Later Middle Ages

Crisis of the Later Middle Ages:
è Black Death (1347): loss of 1/3 of European population (mostly in cities)
Causes: bubonic plague carried by fleas on Asian black rats; poor sanitation, overcrowded
homes, poor health, poor hygiene, poor housing
Results: Severe impact on European economy; in some areas workers enjoyed higher wages;
best of clergy died (staying behind to help the sick); Jews blamed; serfdom ended in many areas; first enclosure of fields in Britain
Population did not reach pre-plague level until the mid-16th century.
è Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453): cause—English lays claim to some French land
Joan of Arc: led French army to victory at Orleans during crucial stage of the war
Results: France kicks England out; creation of modern nation states begin (“New Monarchs”)
Peasant Revolts
Causes: taxation during Hundred Years’ War, desire for higher wages, hostility toward
aristocracy, and higher expectations among peasantry.
English Peasant Revolt (1381):
Jacquerie in France (late 14th-early 15th c.)
Results: revolts crushed; end of serfdom in England c. 1550

è Nationalist literature of the Later Middle Ages – use of the vernacular (national tongue)
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), The Divine Comedy (1321) (also a Renaissance figure)
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400): Canterbury Tales – portrayed English life
Francois Villon (1431-1463): Grand Testament (1461) – greatest poet of Medieval France
portrayed ordinary French life with humor and emotion.

è Crisis in the Catholic Church
Early Criticisms of the church
Marsiglio de Padua: Defender of Peace – Church should be subordinate to the state
Church should be governed by a council of laity and priests superior to pope.
John Wyclif (1320-1384): church should only follow Scripture; English
translation of Bible; his later followers were Lollards
John Huss (1369-1415): ideas similar to Wyclif; nationalist party in Czech (Bohemia)
Hussites: followers of Huss who staged large rebellions in 14th century.
Babylonian Captivity (1309-1377): 7 successive popes resided at Avignon, France
Damaged papal prestige (esp. in England & Germany); Rome’s economy damaged
Great Schism (c. 1377-1417): Further conflict led to election of two popes—one in Rome,
one in France; further hurt prestige of church
Conciliar Movement (1409-1418): ended schism; failed as movement to put power in a
church council; pope’s power still supreme

Life in Later Middle Ages
Marriage: avg. age for men = mid-20s; women = 16-18
divorce was unheard of
economic reasons most important for marriage (love not until 18th-19th centuries)
prostitution in cities (men didn’t marry until later)
Work:
agricultural cycles and church ritual closely linked
small % of men were artisans in towns; protected by guilds
Serfdom reduced in many areas
Recreation: aristocracy – jousting tournaments; common people—archery, wrestling, bull-
baiting, bear-baiting; alcoholism rampant
Laity increasingly managed parish lands
Fur-collar crime: corrupt nobles (esp. England) took advantage of peasantry

Medieval philosophy: scholasticism (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Attempted to reconcile faith and reason by using logic to support Christian doctrine
Worked to reconcile Aristotle’s ideas with Christianity