Chapter XIV The Latin West 1200-1500

Chapter 14 Quote “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” Dante Alighieri

Chapter 14 Thesis Analyze how economic opportunities contributed to continuities & changes in the political systems & culture of the Mediterranean region during the period circa 800 C.E. to 1500 C.E.

Dante’s Inferno (Divine Comedy)

Chapter Objectives Analyze the causes/effects of Europe’s 14th Century demographic disaster Describe/explain the significance in world history of technological development and urbanization in the Latin West in the later Middle Ages. Understand the ways in which intellectual developments of the later Middle Ages reflected Westerners’ views of themselves & of their relationship to the past. Understand the ways in which the Hundred Years’ War and the emergence of “new monarchies” laid the foundations for the modern European state system.

Rural Growth & Crisis Peasants, Population, & Plague Most Europeans were stuck in serfdom 15-30 heavily taxed families supported each noble Women labored in fields with men but were subordinate to them Population more than doubled between 1000 and 1445 Warmer weather plus three-field system of crops New lands meant poor soil & poor growing conditions Decline in average crop yields began around 1250 Population pressure eased by the Black Death (bubonic plague) 1346: plague ravaged Europe for two years, returned periodically in late 1300s & 1400s, caused substantial decreases in population (1/3 die)

Spread of the Plague

Social Rebellion Labor became more expensive in Western Europe - gave rise to series of peasant & worker uprisings, higher wages, & the end of serfdom Rural living standards improved, period of apprenticeship for artisans was reduced, & per capita income rose Mines and Mills Between 1200 & 1500, Europeans invented and used a variety of mechanical devices including water wheels and windmills. Mills were expensive to build, but over time they brought great profits to their owners Industrial enterprises, including mining, ironworking, stone quarrying, & tanning, grew during these centuries. Results included both greater productivity and environmental damage, including water pollution and deforestation – They will run out of trees!!!! Where will they get more?

Section Review Population growth stimulated improved farming methods & agricultural expansion, but peasant life did not significantly improve Famine & the Black Death reversed population growth, resulted in social change throughout western Europe Improved mill designs & other technology stimulated further industrial growth, which, in turn, changed the landscape

Urban Revival Trading Cities Increase in trade & manufacturing led to growth of cities after 1200 Venetian capture of Constantinople opened the Mediterranean Marco Polo spent 24 years abroad, opened Asian markets Increase in sea trade brought profits to Genoa (Mediterranean) & the cities of the Hanseatic League (Baltic and North Sea) Flanders prospered from woolen textile industries, while the towns of Champagne benefited from their position on the major land route through France & a series of trade fairs sponsored by their nobles Textile industries also began to develop in England & Florence Europeans made extensive use of water wheels and windmills in the textile, paper, & other industries

Trade Routes!

Civic Life Autonomy of European city-states meant better ability to respond to changing market conditions than Chinese or Islamic cities European cities offered citizens more freedom & social mobility Most of Europe’s Jews lived in cities and were subject to persecution everywhere but Rome; they were blamed for disasters like the Black Death & expelled from Spain Guilds regulated practice of & access to trades. Women rarely allowed to join guilds, but did work in unskilled non-guild jobs in the textile industry & in the food & beverage trades Growth in commerce gave rise to bankers like the Medici of Florence and the Fugger of Augsburg, who handled financial transactions for merchants, the church, kings & princes of Europe The Church prohibited usury, many moneylenders were Jews; Christian bankers got around the prohibition through such devices as asking for gifts in lieu of interest

Gothic Cathedrals Gothic cathedrals were masterpieces of late medieval architecture & craftsmanship Distinctive features include the pointed Gothic arch, flying buttresses, high towers and spires, gargoyles & large interiors lit by huge stained glass windows The men who designed & built the Gothic cathedrals had no formal training in design and engineering; they learned through their mistakes

Section Review After 1200 most cities grew through manufacture & trade particularly: northern Italy, Flanders, & Baltic coast Expanding trade & technological innovation ultimately reduced Europe’s dependence on eastern goods Cities fostered social mobility, but civic life was dominated by guilds, wealthy merchants, & bankers Most urban residents lived in squalor without the amenities of Islamic Middle Eastern cities Gothic cathedrals became signs of special civic pride & prestige in European cities

Learning, Literature, and the Renaissance After 1100 Western Europeans got access to Greek and Arabic works on science, philosophy, & medicine! Manuscripts were translated & explained by Jewish scholars & studied at Christian monasteries, the primary centers of learning After 1200, Universities emerged as new centers of learning. Some were established by students; most were teaching guilds established by professors to oversee the training, control the membership, & fight for the interests of the profession Universities generally specialized in a particular branch of learning; Bologna, famous for its law faculty, others for medicine or theology Theology was the most prominent discipline of the period because theologians sought to synthesize the rational philosophy of the Greeks with the Christian faith of the Latin West in an intellectual movement known as Scholasticism

