Chapter Summary

At the beginning of the fourteenth century, declining agricultural productivity and bad weather combined to bring famine to Europe, checking population growth and driving people from their lands in search of food. This tragedy was followed by a terrible plague, the Black Death, which arrived in Europe via the trade that had flourished in the Mediterranean in the preceding century. This disease took the lives of over a third of the population. People reacted to the disaster with fear and despair, and in the case of peasants and urban workers, with revolt. The church was criticized for not bringing comfort and order, but it was absorbed in an internal crisis, as disputed papal elections led to controversy and the simultaneous rule of several popes. England and France engaged in a violent war, the Hundred Years' War, which devastated the lives of civilians and transformed the feudal order. Finally, in the east, new empires arose and threatened the borders of Europe. These disasters undermined the feudal order, bringing fears of the world ending, but instead the structures of social, political, economic, and cultural life would be transformed once again.

Chapter Outline

1. Economic and Social Misery
   The population growth of Europeans was checked by famine and the plague, disasters which were then followed by revolts of peasants and townspeople.
   1. Famine
      1. Bad weather
   2. The Black Death: Bubonic Plague
      1. Flagellants
      2. Anti-Semitism
   3. The Peasants and Townspeople Revolt
      1. John Ball
      2. Urban revolts
2. Imperial Papacy Besieged
   The church faced crisis again as secular rulers denied the supremacy of papal authority and factions within the church vied for power.
   1. Popes Move to Avignon
      1. Return to Rome
   2. Things Get Worse: The Great Schism
   3. The Conciliar Movement
   4. New Critics of the Church
      1. John Wycliffe
      2. Jan Hus
3. More Destruction: The Hundred Years' War, 1337 - 1453 The prolonged conflict between France and England broke down the feudal system, aided the consolidation of the French monarchy, and weakened the English throne.
   1. England vs. France
      1. New weapons
      2. English victories
      3. A seesaw battle
   2. Joan of Arc
      1. Joan executed
   3. Results of the War
      1. Wars of the Roses
4. Responses to Disaster and Despair
   Philosophers, writers, and artists responded to the disasters of the fourteenth century by reconsidering old problems and offering new ideas and insights.
   1. William of Ockham Reconsiders Scholasticism
   2. New Literary Giants
      1. Dante
      2. Boccaccio
      3. Chaucer
   3. A New View: Jan van Eyck
      1. Realism and symbolism
5. Empires in the East
   New empires arose in the east as Europeans struggled between localism and centralism.
   1. Eastern Universalism: The Mongols
      1. Mongol Empire
      2. Marco Polo
   2. The Ottoman Empire, ca. 1300 - 1566
      1. Conquest of Constantinople
      2. Suleiman I
   3. Russia: The Third Rome
      1. Ivan III

The Chapter in Perspective

      The disasters of the fourteenth century slowly broke down the medieval order of feudalism and manorialism. As famine and plague swept across Europe, those who did not succumb to disease or hunger fled in search of food and revolted against the demands of the nobility. The manorial system, in which serfs had labored for lords in return for protection, was slowly replaced by a monetary system of rents and hired labor. For those who survived, life might offer better opportunities in the form of higher wages and greater opportunities. Feudalism suffered from the devastation of the Hundred Years' War, as advances in weaponry rendered the armoured knight obsolete. Kings began to prefer hiring soldiers to fight their wars rather than relying upon the military service of knights. The papacy also suffered during this period. The popes lost prestige as secular leaders asserted their power over that of the imperial papacy. The papacy moved to Avignon for a time, an event that eventually provoked the Great Schism, during which three popes competed for control. Finally, in the east, new empires governed by strong autocratic rulers emerged. The rise of these new powers polarized the east and the west. The tensions that would emerge between the two would soon shape European life, but the eastern empires would face a Europe quite distinct from the Europe of the medieval period.

1. Consider the disasters that befell Europe during this period. How could these disasters lead to greater opportunities for some people? Do you think that the improvements in peoples' lives will continue into the next centuries?
2. How do you think the east and the west will interact in the next few centuries? What might be the effects of interactions between Europeans and these newly consolidated eastern empires?