poll Tax' of 1380 became particularly hated, as it took no account of individual wealth or earnings and demanded the same sum from all, rich or poor.Richard had personally seen off the greatest popular threat to the medieval English monarchy...' Starting in Brentwood, Essex (May 1381) the mob rose against the tax collectors, joined with their colleagues in Kent and thousands of people sacked the City of London. The government lacked any significant military capability and so decided to follow a policy of conciliation with the King meeting the mob and their leader, Wat Tyler, first at Mile End and then Smithfield. The king heard and accepted Tyler's demands and then watched as his bodyguards slew the rebel leader, with or without provocation. Seeing him dead, Richard rode alone into the middle of the rebel host crying: "You shall have no captain but me. Just follow me to the fields without, and then you can have what you want." With that, the rebel hoard left central London and dispersed. Its leaders were subsequently tried and many hanged. Richard had personally seen off the greatest popular threat to the medieval English monarchy; it was an achievement that would not be matched for the remainder of his reign.
The Peasants' Revolt, Tyler’s Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the best documented popular rebellion ever to have occurred during medieval times. The names of some of its leaders, John Ball, Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, are still familiar even though very little is actually known about these individuals. Peasant, Peasants or Popular is variously paired with Revolt, Uprising and War and may refer to (sorted chronologically): Chen Sheng Wu Guang Uprising 209BC Yellow Turban Rebellion 184 Popular revolt in late medieval Europe: Peasant revolt in Flanders English peasants revolt of 1381 Slovenian peasant revolt of Image File history File links DeathWatTylerFull. ... Image File history File links DeathWatTylerFull. ... Year 1381 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar John Ball (d. ... This article is about the revolt leader Wat Tyler. ...
Wat Tyler's Rebellion is significant because it marked the beginning of the end of serfdom in medieval England. Tyler's Rebellion led to calls for the reform of feudalism in England and an increase in rights for the serf class. Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne; from a manuscript of a chanson de geste Feudalism, a term first used in the late modern period (17th century), in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval European political system comprised of a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the...

10. Decline of the Papacy
Pope Innocent III ( )- transformed the papacy into a strong secular and military power, but weakened it spiritually.
Used Donation of Constantrine to justify papal power
Regained physical control over many Italian states
Responsible for 4th Crusade (in which Constantinople was sacked) and the Albigensian Crusade in southern France
Forced King John to give england to apacy and then receive back as a fief
Sponsored Francis of Assissi in creating the Franciscan order and the Spaniard Dominic and his Dominican order.
Convened the 4th Lateran council

11. Pope Boniface VIII and French king Philip IV
1296- Bonifacei issued a papal bull: Clericis Laicos which decreed that kings and lords who imposed taxes on the clergy and clergy who paid them would suffer excommunication. Philip acted forcefully to assert his power over the church. Boniface backed down and declared the French king could impose a tax in a national emergency.
Philip IV taxed the church to raise revenue for war disregarding the decree of Boniface.

12. Pope Boniface VIII, 1296, Clercis Laicos;
1302, Unam Sanctam,
“…if the earthly powers errs, it shall be judged by the spiritual power…. but the pope can be judged only by God, not by man. Therefore we declare, state, define and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”

13. September, 1303 “The Terrible Day at Anagni.”

14. In 1309, Clement V -Avignon
After Boniface VIII’s death, Benedict XI became pope for about a year. Benedict gave in to Philip but that was not enough for him. When Benedict died, Philip made sure the next pope ws French- Archbishop of Bordeaux who in June, 1305, became clement V and moved his seat to Avignon on the Rhone river, 400 miles NW of Rome.

15. The Babylonian Captivity, 1309-1377
Widespread criticism among devout Catholics of “the good life” led by the clergy at Avignon further reduced the prestige of the church and the pope in particular.
Many saw the pope as a puppet of the French king
After Clement, the next 6 popes were French for next 68 years

16. The Babylonian Captivity, 1309-1377
Petrarch, in 1353 wrote
“I am now living in Avignon where reign the successors of the poor fishermen of Galilee [who] have strangely forgotten their origins.
I am astounded…to see these men loaded with gold and clad in purple, boasting of the spoils of princes and nations; to see luxurious palaces and heights crowned with fortifications, instead of a boat turned downwards for their shelter.”
In 1377, Pope Gregory IX reestablished papacy in Rome.

