Transcript File
The Late Middle Ages
Week 3:
Politics, War, and, Crisis
Crisis of Church & State
• Benedict XI 1303-1305 short reign as pope
allowed for Philip IV to directly influence
the papacy.
• In 1305, Philip’s childhood friend, Bertrand
de Got was elected Clement V.
• Thus, begins the French domination of the
College of Cardinals, and Avignon Papacy.
Avignon Papacy
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Clement V: 1305-1316
John XXII: 1316-1334
Benedict XII: 1334-1342
Clement VI: 1342-1352
Innocent IV: 1352-1362
Urban V: 1362-1370
Gregory XI: 1370-1378
John XXII
• Attempted to move the papacy back to
Rome.
• Fighting with Emperor Louis
IV…similar to Boniface and Philip IV
• Ultimately stayed because of the pressure
from the kingdoms.
Indulgences
• Basically pardons for un-repented sins…
get out of purgatory.
• Under Clement VI … you could buy
indulgences for people who were already
DEAD!
Opposition to Avignon
• English opposed the papacy at
Avignon as a result of the Hundred
Years’ War.
• Others opposed the decadence of the
Papal Curia.
• 1377 Gregory XI moved back to
Rome.
The Great Schism: 1378-1417
• After Gregory XI died the Italians insisted
on an Italian pope and elect Urban VI.
• A few months later, the French Cardinals
elect Clement VII, who is headed in
Avignon.
• Conciliar Theory of Church Government
Conciliarism
• The basic theory of conciliarism was to
unify and reform the Church, and it called
for several Church Councils.
• Council of Pisa 1409-1410
• Council of Constance 1414-1417
• Council of Basel 1431-1449
Pre-Reformation Stirrings
• John Wycliff and
Lollards in England
• Mass in Vernacular
• Clerical Poverty
• Against Indulgences
• Challenged the dogma
of Transubstantiation
• Jan Huss and Hussites
in Bohemia
• Mass in Vernacular
• Challenged the
validity of the
sacraments
• Lay communion
Political Development
Government Models in the Middle Ages:
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Cortes – Spain 1230
Parliament – England 1265
Estates General – France 1304
Reichstag (Imperial Diet) – HRE 1356
The Hundred Years’ War
• 1337 - 1453 struggle for power between
France and England.
• Not really one but, several, a long series
of campaigns broken by occasional
interludes of truce and peace.
Background to War
• Treaty of Paris 1259
• King Henry III of England (1216-1272)
abandoned his claims to Normandy,
Maine, Anjou, Touraine, and Poitou.
• King Louis IX of France (1226-1270)
reserved his right to hold the English
duchy of Gascony as a fief.
Underlying Causes
• Piracy: French and English sea
merchants robbing and looting boats.
• Flanders: English Wool superior to the
wool trade, but clothes and products
made in Flanders.
• Dynastic Implications: 1328 Charles IV
of France died with no direct male heir.
The Plot Thickens
• Capetian Dynasty failed to produce a male
line.
• Philip IV had four children: Louis, Philip,
Charles, and Isabelle.
• Isabelle was married to King Edward II of
England and they had a son Edward III.
Philip VI de Valois
• 1328-1350
• Count of Valois, and
1st cousin to King
Charles IV Capet.
• Holds vassalage over
King Edward III of
England.
• Extremely Haughty
Edward III and Philip VI
The War Begins
• In 1337, Philip VI began to support the
Scottish Rebels against the English Crown.
• He also attempted to take Gascony away
from Edward III, by seizing territory
through force.
• “The so-called King of France”
• Three Major Phases of War
Conflict during Edward III
• 1337-1360 was the
first phase of the war.
• Edward embargoed
wool causing urban
rebellions in Flanders.
• England was
outnumbered 4 million
to 15 million
Battle of Crecy
• Edward attacked
Normandy and finally
defeated the French in
Crecy in 1346.
• Major English victory
because they held onto
the port city of Calais.
A Brief Respite
• Edward and Philip ran
out of money.
• Philip VI died in 1350
• John II aka Jean le
Bon (1350-1364) was
crowned King of
France.
