The Crisis of the 14 th Century

1. The Crisis of the 14th Century A Distant Mirror of Our Own Times? Adapted by Dianne Siasoco

2. A Distant Mirror • In ADistant Mirror, novelist Barbara Tuchman reveals in alarming detail a “tortured century” with parallels to our own time.

3. People in the 14th century were subjected to natural and man-made disasters, including: • Climate Change • Soil Exhaustion • Agricultural Decline • Famine • Black Death • The Hundred Years' War • Political Instability • Peasant Uprisings • The Babylonian Captivity • The Great Schism

4. Was Western Europe's 14th century a mirror for our own time? • The illustration above depicts the Battle of Dunkirk in 1383. It was part of the Hundred Years War. • The one below represents a battle at the same location that took place in 1940. It was part of the Second World War.

5. 7.1 Crisis of the 14th century

6. The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) What was it? A series of long, deadly wars, between England and France. Wars

7. HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR (1337-1453) check your book for the years Causes: • The French and English fought over territory: Guyenne in SW France, Flanders and the English Channel. • The succession of kings (5 English, 5 French) fought for power. Consequences: • Destroyed harvests and fields • disrupted trade • POPULATION DECRESED

8. Famine What was it? People starved to death or became weak against disease. During 1315-1322, famine devastated most of Europe.

9. FAMINE Causes: • CLIMATE CHANGE (SEE NEXT SLIDE) • A LITTLE ICE AGE! SAY WHAAA??@#$@?!? CONSEQUENCES: • Agricultural productivity declined • Grain prices increased greatly. • Diseases destroyed much of Europe's livestock, depriving people of meat and dairy products.  • POPULATION DECREASED

10. Climatic Changes • What was it? Starting about 1250, a Little Ice Age began weakening Europe's agricultural productivity. • The Baltic Sea (locate it on the map) froze, Alpine glaciers advanced, and in some areas, grain cultivation stopped. • In other areas, crops failed as a result of heavy rains.

11. Question for thought: • Are we having a climate change now?

12. The Black Death What was it? • In 1347, the Black Death hit Europe. Those bitten by infected fleas died horrible deaths within a week's time. Those who inhaled the virus died even sooner.

13. THE BLACK DEATH Causes: • Came from Asia and spread along the trade routes Consequences: POPULATION DECREASE • Killed 40% of the English population and nearly 60% of the population in northeastern France.  • Spiritual disillusion

14. HOMEWORK: READ THE BOXES AND MAP ON PAGE 90 AND 91. ANSWER NUMBER 4.

15. 7.2 Consequences of the crisis

16. 1. POPULATION DECREASE • FROM 80 TO 45 MILLION BETWEEN 1300-1400

17. 2. Economic Decline or recession

18. 3. Social Conflicts Countryside: Cities:

19. Peasant Uprisings in the countryside • The strains of life in the countryside, of hunger, disease, war and death, were made worse by feudal lords' demands that peasants continue paying high rents and other feudal dues and by the burden of royal taxation.  This led to mass uprisings in France and England.

20. Urban Rebellions • The rural population was not alone.  • Artisans and the urban poor spontaneously rose in protest against hunger and against the upper classes (especially the aristocrats), who lived in luxury and used their political power to keep wages low.  • Are you seeing this today?

21. The Black Death and its Consequences • One common response to the multiple disasters and hardships of the 1300s was to conclude that God was passing judgment on mankind's sins. Remedies for sinfulness included: • Engaging in pilgrimages to holy sites • Punishing the flesh as part of a flagellant cult (see page 90 and 91 in the box called “The Black Death and its consequences)

22. Stop here. Review. • Read page 7.3 and do number 2 on page 91