Viktoria O’Donnell

AP Modern European History

Chap. 12: The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages
Outline

I) Prelude to Disaster
A) Great Famine (mostly 1315-1322)
1) poor harvests led to famine: inflation, starvation, death, reduced population and
disease
2) abandoned farms and villages, unemployment in one country affected others & led to
increase in crime
(a) infected English sheep : decline in wool exports : unemployed Flemish weavers :
Flemish, Italian, Hanseatic merchants suffered
3) Jews targeted & blamed, killed, beaten and fined
4) sons of Philip the Fair (forbade foreign trade of grains and prohibited large fishing
catches) & Edward II’s attempts (set prices, foreign grain) failed
II) The Black Death
A) Black Death
1) Venetian & Genoese ships started using 3 sails, allowing travel/trade all year long,
rat-transmitted diseases spread more rapidly
2) bubonic plague (black death) spread from the Crimea to Mediterranean/Europe
(a) Oct. 1347: Messina-Sicily, Jan. 1347: Venice-Genoa-Pisa-Rome-Florence-
Tuscany, Spring: Germany-France-Languedoc-Spain, June 1348: England
B) Pathology & Care
1) black death transported by fleas on ship-bound rats; bubonic – transmitted by fleas,
pneumonic – person to person
2) conditions in cities (refuse, dead animals, overcrowding) helped spread disease
quickly, little hygiene
3) symptoms: buba (boil), black spots on skin, spit up blood (first sign of death)
4) people found ways to avoid plague, last occurred in 1721, vaccine not found until
1947
C) Social, Economic, and Cultural Consequences
1) clergy cared for ill, very high mortality rate, left church in hands of incompetent, gave
over some sacramental privileges to civilians
2) age of new men in guilds, high mortality rate in young rather than mature
(a) 15% 60+, 44% 0-19, 41%20-59
3) ripped apart psychological and traditional occurrences (extremist groups called
flagellants, no funerals, more pilgrimages), cities and ports quarantined all new
arrivals
4) literature and art reveal fear of death
III) The Hundred Years’ War
A) The English & The French
1) after Charles IV of France died, Isabella (sister) and Edward III (nephew) of England
were refused French crown, given to Philip VI, started new struggle between
countries
B) Causes
1) French violated Treaty of Paris (1259) by taking English duchy Aquitaine
2) Edward III: oldest direct male descendant of Philip the Fair, felt he deserved French
throne
3) French civil war, disruption of trade/commerce threatened Flemish prosperity, made
war last longer
C) The Popular Response
1) governments manipulated public opinion to support war
(a) patriotic sermons, wickedness of other side, great fortunes,
2) popular because of wealth and advancement
D) The Course of the War to 1419
1) consisted mainly of random sieges and cavalry raids (France and Low Countries),
French sacked and burned English coastal towns
2) in beginning, England successful, French won the war
(a) Edward III: Crécy (1346), Edward the Black Prince: Poiters (1356), Henry V:
Agincourt (1415)
E) Joan of Arc and France’s Victory
1) French victory rested on peasant girl, visions from God brought her to uncrowned
King Charles VII, sent to help in Orléans as a hopeful miracle, presence in Orléans
strengthened morale
2) May 8, 1429: English withdrew, May 18: Charles VII crowned
3) 1430: captured/sold to England, put on trial for heresy and witchcraft, French did not
help her, burned at the stake, canonized as second patron of France
4) boosted French pride, demand for an end became stronger, 1453: end of war, only
Calais remained in English hands
F) Costs and Consequences
1) English left France in shambles, grave loss of population, defeat in battles and taxes
cause dissatisfaction and aggravation in peasants
2) only southern coastal ports of England were harmed, population loss restored land-
labor balance, cost of war (£5 mil) had many consequences, government raised taxes
on wool, exports decreased
3) stimulated development of English Parliament, representative assemblies flourished,
single national assembly to help balance power, no one in France wanted single
assembly
4) war promoted nationalism in both countries
IV) The Decline of the Church’s Prestige
 A) The Babylonian Captivity
1) to control church and its politics, Philip the Fair pressured Pope Clement V to move
church to Avignon, Babylonian Captivity, in absence of papacy, Papal States in Italy
lacked stability, Rome became poverty-stricken
2) 1377: Pope Gregory XI brought papacy back to Rome, Urban VI elected with
excellent intentions (abolish simony, pluralism, absenteeism, clerical extravagance),
went about it in tactless manner
3) angry cardinals declared Urban’s election invalid and said he was excommunicated,
elected Clement VII in 1378, anti-pope Clement set up papacy in Avignon, began
Great Schism (divided Western Christendom until 1417)
B) The Great Schism
1) French recognized French antipope Clement, England recognized Urban
2) common people were confused about who the true Pope was, schism weakened faith
C) The Conciliar Movement
1) conciliarists believed reform of church could be achieved through periodic councils,
pope derived authority from community
2) Marsiglio of Padua: church had no inherent jurisdiction and should own no property,
John Wyclif: Scriptures should be standard of belief (Lollards)
3) 2 councils called, Pisa 1409: ended in threefold schism, Constance 1414-1418: end
schism, reform church, wipe out heresy, new pope Martin V was elected
V) The Life of the People
A) Marriage
1) marriage provided peace in frustrated world, parents arranged marriages, mostly
between people of same village, parents paid merchet (fine to lord) and published
