The Late Middle Ages: Social and Political Breakdown (1300-1527)

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The Late Middle AgesSocial and Political
Breakdown(1300-1527)

• The Late Middle Ages was an era marked by major
  social, religious, and health crises. War,
  plague, social unrest, and religious schism
  characterized this era.

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The Hundred Years War and the Rise of the
Nationalist Sentiment

• During the Middle Ages, tremendous violence and
  political unrest led to the breakdown of European
  governments.
• Toward the end of the period, monarchs in England
  and France began to reassert their power.
• The Hundred Years War was the result of their
  struggle for control.

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The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)

• The Hundred years War began when the English
  king Edward III claimed his right to the French
  throne after the death of Charles IV.
• The territorial proximity of England and France
  and their quarrel over rights to Flanders
  exacerbated the dispute.

Edward III
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Success and Weakness in the War

• English success in the war was due to its
  military superiority and its use of weaponry like
  the longbow.

• French weakness was due to territorial
  infighting and a lack of leadership.

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Sieges and Battles

• Fighting consisted primarily of sieges and raids.
• The battles of Crécy (1346), and Poitiers (1356),
  and Agincourt (1415) were significant victories
  for the British.
• .

6
Joan of Arc (1412-1431)

• A peasant from Domrémy who claimed she heard the
  voices of God, led the French victory in the
  Battle of Orleans.
• Joan served as an inspiration for the French, who
  eventually defeated the English and won the war.
• Joan was later burned at the stake at Rouen as a
  heretic for refusing to recant her beliefs.

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The Black Death

• Also known as The Bubonic Plague, came about
  as a result of decades of overpopulation,
  economic depression, famine, and bad health and
  hygiene in some European regions.

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Although there were terrible famines and the
Black Death deteriorated the population, wiping
out whole villages and townships, this age left
so few able-bodied people that they were unable
to tend the fields and to plant the next years
grain. In some cities people certainly starved
through ignorance and prejudice. There were many
natural foods, plants and fruits, which were
rejected and avoided due to lack of knowledge and
understanding.
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The Black Death

• The Black death was named for the discoloration
  of the body.
• It is believed to have been introduced by
  seaborne rats from the Black Sea area.
• By the early fifteenth century, western Europe
  had lost as much as 40 of its population to the
  plague.

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Whos to blame?

• Lack of sophisticated medicine led to
  superstitions about the reasons for the plague,
  including poisonous fumes released during
  earthquakes and a corruption in the atmosphere.
• Jews were sought as scapegoats for the plague and
  were persecuted.

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Remedies and Self-Inflicted Pain

• Popular remedies against the plague included the
  use of leeches.
• Flagellants believed that beating themselves
  until they bled would bring about divine
  intervention.

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Economic Effects

• Farm laborers decreased in numbers
• Peasants rebelled against efforts by governments
  to limit their wages
• Opposition to such legislation spurred the
  English peasants revolt of 1381
• .

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Ecclesiastical Breakdown and RevivalThe Late
Medieval Church

• Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216) continued to
  transform the church into a secular power,
  creating a papal monarchy
• Pope Urban IV (r. 1261-1264) continued the
  secularization of the church by establishing its
  own law court
• The College of Cardinals became politicized.

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Papal Legacies

• Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303) refused the
  English and French efforts to tax the clergy, and
  issued a bull, Clericis laicos, which forbade
  taxation of the clergy without papal approval.
• Boniface was forced the make a concession to
  Phillip the Fair of France, but the dispute led
  the two into further debates.
• In 1302, Boniface issued the bull, Unam Sanctum,
  which declared that temporal authority was
  subject to the power of the church.

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• Pope Clement V moved the papacy to Avignon, to
  avoid the French King and Rome.
• The time in Avignon was called the Babylonian
  Captivity, in an allusion to the biblical
  bondage of the Israelites.

lt-- Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Clement V --gt
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• Pope John XXII (r. 1316-1417) tried to restore
  the papacy of Rome.
• John Wycliffe and John Huss led the popular lay
  movements, the Lollards and the Hussites, that
  protested the rights of the papacy.

Pope John XXII William of Ockham Marsilius of
Padua John Wycliffe John Huss
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The Great Schism (1378-1417)

• The Great Schism occurred when Pope lt-- Clement
  VII, a cousin of the French king, was elected by
  a council of cardinals just five months after
  they had elected an Italian archbishop, Pope
  Urban VI. --gt
• Two papal courts now claimed the right to power.
• Cardinals disposed both popes and elected a new
  pope, Alexander V.lt--
• For a time there were three popes who claimed
  spiritual authority.

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The Council MovementAKA Conciliarism

• An effort to control regulate actions of the pope
  by councils, grew during this time.
• In 1414, the council of Constance met.
• In a document known as the Sacrosancta, the
  council recognized the Roman pope Gregory XII,
  and one pope ruled.