1. MIDDLE AGES (500-1500) Late Middle Ages: (Chaos to Modern Day) 1300-1500

2. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) Little knowledge of conservation; used up topsoil Heavy rains and frost limited production 1301-1314: Shortage of food in Europe 1315-1317: Famine (widespread starvation and malnourishment)

3. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) Reached Sicily in 1347 and lasted until 1351 Other outbreaks occurred in later decades Over 20,000,000 people died, mostly in towns Some towns wiped out completely

4. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) Period of growth and economic welfare came to end –Took almost 300 years for Europe to reach pre-plague population levels

5. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) By 1400’s feeling of happy to be alive spread People wealthier from inheriting wealth from dead –Began to spend on everything to erase the memories of the past Workers began to demand higher wages

6. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) Took monks about 1 year to copy a book Once copied books not organized and finding specific ones was difficult Pressure for literacy came from church schools, kings, and princes –Led to the availability of paper

7. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) Development of eye glasses intensified the pressure for literacy and more books 1450 Johannes Gutenberg developed printing press –Used in China and Korea earlier but did not catch on due to the amount of letters in their alphabets First 50 years = 8 million books printed

8. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) View still medieval with Earth center of universe Magic popular with witches consulted for medical treatment People believed in demons and fairies When Gutenberg’s banker went to Paris to sell 12 copies of the bible, he was driven out of town because people said so many identical books can only be made with help from the devil

9. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) Problem: diffusion of inaccuracies now on widespread scale –Magical practices –Superstitions –Prophecies Also caused loss of memory

10. Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) Good –More efficient system of filing books created so specific ones could be found quicker –More books on topics to compare to find and eliminate errors –Changed view from respect for past to one that looked forward to progress and improvement

11. Modern Day Economic/Political institutions were strong enough to survive the late Middle Ages This late Middle Ages period set up the possibilities for another stage in the development of Western Europe….. The Renaissance and the introduction to the Modern Age.