17. John Wycliffe ( )
Stressed a personal relationship with God
Sacraments are not necessary for salvation
Denied that priests turned bread/wine to body/blood of Christ
Denounced wealth and advocated material poverty
Followers called Lollards

18. 1378: Pope Urban VI and Pope Clement VII
The Great Schism,
1378: Pope Urban VI and Pope Clement VII
After Gregory IX, a supposed Italian mob threatened the college of cardinals to elect an Italian pope-Urban VI. Urban then set about dismantling the Curia (cardinals were mostly french) rebelled and elected a second pope- Clement VII.
In 1409, in an attempt to end the papal Schism, bishops at the Council of Pisa elected a third Pope (Alexander “the Antipope” V) to replace the other two. However, rather than resolve the Schism, this only resulted in three concurrent Popes. 

19. 1409, Council of Pisa elected Alexander V – a third pope!
The Great Schism,
1409, Council of Pisa elected Alexander V – a third pope!
Pope Clement had demanded from Edward III, 33 years of back taxes because King Kohn in 1215 had promised the Pope at that time 1000 marks a year as a tithe to the church!

20. Council of Constance, 1414-1417 elected Martin V as new Pope.
After Gregory IX, a supposed Italian mob threatened the college of cardinals to elect an Italian pope-Urban VI. Urban then set about dismantling the Curia (cardinals were mostly french) rebelled and elected a second pope- Clement VII. Then came Pisa- a third pope! Intolerable situation- Emperor Sigismund (Luxumburg?) convinced Rome pope John XXIII to summon a new council. The Three contending popes agreed to step down and Martin V became pope

21. The Hundred Years War,

22. William of Normandy, aka William the Conqueror, 1066

23. Today, we remember Richard as the King of England usually as portrayed by Sean Connery, Patrick Stewart and many others in Robin Hood film adaptations, but the truth of Richard was much different. That truth explains many of the challenges facing William and the English during the reigns of Henry II, Richard I, and John I. By the end of the day on 6 June 1189 Richard was not only the King of England, but was also the Duke of Normandy, the Duke of Aquitaine, the Count of Anjou, and the Count of Maine. The King of England was thus not only the largest vassal of the King of France, but as can be seen by looking at English controlled territories in France; he also controlled more land in France than did the French. Furthermore, from Richard's point of view, in many ways England was the least of his possessions. Richard was born in Oxford, but he was essentially French. He never truly learned how to speak English and he spent only about six months of his ten year reign actually in England. Furthermore, when he died, he specified that his body be buried in multiple places, which was not uncommon for kings at the time. Richard chose to have his brain buried in Poitou, his heart in Rouen, and the rest of his body at Fontevrault Abbey in Anjou. In other words, at the end of his life, the King of England chose to associate himself eternally with France, rather than with England. Hence, perhaps Gerard Depardieu would be a more appropriate actor to play Richard in the Robin Hood movies than Connery or Stewart.

24. Edward III r. 1327-1377 In 1337, he claimed the throne of France.
Henry V r took advantage of a civil war in France and invaded in 1415

26. Crecy, 1346 Poitiers, 1356 The Long Bow vs mounted knights and the crossbow
by JeanFroissart, In 1360, the Peace of Bretigny ended hostilities for a while.

