The Black Death
The Black Death was a catastrophic plague that spread across
Europe from 1346 to 1352. The plague occurred in three
forms: pneumonic plague attacked the lungs, causing fierce
coughing and sneezing fits; septicemia plague traveled in the
bloodstream, causing black spots beneath the skin and
eventually causing the victim to choke on his or her own
blood; and bubonic plague, the most common, first appeared
as swellings in the neck, armpits and groin before causing
fever and delirium.
The Black Death spread to Europe through trade with the
East. The bacteria was carried by fleas, which lived on black
rats that accompanied trade caravans across Asia. Ever
growing trade facilitated the spread of the disease, as flearidden rats jumped ship in each of Europe’s ports.
An important factor in the spread of the Black Death was
ignorance surrounding its cause and cure. Frantic
Europeans blamed the plague on the alignment of the
planets, infected clothing, God’s punishment of sinful
humans, and Jews. And the people tried many ineffective
remedies.
The Black Death killed one third of Europe’s population,
which amounted to nearly 25 million people.
The Black Death affected Europe’s economic and social
life. The plague reduced the demand for European goods.
Farmers were forced to diversify their crops - producing
fruit, meat and dairy products. Fewer workers were
available, allowing laborers to demand more freedom and
higher wages. Resentment built among the working classes
against the nobles. Violent peasant revolts were the result.
Working class people improved their situations
The Black Death
1. What was the Black Death?
2. How did the Black Death spread throughout
Europe?
3. Why couldn’t people stop the spread of the
Black Death?
4. How did the Black Death change life in
Europe?
2
1
• a deadly plague that spread across Europe from 1346 – 1352
• appeared in three forms:
•Pnuemonic – attacked the lungs
•Septicemic – appeared in the bloodstream
• originated in Mongolia
and spread along the Silk
Road
•Bubonic – caused swellings on the body
3
• bacteria carried by fleas
who lived on black rats
• Italian merchant ships
brought rats to Europe
along with trade goods.
• first appeared in Sicily
and eventually spread
• People were ignorant about
its cause; they blamed the
stars, God’s anger and the
Jews.
• They tried ineffective cures.
4
• killed one third of the population
• forced farmers to diversify their crops
• peasants revolted and demanded more freedom
• working class moved to the cities to earn better wages
• reduced the power of the feudal lords
Another development that contributed to the decline
of feudalism was the Hundred Years’ War. It was the
result of a dispute over the French throne between
the kings of England and France. When the French
monarch, Charles IV, died, he had no sons. His
nephew, Philip was handed the throne. The king of
England was Edward III. As the grandson of the
former French king, he believed he had a more
legitimate claim to the throne. He sent a note to
Philip renouncing his allegiance as a vassal. This act
of claiming the throne began the medieval era’s
longest and arguably most influential war.
English armies achieved victories due to innovations and
strategy.
The longbow had great range, could be loaded
quickly, fired larger arrows that could pierce through
armor and its string could be removed or replaced quickly.
They employed cannons which allowed them to blast
holes in the heavily fortified walls of a castle.
The English kings took advantage of the fact that a
standing army of foot soldiers recruited from the common
people and paid to fight was more reliable than an army of
semi-independent nobles bound together only by oaths of
loyalty.
The Hundred Years War
1. How did the war begin?
2. Who was Joan of Arc and how did she change the
course of the war?
3. How did the nature of war change?
4. How did the war contribute to the end of
feudalism in France?
• French king Charles IV died
with no male heir
1
• two men attempted to claim the
vacant throne
•
Edward III of England
(son-in-law)
•
Philip of Valois (nephew)
• English armies attacked France
• Young, French peasant woman who
was inspired by God
2
• convinced Charles VII to let her lead
an army
• helped push the English armies out of
central France
• was captured, accused of heresy and
burned at the stake - was sainted in
1922
• Longbows eliminated
the advantages of
armor.
3
• Cannons could be
used to blast holes in
castles.
• Monarchs used
armies recruited from
the common people.
• People became more
patriotic - devoted to
king, not feudal lord.
• Kings built huge armies
with the taxes they
collected, which reduced
the power of the nobles.