banns (public announcements), girls average age: 16.3, boys: mid-late twenties
2) John and Margaret Paston examples of common married based on respect,
responsibility, love
3) prostitution and brothels were accepted but not respected
4) union ended only with death, tighter moral and emotional unity in marriage, divorce
did not exist
B) Life in the Parish
1) land and parish remained focus of life for peasants, close association of agriculture
and church calendars endured
2) guilds cared for sick, poor, widowed, orphans, masters and employees worked side by
side
3) guild conditions changed, recruitment and promotion restricted, women experienced
same exclusion, held women to be biologically and intellectually inferior
4) society was organized for war and violence was common, alcohol also provided
solace for poor’s frustrations
5) new responsibilities of laity reflect increased dignity of parishioners
C) Fur-Collar Crime
 1) nobles had little to do, and turned to crime for money, “fur-collar” crime (nobles were
only ones allowed to wear fur on collar), robbed weak and corrupted judicial process
2) persecution by lords, war, disease, natural disasters all drove peasants to revolt
D) Peasant Revolts
1) social and economic conditions caused great increase in peasant uprisings
2) uprisings in Flanders were first mass movement, English Peasants’ Revolt(1525)
lasted five weeks, but Flemish uprising lasted 5 years
3) Flemish-French border came to a head at Courtrai in July 1302 when Flemish infantry
smashed a French army, killing knights and nobles, peace agreements imposed heavy
taxes on peasants, 1323: began to revolt over taxes, higher tithe, and also began to
arson and pillage
4) French army intervened and on August 23, 1328 crushed peasant forces, oppression
and confiscation followed, guilds helped fellow guild members
5) French taxes after 100 Years War fell heavily on poor, uprising called Jacquerie,
resented paying for lords’ ransoms, artisans, small merchants, and priests joined
peasants, 1363-1484: serious peasant revolts swept Auvergne, 1380: uprising in Midi,
1420: uprising in Lyonnais region
6) peasants demanded higher wages and less manorial obligations, attempt to freeze
wages and social mobility could not be enforced, prosperity of laboring class led to
demands that upper classes were unwilling to grant, villagers grew increasingly
scared and insecure, bred hostility and bitterness
7) head tax on adult males was last straw, group similar to Jacqueries formed, Kind
Richard II met with revolt leaders agreed to give peasants more freedom, tricked
them, and crushed uprisings, serfdom disappeared in England by 1550
8) some revolts attacked Jewish
E) Race and Ethnicity on the Frontiers
1) large numbers of people in 12th and 13th centuries migrated through Europe,
colonization meant people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds lived side by side
2) racial categories rest on socially constructed beliefs and customs, people differed in
descent, language, customs, and laws, descent and blood played insignificant part in
11th and 12th century ideas about race and ethnicity
3) legal dualism existed, native people remained subject to their traditional laws, soon
positions of authority were only given to natives, new emphasis on blood descent
provoked bitterness
4) during 14th and 15th centuries, racial or ethnic prejudices became prominent, both
immigrants and natives prospered during expanding economy, when economic
recession hit during 14th century, ethnic tensions rose
5) discrimination, ghettoization, and racism (based on blood descent) characterized
attitudes of colonists toward native people
6) intermarriage was forbidden in many places
7) Statute of Kilkenny
 8) all these laws were to protect the financial interests of privileged colonial minorities,
laws also reflect racism that pervaded live of peoples at the end of the Middle Age,
but also sowed seeds of difficulties still unsolved today
VI) Vernacular Literature
A) National Language
1) across Europe, people spoke language & dialect of their location and class, beginning
in the 14th century, national (vernacular) languages came into use in literature
(Dante’s Divine Comedy, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, & Villon’s Grand Testament)
2) Divine Comedy: Dante Alighieri, “comedy” written in Italian in different style than
“tragic” Latin, “divine” referring to sacred subject and Dante’s artistry, portrays
contemporary and historical figures, comments on secular and church affairs, and
psychological affairs, first major work of lit. in Italian vernacular
3) Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer, depicted interests and behavior of all types of
people, represents social life in 14th century, also reflects cultural tensions of the time
4) Grand Testament: Françios Villon, greatest poet of late medieval France, elements of
social rebellion, humor, and emotional depth, vernacular of poor and criminal
5) Christine de Pisan, most versatile and prolific French writer of late Middle Ages
6) beginning in 14th century, literacy in people increased, many people owned books,
number of schools and children in schools increased, children learned reading,
writing, and arithmetic, laymen received government jobs, even women learned to
read and sometimes write

Words to Know:

Agincourt Hundred Years’ War John Wyclif

Dante Alighieri Jan Hus
Babylonian Captivity Inflation
Bubonic Plague Jacquerie
Catherine of Sienna Joan of Arc
Charles VII
Geoffrey Chaucer
Conciliar Movement
Council of Constance
Lollards
Nationalism
Parliament
Peasants’ Revolt
Crécy Poiters
Flagellants Propaganda
Great Schism Vernacular
Guild Françios Villion