Black Death, 1348–1350
• precursor: overpopulation & malnutrition
w agricultural improvements increase food supply; European
population doubles, 1000–1300, thereafter outstripping food
production
w 1315–1317: 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 area
• popular remedies: relevant medical knowledge absent
w
w
w
w
w
aromatic amulets
temperance & moderation
promiscuity & abandon
flight & seclusion
self-flagellation
Black Death (cont.)
• economic consequences:
w dramatic labor shortage, climbing wages for laborers &
artisans
w falling agricultural, climbing luxury prices—noble
landowners hardest hit
w attempts to freeze wages & force peasants to stay on
land è peasant revolts
w cities (artisans) benefit from demand for luxury goods
• political/social consequences:
w artisan guilds win some political power
w kings take advantage of weakened nobility & church
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 rivalry
• French weakness: larger & wealthier, but
more internal discord
Hundred Years’ War (cont.)
• First phase (under Edward III)
w Flanders allies with England, recognizing Edward as king of
France, 1340
w English seize Calais, 1346
w English rout near Poitiers, 1356; French king John II taken captive
w 1360 treaty: John II ransomed, English claims in France
recognized, Edward renounces claim to French throne
• Second phase (Treaty of Troyes)
w
w
w
w
English war effort flags due to peasant revolts
recommences with English victory at Agincourt, 1415
Duchy of Burgundy joins English
Treaty 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)
w French teenage peasant Joan of Arc declares call from
God to deliver besieged Orléans from English
w tired English repulsed, followed by string of French
victories
w Joan captured 1430, tried & burned as heretic at Englishheld Rouen
w English 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
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 consent
• French king Philip the Fair cuts off flow of money
to Rome; Boniface concedes
• Boniface issues Unam Sanctam (1302), as
confrontation with Philip ramps up, asserting
subordination of temporal to spiritual power
• French army assault & molest Boniface, who later
dies
• result: 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 Clement
• Conciliar Theory: idea that a representative council could
regulate actions of pope
• Council of Pisa (1409–1410): deposed Urban & Clement
(who refused to step down), elected Alexander V—three
contending popes
• Council of Constance (1414–1417): provides for regular
councils every few years
• Council 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, 1223
• Russian cities become tribute-paying principalities
of part of Mongol Empire known as the Golden
Horde
• Russians impressed into Mongol military service,
women taken as wives/concubines, some sold into
slavery
• partial Islamization of Russian society
• 1380: beginning of Mongol decline in Russia;
ends 1480 under Ivan the Great