The Crises of the 14 th Century Age of sorrow and temptation, of tears, jealousy and torment, Time of exhaustion and damnation, declining to extinction, Era filled with horror and deception, lying, pride and envy, Time without honor and meaning, full of life-shortening sadness. - Eustache Deschamps
Urban revival - part of Byzantine, Islamic networks Genghis Khan d Marco Polo Kublai Khan
B. Disaster in the making 1. Nearly all arable land taken 2. “Little” Ice Age ca – 1700+
Hey, lil’ fella Xenopsylla cheopis
I. The Black Death bubonic, pneumonic, septicemic
6, 14, 18th centuries 137M (1/4 - 1/3 of Europe in 1300s - 34M)
A. Legacy of the plague 1. Pessimism, the macabre Hans Holbein The Dance of Death the Kingthe Queenthe Pope
2. Europe subject to invasion Mongols s Ottoman Turks & 1600s
3. Plagues of insurrection - weakening of social bonds - persecution - peasant revolt Jacquerie 1358 Wat Tyler’s Revolt 1381
Crises of moral authority paves the way for Renaissance, Reformation. The Triumph of Death Bruegel
Growth of Towns Many serfs left the manors and moved into towns/cities –Could be free in cities if they hid from their lord for a year and one day –Increased populations in towns Towns were often overcrowded and dirty –Led to a decline in feudalism
II. 100 Years War
A. Causes 1.Angevin Empire - Henry & Eleanor 1152 Vassalage v. Nation-state 2. Edward III 1329
3. Manufacturing - Flemish wool trade
B. Conduct of the War 1.English occupation - soldiers fend for themselves End of Chivalry
C. Assault on authority 1. Yeomen archers - Crécy 1346 / Agincourt Battle of Formingy gunpowder Men in armor losing significance
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 British Longbow: The Battle of Poitiers, 1356
3. Joan of Arc - Battle of Orleans 1429
Impact Begins process of political centralization in Europe Significant military evolution (Gunpowder) Early rise of nationalistic feelings First popular challenges to secular and spiritual authority End of English claims to France
III. Division in Christendom Religious controversy and challenges for the Church The Great Schism
A. Limits of reason 1. Urban social orders - merchants, craftsmen - “class,” not hereditary obligations 2. Alternative to feudal orders - tweaking of theology
3. Aristotelianism Thomas Aquinas Scholasticism Peter Abelard Peter & Heloise
B. Avignon Papacy 1. Clement V & Philip IV suppression of Knights Templar - moved papacy to Avignon “Whore of Babylon”
2. Gregory XI Rome, most of Europe wants Italian Pope - Charles (V) Valois 3. Great (Western) Schism Popes a’plenty - Council of Constance antiPope John XXIII
C. Legacy of division 1. Worsened by contemporary problems - papacy in the eyes of both clergy and lay people 2. Opened door for theological and literary challenges to Church hegemony
IV. Cultural change in crisis
A. Theological challenges 1. John Wycliffe quality of sacrament - Church authority
2. Jan Hus religion and nationalism - language č š ž
3. Increased threat of Heresy - Waldensians no authority but the Bible - Albigensiansextreme ascetism “Heretics” often preached austerity not found in Church, popular w/ peasants The Inquisition “what a show”
4. William of Ockham Argued against Aristotelian theory - must argue from specific to general Ockham’s razor scientific method
B. Vernacular literature 1. Reliance on Latin declines - expression of cultural, national, religious independence (Gutenberg press)
2. Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy allegory – historical figures, contemporary critique Redemption of Man – in Italian! “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”
3. Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales middle English - ribald, low brow comedy, social satire Wife of Bath
4. Christine de Pizan City of Ladies a. status of aristocratic women improving b. all levels of patriarchy challenged
Giovanni Boccaccio The Decameron Juan Ruiz The Book of Good Love - “Mr. Melon of the Vegetable Garden”
Change & Invention Changes in Urban Life –Greater Regulation –Marriage –Gender Roles Male: Active and Domineering Women: Passive and Submissive Medicine] –Medical schools---Salerno, Montpellier, Bologna, Oxford, Padua, and Paris. –Midwives, barber-surgeons Inventions and New Patterns –The Mechanical Clock New Conception of Time –Gunpowder
Mechanical Clock in the Prague Town Hall