4
Medieval trade and manufacturing flourished as Europe
renewed contact with the eastern world. Europe’s cities and
towns bounced back and resumed steady growth. Luxury
goods such as silk, spices, ivory and porcelain were
imported from Asia and Africa.
Towns became important centers for shipping and banking.
Many developed their own industries so as to have goods to
sell to business people who passed through their region, and
to sell abroad. The demand for luxury goods in Europe
created a need for coined money, because European
merchants needed precious metals such as gold and silver to
trade with the East.
This gave rise to the most lucrative of all business activities:
banking. Bankers exchanged coins from one region for the
currency of another. The standard against which all
currencies were based was the florin from the city of
Florence, Italy. It weighed “72 grains of gold.”
Merchants made up a new class, called the middle class,
because they were more important than the commoners but
still considered less powerful than the nobles.
The new middle class established itself in northern Europe’s
thriving urban centers. Most towns were originally ruled by
a feudal lord. Townspeople took measures to limit the power
of the feudal lord by forcing him to grant them a charter. A
charter outlined the rights of the townspeople - govern the
town, pay one yearly tax and the right to form guilds.
Guilds were associations of merchants, and later artisans,
that governed towns by establishing wages and prices,
maintaining standards of quality on goods they produced,
and settling conflicts within a town. They reflected the
importance of Christianity in Europe by adopting a
patron saint for protection and contributing money
toward the building of cathedrals and city walls.
In feudal times power was based birthright and land
ownership. Towns gave many people the opportunity to
earn a new place in society. In the hierarchy of the middle
class, one’s place in society was determined by ability and
wealth. The worth of an individual was stressed -leading
to a new age that would stress an individual’s freedom
over the class he or she was born into.
Trade and Commerce Change own Life
1. Explain how trade and commerce were the
foundations of town life.
2. What was town life like in the Middle Ages?
3. What was town life like during the
Renaissance?
( Use the following concepts in your comparison:
SOCIETY, POWER and STATUS )
1
• Towns were centers for trade and shipping.
• Luxury goods such as silk, spices, ivory and porcelain could be bought in towns.
• Guilds dominated social and civic life.
• Guilds reflected importance of Christianity in towns:
•contributed to building of cathedrals
•adopted patron saints and sponsored parades in their honor
2
3
• Towns were small because society was based on
agriculture and most people lived in the
countryside.
• Nobles had most of the power.
a . Lords owned the land where most towns
were located.
b . Towns needed protection from knights
that the lords could provide.
• Status was determined by birth.
• Towns grew because society began to be based on
commerce and more people started to live in cities.
• Middle class had most of the power.
•It limited the power of feudal lords by
forcing them to grant charters.
•It gained control of great sums of money by
organizing banks.
• Status was determined by wealth and ability.
Changing ideals brought Europe to the brink of a new era,
called the Renaissance, a French word meaning “rebirth” that
referred to the revival of arts and letters that took place in the
cities of northern Italy in the 1300s. Cities in this area ruled
their surrounding region and became known as city-states.
City-states were governed by guild members. They made
decisions about security, trade, foreign policy and city
planning.
Some cities manufactured a product that was sought after in
Europe and the East. Milan concentrated on metal goods and
armor. Florence raised capital through the cloth industry and
became an important banking center. Venice established itself
as a trade center by attracting merchants from around Europe
to their markets and warehouses, which stocked Asian goods.
Florence was the most influential of all Italian city-states.
Merchants created a thriving industry in the wool and textile trade
by importing wool from England and Flanders. Artisans dyed and
worked the fabric into beautiful woolen cloth. Merchants used
profits to purchase luxury items like silk, spices, ivory and
porcelain, which in turn were sold across Europe for high profits.
Many used their profits to begin banks, and the florin became the
most respected currency in Europe.
The most famous Florentine merchant family was the Medici. They
grew wealthy selling cloth and other goods, but rose to prominence
through banking. The Medici ruled Florence during the Italian
Renaissance. Each of the Medici leaders encouraged the
development of the arts, becoming important patrons of painters,
sculptors, (Michelangelo), architects and scholars.
The Renaissance became a time of renewed interest in the
scholarship, art and architecture of classical Greece and Rome.
