1. The Crises of the 14 th Century 1300-1450 Age of sorrow and temptation, of tears, jealousy and torment, Time of exhaustion and damnation, declining to extinction, Era filled with horror and deception, lying, pride and envy, Time without honor and meaning, full of life-shortening sadness. - Eustache Deschamps

2. Legacy of the Crusades 1096 – ca. 1272 1. “Re-acquaintance” with Western past 2. Exposure to Eastern goods 3. Accentuated political and religious rivalries 4. Decline of the Byzantine Empire 5. “Jihad”

3. Hey, lil’ fella Xenopsylla cheopis

4. I. The Black Death 1347-1353 - bubonic, pneumonic, septicemic

5. A. Disaster in the making 1. Nearly all arable land taken 2. “Little” Ice Age ca. 1300 – 1700+

6. B. Legacy of the plague 6, 14, 18th centuries 137M (1/4 - 1/3 of Europe in 1300s - 34M)

7. 2. The Great Leveler Hans Holbein The Dance of Death the Kingthe Queenthe Pope

8. 2. Europe subject to invasion Mongols - 1400s Ottoman Turks - 1500 & 1600s

9. 3. Plagues of insurrection - weakening of social bonds - persecution - peasant revolt Jacquerie 1358 Wat Tyler’s Revolt 1381

10. Crises of moral authority paves the way for Renaissance, Reformation. The Triumph of Death 1562 - Bruegel

11. II. 100 Years War 1337-1450

12. A. Causes 1.Angevin Empire - Henry & Eleanor 1152 Vassalage v. Nation-state 2. Edward III 1329

13. 3. Manufacturing - Flemish wool trade

14. B. Conduct of the War 1.English occupation - soldiers fend for themselves End of Chivalry

15. C. Assault on authority 1. Yeomen archers - Crécy 1346 / Agincourt 1415 2. Battle of Formingy 1450 - gunpowder Men in armor losing significance

16. 3. Joan of Arc - Battle of Orleans 1429

17. III. Division in Christendom Religious controversy and challenges for the Church

18. 1. Urban social orders - merchants, craftsmen - “class,” not hereditary obligations 2. Alternative to feudal orders - tweaking of theology

19. A. Limits of reason Aristotelianism Scholasticism

20. B. Avignon Papacy 1. Clement V & Philip IV 1305 - suppression of Knights Templar - moved papacy to Avignon “Whore of Babylon”

21. 2. Gregory XI 1378 - Rome, most of Europe wants Italian Pope - Charles (V) Valois 3. Great (Western) Schism 1378- 1417 - Popes a’plenty - Council of Constance 1414-17 antiPope John XXIII

22. C. Legacy of division 1. Worsened by contemporary problems - papacy in the eyes of both clergy and lay people 2. Opened door for theological and literary challenges to Church hegemony

23. IV. Cultural change in crisis

24. A. Theological challenges 1. John Wycliffe 1320-1384 - quality of sacrament - Church authority

25. 2. Jan Hus 1369-1415 - religion and nationalism - language č š ž

26. 3. Increased threat of Heresy - Waldensians no authority but the Bible - Albigensiansextreme ascetism “Heretics” often preached austerity not found in Church, popular w/ peasants The Inquisition “what a show”

27. 4. William of Ockham 1285-1349 - Argued against Aristotelian theory - must argue from specific to general Ockham’s razor scientific method

28. B. Vernacular literature 1. Reliance on Latin declines - expression of cultural, national, religious independence (Gutenberg press)

29. 2. Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy 1308-1321 allegory – historical figures, contemporary critique Redemption of Man – in Italian! “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”

30. 3. Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales 1342-1400 - middle English - ribald, low brow comedy, social satire Wife of Bath

31. 4. Christine de Pizan City of Ladies 1364-1430 a. status of aristocratic women improving b. all levels of patriarchy challenged

32. Giovanni Boccaccio The Decameron Juan Ruiz The Book of Good Love - “Mr. Melon of the Vegetable Garden”