The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages, 1300-1450

1. The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages, 1300-1450 Chapter 12 Climate Change and Famine

2. The 14th C • The end of the Middle Ages & the beginning of the early modern era • Horrific disasters • Significant changes in econ & social structures • Significant changes in people’s ideas • Societal tensions • Changing attitudes toward the religious institution • The Catholic Church • “fur collar” crimes • Relationships and sexuality • Ethnic consciousness • A time preoccupied with death – European life reshaped & reborn

3. Key Concepts • Climate change and epidemic • About ½ the population of Eur. died within a few years • Significant and long lasting impact

4. Climate Change & Famine • Historical geographers conclude 1300-1450 was a “little Ice Age” • Colder & wetter • Scarcity due to destroyed crops • Great Famine 1315-1322 • Reduced population (Burgundy 1/3 pop. Died)

5. Climate Change & Famine • Epidemics • Reduced human & animal pop. • Homesteads abandoned • Vagabonds (wandering homeless) • Marriages delayed • Smaller pop. less demand in markets – urban unemployment

6. Climate Change & Famine • Government response • Ineffective • Tried to control speculation • Estab. price controls • Encouraged long-distance trade • Particularly with Italy • Improved sailing ships • Opened new routes • Discontent vented on • Wealthy • Jews • lepers

7. Climate Change & Famine • International Trade – Spread of disease • Rats & insects • The Black Death • Origin – China • Arrived – Genoese ships 1347 • Spread by fleas on rats – bubonic • Spread by air - Pneumonic form • Cities – poor sanitary condition • Attempts to prevent • Quarantine • Improving sanitation • Eradicating “the poisons” in the air • Treatment lancing & bloodletting

9. The Biology of the Plague • death by plague is horrible and rapid • the disease is caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis • after infection, once a fever has started, the patient may be dead within 12-15 hours • the disintegration of bodily functions leads to massive necrosis (death) of tissues • the fingers and toes literally turn black and large painful buboes (swellings) form in the lymph glands of neck, groin and armpit

11. Transmission of plague • under the unsanitary conditions of the middle ages it is not surprising that disease was rampant • plague virus became endemic in the rat population of Europe • fleas that bit the rat and then a man would transmit the bacterium • the rats acted as a reservoir, maintaining the bacterial population • the flea was the vector that transmitted the Yersinia from rat to man • the bacterium actually grows in the flea and blocks its digestive tract • the flea gets very hungry, but when it bites its next host, it can't swallow the blood and regurgitates back into the host • once in the animals blood, the bacterium moves to the lymph nodes and survives in phagocytes • an overwhelming infection ensues • the victim is often dead within a week

12. The flea

13. Climate Change & Famine • The blame belongs to – • Jews • 1000s were murdered in mob violence • Human sinfulness • Punishment from God • The clergy’s role • Ministered to the ill • High death rate among clergy • Loss of clergy led bishops to permit lay administration of the sacraments.

14. Climate Change & Famine • Religion and the Plague – Seeds of Change • Many questioned their faith • The bishops decision to allow lay administration of the sacraments will have consequences during the Reformation

15. Climate Change & Famine • The Economic Consequences • Aristocratic prosperity was disrupted – temporarily • Florence – new members to the guild accepted • General inflation • Shortage of labor • Rise in real wages • Laws sought to prevent rise is wages • English Statute of Laborers • Standard of living in towns went up • Per capita wealth increased • Peasants even had greater mobility

16. Climate Change & Famine • Labor & the Plague – Seeds of Change • The Shortage of labor meant urban workers and peasants could negotiate better terms for themselves • Rare situation in European history • Improvement in econ. conditions led to stabilization of pop. • Employers and nobles tried to revert to lower wages and higher manorial obligations…they only partially succeeded