Late%20Medieval%20Europe%20(ca.%201300-1500)

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Late Medieval Europe(ca. 1300-1500)
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Late Medieval Europe

• Why should we consider this phase of European
  history as one of disasters?
• Who were the winners and losers at this point
  in Europe?
• Any parallels to events and crises of 20th and
  21st centuries?

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The Church

• Limits of Papal Power
• King Philip IV vs. Pope Boniface VIII
• Boniface protested Philips taxation of French
  clergy, but had to back down
• Philip arrested bishop for treason ? Boniface
  outraged, but humiliated by king
• Papacy now weaker than monarchs

Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303)
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The Church

• The Babylonian Captivity (1309-1377)
• French pope elected to papacy
• Moved to Avignon (1309)
• French popes
• Corruption?
• Many unhappy Christians in western Europe
• Papacy returned to Rome (1377)

Tomb of Pope Gregory XI, Church of S. Francesca
Romana, Rome
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The Church

• The Great Western Schism (1378-1417)
• Returning pope died (1378)
• Turbulent election ? new, Italian pope
• Dissatisfaction ? schism
• Two popes! Then three popes!!!
• Spiritual and political crisis!
• Resolved at Council of Constance (1415-17)

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The Church

• Questions?

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Society

• Population growth ? overpopulation (14th cent.)
• Less land to cultivate
• Wages decreased
• Famines

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Society

• The Black Death (1347-1350)
• Epidemic
• Spread rapidly, contagious
• Noticeable, painful symptoms
• Very quick death

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Society and Economy

• The Plagues Origins
• Began in Far East, traveled westward along trade
  routes
• Carried by fleas on infected rats
• Arrived in Europe at Mediterranean ports

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Society

• The Black Death
• Cause debated
• Why???
• Aftermath
• Death of up to 1/2 of Europes population
• Obsession with death
• Recurred until 18th century

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Society

• Questions?

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Politics and War

• The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
• Last Capetian monarch died (1328) who succeeds?
• English king was a relation
• Philip VI elected by French nobility
• Neither candidate conceded claims ? war!
• English claims to French lands

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Politics and War

• The War Initial English Success
• Strategy raids
• New technology
• Longbows
• Cannons
• Territorial gains!
• English king new heir to throne (1420)

Battle of Créçy (1346)
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Politics and War
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Politics and War

• France Strikes Back
• JOAN OF ARC (1412-1431)
• Teenage peasant, mystic
• Claimed mission from God (1428)
• Promised French heir
• France rebounded
• Joan captured, sold to English ? burned at stake
  (May 1431)

Siege of Orléans
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Politics and War

• Ultimate French Victory
• Northern France reconquered
• English driven out by 1453

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Politics and War

• Developments in Spain
• Muslim power weakened
• Christian princes seized opportunity
• RECONQUISTA intermittent reconquest of Islamic
  Spain
• Result Christian Iberian states emerging

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Political Issues

• Ferdinand and Isabella
• Unified Spanish crown (1469)
• Completed Reconquista (1492)
• Promoted fervent Catholicism
• Expelled Muslims and Jews

Ferdinand and Isabella
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Politics and War
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Politics and War

• Questions?

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Late Medieval Europe

• Why should we consider this phase of European
  history as one of disasters?
• Who were the winners and losers at this point
  in Europe?
• Any parallels to events and crises of 20th and
  21st centuries?