1300-1450 A period of crisis? 1000-1300 Growth in population of Europe, leading to overpopulation c. 1300 Weather in Europe gets colder and wetter 1315-17 Famine and epidemics in Europe
Bubonic plague - buboes Septicaemic plague Pneumonic plague
1347 Plague in Italy 1348 Plague in France 1349 Plague in England 1350 Plague throughout Europe. Further outbreaks follow
1400 Population of Europe has halved 1665 Last outbreak of plague in England 1720 Last outbreak of plague in France Replacement of black rats by brown rats
1345 Faculty of Medicine at the University of Paris blames the plague on a planetary conjunction 1348 and 1349 massacres of Jews in Germany Oct 1349 Pope orders suppression of flagellants
Treatises on the “Art of Dying” Transitio/cadaver tombs Dance of Death/Danse Macabre
1370s Wages rising due to reduced workforce Sumptuary laws Attempts to limit wage increases 1323-28 Rebellion by peasants and urban workers in Flanders
French peasant revolt (Jacquerie), 1358: Additional causes: lack of protection of peasants from looters, taxes Origins at St Leu north of Paris, but spreads widely Bloodily suppressed
English peasants’ rebellion, 1381: Causes: Controls on wages and peasant mobility, poll tax Begins in Essex, spreads to Kent Peasants take Rochester Castle, Canterbury, march on London
King Richard II (r. 1377-99) decides to negotiate and agrees to end serfdom Rebels continue attacking royal officials Peasants demand that church property be divided among laity, abolition of feudal/manorial system, but in a scuffle Mayor Walworth kills Wat Tyler Rebels dispersed peacefully, but king revokes charters