Crisis of the Late Middle Ages

1. Crisis of the Late Middle Ages Daniel W. Blackmon AP European History Coral Gables Sr. High

2. Document Exercises • Read each document, and ask yourself the following questions: • “Who is the author?” • “Who is the audience?” • “What is the purpose of the document?”

3. Document Exercises • “What is the point of view (POV) of the author?” • “What does the document say?” • “What inferences may be drawn by the document?”

4. Wages and Earnings in 13th Century England [There are 12 pennies (d.) To a shilling (s.) And twenty shillings to a pound (£) Wages for a skilled laborer after the Black Death increased 40 to 50%] Estimated Earnings Occupation Per Day Per Year Agricultural laborer Boy ½ d. Female 1 d. £1.7s.3d. Male 2 d. £2.14s.6d.

5. Wages and Earnings in 13th Century England Carpenter 3 d. - 3 ½ d. £4 Mason 5 d. - 6 d. £4.8s.d. Peasant family with 20 acres £4 Royal huntsman 7 ½ d. Rural Priest £5 - £15 Sawyer 3 ½ d. - 4 d. £5

6. Wages and Earnings in 13th Century England Stonecutter 4 d. £5.8s. Thatcher’s assistant (female) 1 d. £1.7s.3d. Town priest £75 - 100 Unskilled labor 2 d. £2.14s.6d.

7. Prices in 13th Century England The prices listed below are averages only. In reality, the medieval family had to contend with wild price fluctuations according to the harvests. ProductAverage Price Ale (per gallon) ¼ d. - ¾ d. Bread (per loaf, weight varied) ¼ d. - ½ d. Candle wax (per pound) 4 d. - 5 d. Capons (each, fully fattened) 2 d. - 3 d.

8. Prices in 13th Century England The prices listed below are averages only. In reality, the medieval family had to contend with wild price fluctuations according to the harvests. ProductAverage Price Eggs (per 100) 4 d. Hens (per 1) ½ d. Pears (per 100) 3 ½ d. Pepper (per pound) 2 s.10 d. Pike (per 1) 6 s. 8 d.

9. Prices in 13th Century England The prices listed below are averages only. In reality, the medieval family had to contend with wild price fluctuations according to the harvests. ProductAverage Price Salt herring (per 10) 1 d. Second quality malt–2 quarters (1 year supply of ale for 4) 7 s. 7 d. Sugar (per pound) 1 s.2 d.

10. Prices in 13th Century England The prices listed below are averages only. In reality, the medieval family had to contend with wild price fluctuations according to the harvests. ProductAverage Price Wine (per quart) £1. 3 s. 6 p. Wheat – 4 quarters (sufficient for a family of 4 for 1 year) 1 s. (Hause 286) [There appeared to be two typographical errors in the text for pepper and wheat]

11. Relative Weight of Cattle This table gives the deadweight of male cattle slaughtered in the Montaldeo district of Italy in the seventeenth century and compares it with weights in the same district in modern times. Weight in Pounds Age of Animal17th Century20th Century 5 months 72 245 1 year 130 540

12. Relative Weight of Cattle Age of Animal17th Century20th Century 2 years 240 880 3 years 320 1,100 4 years 480 1,310 5 yers 560 1,550 (Hause 287)

13. Words of Student Wisdom • “Martin Guerre, a French pesent, did not even seem to care if his wife produced a hare.”

14. Life Expectancy in the Middle Ages The figures below represent the estimated life expectancy of male landholders in medieval England. Age1200-761276-13011301-261326-481348-761376-14011401-251425-50 0 35.3 31.3 29.8 27.2 17.3 20.5 23.8 32.8 10 36.3 32.2 31.0 28.1 25.1 24.5 29.7 34.5

15. Life Expectancy in the Middle Ages Age1200-761276-13011301-261326-481348-761376-14011401-251425-50 20 28.7 25.2 23.8 22.1 23.9 21.4 29.4 27.7 30 22.8 21.8 20.0 21.1 22.0 22.3 25.0 24.1 40 17.8 16.6 15.7 17.7 18.1 19.2 19.3 20.4

16. Life Expectancy in the Middle Ages Age1200-761276-13011301-261326-481348-761376-14011401-251425-50 60 9.4 8.3 9.3 10.8 10.9 10.0 10.5 13.7 80 5.2 3.8 4.5 6 4.7 3.1 4.8 7.9 (Hause 290)

17. Life Expectancy in the Middle Ages The figures below represent the estimated life expectancy of male landholders in medieval England. Age1200-761276-13011301-261326-481348-761376-14011401-251425-50 0 35.3 31.3 29.8 27.2 17.3 20.5 23.8 32.8 10 36.3 32.2 31.0 28.1 25.1 24.5 29.7 34.5 20 28.7 25.2 23.8 22.1 23.9 21.4 29.4 27.7 30 22.8 21.8 20.0 21.1 22.0 22.3 25.0 24.1 40 17.8 16.6 15.7 17.7 18.1 19.2 19.3 20.4 60 9.4 8.3 9.3 10.8 10.9 10.0 10.5 13.7 80 5.2 3.8 4.5 6 4.7 3.1 4.8 7.9 (Hause 290)

