The Late Middle Ages & The Renaissance

1. The Late Middle Ages & The Renaissance Unit 1 Lecture Notes

2. The black death • The Black Death: Plague that struck Europe in 1347 and killed roughly 1/3 of the population. • Spread by fleas on black rats & poor sanitary conditions • primarily seen in cities • No class differentiation (rich & poor) • Seen by many as a punishment from God. • Thousands of Jews were blamed and executed as “cause” of plague.

3. The Hundred Years War (1337-1453) • Background: • French duchy of Aquitaine became English by marriage (1152) • Treaty of Paris 1259  reaffirmed English claims to Aquitaine, but as a vassal to French crown • Primary Causes: • Questions over line of succession to the French crown (Edward III vs. Philip VI) • Philip VI (France) confiscated Edward III’s (England) holding of Aquitaine -1337 • Wool trade

4. Challenges to the Church • The Babylonian Captivity (1309-1376) • Period when Popes resided in Avignon, France rather than in Rome. • Popes return to Rome in 1377 • Urban VI anti-corruption campaign  antagonizing • Cardinals secretly elect new pope to reside in France (Clement VII) • Great Schism (1378-1417)  period of two and then three popes • Kings supported popes based on political considerations • Cardinals depose all three popes in 1417, and elect new pope to reside in Rome (Marin V)

5. Society in the Later Middle Ages • Later Middle Ages saw the trend of delayed marriage (late 20s) • Economic independence before marriage • Late marriage/prohibition  urban unrest • Brothels became part of urban life • Fur-Collar Crimes • Nobles turned to robbery & extortion to maintain standard of living • Usually got away with crimes

6. Vernacular • Later Middle Ages saw an increase in the development of ethic identities & tension. • Statute of Kilkenny (1366) • Vernacular: literature written in national languages national consciousness • Dante’s Divine Comedy • Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

7. The Evolution of the Italian Renaissance • How do we define “Renaissance”? • French word meaning “rebirth,” used to describe the rebirth of the culture of classical antiquity in Italy during the 14thto 16th centuries.

8. Communes & Republics • Communes: Sworn associations of free men in Italian cities led by merchant guilds that sought political and economic independence from local nobles. • Began in the 12th century to seek political and economic independence from local nobles. • Marriage between rural nobles & mercantile aristocracy • New social class: Urban nobility

9. Communes & Republics • Popolo: Disenfranchised common people in Italian cities who resented their exclusion from power. • Majority of men did not qualify for citizenship in the communes (property, years of residence, social connections). • Couldn’t hold public office. • Movements for Republican governments failed • In the 15th century, political power and elite culture centered on the princely courts: • Signori: one-man rulers • Oligarchies: the rule of merchant aristocracies

10. Balance of power: Italian City-States Why did Renaissance Italians struggle to develop one unified state? • Patronage: Financial support of writers and artists by cities, groups, and individuals, often to produce specific works or works in specific styles. • Interconnection of economics, politics, and culture • The Medici family & Florence (1434-1494)

11. Intellectual Hallmarks of the renaissance • Humanism: a program of study designed by Italians that emphasized the critical study of Latin and Greek literature with the goal of understanding human nature. • Virtu: The quality of being able to shape the world according to one’s own will. • Secularism: Basic concern with the material world instead of with the eternal world of spirit.

12. Class • Social class is usually synonymous with people having the same social, economic, cultural, political or educational status, but there are conflicting opinions when it comes to the definition of ‘class.’ • Topics: • How do social classes change over time? • Peasants, merchants, clergy, nobility • Working class? • Middle class? • Upper class? • How do people advance up the hierarchy? • How do living standards for different social classes change over time?

13. Gender • Gender history focuses on the categories, discourses and experiences of femininity and masculinity as they develop over time. • Topics: • The Status of Women? • Marriage? • Prostitution?

14. Child Rearing • What was life like for children, and how did attitudes toward childhood evolve? • Topics: • Infant mortality rates? • Connection to parents? • Mini-adults vs. children? • Education?

15. Demographics • How have populations shifted over time? We’ll be looking at the impact have these changes had on European cultures, as well cultures around the world. • Topics: • How does war change populations? • How does disease change populations? • How did colonial expansion influence demographic changes? • What causes populations to move from rural to urban areas?

16. Education • Not only has access to education changed over time, but the emphasis on what should be studied has shifted as well. • Topics: • Who has access to education? • What role do churches play in education? • Should women be educated? • Should children be educated? • What subjects should be studied?

17. The Renaissance in the north • Christian Humanists: Northern humanists who interpreted Italian ideas about and attitudes toward classical antiquity and humanism in terms of their own religious traditions. • Desiderius Erasmus (Dutch) • Thomas More (English) • Civic Humanism: Modeled on Cicero, the belief that it was an intellectual's civic duty to be involved in politics and help the community. • Niccolo Machiavelli most well known example from the Renaissance • Thomas More as well?

18. Pre-Renaissance State Building • The High Middle Ages saw the beginnings of the modern state • Juries • Representative assemblies • Sheriffs • State building required a strong monarchy • Absent during 100 Years’ War • No effective leadership across Europe

19. France • Charles VII (r. 1422-1461) • Royal council elevated the influence of middle class men • Created the first permanent royal army • Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges • Superiority of a general council over the papacy • French crown > French church • Louis XI (r. 1461-1483) • Expanded royal authority to unify the kingdom (Burgundy, Maine, etc.) • King Francis I & Pope Leo X (1516) • Pope gets $$$ -> King appoints church officials

20. England • War of the Roses (1455-1471) • The houses of York defeat the houses of Lancaster • Edward IV (York), Richard III (York), and Henry VII (Tudor/Lancaster) • Restored royal prestige • Crushed the power of the nobility (didn’t need the $$$) • Established order • Machiavellian methods -> ruthlessness, efficiency, and secrecy

21. England • The Royal Council • Center of royal authority, which governed at the national level • Most men were from lesser land-owning classes & educated in law • “Middle Class” • The Court of Star Chamber • Judicial offshoot of the royal council. • Brutal tactics • Against common law practices, but effective • Henry VIIdistrusted the nobility • Still met with Parliament, but mainly to confirm laws • The Tudors gained support of upper-middle class by promoting peace and social order • Promoted diplomacy and trade to build economic strength

22. Spain • Spain remained a conglomerate of independent states until 1700(ish) • Individual parliaments, laws, courts, and taxation • Ferdinand of Aragon & Isabella of Castile(r. 1474-1516) • Dynastic union of two royal houses • Restructured the royal council to curb aristocratic power. • Full executive, judicial, and legislative powers under the monarchy • Hermandades: popular groups given authority to act as local police & judicial tribunals. • Curb rebellious and warring aristocracy

23. Spain • Spain’s Jewish minority population seen as ‘dangerous’ to many • Resentment of Jewish influence and wealth • Rise of anti-Semitic feelings during the 14th century • Spanish Inquisition • 15th century Spanish nationalism • Used by the crown as a politically unifying tool • 1492: All practicing Jews expelled from Spain • Religious orthodoxy and purity of blood at the roots of the Spanish national state