Transcript Black Death, 1348–1350

CHAPTER 9
THE LATE MIDDLE AGES:
Social and Political Breakdown (1300-1453)
Black Death, 1348–1350
precursor: overpopulation & malnutrition
agricultural improvements increase food supply; European
population doubles, 1000–1300, thereafter outstripping food
production
1315–1317: crop failures produce worst famine of Middle Ages
bubonic plague (“Black Death”) followed trade routes
from Asia into Europe, probably via fleas on rates from
Black Sea area
popular remedies: relevant medical knowledge absent
aromatic amulets
temperance & moderation
promiscuity & abandon
flight & seclusion
self-flagellation
Black Death (cont.)
economic consequences:
dramatic labor shortage, climbing wages for laborers &
artisans
falling agricultural, climbing luxury prices—noble
landowners hardest hit
attempts to freeze wages & force peasants to stay on
land  peasant revolts
cities (artisans) benefit from demand for luxury goods
political/social consequences:
artisan guilds win some political power
kings take advantage of weakened nobility & church
The Culprits
The Symptoms
Bulbous
Septicemic Form:
almost 100%
mortality rate.
The Disease
Cycle
Flea drinks rat blood
that carries the
bacteria.
Bacteria
multiply in
flea’s gut.
Human is infected!
Flea bites human and
regurgitates blood
into human wound.
Flea’s gut clogged
with bacteria.
Attempts to Stop the Plague
A Doctor’s
Robe
“Leeching”
Attempts to Stop the Plague
Flagellanti:
Self-inflicted “penance” for our sins!
Attempts to Stop the Plague
Pograms against the Jews
“Jew” hat
“Golden Circle”
obligatory badge
Medieval Art & the Plague
An obsession
with death.
The Mortality
Rate
353099930% 70%
25,000,000 dead !!!
Hundred Years’ War (1337–
1453)
nominal cause: English king Edward III’s
claim on French throne, thwarted by
accession of first Valois king, Philip VI (r.
1328–1350)
larger cause: English-French territorial,
commercial, & cultural rivalry
French weakness: larger & wealthier, but
more internal discord
1. Controversy Over Succession
The French nobility selected Philip
of Valois, a cousin of the last king
through the male line.
He founded a new French
dynasty that ruled through the
16c.
He was chosen in preference to
King Edward III of England,
whose mother was the daughter
of the late king, Philip IV.
In 1340, Edward claimed the title
“King of France.”
2. Fr. Land Belonging to Br.
Kings
A longer standing
issue was the status of
lands within France
that belonged to
English kings.
Edward was actually a
vassal of Philip’s,
holding sizable French
territories as fiefs from
the king of France [it
went back to the
Norman conquest].
3. Conflict Over Flanders
The ‘dagger’ pointing at
the ‘heart’ of England!
Wool industry.
Flanders wants its
independence from
French control.
Asks England for help.
4. A Struggle for National Identity
France was
NOT a united
country before
the war began.
The French king
only controlled
about half of the
country.
Hundred Years’ War (cont.)
First phase (under Edward III)
Flanders allies with England, recognizing Edward as king of
France, 1340
English seize Calais, 1346
English rout near Poitiers, 1356; French king John II taken captive
1360 treaty: John II ransomed, English claims in France
recognized, Edward renounces claim to French throne
Second phase (Treaty of Troyes)
English war effort flags due to peasant revolts
recommences with English victory at Agincourt, 1415
Duchy of Burgundy joins English
Treaty of Troyes, 1420: named English Henry V successor to
French Charles VI, but both soon die
Hundred Years’ War (cont.)
Third phase (Joan of Arc)
French teenage peasant Joan of Arc declares call from
God to deliver besieged Orléans from English
tired English repulsed, followed by string of French
victories
Joan captured 1430, tried & burned as heretic at
English-held Rouen
English forced back, conclude war with Calais as only
French possession (1453)
Summary: 68 years of peace, 44 of war; France
devastated, but national feeling awakened; English
& French peasants suffer most from taxes &
services
Military Characteristics
The War was a series of short
raids and expeditions punctuated
by a few major battles, marked off
by truces or ineffective treaties.
The relative strengths of each
country dictated the sporadic nature
of the struggle.
French Advantages
Population of about 16,000,000.
Far richer and more populous than
England.
