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The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages: From Great Famine to Black Death

Explore the devastating events of the 14th century, from the Great Famine to the Black Death, and the impact they had on medieval Europe. Learn about the Hundred Years' War, societal divisions, and cultural shifts during this tumultuous period.

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The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages: From Great Famine to Black Death

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  1. The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages McKay Chapter 12 (379-408) The Dance of Death: Late Medieval Fresco in Croatian Church

  2. One word to describe the 1300s.

  3. Agenda for Today • McKay Chapter 12 (379-408) • Homework

  4. Bring Out Your Dead

  5. Today’s Agenda • Reading Quiz • Begin Chapter 12

  6. Late Medieval Europe 1st Crusade Hundred Years’ War Begins Babylonian Captivity begins Great Schism Begins Church Power declines Secularism Grows 1095 1200 1309 1315 1337 1348 1378 Black Death Begins Great Famine Begins Era of Gothic Cathedrals

  7. Prelude to DisasterClimate Change • Between 1000-1300 Europe’s climate was warmer than usual • Agricultural Revolution • Population boomed • Little Ice Age • After 1300 climate- colder & wetter • Growing season shorter • 25% of harvests failed

  8. The Great Famine of 1315-1317 • By 1300 Europeans were over farming • Too many people using too little land • Excessive rain for three years caused massive crop failures between 1315-17 • 15% of the peasants in some English villages died • Led to starvation & poverty • Left survivors susceptible todisease "When God saw that the world was so over proud,He sent a dearth (famine) on earth, and made it full hard.A bushel of wheat was at four shillings or more,Of which men might have had a quarter before....And then they turned pale who had laughed so loud,And they became all docile who before were so proud.A man's heart might bleed for to hear the cryOf poor men who called out, "Alas! For hunger I die ...!" —Poem on the Evil Times of Edward II, c. 1321.

  9. The Black Death • one of the most devastating pandemics in history caused by a bacteria spread by black rats/ fleas • Named from Latin, atra mors (dreadful death) • Resulted in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people (33% of population) • Peaked between1347–53 • Brought to Europe from Genoese sailors fleeing Tartars & plague in Caffa, Crimea • Spread rapidly throughout most of Europe The Course of the Black Death: Why do you think some regions were spared?

  10. Pathology • Bacteria lived in stomach of flea & blood of rats • Fleas lived on black rats • Rats traveled on cargo of trade ships and disembarked when ship docked and spread to inland cities • When host rat died, fleas jumped to humans • European cities • Unsanitary • Poo-poo kaa-kaa in streets • Overcrowded • Hygienic standards low • Wore same cloths • Rarely bathed • Multiple people slept in one bed

  11. Characteristics • 2 Strains: • Bubonic • Flea to person • Pneumonic • Person to person • Flu-like symptoms • Egg-sized lumps from lymph nodes • Infection of lungs • Victims died in 1 to 6 days • Victim provoked horror and disgust • Unbearable stench • A disease of revulsion

  12. Causes According to Medieval People • alignment of the planets • foul air • Released from volcano • Jewish conspiracy • Believed they had poisoned wells • 16 thousand (Medieval exaggeration?) Jews murdered in Stasbourg (1349) • God’s punishment

  13. From the Toggenburg Bible, 1411

  14. Treatment of Plague Victims “Leeching” Lancing the Bubal A Doctor’s Robe

  15. Boccaccio in The Decameron The victims ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors.

  16. Social, Economic, Cultural Consequences • Not all bad • Many Priests, monks, and nuns bravely cared for the sick • Severe loss of clergy, especially in German states • population decline led to labor shortage and high inflation • But wages increased and labor productivity increased as did per-capita wealth • Society became divided and full of fear. • Artists and writers became obsessed with death • Flagellants • Monks who wiped themselves as form of penance for society’s sins • Often fueled anti-Semitism

  17. The Flagellants and the Medieval Epistemology

  18. Ring Around the RosieA Pocket Full of PosiesAshes, AshesWe All Fall Down

  19. Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) A series of wars between England and France (116 years) Causes Capetian line (Sons of Philip the Fair) died without direct male heir in 1320s English King Edward III (Philip the Fair’s grandson) claimed French crown Denied on grounds that Sallic law forbade inheritance through female line

