Transcript The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages, 1300-1450

Chapter 12
Climate Change and Famine
The
th
14
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 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
Key Concepts
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 Climate change and
epidemic
 About ½ the
population of Eur.
died within a few
years
 Significant and
long lasting
impact
Climate Change & Famine
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 Historical geographers
conclude 1300-1450 was
a “little Ice Age”
 Colder & wetter
 Scarcity due to
destroyed crops
 Great Famine 13151322
 Reduced population
(Burgundy 1/3 pop.
Died)
Climate Change & Famine
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 Epidemics
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Reduced human & animal pop.
Homesteads abandoned
Vagabonds (wandering homeless)
Marriages delayed
Smaller pop. less demand in markets – urban
unemployment
Climate Change & Famine
 Government response
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 Ineffective
 Tried to control
speculation
 Estab. price controls
 Encouraged longdistance trade
 Particularly with Italy
 Improved sailing
ships
 Opened new routes
 Discontent vented on
 Wealthy
 Jews
 lepers
Climate Change & Famine
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 International Trade – Spread of disease
 Rats & insects
 The Black Death
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Origin – China
Arrived – Genoese ships 1347
Spread by fleas on rats – bubonic
Spread by air - Pneumonic form
 Cities – poor sanitary condition
 Attempts to prevent
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Quarantine
Improving sanitation
Eradicating “the poisons” in the air
Treatment lancing & bloodletting
The Biology of the Plague
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 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
Transmission of plague
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 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
The flea
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Climate Change & Famine
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 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.
Climate Change & Famine
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 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
Climate Change & Famine
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 The Economic Consequences
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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
Climate Change & Famine
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 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