27. Agincourt, 1415
On 25th of October, 1415, the feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian, Henry led his small, exhausted English army against the might of the French chivalry at Agincourt. An estimated 5,000-6,000 English troops opposed a massive French army of 50,000-60,000.
The English advanced first, Henry's strategy was to fight where the field narrowed between two woods, to prevent the French from outflanking and surrounding him. English archers showered the French with repeated volleys of arrows. The French chivalry then advanced through the muddy ground. The English archers planted six-foot stakes in the ground before them, the French chivalry were forced to retreat in front of their own men-at-arms, who were struggling across the muddy field.
The massive French army were hemmed into a small space, having no room for manoeuvre, with disastrous results. Unable to rise in heavy armour, men who went down in the crush were suffocated in their own armour. French casualties were enormous. The French knights tried to rally and attempt a further charge but realised further resistance was hopeless.
Henry had won an spectacular and glorious victory for England against all odds. Among the English dead was his cousin, Edward, the obese Duke of York, who among many, had fallen in the mud and smothered in his own armour. Returning to England in November, the Londoners gave a rapturous welcome to their hero King, Henry's popularity had reached its zenith.

28. Joan of Arc (1412-1431) Jeanne D’Arc, 1429 “The Maid of Orleans”
Joan of Arc, in an illustration from about 1505; in the collection of the Musée Archéologique Thomas Dobrée, in Nantes, France.
Joan of Arc, also known as Jeanne d'Arc,[1] (c.1412 – 30 May 1431)[2] was
a national heroine of France and is a saint of
the Roman Catholic Church. She asserted that she had
visions from God which told her to recover her homeland
from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege at Orléans as part
of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she
overcame the light regard of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days.
Several more swift victories led to Charles VII's
coronation at Reims and settled the disputed succession to the throne.

29. Captured by the Duke of Burgundy in 1430 and turned over to English
Painting, c Artist's interpretation; the only portrait for which she is known to have sat has not survived. (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490)

30. Joan of Arc entered Comiegne outside Paris and was taken prisoner
Joan of Arc entered Comiegne outside Paris and was taken prisoner. The British held Joan in prison in a tower in Rouen.Charles VII made no effort to assist her. The English in 1431 turn Joan over to the former bishop of the of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon on the assurance she would be convicted of treason against God. She was convicted and burned to death at the stake on May 30,
The scene of her execution is vividly described by a number of those who were present that day. She listened calmly to the sermon read to her, but then broke down weeping during her own address, in which she forgave her accusers for what they were doing and asked them to pray for her. The accounts say that most of the judges and assessors themselves, and a few of the English soldiers and officials, were openly sobbing by the end of it. But a few of the English soldiers were becoming impatient, and one sarcastically shouted to the bailiff Jean Massieu, "What, priest, are you going to make us wait here until dinner?" The executioner was ordered to "do your duty" They tied her to a tall pillar well above the crowd. She asked for a cross, which one sympathetic English soldier tried to provide by making a small one out of wood. A crucifix was brought from the nearby church and Friar Martin Ladvenu held it up in front of her until the flames rose. Several eyewitnesses recalled that she repeatedly screamed "...in a loud voice the holy name of Jesus, and implored and invoked without ceasing the aid of the saints of Paradise". Then her head drooped, and it was over Jean Tressard, Secretary to the King of England, was seen returning from the execution exclaiming in great agitation, "We are all ruined, for a good and holy person was burned." The Cardinal of England himself and the Bishop of Therouanne, brother of the same John of Luxembourg whose troops had captured Joan, were said to have wept bitterly. The executioner, Geoffroy Therage, confessed to Martin Ladvenu and Isambart de la Pierre afterwards, saying that "...he had a great fear of being damned, [as] he had burned a saint." The worried English authorities tried to put a stop to any further talk of this sort by punishing those few who were willing to publicly speak out in her favor: the legal records show a number of prosecutions during the following days.

31. Impact of the Hundred Years War
English held only the port city of Calais
England experienced a civil war
French monarchy grew in power & prestige
Kings won the right to collect taxes
New weapons and strategy for warfare
Code of Chivalry abandoned
Feudalism began to decline

32. Legacy of the Middle Ages…
Notions of honor, duty, loyalty, and love
European cities / The middle class
The state system
English common law -concept of liberty
Equality and the sacred worth of the individual
Representative government
Universities
Corporations, Bookkeeping & Banking
Preserved Greco-Roman scholarship
Growth of secularism

33. Any Questions?