A History of Western Society Tenth Edition CHAPTER 12 The Crisis of the Later Middle Ages, 1300–1450 Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s John P. McKay ● Bennett D. Hill John Buckler ● Claire Haru Crowston Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks ● Joe Perry

Black Death, 1348–1350 precursor: overpopulation & malnutrition –agricultural improvements increase food supply; European population doubles, 1000–1300, thereafter outstripping food production –1315–1317: crop failures produce worst famine of Middle Ages bubonic plague (“Black Death”) followed trade routes from Asia into Europe, probably via fleas on rates from Black Sea area

I. Prelude to Disaster A. Climate Change and Famine 1.The Little Ice Age (1300–1450) 2. Great Famine (1315–1322) B. Social Consequences 1. Abandonment of Villages and Declining Population 2. Scapegoats 3. Governmental Responses

Attempts to Stop the Plague Pograms against the Jews “Jew” hat “Golden Circle” obligatory badge

II. The Black Death A. Pathology 1. Yersinia Pestis 2. Pneumonic Transmission 3. Effects on the Body B. Spread of the Disease 1. From China to Europe 2. Spread Within Cities 3. Mortality Rates

The Culprits

The Disease Cycle Flea drinks rat blood that carries the bacteria. Flea’s gut clogged with bacteria. Bacteria multiply in flea’s gut. Flea bites human and regurgitates blood into human wound. Human is infected!

The Symptoms Bulbous Septicemic Form: almost 100% mortality rate.

Boccaccio in The Decameron The victims ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors.

1347: Plague Reaches Constantinople!

Map 9–1 SPREAD OF THE BLACK DEATH Apparently introduced by seaborne rats from Black Sea areas where plague- infested rodents had long been known, the Black Death brought huge human, social, and economic consequences. One of the lower estimates of Europeans dying is 25 million. The map charts the plague’s spread in the mid- fourteenth century. Generally following trade routes, the plague reached Scandinavia by 1350, and some believe it then went on to Iceland and even Greenland. Areas off the main trade routes were largely spared.

Medieval Art & the Plague

An obsession with death.

The Mortality Rate 35% - 70% 25,000,000 dead !!!

II. The Black Death C. Care of the Sick 1. Remedies 2. Care by the Clergy 3. Escape

A caricature of physicians (early sixteenth century). A physician carries a uroscope (for collecting and examining urine); discolored urine signaled an immediate need for bleeding. The physician/surgeon wears surgical shoes and his assistant carries a flail—a comment on the risks of medical services. Hacker Art Books Inc.

Lancing a Buboe

The Danse Macabre

From the Toggenburg Bible, 1411

Procession of the Flagellants Would walk from village to village whipping themselves and others as a sign of repentance

Impact 1/3-1/2 of European population dies. Decrease in population increases need for laborers, leads to increase in wages. Peasant revolts Cities rebound and prosper. Results in growing middle class. Artisans organize into guilds. –Guilds gain political power. Peasants in the field

III. The Hundred Years’ War A. Causes 1. Disagreements over Royal Land Rights 2. Succession Dispute 3. French Nobility Divided 4. Economic Reasons B. English Successes 1. Initial English Successes 2. Further English Successes (1415–1419)

The Hundred Years’ War

III. The Hundred Years’ War C. Joan of Arc and France’s Victory 1. Joan of Arc 2. Capture and Trial 3. Ultimate French Victory D. Aftermath 1. Havoc in England and France 2. Technology and the Nation State 3. Representative Assemblies 4. Nationalism

Cannons Used at Orleons

Joan Announces the Capture of Orleans to the King

Joan as a “Feminist” Symbol Today?

France Becomes Unified! France in 1337 France in 1453

Impact Begins process of political centralization in Europe Significant military evolution (Gunpowder) Early rise of nationalistic feelings First popular challenges to secular and spiritual authority End of English claims to France

IV. Challenges to the Church A. The Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism 1. Babylonian Captivity 2. Atmosphere of Luxury 3. The Great Schism (1377–1417) B. Critiques, Divisions, and Councils 1. William of Occam (1289–1347) 2. Marsiglio of Padua (1275–1342) 3. Conciliarists 4. John Wycliffe (1330–1384) and the Lollards 5. Jan Hus (1372–1415) 6. Resolution of the Schism

IV. Challenges to the Church C. Lay Piety and Mysticism 1. Lay Piety 2. Confraternities 3. Brethren and Sisters of the Common Life 4. Mystical Experiences

Justice in the late Middle Ages. Depicted are the most common forms of corporal and capital punishment in Europe in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. At top: burning, hanging, drowning. At center: blinding, quartering, the wheel, cutting of hair (a mark of great shame for a freeman). At bottom: thrashing, decapitation, amputation of hand (for thieves). Herzog August Bibliothek

V. Social Unrest in a Changing Society A. Peasant Revolts 1. Flanders (1320s) 2. Jacquerie (1358) 3. English Peasants’ Revolt (1381)

V. Social Unrest in a Changing Society B. Urban Conflicts 1. Roots of Revolt 2. “Honor” Uprisings

V. Social Unrest in a Changing Society C. Sex in the City 1. Late Age of First Marriage 2. Prostitution 3. Rape 4. Homosexuality D. Fur-Collar Crime 1. Noble Bandits 2. Robin Hood

The Delights and Dangers of the Medieval Bath Among commoners in the early European Middle Ages, bathing was rare. The well-to-do bathed more often, acquiring wooden or metal bathtubs, and treated bathing as an hospitable act. By the twelfth century, sociable public baths existed in many towns and were frequented by both men and women. Although both Church and state tried to keep the baths “moral” (separate baths for single men and women respectively, mixed bathing only for the married, clear distinctions between bathhouses and whorehouses), the public perception of such baths in the late Middle Ages suggests that promiscuity and adultery were commonplace. That is certainly the conclusion drawn in this Burgundian manuscript, c. 1470, which presents a bath that is said to be fit for a cardinal or a king, who is seen standing at the door. AKG London Ltd.

V. Social Unrest in a Changing Society E. Ethnic Tensions and Restrictions 1. Ethnic Diversity and Colonization 2. Legal Dualism 3. “Purity of the Blood” F. Literacy and Vernacular Literature 1. Dante’s Divine Comedy (1310–1320) 2. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1387–1400) 3. Spread of Lay Literacy