18. Average Age of Women at First Marriage These statistics are taken from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and are thought to be a reasonable approximation of the late Middle Ages. PlaceTimeAge Amiens (France) 1674-78 25 Amsterdam 1626-27 25 1676-77 27

19. Average Age of Women at First Marriage PlaceTimeAge Elversele (Flanders) 1608-49 25 1650-59 27 England 1575-1624 21 Titled nobility 1625-75 22 Village of Colyton 1560-1646 27 1647-1719 30

20. Average Age of Women at First Marriage PlaceTimeAge Florence 1351-1400 18 1401-50 17 1451-75 19 (Hause 303)

21. The Medieval Village • Before plunging any farther into political, religious, or economic events of the Late Middle Ages, I want to provide you some insight into what everyday life was life for the vast majority of all Europeans.

22. The Medieval Village • An important theme in APEH is social history. • This section provides a baseline against which changes can be measured.

23. The Medieval Village • The discussion which follows is taken from Life in a Medieval Village by Frances and Joseph Gies.

24. The Medieval Village • The overwhelming majority (upwards of 80%) of all Europeans lived in villages. • Their experience forms a base line for social and economic change

25. The Medieval Village • Villages were largely autonomous. • The open field system required a “concert of the community at every point of the agricultural cycle: plowing, planting, growing, and harvesting.” (Gies 49(

26. The Medieval Village • The lord was represented by the steward, the bailiff, and the reeve, who were drawn from the village. • In England, every village also had an ale taster (who was a woman, since women were the brewers.)

27. The Medieval Village • In the village of Elton, England, the service requirement of a villein (serf) was 117 days per year.

28. The Medieval Village • Cutting, stacking, threshing, carting, and storing the harvest required the efforts of every able bodied person in the village.

29. The Medieval Village • Staple crops were barley, wheat, oats, peas, beans, and rye. • Crop yields were 1/3 to 1 /2 modern figures • 4:1 for barley and wheat, for example.

30. The Medieval Village • The most important livestock in England were sheep, who provided milk for cheese, meat, skin for parchment, and wool.

31. The Medieval Village: The Villagers • Names were based on parental names, occupations, or places: • Johnson, Jameson, Williamson • Smith, Miller, Webster, Baxter, Cooper • Brooks, Bridges, Atwell, Gates

32. The Medieval Village: Villagers • Social Pyramid • Lowest: landless peasants • Middle: 12-32 acres • Wealthy: 40-100 acres

33. The Medieval Village: Villagers • 10 acres was probably the minimum necessary to sustain a family. • In England, 46 % of all holdings were 10 acres or less.

34. The Medieval Village: Villagers • The villeins performed labor services, which increasingly were given a monetary value.

35. The Medieval Village: Villagers • “Strangers”—”day laborers, itinerant craftsmen, vagabonds”—were viewed with suspicion. (Gies 80)

36. The Medieval Village: Villagers • Offices within the village were chosen by the villagers themselves, and were typically dominated by the wealthiest families. • In Elton, 3.5 % of the families held 50 % of all offices

37. The Medieval Village • Houses were made up of a single, high-ceilinged room. • Light came from shuttered windows and doors. • Floors were beaten earth covered with straw

38. The Medieval Village • A fire was in the center with smoke vented through a hole in the roof. • The family eats on stools or benches at a trestle table. • Clothing was stored in chests • Hams and such were hung from rafters.

39. The Medieval Village • The family slept on straw pallets on the floor or in a loft.

40. The Medieval Village • The staple food was bread, baked into 4 pound loaves, usually a mixture of grains (wheat and rye or barley) • Vegetables included cabbages, leeks, spinach, and parsley. • Anything not poisonous was eaten.

41. The Medieval Village • Weak ale was drunk at all meals.

42. The Medieval Village • The medieval diet was low in protein, lipids, calcium, vitamins A, C, and D, and often low in calories.

43. The Medieval Village: Recreation • Church holidays were extremely important, and frequent: • Christmas Eve to Epiphany (Jan. 6) • Candlemas (Feb. 2) • Shrove Tuesday • Easter

44. The Medieval Village: Recreation • May Day • Rogation Days (Summer) • Whitsunday • St. John’s Day (England) • Lammas (Aug. 1)

45. The Medieval Village: Recreation • Games included: • Blind man’s buff, • Bowling • Checkers • Chess • Backgammon

46. The Medieval Village: Recreation • Games included: Dice Football Wrestling Swimming Fishing

47. The Medieval Village: Recreation • Games included: Archery (in England) Bullbaiting Cockfighting (the most popular recreation) Drinking

48. The Medieval Village: The Family • Families were most commonly nuclear (father, mother, children) • Size was 5 or fewer (Gies 106)

49. The Medieval Village : The Family • In the country, inheritance was impartible (only one heir, usually the oldest son) • A daughter could inherit if there were no sons

50. The Medieval Village: The Family • Widow’s rights were quite definite. • Common law provided that a widow receive one third to one half the estate. • Frequently, widows were granted co-tenancy rights for life