The Growth of the Italian City-States
1. Why were the Italian city-states so rich and
powerful?
2. What was the Renaissance and why did it begin
in Italy?
3. How did Florence become the most influential
city-state?
1
• Maintained a thriving
industry in wool and silk
trade
• Had strong ties with Byzantine
and Muslim merchants
3
• Each city state specialized in one
commercial activity:
• Purchased luxury items from
the East and sold them for a
large profit
•Milan: metal goods and
armor
•Florence: banking and textiles
• Sold insurance to sea traders
to protect their overseas
investments
•Venice: goods from Asia
• European monarchs sought
loans from merchants
• Created many banks that
made loans or exchanged
currencies
• Medici family promoted
trade, banking, the arts,
scholarship and civic pride
2
• Renaissance is a French word meaning “rebirth”; refers to a revival in arts and learning
• Period when scholars became interested in ancient Greek and Roman culture
• Italian city-states displayed their wealth by giving financial support to artists who created
works with classical themes
The inspiration that fueled the Renaissance came from
the rediscovery of the classical world of ancient Rome
and Greece. Scholars visited Italy to maintain ties that
had been established after crusading Europeans made
contact with the Mediterranean world. They studied
Greek to access information that had been “lost”to
western perspective for centuries. The most important
was a work on education by a Roman scholar named
Quintilian. He argued that the goal of education was
not simply learning, but the creation of a wellrounded, moral citizen who would use education to
make society a just and better place.
Knowledge of the ancients combined to produce a new
type of scholar called a humanist.
The first great humanist was Petrarch, who was born
in Florence in 1304. Petrarch’s great love was the
discovery of ancient texts, works forgotten during the
Middle Ages. He copied their style in his writings.
These became masterpieces of the new spirit of the
renaissance.
In the early 1400s, the Florentine sculptor Donatello
began creating statues that copied the Roman ideal of
the human body. Likewise, the architect Brunelleschi
designed buildings, like Florence’s cathedral, after
studying ruins in Rome.
Artists, scholars and architects challenged traditional
thought and style. This led to innovations that spread
across Europe in the following centuries.
The people of the Renaissance gained an intense
appreciation of the individual, believing that each
person could achieve great things. Renaissance Italians
valued public service and believed that a liberal arts
education allowed human beings to lead rewarding
lives.
Becoming wealthy, famous or knowledgeable gained
new appeal. This was the “Age of Gold” for Florence,
with the belief in the importance of individual
achievement and ability and an emphasis on human
beings in the world in which they lived, rather than the
medieval focus on the afterlife.
The Spirit of the Renaissance
1. Why did people become interested in ancient
culture?
2. What was humanitarianism?
3. Explain the fascination with classical culture.
4. Explain the belief in human potential.
1
• Knoeledge of ancient Greece and Rome was rediscovered by scholars
• Crusades made Europeans eager to learn about the world around them
3
• Artists used ancients art as models
• Donatello created statues that
copied the Roman ideal of the
human body
2
• Brunelleschi designed buildings
after studying ruins in Rome
• revolutionary innovations were
made
• Humanists devoted themselves to
studying ancient writings
4
• They tried to learn about many
subjects such as Latin, Greek, history
and mathematics
• Believed each person could achieve great things
• Claimed that people educated in the classics could create a better world
• Emphasized human achieve,ment on earth, rather than the afterlife
• Petrarch, from Florence, was the
first great humanist
EVALUATION
After reviewing your notes, and re-reading the the information presented
on the slideshow, complete any 3 of the following tasks:
1. Read the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin. Do you think he was
justified in his actions?
2. To represent English and French perspectives on Joan of Arc, create a
WANTED POSTER and COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE for this
personality. State reasons for each of your perspectives.
3. Create a VENN DIAGRAM that compares towns in the Middle Ages
with towns during the Renaissance. (You should focus on size, who had
power, how status was determined, the purpose of towns, and
architecture.)
4. Create an ACROSTIC using the word Renaissance that describes the
reasons for the transition from the Middle Ages to the spirit of the
Renaissance.
5. List 5 reasons for the decline of feudalism and 5 reasons that aided in
the development of the Renaissance