1. Social and Political Breakdown (1300–1453)
Chapter 1
The Late Middle Ages:
Social and Political Breakdown (1300–1453)

2. © ARPL/HIP/The Image Works
A procession of flagellants at Tournai in Flanders in 1349, marching with the crucified Christ and scourging themselves in imitation of his suffering. © ARPL/HIP/The Image Works
A procession of flagellants at Tournai in Flanders in 1349, marching with the crucified Christ and scourging themselves in imitation of his suffering.
© ARPL/HIP/The Image Works

3. 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

4. Black Death (cont.)
Bubonic plague (“Black Death”) followed trade routes from Asia into Europe, probably via fleas on rats from Black Sea area
Popular remedies: relevant medical knowledge absent
Aromatic amulets
Temperance & moderation
Promiscuity & abandon

5. Black Death (cont.)
Popular remedies: relevant medical knowledge absent
Flight & seclusion
Self-flagellation

6. Biblioteca Universitaria, Bologna, Italy. Scala/Art Resource, NY
This illustration from the Canon of Medicine by the Persian physician and philosopher Avicenna (980–1037), whose Arabic name was Ibn Sina, shows him visiting the homes of rich patients. In the High Middle Ages, the Canon of Medicine was the standard medical textbook in the Middle East and Europe. Biblioteca Universitaria, Bologna, Italy. Scala/Art Resource, NY
This illustration from the Canon of Medicine by the Persian physician and philosopher Avicenna (980–1037), whose Arabic name was Ibn Sina, shows him visiting the homes of rich patients. In the High Middle Ages, the Canon of Medicine was the standard medical textbook in the Middle East and Europe.
Biblioteca Universitaria, Bologna, Italy. Scala/Art Resource, NY

7. 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.
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.

8. Black Death (cont.) Economic consequences:
Dramatic labor shortage, climbing wages for laborers & artisans
Falling agricultural, climbing luxury prices—noble landowners hardest hit
Attempts to freeze wages & force peasants to stay on land  peasant revolts
Cities (artisans) benefit from demand for luxury goods

9. Black Death (cont.) Political/social consequences:
Artisan guilds win some political power
Kings take advantage of weakened nobility & church

10. A Burial Scene from the Black Death Originating in Asia, the Black Death reached Europe around Raging for close to four years in some areas, the disease affected every class in European society and destroyed between a quarter to a third of the population. This illustration, The Burying of Plague Victims in Tournai, is from a 1349 manuscript entitled Annals of Gilles de Muisit. Tournai was a thriving trading center in Belgium at the time of the plague. The entire image is filled with those burying the dead and the many that wait to be buried. Approximately 7500 people died from the disease every day. Snark/Art Resource, NY
A Burial Scene from the Black Death Originating in Asia, the Black Death reached Europe around Raging for close to four years in some areas, the disease affected every class in European society and destroyed between a quarter to a third of the population. This illustration, The Burying of Plague Victims in Tournai, is from a 1349 manuscript entitled Annals of Gilles de Muisit. Tournai was a thriving trading center in Belgium at the time of the plague. The entire image is filled with those burying the dead and the many that wait to be buried. Approximately 7500 people died from the disease every day.
Snark/Art Resource, NY

11. The Granger Collection, NYC—All rights reserved
Death and the Physician, from the series Dance of Death. Death leads an old man to a physician and, standing between physician and patient, hands the physician a urine sample for examination. This 1545 woodcut by Hans Lützelburger, after Hans Holbein the Younger, can be seen as a commentary on the futility of the medical profession in its attempts to ward off the inevitable. The Granger Collection, NYC—All rights reserved
Death and the Physician, from the series Dance of Death. Death leads an old man to a physician and, standing between physician and patient, hands the physician a urine sample for examination. This 1545 woodcut by Hans Lützelburger, after Hans Holbein the Younger, can be seen as a commentary on the futility of the medical profession in its attempts to ward off the inevitable.
The Granger Collection, NYC—All rights reserved

12. Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453)
Nominal cause: English king Edward III’s claim on French throne, thwarted by accession of first Valois king, Philip VI (r. 1328–1350)
Larger cause: English-French territorial, commercial, & cultural rivalry
French weakness: larger & wealthier, but more internal discord

13. Archives Snark International/Art Resource, NY
Edward III pays homage to his feudal lord Philip VI of France. Legally, Edward was a vassal of the king of France. Archives Snark International/Art Resource, NY
Edward III pays homage to his feudal lord Philip VI of France. Legally, Edward was a vassal of the king of France.
Archives Snark International/Art Resource, NY

14. Hundred Years’ War (cont.)
First phase (under Edward III)
Flanders allies with England, recognizing Edward as king of France, 1340
English seize Calais, 1346
English rout near Poitiers, 1356; French king John II taken captive
1360 treaty: John II ransomed, English claims in France recognized, Edward renounces claim to French throne

15. Hundred Years’ War (cont.)
Second phase (Treaty of Troyes)
English war effort flags due to peasant revolts
Recommences with English victory at Agincourt, 1415
Duchy of Burgundy joins English
Treaty of Troyes, 1420: named English Henry V successor to French Charles VI, but both soon die

16. Map 9–2 THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR The Hundred Years’ War went on intermittently from the late 1330s until These maps show the remarkable English territorial gains up to the sudden and decisive turning of the tide of battle in favor of the French by the forces of Joan of Arc in 1429.
Map 9–2 THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR The Hundred Years’ War went on intermittently from the late 1330s until These maps show the remarkable English territorial gains up to the sudden and decisive turning of the tide of battle in favor of the French by the forces of Joan of Arc in 1429.

17. Hundred Years’ War (cont.)
Third phase (Joan of Arc)
French teenage peasant Joan of Arc declares call from God to deliver besieged Orléans from English
Tired English repulsed, followed by string of French victories
Joan captured 1430, tried & burned as heretic at English-held Rouen
English forced back, conclude war with Calais as only French possession (1453)

18. Hundred Years’ War (cont.)
Summary: 68 years of peace, 44 of war; France devastated, but national feeling awakened; English & French peasants suffer most from taxes & services

19. A contemporary portrait of Joan of Arc (1412–1431).
A contemporary portrait of Joan of Arc (1412–1431). Anonymous, 15th century. “Joan of Arc.” Franco-Flemish miniature. Archives Nationales, Paris, France. Photograph copyright Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, NY
A contemporary portrait of Joan of Arc (1412–1431).
Anonymous, 15th century. “Joan of Arc.” Franco-Flemish miniature. Archives Nationales, Paris, France.
Photograph copyright Bridgeman-Giraudon/Art Resource, NY

20. Late Medieval Church
Papal monarchy established by Pope Innocent III strengthened the church politically, but weakened it spiritually—undermined popular support
Innocent’s successors: tightened & centralized church legal proceedings; elaborated clerical taxation; broadened papal powers of appointment

21. Late Medieval Church (cont.)
Demise of Hohenstaufens took away galvanizing enemy of church, made it vulnerable

22. Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) vs. Philip the Fair (r. 1285–1314)
French & English kings raise taxes on clergy; Boniface decrees new taxes need papal consent
French king Philip the Fair cuts off flow of money to Rome; Boniface concedes

23. Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) vs. Philip the Fair (r. 1285–1314)
Boniface issues Unam Sanctam (1302), as confrontation with Philip ramps up, asserting subordination of temporal to spiritual power
French army assault & molest Boniface, who later dies
Result: popes never again seriously threaten European rulers

24. Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303), depicted here, opposed the taxation of the clergy by the kings of France and England and issued one of the strongest declarations of papal authority over rulers, the bull Unam Sanctam. This statue is in the Museo Civico, Bologna, Italy. Statue of Pope Boniface VIII. Museo Civico, Bologna. Scala/Art Resource, NY
Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303), depicted here, opposed the taxation of the clergy by the kings of France and England and issued one of the strongest declarations of papal authority over rulers, the bull Unam Sanctam. This statue is in the Museo Civico, Bologna, Italy.
Statue of Pope Boniface VIII. Museo Civico, Bologna. Scala/Art Resource, NY

25. Dorling Kindersley Media Library. Geoff Dann © The British Museum
Papal ring: gold with an engraving on each side and set with a square stone. Dorling Kindersley Media Library. Geoff Dann © The British Museum
Papal ring: gold with an engraving on each side and set with a square stone.
Dorling Kindersley Media Library. Geoff Dann © The British Museum

26. Avignon Papacy (1309–1377)
Pope Clement V moves papal court here to escape strife of Rome
To get needed revenue, papal taxes go up, and sale of indulgences begins
Pope John XXII (r. 1316–1334)—most powerful Avignon pope

27. John Wycliffe (d. 1384) and John Huss (d. 1415)
Lollards: followers of Wycliffe, English spokesman for rights of royalty against popes; challenged indulgences, papal infallibility, transubstantiation—anticipates Protestantism
Hussites: followers of Huss, rector of University of Prague—similar to Lollards

28. A portrayal of John Huss as he was led to the stake at Constance
A portrayal of John Huss as he was led to the stake at Constance. After his execution, his bones and ashes were scattered in the Rhine River to prevent his followers from claiming them as relics. This pen-and-ink drawing is from Ulrich von Richenthal’s Chronicle of the Council of Constance (ca. 1450). CORBIS/Bettmann
A portrayal of John Huss as he was led to the stake at Constance. After his execution, his bones and ashes were scattered in the Rhine River to prevent his followers from claiming them as relics. This pen-and-ink drawing is from Ulrich von Richenthal’s Chronicle of the Council of Constance (ca. 1450). CORBIS/Bettmann

29. Justice in the late Middle Ages
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
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

30. Great Schism (1378–1417)
Urban VI and Clement VII—rival popes; England & allies support Urban, France & allies support Clement
Conciliar Theory: idea that a representative council could regulate actions of pope

31. Great Schism (cont.)
Council of Pisa (1409–1410): deposed Urban & Clement (who refused to step down), elected Alexander V—three contending popes
Council of Constance (1414–1417): provided for regular councils every few years

32. Great Schism (cont.)
Council of Basel (1431–1449): height of conciliar government of church; negotiated directly with heretics (Hussites)
Results of conciliar movement: greater religious responsibility to laity & secular governments

33. Medieval Russia: Politics and Society
Kiev developed into a magnificent political and cultural center
Russians divided into three categories
Great Russians
White Russians
Little Russians (Ukranians)
Broadest social division was between freemen and slaves

34. Mongol Rule in Russia (1243–1480)
Mongols, or Tatars, sweep through China, Islamic world, & Russia, 13th c.
Ghengis Khan (1155–1227) invades Russia, 1223
Russian cities become tribute-paying principalities of part of Mongol Empire known as the Golden Horde

35. Mongol Rule in Russia (cont.)
Russians impressed into Mongol military service, women taken as wives/concubines, some sold into slavery
Partial Islamization of Russian society
1380: beginning of Mongol decline in Russia; ends 1480 under Ivan the Great

36. © Sonia Halliday Photographs/Alamy
Genghis Khan holding an audience. This Persian miniature shows the great conqueror and founder of the Mongol empire with members of his army and entourage as well as an apparent supplicant (lower right). © Sonia Halliday Photographs/Alamy
Genghis Khan holding an audience. This Persian miniature shows the great conqueror and founder of the Mongol empire with members of his army and entourage as well as an apparent supplicant (lower right).
© Sonia Halliday Photographs/Alamy