Humanists and Printers Dante Alighieri & Geoffrey Chaucer were among the great writers of the later Middle Ages. Dante’s Divine Comedy tells the story of the author’s journey through the nine layers of Hell & his entry into Paradise, while Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is a rich portrayal of the lives of everyday people making fun of the Feudal System Dante influenced the intellectual movement of the Humanists, men such as Petrarch and Boccaccio, who were interested in the Humanities & in the classical literature of Greece & Rome. Humanists had tremendous influence on the reform of secondary education Some of the humanists wrote in the vernacular. Most wrote in Latin; many worked to restore original texts of Latin & Greek authors & of the Bible through exhaustive comparative analysis of the many various versions that had been produced over the centuries. As a part of this enterprise, Pope Nicholas V established the Vatican Library, & the Dutch humanist Erasmus produced a critical edition of the New Testament. The influence of the humanist writers was increased by the development of the printing press. Johann Gutenberg perfected the art of printing in 1454; his press & more than two hundred others had produced 10 million printed works by 1500

Renaissance Artists 14th & 15th century artists built on the more natural paintings of Giotto as they developed a style of painting that concentrated on the depiction of Greek and Roman gods and of scenes from daily life. The realistic style was also influenced by Jan van Eyck’s development of oil paints. Leonardo da Vinci & Michelangelo were famous artists of this period Wealthy merchant & clerical patrons like the Medici of Florence & the Church contributed to the development of Renaissance art. The artistic and intellectual developments of the Renaissance did not stop in Europe; the university, printing, & oil painting were later adopted all over the world

Section Review Greco-Roman learning returned to the Latin West through a series of revivals that culminated with the Renaissance An infusion of Greek & Islamic scholarship during the 11th century helped promote the revival of the 12th and 13th centuries Colleges and Universities grew, with theology as the preeminent discipline Foreshadowed by Dante, Humanism, with its focus on classical languages, literature, ethics, & education, emerged in Italy The influence of the Humanists spread through new print technology Renaissance artists enlarged the thematic & technical resources of painting, sculpture, & architecture

Political and Military Transformations Monarchs, Nobles, & the Church 13th C. European states ruled by weak monarchs whose power was limited by their modest treasuries, the regional nobility, the independent towns, & the Church Two changes in weaponry began to undermine the utility, & therefore the economic position of the knights: the armor-piercing crossbow & the development of firearms King Philip the Fair of France reduced the power of the church when he arrested the pope and had a new (French) one installed at Avignon, but monarchs still faced resistance, particularly from their stronger vassals In England, the Norman conquest of 1066 had consolidated & centralized royal power, but Kings continued to find power limited by the Pope & by the English nobles, who forced King John to recognize their hereditary rights as defined in the Magna Carta

The Hundred Years War The Hundred Years War pitted France against England, whose King Edward III claimed the French throne in 1337 (Robin Hood, Joan of Arc) The war was fought with new military technology: crossbows; longbows; pikes (for pulling knights off their horses); & firearms, including an improved cannon The French, whose superior cannon destroyed the castles of the English and their allies, finally defeated the English. The war left the French monarchy in a stronger position than before

New Monarchies in France & England New monarchies emerging after 100 Years War had stronger central governments, stable borders, & stronger representative institutions. The English & French monarchs consolidated their control over the nobles The new military technology: cannon & hand-held firearms, meant that the castle & the knight were outdated. New monarchs depended on professional standing armies of bowmen, pike men, musketeers, & artillery units Monarchs had to find new sources of revenue to pay standing armies. To raise money, the new monarchs taxed land, merchants, & the church By the end of the 15th century, there was a shift in power away from the nobility & the church towards the Monarchs. This process was not complete, however, & monarchs were still hemmed in by the nobles, the Church, & by new government institutions: the Parliament in England & the Estates General in France

Iberian Unification Spain & Portugal emerged as strong centralized states through a process of marriage alliances, mergers, warfare, & Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from Islam, offering nobility large landed estates upon which they could grow rich without having to work Reconquista took place over a period of several centuries, but picked up after Christians put Muslims on the defensive with victory in 1212 Portugal became completely established in 1249. In 1415, the Portuguese captured the Moroccan port of Ceuta, which gave them access to the Saharan trade In Spain, Castile & Aragon were united (Ferdinand & Isabella) in 1469 & Muslims were driven out of their last stronghold (Granada) in 1492. Spain then expelled all Jews and Muslims from its territory; Portugal also expelled its Jewish population (3 choices)

Section Review Between 1200 & 1500, monarchs, nobles, & the church struggled over political power Tensions between the French monarchy and the papacy resulted in the Great Western Schism In England, royal power was checked by the papacy and nobility, the latter imposing the Magna Charta on King John The Hundred Years War between the French monarchy and its vassals introduced new military technologies This was also stimulated by the rise of the new centralized monarchies of England and France Spain & Portugal continued the Reconquista of Muslim Iberia, a process completed by Ferdinand and Isabella

Conclusion Ecologically, Latin Europe harnessed the power of wind & water & mined & refined their mineral wealth at the cost of pollution & deforestation. A demographic crisis climaxed with the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century Politically, frequent wars caused kingdoms of moderate size to develop exceptional military strength Culturally, autonomous universities & printing supported the advance of knowledge while new inventions brought new dynamism in commerce, warfare, industry, & navigation Many of the tools that the Latin West used to challenge Eastern supremacy originated in the East. From the 11th century onward, population pressure, religious zeal, economic enterprise, and intellectual curiosity drove expansion of territory and resources