At one point, the French fielded an
army of over 50,000  at most,
Britain mustered only 32,000.
British Advantages
Weapons Technologies.
In almost every engagement, the English were
outnumbered.
Britain’s most successful strategies:
• Avoid pitched battles.
• Engage in quick, profitable raids
 Steal what you can.
 Destroy everything else.
 Capture enemy knights to hold for ransom.
The Longbow as a Weapon
The use of the English
defensive position was the use
of the longbow.
Its arrows had more
penetrating power than a bolt
from a crossbow.
Could pierce an inch of
wood or the armor of a
knight at 200 yards!
A longbow could be fired
more rapidly.
6 arrows per minute.
The British Longbow:
The Battle of Poitiers, 1356
Early English Victories
Joan of Arc (1412-1432)
The daughter of prosperous
peasants from an area of
Burgundy that had suffered
under the English.
Like many medieval mystics,
she reported regular visions of
divine revelation.
Her “voices” told her to go
to the king and assist him
in driving out the English.
She dressed like a man and
was Charles’ most charismatic
and feared military leader!
Cannons Used at Orleans
Joan Announces the Capture of
Orleans to the King
Joan of Arc (1412-1432)
She brought inspiration and a sense of national
identity and self-confidence.
With her aid, the king was crowned at Reims
[ending the “disinheritance”].
She was captured during an attack on Paris and
fell into English hands.
Because of her “unnatural dress” and claim to
divine guidance, she was condemned and
burned as a heretic in 1432.
She instantly became a symbol of
French resistance.
Joan as a “Feminist” Symbol Today?
The End of the War
Despite Joan’s capture, the French
advance continued.
By 1450 the English had lost all their
major centers except Calais.
In 1453 the French armies captured an
English-held fortress.
This was the last battle of the war.
There was not treaty, only a cessation
of hostilities.
France Becomes Unified!
France in 1453
France in 1337
Late Medieval Church
papal monarchy established by Pope Innocent III
strengthened the church politically, but weakened
it spiritually—undermined popular support
Innocent’s successor’s: tightened & centralized
church legal proceedings; elaborated clerical
taxation; broadened papal powers of appointment
demise of Hohenstaufens took away galvanizing
enemy of church, made it vulnerable
Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) vs.
Philip the Fair (r. 1285–1314)
French & English kings raise taxes on clergy;
Boniface decrees new taxes need papal consent
French king Philip the Fair cuts off flow of money
to Rome; Boniface concedes
Boniface issues Unam Sanctam (1302), as
confrontation with Philip ramps up, asserting
subordination of temporal to spiritual power
French army assault & molest Boniface, who later
dies
result: popes never again seriously threaten
European rulers
Avignon Papacy (1309–1377)
Pope Clement V moves papal court here to
escape strife of Rome
to get needed revenue, papal taxes go up,
and sale of indulgences begins
Pope John XXII (r. 1316–1334)—most
powerful Avignon pope
John Wycliffe (d. 1384) and John
Huss (d. 1415)
Lollards: followers of Wycliffe, English
spokesman for rights of royalty against
popes; challenged indulgences, papal
infallibility, transubstantiation—anticipates
Protestantism
Hussites: followers of Huss, rector of
University of Prague—similar to Lollards
Great Schism (1378–1417)
Urban VI and Clement VII—rival popes; England & allies
support Urban, France & allies support Clement
Conciliar Theory: idea that a representative council could
regulate actions of pope
Council of Pisa (1409–1410): deposed Urban & Clement
(who refused to step down), elected Alexander V—three
contending popes
Council of Constance (1414–1417): provides for regular
councils every few years
Council of Basel (1431–1449): height of conciliar
government of church; negotiated directly with heretics
(Hussites)
results of conciliar movement: greater religious
responsibility to laity & secular governments
Mongol Rule in Russia (1243–
1480)
Mongols, or Tatars, sweep through China, Islamic
world, & Russia, 13th c.
Ghengis Khan (1155–1227) invades Russia, 1223
Russian cities become tribute-paying principalities
of part of Mongol Empire known as the Golden
Horde
Russians impressed into Mongol military service,
women taken as wives/concubines, some sold into
slavery
partial Islamization of Russian society
1380: beginning of Mongol decline in Russia;
ends 1480 under Ivan the Great