Decline of Feudalism I

1
Decline of Feudalism I

• Several events lead to the decline of Feudalism
• 1. Magna Carta
• 2. Bubonic Plague
• 3. Hundred Years War

2
Decline of Feudalism II

• Magna Carta
• Latin for "Great Charter", literally "Great
  Paper"
• Also called Magna Carta Libertatum ("Great
  Charter of Freedoms")
• An English Charter issued in 1215
• Written because of disagreements between Pope
  Innocent III, King John and the English barons
  about the rights of the King.

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Decline of Feudalism III

• Henry II of England reigned from 1154 to 1189
• Henry brought legal reform to England
• 1. Jury had to accuse a person of a serious crime
• 2. Then tried before a royal judge
• Replaced trial by ordeal and combat
• Strengthened the royal courts and weakened the
  power of the feudal lords

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Decline of Feudalism IV

• 1164 Henry issued the Constitution of Clarendon
• Spelled out kings rights
• One was the right to try clergy in royal courts
  rather than church courts
• This led to a long bitter quarrel with Thomas
  Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury
• Henry called for Becket to be killed

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Decline of Feudalism V

• On December 29, 1170 Thomas Beckett was killed in
  front of the main alter at Canterbury
• Beckets tomb became a popular destination for
  pilgrimages
• 1173 Becket was proclaimed a Saint

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Decline of Feudalism VI

• 1199 John became king
• 1. John lost most of the lands that the English
  controlled in France
• 2. Taxed his barons heavily
• 3. Ignored their rights
• 4. Arrested opponents at will
• 5. Quarreled with the church

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Decline of Feudalism VII

• 6. Collected large amounts of money from church
  properties
• Barons revolted
• Met King John in a meadow called Runnymede in
  June 15,1215
• Forced John to sign the Magna Carta

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Decline of Feudalism VIII

• Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain
  rights
• Respect certain legal procedures
• Accept that his will could be bound by the law.
• It explicitly protected certain rights of the
  king's subjects
• Most notably the right of Habeas Corpus
• Meaning rights against unlawful imprisonment
• Initially protected the rights of the nobles.
• Later protected the commoners

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Decline of Feudalism IX

• In 1295 Edward I established a governing body
  called Parliament
• The governing body included commoners, lower
  ranking clergy, church officials and nobles

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Decline of Feudalism X

• Started the decline of Feudalism in two ways
• 1. Some of the changes strengthened royal
  authority at the expense of the nobles
• 2. Shifted the power to common people
• 3.Magna Carta established the idea of rights and
  liberties that even the king can not violate

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Decline of Feudalism XI

• Henry II strengthened English common law and the
  role of judges and juries
• Edward Is Parliament gave voice in government to
  common people as well as lords.

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Decline of Feudalism XII

• In the early 1330s an outbreak of deadly bubonic
  plague occurred in China
• The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but
  fleas can transmit the disease to people
• Once people are infected, they infect others very
  rapidly

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Decline of Feudalism XIII

• October of 1347
• Several Italian merchant ships returned from
  China
• Many on board were already dying of the plague
• Within days the disease spread to the city and
  the surrounding countryside

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Decline of Feudalism XIV

• The Italian writer Boccaccio said its victims
  often ate lunch with their friends and dinner
  with their ancestors in paradise.
• By August of 1348 the disease had spread as far
  north as England
• In winter the disease seemed to disappear
• Because the fleas carrying it were dormant

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Decline of Feudalism XV

• Symptoms
• 1. Fever
• 2. Vomiting
• 3. Fierce coughing
• 4. Sneezing fits
• 5. Egg size swelling, or bumps
• Name came from the black and blue blotches found
  on the victims

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Decline of Feudalism XVI

• Dirty conditions contributed to the spread
• Fleas love dirty conditions
• 1. People often went months without bathing, or
  changing clothes
• 2. Flea covered rats roamed the floors of homes
  looking for food
• 3. City streets were filled with human waste,
  dead animals and trash

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Decline of Feudalism XVII

• After five years 25 million people were
  dead--one-third of Europe's people.

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Decline of Feudalism XVIII

• The total number of deaths worldwide from the
  pandemic is estimated at 75 million people
• Trade crawled to a halt
• After the plague power shifted from nobles to the
  common people
• Workers who were left demanded more money and
  more rights

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Decline of Feudalism XIX

• Serfs left the lords manor
• Peasants revolted in France, Flanders, England,
  Germany, Spain and Italy
• It was a serious blow to the Roman Catholic
  Church
• And resulted in widespread persecution of
  minorities such as Jews, foreigners, beggars and
  lepers

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Decline of Feudalism XX

• The plague started in China and made its way west
  across Asia to the Black Sea by 1347. One theory
  is that a group of infected Tartars besieged a
  Genoese outpost on the coast. To harass the
  trapped townspeople, the Tartars used their
  catapults to hurl the dead bodies of their
  comrades over the town walls spreading the
  epidemic among the Genoese. The panicked
  inhabitants fled the scene by ship showing up in
  the ports of northern Italy and bringing the
  Black Death to Europe.

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Decline of Feudalism XXI

• Throughout Europe, Jews along with lepers and
  other minorities became scapegoats for the
  devastation of the plaque. Thousands were burned
  alive in retaliation

22
Decline of Feudalism XXII

• Between 1337 and 1453 England and France fought a
  series of wars for control of lands in France
• Since William of Normandy English Kings have
  claimed lands in France
• Philip VI of France declared French lands as his
  own

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Declin e of Feudalism XXIII

• Edward III said no, and war broke out
• England was out numbered, but won most of the
  early battles
• 1346 Battle of Crecy.
• France had
• 1. Horse mounted knights
• 2. Heavy armor
• 3. Swords And lances
• 4. Crossbows, which were good at short range

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Decline of Feudalism XXIV

• England
• Very light armor
• Foot soldiers
• Archers with longbows
• The longbow used larger arrows, could be fired
  more quickly. Fly faster and farther with greater
  accuracy.
• The English defeated a much larger French Force.

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Decline of Feudalism XXV

• After a long truce Henry V invaded France again
  in 1415.
• France was better prepared
• France recruited commoners to fight in the army
  and paid them
• This gave France a new sense of Nationalism

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Decline of Feudalism XXVI

• France was aided by a 17 year old girl
• Joan of Arc
• At a time when girls were girls Joan came to
  fight
• She heard voices from God telling her to save
  France
• 1429 Joan led France to victory at the Battle of
  Orleans

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Decline of Feudalism XXVII

• In 1430 Joan was captured by the English
• She was accused of being a witch
• She was then burned at the stake
• 22 years later the French drove the English out
  of France
• 500 years later Joan was made a Saint by the
  Catholic Church

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Decline of Feudalism XXVIII

• Both countries started to pay commoners to fight
  in the armies.
• Commoners gained more power
• Gunpowder came into use
• Cannons became the rage
• Nationalism took power away from the lords
• This starts the new world