Transcript Late Medieval Europe

Late Medieval Europe
(ca. 1300-1500)
The Church

Limits of Papal Power
– King Philip of France needed
money  taxed French clergy
 Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303)
protested
 King’s response: economic
pressure  Boniface backed
down
– Philip arrested bishop for
treason
 Boniface outraged!
 King’s agents invaded papal
palace
 Boniface died soon after,
humiliated
– Papacy now weaker than
monarchs
Pope Boniface VIII
The Church

The “Babylonian Captivity”
(1309-1377)
– French pope elected to papacy
– Moved to Avignon (1309)
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Near to, influenced by, France
French popes
Reports of corruption
Almost 70 years!
– Many were unhappy
 Avignon a “Babylon”!
 Visionaries
– Papacy returned to Rome
(1377)
Tomb of Pope Gregory XI,
Church of S. Francesca Romana, Rome
The Church

The Great Western Schism (1378-1417)
– Returning pope died (1378)
– Turbulent election  new, Italian pope
 Became zealous reformer
 French cardinals unhappy  elected another pope!
– Schism
 Two popes! Then three popes!
 Europe divided  spiritual and political crisis!
– Resolution: Council of Constance (1414-17)
 Three rival popes deposed  Martin V elected
The Church

Questions?
Society

The Socioeconomic Situation
– Population growth  overpopulation
(14th cent.)
 Less land to cultivate
 Wages decreased
 Famines
Society

The Black Death
(1347-1350)
– Deadliest disaster of
Late Middle Ages
– Traits of the Plague
 Epidemic
 Spread rapidly,
contagious
 Noticeable, painful
symptoms
 Very quick death
Society
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The Black Death
– Origins
 In China  traveled westward along trade routes
 Carried by fleas on infected rats
– Arrival in Europe
 Spread from Mediterranean ports to rest of Europe
Society

The Black Death
– Cause?
– Why???
– Aftermath
 Death of approx. 1/3 to
1/2 of Europe’s
population
 Obsession with death
– “Dance of death”
 Recurred until 18th cent.
Society

Questions?
Politics and War

The Hundred Years War (1337-1453):
Causes
– Last Capetian monarch died (1328) – who
succeeds?
 English king was a relation
 Philip VI elected by French nobility
 Neither candidate conceded claims  war!
– English claims to French lands
Politics and War
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The War: Initial
English Success
– Strategy of raids
– Employed new
technology
 Longbows
 Cannons
– Made territorial gains
– English king gained
place as heir to throne
(1420)
Battle of Créçy (1346)
Politics and War
Politics and War

France Strikes Back
– JOAN OF ARC (1412-1431)
 Teenage peasant, mystic
 Claimed mission from God
(1428)
– Had to join French army
– Would lift siege at
Orléans
– Would see French heir
crowned
Siege of Orléans
– France rebounded
– Joan captured, sold to
English  burned at stake
(May 1431)
Politics and War

Ultimate French
Victory
– Northern
France
reconquered
– English driven
out by 1453
Politics and War
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Developments in
High medieval Spain
– Muslim power weakened
– Christian princes seized
opportunity
– RECONQUISTA
 Christian reconquest of
Islamic Spain
– Launched during 11th
century
– Intermittent
– Successful!
 Result: Christian Iberian
states emerging
Politics and War
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Spain under
Ferdinand & Isabella
– Unified Spanish crown
 Ferdinand: heir of
Aragon, Catalonia
 Isabella: heir of Castile
– Married (1469)
Ferdinand and Isabella
– Completed
Reconquista (1492)
Politics and War
Politics and War
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Religion under Ferdinand
and Isabella
– Fervent Catholicism
– Expulsions
 Muslims (1504)
 Jews (1492)
– Must convert or leave!
– Jewish converts
(conversos) treated
suspiciously, resented
– SPANISH INQUISITION
(1478)
Ferdinand and Isabella
 Tool of State
 Principal goal: attack
“judaizing” traditions
among conversos
Politics and War
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Questions?