Bubonic Plague, Hundred Years’
War, and Renaissance
Theme: Crisis and Recovery
Lesson 13
ID & SIG:
• Bubonic Plague, da Vinci, humanists,
Hundred Years’ War, movable type,
Renaissance, Renaissance art, state
building
Renaissance
• Crisis
– Bubonic Plague
– Hundred Years’ War
• Recovery
– State building
– Renaissance
Crisis
Bubonic Plague
• During the 1330s plague erupted in
southwestern China
• During the 1340s, Mongols, merchants, and
other travelers helped to spread the disease
along trade routes to points west of China
• It thrived in the trading cities of central Asia
where domestic animals and rodents provided
abundant breeding grounds for fleas and the
plague bacillus
• By 1346 it had reached the Black Sea ports of
Caffa and Tana
Bubonic Plague
• In 1347 Italian
merchants fled the
plague-infected Black
Sea ports and
unwittingly spread the
disease to the
Mediterranean Basin
• By 1348, following
trade routes, plague
had sparked
epidemics in most of
western Europe
Illustration of bubonic plague
in the Toggenburg Bible
(1411)
Bubonic Plague
• Victims developed inflamed
lymph nodes, particularly in
the neck, armpit, and groin
areas
• Most died within a few days of
onset of symptoms
• Internal hemorrhaging often
discolored the inflammations
known as “buboes” which
gave rise to the term
“bubonic” plague
– Europeans referred to the
plague as “Black Death”
Bubonic Plague
• In Europe, plague
erupted
intermittingly from
the 1340s until the
late 17th Century
• In areas hit hard by
the plague, it took a
century or more to
begin recovery from
the demographic
consequences
“Doktor Schnabel von Rom” (“Doctor
Beak from Rome”) engraving, Rome
1656. The “beak” is a primitive gas
mask filled with substances thought
to ward off the plague
Bubonic Plague
• Population decline caused massive labor
shortages which in turn generated social unrest
– Urban workers demanded higher wages and many
left their homes in search of better conditions
– Political authorities responded by freezing wages and
forbidding workers to leave their homes
– Peasants in the countryside tried to move to regions
where landlords offered better terms and landlords
responded by restricting the freedom of peasants to
move and reimposing labor requirements; in effect,
reinstating serfdom
Bubonic Plague
• These sharply conflicting interests led to a
series of rebellions which political authorities
eventually suppressed with considerable
social disruption and loss of life
Townspeople flee to the countryside to avoid the plague
Bubonic Plague
• Economic recovery
was underway in
Europe by 1500
when European
population climbed
to 81 million
• Today the bubonic
plague survives in
rodent communities,
but since the1940s
antibiotic drugs
have brought it
largely under
control among
human populations.
In the US, the last urban plague epidemic
occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25. Since
then, human plague in the US has occurred as
mostly scattered cases in rural areas (an
average of 10 to 15 persons each year).
Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)
• Series of armed conflicts
fought over a 116-year
period between England
and France
– Centered around a maze of
feudal and commercial
claims
• Fought primarily in
France and devastated
the countryside
Hundred Years’ War
• Marauders
called
écorcheurs
looted and
pillaged
anybody
weaker than
themselves
• Joan of Arc’s
family had to
flee their home
at Domrémy to
escape
écorcheurs
Joan of Arc rallied French soldiers demoralized
after their defeat at Agincourt and led France to
victory at Orleans. Ultimately, she was
captured by the English and burned at the
stake.
Hundred Years’ War
• In 1358, French peasants launched the
Jacquerie Revolt against the écorcheurs, the
nobles (who made extortionate demands but
provided no protection), and the general poverty
and devastation of the Hundred Years’ War
• The leader, Guillaume Karle (or Cale), was
captured and beheaded by Charles II of
Navarre, and the mob was easily dispersed
– The nobles took revenge by massacring thousands of
the peasants
Recovery
State Building
• By the late 15th Century, states in Italy,
Spain, France, and England had devised
techniques of government that vastly
enhanced their power
– State building was based principally on fresh
sources of finance and the maintenance of
large standing armies
France
• Partly because of the tremendous
expenses incurred during the Hundred
Years’ War, the kings of France and
England began to levy direct taxes and
assert the authority of the central
government over the nobility
France
• King Louis XI maintained a permanent
army of about 15,000 troops, many
professional mercenaries equipped with
firearms
– The expense of such an army was beyond the
means of the nobility, so King Louis and his
successors enjoyed a decisive advantage
over those who might challenge the central
authority
Spain
• In 1469, the marriage of Fernando of Aragon
and Isabel of Castile united the two wealthiest
and most important Iberian realms
• With their combined wealth they were able to
build an army capable of conquering the
Muslims in the Kingdom of Granada and
completing the Reconquista
• They were also able to project Spanish authority
beyond Iberia such as by sponsoring
Christopher Columbus’ explorations
Italy
• Italian city-states had enriched themselves from
industrial production and trade, much of which
was generated by the Crusades
• This allowed the regional states to strengthen
their authority within their own boundaries and
collectively the city-states of Milan, Venice, and
Florence, the papal state based in Rome, and
the Kingdom of Naples controlled public affairs
in most of the Italian peninsula
Italy as Birthplace of the
Renaissance
• Survival of Roman artistic and architectural heritage and
the continued use of Latin kept memories of classical
civilization alive
• Profited from both Islamic and Byzantine influences
• Trade built wealth that furnished material resources for
cultural development and created an affluent
middle/upper class with the leisure for education and a
sense of political responsibility
• City-states competed with one another in cultural affairs
and sponsored innovations in art and architecture
Renaissance
• “Renaissance” is French for “rebirth” and