The Black Prince of Wales
• Edward, the Black
Prince, begins his
campaign, in 1355
• Plunders the French
countryside
• 1356 captures King
John II of France near
Poitiers.
Battle of Poitiers
English Success
• France witnessed a lack of leadership due to
John II’s imprisonment.
• 1358 – Estates General attempts to take
control of government under Etienne
Marcel, but leads to the Jacquerie Revolt.
• 1360 – Treaty of Bretigny
Effects of the Treaty
• The French were to pay 3 million crowns to
the English.
• Only came up with 400,000 crowns but
Edward released John and held his family.
• John turned himself into Edward and lived
out his days in London.
• Charles V (1364-1389) becomes King of
France.
The Second Phase of War
• The second phase began over a Feudal
dispute in the Duchy of Gascony, which the
Black Prince, Edward ruled.
• Charles V was savvy and quite intelligent.
His main strategy was to start war, but
avoid the English troops.
Dynastic Issues
• After Edward III died (1377) and Charles V
(1380), the war effort lessened.
• Richard II (1377-1399) of England was a
weak and unfavorable monarch.
• English Peasant Revolt 1381 brought
animosity to the lowering sort.
• Richard abdicates to his cousin Henry
Bolingbroke.
Once more into the breech dear Friends
• Henry V (1413-1422)
• Led a series of
victories in France and
eventually seized the
whole country in
1420.
The Third Phase
• Henry V was capable and efficient
monarch, but he was cruel, cold, and selfish.
• In 1415, he led a small garrison of English
troops into Calais.
• Heavy rains and disease cornered Henry’s
troops.
• Battle of Agincourt - October 25, 1415
The fewer men, the greater share of
honor!
Treaty of Troyes
• Henry V negotiated the Treaty of Troyes
(1420) which stated that he would marry the
Charles VI’s daughter, Catherine, and
become the heir apparent to the King of
France.
• Henry V and Charles VI both died in 1422
Final Phase of War
• Henry VI of England
declared king of
France, but was an
infant
• Henry VI’s uncles
assume control.
• Charles, the dauphin,
went into hiding.
Joan of Arc
• Deliver of French
• Military genius, who
had visions from
Saints and God.
• Her visions were
presented to Charles
in hiding, in 1429.
Siege of Orleans
Charles VII
• On July 16, 1429
Charles marched
across France to
Reims.
• Crowned King of
France.
• Slowly acquired back
his land.
Visionary of God ???
• Joan of Arc was
captured by the
Burgundians.
• In 1430, she was
ransomed to the
English who tried her
as a heretic.
The End of the War
• In 1435, Charles VII makes peace with the
Burgundians and slowly takes control of
France - Treaty of Arras.
• 1450 – Battle of Formigny
• 1452 – Battle of Bordeaux
• 1453 – Battle of Castillon
The Black Death
• Europe had been weakened due to
famine and bad health.
• Overpopulation of cities
• 1347 - plague hits Europe
• Bubonic - carried by fleas on rats
• Wipes out 2/5 of the population
Conceptions of Death
• Christians
believed it was a
bad sign
• Humanism
develops during
this time.
• Pre-Renaissance
Canterbury Tales
• Geoffrey Chaucer
wrote this story in
midst of Black Plague.
• Morally inspired and
teller of several
pilgrim stories
• Holy Relics – Thomas
a’Beckett
Back to the Dark Ages
• The 12th and 13th centuries Europe
flourished.
• In the 14th and 15th centuries there
is a great decline.
• Pre-Renaissance Europe was hit
with social, political, and economic
distress.
The Break Down
• Hundred Years’ War - 1337-1453
• Black Death - Plague hits Western Europe
1347-1430
• Great Schism - 1378-1417
• Conciliar Movement – 1415
• End of the Byzantine Empire - 1453
• Humanism - Reacting to Scholastics
Next Week
• Next week we delve into the Renaissance
and the Birth of Modernity.
• Based off the readings in the textbook and
packet discuss the meaning of the
Renaissance
• How does Burckhardt view it? What
criticisms can be leveled against his view?