The late Medieval world: a time of crisis

1. The late Medieval world: a time of crisis

2. Before we get into that: Your Papers (the prompt is online!) • Due on or before May 30th • Read the prompt carefully • Choose the direction of your paper as you please: if you want, follow some of my suggestions, if you don’t, ignore them • Engage with the sources you have (for example, in addition to what you have in your reader, you can use The Prince) • You are welcome to use other sources, including web-based sources, if you want to do some more research, but remember: • 1) Make sure to avoid plagiarism • 2) Be aware that only quotations from the class material will count toward your grade

3. Where were we? • 12th-13th centuries: a time of prosperity.. • A time of strengthening of political authority -in different forms • A time in which the Christian Church (especially the Papacy) consolidates its hold on the religious, social and intellectual life of Western Europe • But….

4. Pope Boniface VIII & Philip the Fair King of France • Despite the intellectual vivacity the Church loses an important political battle • Pay attention especially to two things: • 1) The strength acquired by the French monarchy • 2) The comparison between Boniface/Philip and Gregory/Henry

5. Boniface VIII & Philip The Fair: steps of the controversy • Philip needs money, and wants to get the clergy’s revenues without the Pope’s permission. In 1296 the Pope issues the Bull ‘Clericos Laicos’ - no taxation of clergy unless the Pope approves • 1301: the question of jurisdiction - the case of the Bishop of Pamiers • 1302: the Pope issues the Bull ‘Unam Sanctam’ • 1303: Boniface dies - Philip attempts to put him on trial posthumously • So…who won this time?

6. In sum, by the 13th century… • The consolidation of political organization and institutions • Philip the Fair as a manifestation of the strength of France • The Pope loses an important political battle with Philip the Fair, but • But from an intellectual point of view, Christianity is very vital • Spiritual vitality: Franciscans and Dominicans • Doctrinal vitality: Anti-heretical fight and Scholasticism

7. Now….Economic Crisis! • Remember the commercial revolution that was also stirred by the increase in population? • 14th century OVER-population, combined with.. • Global ‘cooling’ (1315-17), and… • Bad harvesting

8. Mid-1300s: The Black Death

9. The pattern of spreading

10. The report of Herman Gigas, a Franciscan Friar in Germany: • ‘In 1347 there was such a great pestilence and mortality throughout almost the whole world that in the opinion of well-informed men scarcely a tenth of mankind survived. The victims did not linger long, but died on the second or third day…Some say it was brought about by the corruption of the air; others that the Jews planned to wipe out all the Christians with poison and had poisoned wells and springs everywhere…’

11. Between the late 1330s and the early 1350s roughly a third of European people died! Agriculture collapses: nobody to take care of the farms Economy collapses: nobody works Europe WAS overpopulated Less people=less mouths to feed=grains are less expensive Since there were less people able to work, those who worked had better wages and working conditions The authority of the monarchs is highly increased The Black Death: consequences

12. The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) • War between France and England over the English territories in France • Remember Philip Augustus’s attempt at increasing French territory? Now the job needs to be finished, so Philip IV King of France confiscated Aquitaine • First, the English fight back and succeed in re-conquering their territories • But slowly France recovers and expels England from the Continent

13. The war: maps

14. Joan of Arc, or a story of desperation, religion, politics, and emerging ‘national’ conscience during the War

15. Look at the handout! • Who is The Maid? • Is she a religious, a political, or a military leader? • Where does she get her power from? • ‘Go home to your own country’: what do you see? • Where does the right of France come?

16. The War: consequences • Economy further depressed • Civil wars in both England and France • The monarchy holds on: in England Richard II (1377-1399) agreed to abolish serfdom but later rescinded the concession, in France Charles VII set a standing army financed by increasing taxation and strengthen the power of the monarchy • England, however, pays a steeper price: the War of the Roses (1460s-1480s)

17. And finally…the crisis of the Papacy • Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair • Two things: the role of the French monarch gets stronger • The role of the Pope within the Church gets weaker • Remember that Philip wanted to put Boniface’s corpse on trial? He did not do it because...

18. After Boniface: Clement V (a French Pope) and Philip the Fair

19. The Avignonese Papacy (1309-1378)

20. St.Catherine from Siena urges the Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome

21. …and.. • In 1378 the Pope Gregory XI did go back to Rome! However… • Somebody in France refused to acknowledge the move, and so they elected another, ‘counter-Pope’ in France! • So until the 1417 you have two, and sometimes three Popes at the same time!

22. After the Council of Constance (1414-1418): unity and anti-heretical strength

23. But the Late Medieval world was not only about war, plague, famine: new things are also in store…

24. Come next time and find out!