Middle Ages

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The Late Middle Ages: Crisis and Renewal

The Late Middle Ages, which lasted from about 1300 to about 1450, had many severe crises. Europeans were subjected to famine, disease, and disastrous military conflicts. Yet it was also a period of enormous vitality and advancement in art, literature, and thought. In fact, the dates of the Late Middle Ages are about the same as those of the early Renaissance. Just as there was no precise moment when the Middle Ages began, there was also no clear break between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

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Contraction and Confrontation

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Starvation and the Black Death

Starvation became a serious problem in Europe in the 14th century. Until that time, the clearing of forests and marshland for cultivation and new methods of agriculture had kept most people well fed. By about 1300, however, there was no more land to clear, and the existing land, no matter how well it was cultivated, could not support the growing number of people who lived on it. The soil itself had become exhausted after years of continuous cultivation. In 1309 heavy rains ruined crops in part of Germany, causing severe food shortages and starvation. In 1315 another rainy season hurt the people in northwestern Europe. In cities and rural areas alike, food supplies dwindled and people sickened and died.

Already weakened by continued food shortages, the people of Europe were hit especially hard by the arrival of the Black Death. The Black Death was an epidemic of bubonic plague that appeared in Italy in 1348 and spread to the rest of Europe by 1350. Because the plague was transmitted by fleas carried by rodents, it was worst in the cities, where many people lived close together and sanitation was poor. In some cities, the plague killed as many as two-thirds of the population. Every social group suffered, but the rural population and the wealthy, who had less contact with outsiders and who could afford to move to more secluded areas outside the cities, escaped the worst effects. Outbreaks of plague continued throughout the Middle Ages and into the 18th century.

The survivors of the plague had to adjust to new conditions. So many people died that a labor shortage developed. Those who remained tried to bargain for more land and better conditions. City workers also demanded higher pay. While these negotiations were successful in some areas, in others lords and kings were able to maintain the status quo.

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In England peasants tried to take advantage of the favorable new conditions for workers after the plague, but landlords refused to lower rents or raise wages. In 1381 various groups of peasants joined together to protest taxes and to argue for more equal treatment. English king Richard II met with the rebels and agreed to their demands. As soon as they dispersed, however, he went back on his promise, and many of the peasants were executed (see Tyler’s Rebellion). Nevertheless, the king was unable to prevent the changes started by the plague from continuing, and serfdom ended in England in the 15th century.

Because the plague destroyed people and not possessions, the drop in population was accompanied by a corresponding increase in per capita wealth. A new type of consumer, who preferred variety and luxury, began to appear in both the towns and the countryside. People who were unsure if they would be alive the next day wanted to spend their money on fine foods and luxuries. Many lords and wealthy merchants built churches and commissioned religious art, partly in thanks for being spared the horrors of the Black Death. Some of the artistic styles that developed in this period were very influential later during the Renaissance. Some historians suggest that the Renaissance was financed by people who invested in culture in hard times.

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The Hundred Years’ War

Times that were already bad in France and England were made worse by the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453). England had held territory for a long time in what is now France. However, the French kings had been constantly trying to extend their influence in the English territories, and the two sides had fought several small skirmishes over the issue. The situation became more complicated in 1327 with the accession of English king Edward III. Edward had a claim to the French throne through his mother’s side of the family. When Philip VI of France confiscated the last bit of territory that Edward held on the continent, Edward declared himself the true French king and invaded France.

The Hundred Years' War was fought on French soil and marked the end of chivalry and knightly warfare. Many of the troops involved were mercenaries. When there was a lull in the fighting, they simply hired themselves out to nobles or looted the countryside on their own. Instead of armored knights, the most important troops were the English archers, whose arrows penetrated armor and reduced the effectiveness of knightly cavalry. By the end of the Hundred Years’ War, both armies were using guns and cannons. Honorable knightly combat and chivalry were of little importance to the outcome of this war.

For a long time it looked as though the English would win, but in the 1420s the tide began to turn. Here and there French peasants banded together to fight the English. In 1429 a peasant girl named Joan of Arc convinced Charles, the heir to the French throne, that she had been sent by God to save France. Joan led the French troops against the English and then escorted Charles to the city of Reims, where he was crowned king as Charles VII. Although Joan was captured and put to death by the English in 1431, her actions marked the turning point of the war. It ended with England's defeat.

The war affected France in many ways. During the fighting the French countryside was burned and the cities were plundered. Both peasants and townspeople revolted in protest. In 1358 the peasants rose up against the nobles in a revolt known as the Jacquerie. They blamed the nobles for losing the war and offering them little protection. The peasants burned manor houses and killed noble families. Their revolt was put down with equal savagery.

Another effect of the war was that the idea of France as a nation was born. Joan of Arc helped inspire this idea. She saw the English as invaders, and she called upon the French king, as the symbol of all France, to oust them. Before the Hundred Years’ War there had been very little national feeling. People identified with their local regions or towns instead. The Hundred Years’ War helped change this idea in France.

Because the war was fought on French soil, it had little effect on England. Much of it was financed by royal profits in the wool trade, and therefore it did not result in new taxes. Few English knights participated in the war, and when it was over, very little had changed for the average English person.

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The Decline of the Papacy

The Late Middle Ages saw religious conflicts as well. The papacy again became involved in a power struggle with kings. At the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century, Pope Boniface VIII opposed the kings of France and England. He did not want them to impose taxes on clerics, nor did he want French king Philip IV to try a French bishop in a royal court. Boniface's opposition backfired, however. Kings had become so powerful by the Late Middle Ages that they could assert their rule over everyone within their borders.

In 1302 Philip IV called a meeting of the three estates, or classes, of his kingdom: nobles, clerics, and commoners. This meeting supported the king and condemned the pope, showing how a representative institution could serve the interests of the king. The meeting was the beginning of the Estates-General, the first representative body in France.

Faced with opposition from all classes of French society, Boniface backed down. Soon after, the papacy moved from Rome to Avignon, a city close to the French border. The next several popes were Frenchmen, and many people began to think that the papacy had become subordinate to France. Papal prestige plummeted as a result, and the papacy was never able to recover fully.

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The Great Schism

The popes remained in Avignon from 1309 until 1378. Some Europeans called it the Babylonian Captivity, recalling the biblical story of the Jews who were taken from Israel to work as slaves for the Babylonians. Many Christians longed for the pope to return to Rome. Instead, in 1378, they got two popes, one ruling from Avignon and the other from Rome. This scandal, called the Great Schism of rival popes, was made even worse when a third pope was chosen in 1409. The other two did not step down, and so three popes claimed to be head of the church. The schism finally ended in 1417 with the Council of Constance. The council deposed all three popes and elected Martin V, who made Rome his headquarters. See Schism, Great: Schism of Rival Popes.