refers to the explosion of artistic and
intellectual creativity that took place
between the 14th and 15th Centuries in
western Europe
Artists
• Renaissance painters, sculptors, and
architects drew inspiration from the
classical Greek and Roman artists rather
than their medieval predecessors
• Artists used the technique of linear
perspective to represent the three
dimensions of real life on flat, two
dimensional surfaces
Difference in Painting
Medieval
Renaissance (The Virgin and
Child with Saint Anne by da
Vinci, 1510)
Difference in Painting
Medieval
Renaissance (Pope
Julius II by Raphael)
The School at Athens by Raphael
The School at Athens, with lines to
show perspective
Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337)
• Overcame the
obstacle of flat
forms by
skillfully
contrasting light
and shadow to
create an
illusion of depth
that made
human figures
look solid and
round
“The Mourning of Christ,”
painted c.1305
Masaccio (Tomassco Guidi) (14011428)
• Used atmospheric
perspective to show
objects receding into
a background and to
make figures appear
round and truly three
dimensional
Trinity 1425-28 Fresco
Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)
• Excelled in composition and use of soft colors
Raphael is famous for his warm, pious,
and graceful Madonnas such as The
Small Cowper Madonna, c. 1505
St. George Fighting the
Dragon, 1505
El Greco (Domenikos
Theotokopoulos) (1541-1614)
• Used severe colors
and elongated
features to express
Spanish religious zeal
in powerful and
emotional paintings
The Burial of Count Orgaz
conveys the Catholic spirit of
communion among God,
saints, and humans
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
• A great artist, but
more than any
other person of his
age, personified
the idea of the
“Renaissance man”
– Someone of broad
interests who is
accomplished in
both the arts and
sciences
Mona Lisa uses light and shadow and
perspective to make the figures fully
human, enigmatic, and mysterious
The Last Supper captures the emotions of each of Jesus’
disciples at the exact moment of their learning one will
betray Him
Leonardo da Vinci
da Vinci’s study of the
proportions of the human
body
da Vinci’s plans for a
helicopter
Sculptors
• Sculptors depicted their subjects in natural
poses that reflected the actual workings of
human muscles rather than the awkward
and rigid poses often found in earlier
sculptures
Michelangelo Buonarotti (14751564)
• Considered
himself a
sculptor first
and painted
with a
sculptor’s
eye
• Made the
muscular
masculine
figure his
ideal beauty
Michelangelo’s David and Moses show dramatic
and emotional postures and expressions
Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo’s frescos covering the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel in the Vatican are perhaps the single
greatest achievement in Renaissance art
Donatello (Donato di Niccoli di
Betto) (1386-1466)
• Traveled to Rome to study
the classics of antiquity
• Employed models and
created studies of anatomy
and the human body
Donatello’s David was the first nude
statue of the Renaissance and is known
for its grace, proportionality, and
balance
Architects
• Architects designed buildings in the
simple, elegant classical style and
perfected domed architecture which
enclosed large spaces but kept them open
and airy underneath massive domes
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
• Combined the
Romanesque
cruciform floor plan
with classical
features such as
columns, rounded
windows, and
arches
Brunelleschi is famous for
his dome atop the
cathedral in Florence
Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)
• Combined elements of both the early
Renaissance stress on balance and geometrical
symmetry with the mannerist architecture of
visual paradox and confusion
• Made the exteriors of private houses match the
exteriors of classically influenced churches and
public buildings to create a place for the wealthy
and powerful at the very top of civic life
– This would become a principle of domestic
architecture throughout Europe and the colonies in
America
Thomas Jefferson’s
Monticello shows the
influence of Palladio’s
Villa Rotunda
Humanists
• Unlike later “secular humanists,”
Renaissance humanists were
scholars and literary figures who
were deeply committed to
Christianity and religious themes
• They scorned the dense and often
convoluted writing style of the
scholastic theologians and instead
used the elegant and polished
language of classical Greek and
Roman authors and the early church
fathers
– Erasmus’ Praise of Folly
attacked both the pedantic
dogmatism of scholars and the
ignorance of the masses
Desiderius Erasmus (14661536) published an edition of
the New Testament that served
as the basis for various
translations into the vernacular
languages.
Humanists
• They reconsidered
medieval ethical
thinking that taught
that the most
honorable calling
was that of a monk
or nun who
withdrew from
society and instead
argued that it was
possible to lead a
morally virtuous life
while participating
actively in the
affairs of the world
By writing about everyday life within all
social classes, Giovanni Boccaccio
(1313-1375) brought the lustfulness and
earthy wit of the lower classes into the
realm of serious literature
Humanists
• Represented an
attempt to
reconcile
Christian values
and ethics with
the increasingly
urban and
commercial
society of
Renaissance
Europe
Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) wrote
in the Tuscan vernacular so his poetry
reached a large audience. His sonnets
celebrated his love for Laura, a married
women he admired from afar.
Other Great Renaissance Authors
• Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
– Canterbury Tales
• Thomas More (1478-1535)
– Utopia
• Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
– Don Quixote
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
– Known for his use of language and analysis of
character which reflected a deep understanding of the
good and evil in man
Movable Type
• Johannes Gutenberg’s
use of movable type to
print books accelerated
the spread of classical
learning
• Allowed for the mass
production of texts that
spread the cultural
heritage of the classical
world throughout Europe
Next
• Writing Workshop