  20. The Course of the War • Coincides with outbreak of Black Death • Took place in France & Low Countries • Devastated and weakened the nobles of France • Last hurrah for chivalry • English disregarded the chivalric code and used new military tactics: the longbow and the cannon • Longbow was inaccurate but could be rapidly reloaded • Joan of Arc • Lifted siege at Orleans (1429) • Tried and executed as a witch in 1431 • Ignites French patriotism • England ousted from France

  21. Cost and Consequences • Huge population loss in both France and England • Devastated farmland of France, Low Countries • Devastated trade and commerce • Social Tension rose • Jacquerie Rebellion (1358) • Nobles demanded more corvee • Villages pillaged by marauders • Thousands of peasants rose up • Intense violence directed at lords • Watt Tyler’s rebellion (1381) • English peasant rebellion against an oppressive poll tax • Led by Walter Tyler • Invaded London w/ 50 thousand • Watt murdered by King Richard II’s vassal on London Bridge • Parliamentary democracy rose in England • Nationalism grew in both nations Death of Watt Tyler at London Bridge

  22. Decline of Church Prestige • Babylonian Captivity (1309-1377) • King Philip the Fair of France kidnapped the pope & forced in to live in the French city of Avignon • Papacy became a tool of French • Most popes lived in luxury & extravagance • Damaged Papal prestige • Urban VI • A reformer who attempted to stop church corruption • Cardinals fired Urban & elected Clement VII • Now two popes claimed Saint Peter’s Keys • Great Schism (1378-1417) • England/Germany recognize Urban VI • France recognize Clement VII • Papal prestige sank even lower

  23. The Avignon Papacy Avignon, Palais des Papes • Term for period when pope’s lived in Avignon, France • Church under control of French monarchy • Corruption • Money making machine • Simony= selling of church offices • Pluralism- Bishops holding multiple offices ($$) • Tithe- 10% income tax all W. Europeans paid to Church • Feudal dues- Peasant serfs required to work Church lands • Indulgences- certificate which granted forgiveness of sin Papal Indulgence

  24. Conciliar Movement • Conciliarists • believed that church authority rested in councils representing the people--not the authority of the pope • Called for meeting in Constance • Council of Constance (1414) • Meeting of church leaders who wanted to end the Schism, stop heresy, and put control of Church into Congress of Cardinals hands • Achievements • Ended schism • Cardinals elected Pope Martin V • Discouraged heresy • Jan Huss who had questioned the need for Church hierarchy executed • Failures • Pope Martin refused authority of Cardinals • Dissolved the meeting • Ruled Catholic Church as an absolute monarch

  25. Results of the Disasters After Before • Church lost power • Secularism rises • Population declined • Wages rise • Revolts break out • Favorable position for peasants • Fixed rents • Property owning class emerges • Feudalism breaks down • Nobility weakened • Kings begin to centralize power • Trade reemerges You Too can lose the weight of 1/3 of the population! Try the Black Plague/100 Years War/Babylonian Diet NOW!!

  26. Without the 1300s, modernity does not take place. • With your BFF, discuss the merits of this statement.

  27. Marriage and the family • Church law stressed that marriage had to be freely consented • Economics, rather than romantic love, was most important factor • Men had to wait until their father passed to inherit sufficient land • The more land at stake, the more likely it was an arranged marriage • Most peasants married someone from their village • Merchet- “fine” paid to the lord for his loss of a worker • Banns- marriage announcements published for 3 consecutive Sundays • Marriage age (general pattern) • Women- late teens • Men- mid to late 20s • Divorce did not exist The Peasant Wedding (1567) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

  28. Life of the People • land & church were the centers of life • Guilds • Craft unions • Main purpose was to maintain a monopoly on whatever it produced • Recruitment and promotion were carefully restricted • Women were increasingly excluded from guilds The Harvesters by Pieter Bruegel in 1565

  29. Sports and Recreation • Violence permeated all sports • Nobility enjoyed jousts • Archery and wrestling – popular among all classes • Bullbaiting and bearbaiting also popular • Ale and beer often led to drunkenness • reflected the violence and frustrations of the age • Public Executions • execution of William Wallace illustrated the violence in society

  30. Life of the People • Furcollar crime • crime committed by nobility • Only nobles could wear fur • increase in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries • In England, nobles returning from war had little to do and were in need of income; thus they resorted to crime • Kidnapping, extortion, and terrorism by the upper classes were widespread • Because governments were not able to stop abuses, outlaws such as Robin Hood sought to protect the people. • popularity of the Robin Hood legends symbolized the deep resentment of aristocratic corruption and abuse

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