Crisis of the Late Middle Ages

I. Black Death
A. Role of disease in history

1. played a part in weakening Athens, Roman and Byzantine Empires

B. Greatest biomedical disaster in history
1. A third of the population is killed in three years

a. bubonic plague and also anthrax

b. spread by rats (plague) and cattle (anthrax)

c. plague recurs in Europe for several centuries

2. Economic and population growth made Europe more vulnerable

3. Climactic change and crop failures

C. Experience of the Plague
1. an ugly death

2. shock to an optimistic culture

a. Triani's Triumph of Death
3. How to respond?

a. penance

b. attack on Jews

D. Results of the Plague

1. European population takes hundreds of years to recover its numbers

2. Disrupts England's effort to conquer France (more later)

3. Final destruction of serfdom in Western Europe

a. labor shortages mean better wages

b. But also peasant frustration--peasant revolts

4. Effective end of the "spiritual revolution"

a. grave damage to institution of the church

b. loss of 40% of personnel, decline in quality

c. adds to declining prestige of the church

d. triumph of salvation delayed--rise of personal mysticism

II. Decline of the Church
A. End of crusades and papal overlordship

1. Collapse of the Latin kingdoms in holy land

2. King of France's triumph over the Pope

B. French dominance and popes' removal to Avignon
1. Avignon palace

a. lacks the prestige, history (and beauty) of Rome
2. Need for new revenues

a. selling indulgences

3. Catherine of Siena fights to restore the church

a. Mystic who calls for pope to return to Rome

C. Great Schism
1. Two popes
2. Three popes

D. Role of Black Death in decline of the church (already discussed)

III. Hundred Years' War
A. War between the two greatest monarchies
1. King Edward III’s motives
a. Restore English holdings
b. Control Flanders
c. Claim to French throne
d. Chivalric glory

2. Superior tactics of the English forces
a. Battle of Crecy  (1346)--footsoldiers and longbow
b. The Black Prince and Battle of Poitiers (1356)
c. Chivalry not dead yet, but dying

B. England wins, wins, wins and then loses.
1. Henry V (r. 1413-22) and English victory
a. Victory at Agincourt, 1415
b. Wins French crown
c. Dies in 1422, leaving infant son

2. Joan of Arc (1412-31) and English defeat
a. Teenage mystic told by saints to save France
b. Victory at Orleans
c. Crowns French prince as King
d. Burned as a witch by English

IV. Death of feudalism and birth of national identity
A. battles show superiority of infantry over knighthood
1. guns later speed this development
2. monarchs will dominate with large armies

B. rise of national identity
1. cultivated in the remembrance of Henry V
a. Agincourt Carol (1415)2. Shakespeare's version of Henry's speech at Agincourt
b. Shakespeare's version of Henry's speech at Agincourt (1599)

2. cultivated by France in remembrance of Joan of Arc