The Calamitous 14 th century

1. The Calamitous 14th century The Little Ice Age, The Black Death, Peasant Revolts, The Hundred Years’ War, The Great Schism.

2. Little Ice Age • Climate change in the early 14th century • Too much rain • Some summers with snow in every month • Crops fail • Animals die • People weakened from lack of food • More susceptible to disease

3. The Great Famine (1315–1317) • the first of a series of large scale crises that struck North Europe • caused millions of deaths • marked the end to an earlier period of growth and prosperity • a period marked by extreme levels of crime, disease, mass death and even cannibalism and infanticide.

4. From the Apocalypse in a Biblia Pauperum Great Famine. Death sits astride a lion whose long tail ends in a ball of flame (Hell). Famine points to her hungry mouth

5. 1346-1352 Spreads from Asia to Europe Kills 1/3 to ½ of the population Up to 50% of some cities and entire towns and villages Profound economic effects Social changes from economic changes Political changes- kings gain power over nobles and Church Some cities spared: Milan Rome Mostly through quarantines The Black Death

6. Types of Plague • Bubonic • Spread by fleas • Black pus- filled lymph nodes • Mortality rate:60% • Death in 3-4 days • Pneumonic • Spread by people coughing • Drown in their own blood • Mortality rate: 95-100% • Septicemic • Also spread by fleas • Extremities turn black and die • Mortality rate: 100% within one day

7. Do you know this rhyme? Ring around the rosy Pocket full of posies Ashes, ashes We all fall down!

8. Tracing its path • Follows trade routes • Begins in Southern China, travels across Gobi -1320s- caravan routes to the west • spreads to Black Sea by 1346 • Spreads across China- population drops from 125 to 90 million in the 14th century • 1347- Constantinople and Egypt; by ship to Sicily

9. 1348- spring in Paris; fall in London; along Rhine through HRE and Flanders 1349- Scotland →Ireland, Denmark →Norway 1350- eastern Europe 1351- Russia and then back to Gobi

11. Effects on the Church • Church is powerless to stop the plague • Flagellants whip themselves as penance to try to appease God • Sometimes, they whip others as well! • The Church is unable to control the radicals • The power of the Church declines • Church profits as people will it money or pay for funerals • Radical preachers arose – John Wycliffe in England

12. Boccaccio’s Decameron Italian writer’s tales of ten people fleeing Florence

13. Shrunken labor supply Fewer farm workers = wage increases Devaluation of estates of nobility Serfs leave land to become artisans Yeomen farmers emerge - smallholders Cost of food decreases as demand decreases Entire universities close as most students and professors die – Cambridge City governments give more voice to craft guilds as demand for their goods increases Economic Effects

14. Economic Effects • Wages for skilled artisans soar • Supply of manufactured goods decreases resulting in price increases • Per capita income increases with smaller population

15. Political Effects • Nobles lose power- forced to pay more for luxury goods and farm labor; receive a smaller return for agricultural products; rents in steady decline • Peasant revolts in France, England, Spain and Holy Roman Empire as new laws forced them to stay on the land and froze wages • 1358 Jacquerie (Northern France) • English “Peasants”Revolt of 1381 • Ciompi Revolt in Florence 1378 • Common elements are a desire for higher wages, & better living conditions -an age of social conflict.

16. Political Effects • As feudal system breaks down military becomes a professional paid army rather than knights, etc.

17. Political Effects – cont. • Rise of National Monarchies • Portuguese House of Aziz • Spain – Aragon & Castile • England – Houses of Lancaster & York fight for supremacy • France – House of Valois

18. Social Effects of the Plague Bring out your dead!!!! • Towns and villages disappear • Doctors and priests first to die • Homes left deserted • People left to die alone in their beds • Only those who isolated themselves from any contact survived • Some priests deserted their parishes leading to a mistrust of the church • Land and animals left abandoned • Entire herds also died of the disease

19. Anti-Semitism and the Plague Jews had been both important to city life as moneylenders and persecuted in a Christian society Many Jews survived the plague itself because they were isolated from the sick and kept better hygiene So they were blamed for the plague Pogroms against them broke out in many cities, so many moved to Poland and Lithuania Up to 200 were burned at the stake in one day

20. “The Black Death was a catalyst” The plague led to the emergence for the first time of a middle class Chaucer, the court poet, was very aware of the anxieties of the elite in the new post-plague society – Canterbury Tales- written 6 years after the revolt

21. The 100 Years’ War – 1337 to 1453

22. Causes FEUDAL England holds Aquitaine as a fiefdom from France Neither side liked this arrangement Charles IV of France dies without an heir Edward claims France POLITICAL French encourage Scottish Bruce to rebel Civil war between French nobles ECONOMIC Flanders is fiefdom of France, but depends on English wool for markets

23. French pros & cons PRO (advantages) Larger population (3x) Fighting on own soil Joan of Arc Religious visions told her to save Orleans from English siege CON (disadvantages) Poorly trained Lack of money- tax system not reliable Increased indebtedness to Italians Civil war within nobles Nobles attempting to retain their powers

24. English pros Better leaders Yeoman soldiers Weaponry- Longbow- 6 arrows/ min. cons Cost of £ 5 million Had to raise and transport troops

25. Social Consequences of the 100 Years’ War Great loss of French population Devastates peasantry- uprisings, taxes, Black Death Returning English soldiers become brigands and pirates Loss of knights- had been local government- breakdown of order

26. Economic Consequences of the 100 Years’ War • Farmland laid waste- decline in French rural economy • Disruption of trade and great fairs • Heavy taxation leads to dissatisfaction • English- £5M debt • English develop own clothing industry from wool- cannot count on Flemish- Industrial Revolution Part 1 • Decline in wool trade with new taxes

28. Contrasting Political Consequences Sense of French nationalism Rise of French centralized monarchy- nobles couldn’t defeat outsiders if they fought each other Stimulates the development of English Parliament- if king needs tax money he calls on Parliament- trades power for money

29. The Great Schism (Western) “Babylonian Captivity” The Church in Avignon seen as a French puppet - driven into corruption. Attacked by various groups. Sacraments unnecessary - individual can reach God through meditation. Church consists of the members and not the head. (Pre-curser to Protestantism) The papacy relies upon its monopoly of the sacramental system, uses the Inquisition to silence its critics, accuses many of its critics of heresy.

30. Called the “Babylonian Captivity” as many believed the French held the papacy captive – like the Jews held in slavery in Babylon

31. After the death of Gregory XI, Rome elects an Italian Pope. French respond by electing French pope. The financial situation of the Church grows even worse -Catholic patrons have to support two separate institutions. The Popes excommunicate each other and the people who follow them - all Catholics are going to Hell! The Great Schism Continued

32. Kings were asked to intervene, but they each are associated with either east or western Christendom - unable to solve the problem.

33. 1408 Kings call the Council of Pisa Cardinals depose both Popes, elect new Pope. Both old Popes refused to step down, resulting in three popes. After many conferences, all three popes are removed Cardinals finally selected Pope, Martin V. Ending the Great Schism of the West. (Conciliarism - Church has more power than Pope – later revoked) The Pope is never again be able to successfully challenge the power of the kings in Europe.

34. The End Result of the Calamitous 14th Century By the mid 15th century, through plague and warfare Western Europe lost 1/3 of its pop Rural economies destroyed Cities recover more quickly and craftsmen emerge poised to embark on the Industrial Revolution Kings emerge as the dominant political force nobles lose power The seeds which will grow into the English parliamentary system are rooted. The power and role of the Church is drastically changed.