Kenneth Li

Euro History
6th Period
9-14-07
Ch 16, pg 425-433

I. The Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance in the West (1300-1527)
A. Introduction
1) Europe had 100 years war
2) Black Death/ Bubonic Plague, new disease to Europeans.
3) A schism (rebellion/disorganized and different leaders) in a church.
4) Turks captured Constantinople in 1453
5) Also to be a rebirth for the Middle Ages
6) Scholars questioned ideas and if they were really true.
7) Scholars made new claims, which would spread in the 16th century.
8) Italian humanists invented historical scholarship and the movable type.
II. Hundred Years’ War and Rise of National Sentiment
1) Medieval governments can’t always take control and become all powerful.
2) Late medieval rulers needed alliances with lesser powers.
A. The Causes of the War
1) War began in 1337 ended in October 1453
2) Had no heir to the French throne b/c the last French king died without a son.
3) B/c there was an Edward III as grandson to dead king. But grandson was
only 15. They had no intention on placing him as king.
4) Instead, they wanted to choose the first cousin, Charles IV.
5) They also had to fight for land.
B. French Weakness
1) France had much more money, more population, and fought on its own land,
most victories were of England.
2) Reasons for this was b/c internally they weren’t unified.
3) Also had struggles from going from a rather old society to a modern empire.
4) French kings raised taxes for the war effort, making disunity worse.
5) Leaders in France were inferior, and the English’s military were far superior.
6) English infantry was more disciplined, and English archer had the longbow.
7) It can shoot rather rapid for a long range weapon, and can also pierce armor.
C. The Treaty of Troyes to the Reign of Edward III
1) Had 3 major stages in the war.
2) 1st stage had Edward send English wool to English influenced city. They had
many merchants and became rich.
3) B/c that city was French, but was English influenced, had many cities allied
with that one too, so they revolted against the French.
4) In the first great battle, the English defeated the French.
5) Also defeated another French city, and seized another one.
6) Both were exhausted from war, and Black Death made them bring up truce.
7) Another English victory was won in Poitiers, which from then the
political order in France fell. Power now lay in the Estates General.
 8) Forced people to pay more taxes, led into a rebellion called the Jacquerie.
9) In 1360, England forced the Peace of Bretigny, made Edward heir to throne.
10) Edward died in 1377, made the English war effort lessen. Richard II
took over.
11) In 1381, England had its own version of Jacquerie, and many peasants
revolted. Unlike the French Jacquerie that lasted a year, the English version lasted for
decades.
12) Henry V took advantage of the chaos Burgundians were stirring up against
the French and took the French throne.
13) Both Henry and the French king died, Henry VI took the throne.
D. Joan of Arc and the War’s Conclusion
1) Son of dead French king went to Bourges where he became heir to throne.
2) Joan of Arc, a peasant from Loires, said she was sent from the King of
Heaven, and was sent to banish the English from Orleans.
3) She went with fresh troops right when the English were tired and about to
leave. The French caught the English off guard, and chased them home.
4) Charles was crowned king b/c of Joan’s military techniques, and b/c of her
inspiration to France.
5) Charles forgot about Joan, and let her get captured by Burgundians. The
Burgundians thought that by discrediting Joan, they would give discouragement to the
French army. The English made her into a heretic.
6) She was executed on May 30, 1431. The war continued on, however, and
the French fought on until the English only won a city named Calais, out of the whole
war.
7) Charles VII reopened Joan’s trial and made her into a saint.
8) The war had 68 years of peace treaty, and 44 years of ongoing battles.
9) Both lost many things, but it awakened French nationalism, and inspired
England to produce its own cloth.
III. The Black Death
A. Preconditions and Causes
1) Many people in the Middle Ages worked the land. (nine tenths)
2) Growth of cities and food productivity increased.
3) That increased the population of the people too.
4) The population grew over the food productivity, making it hard to feed.
5) Greatest famine happened during 1315-1317, where many starved.
6) Black Death hit b/c of people being in bad health.
7) Entered Europe though Venice, Genoa and Pisa in 1348.
8) Killed two fifths of Western Europe’s population.
B. Popular Remedies
1) Transmitted by rat-human born fleas.
2) Reaches lungs, then spreads by wheezing and coughing.
3) Lack of knowledge prevents defense from disease.
4) Used amulets, moderation in temperate life, and even sex as remedies.
5) Most just ran away.
C. Social and Economic Consequences
 1) B/c many farmers decreased b/c of the plague, wages for the farmers
increased.
2) Landholders suffered the most; forced to pay more for finished product.
3) Many landholders just sold their land, or made their land into sheep
pastures.
4) The sheep pastures can help make wool, which makes money.
5) Cities stopped regulating immigration into the city from rural areas.
6) That made a lot of money for them.
7) Gain and loss for church b/c it lowered their rank, but the dead mounted up
so they got money for burials.
D. New Conflicts and Opportunities
1) Increasing importance of artisans made plague contribute to conflicts.
2) Guilds wanted to protect local industries, the artisans wanted to keep #s low.
3) Both contended against each other, another conflict made.
4) Both landed nobility and Church were politically on defensive.
5) Plague reduced power of landed nobility.
6) One third of German clergy died.
IV. Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival: The Late Medieval Church
1) Papal power reached its height from 1198-1216.
A. Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair
1) In 14th century, popes faced rulers much more powerful than papacy.
2) In 1294, France and England was on the brink of war.
3) Both about to start a crusade to tax heavily on the clergy.
4) Popes saw that as an assault, they made a law, Clericis Laicos.
5) Forbade Taxation of clergy without papal approval.
6) Philip the Fair struck back, forbidding money trading from France to Rome.
7) When many pilgrims went to Rome for the Jubilee, Boniface put himself
into international politics.
8) Philip the Fair arrested Boniface.
9) Boniface said God placed him over kings, so he must be released.
10) Philip the Fair made a campaign against papal.
11) Beat Boniface back, and made him retreat to Rome.
12) Never again has papal power offended monarchies so greatly anymore.
B. The Great Schism (1378-1417) and the Conciliar Movement to 1449
1) Pope Gregory remade the papacy in Rome in 1377.
2) Return to Rome was short-lived though, when Gregory died it ended fast.
3) Pope Urban was new pope, but he reformed Curia.
4) Charles, the French king, didn’t want people to believe it was out of French
influence that the pope would do this, so he made a schism.
5) Another pope was elected, named Clement, and made the papal 2-headed.
6) People picked their sides in the church, making the schism.
C. The Council of Constance (1414-1417)
1) In Pisa, they wanted to vote another pope. The two heads disagreed.
2) They did it anyway, making it 3 contending popes now.
3) Also, made clear that they had new powers. Used it to execute Jan Hus.
4) Hus was a person that went against many ideas in papal power.
 5) After all three popes were rid, one single pope was elected, Martin.
6) This reunited the church.
D. The Council of Basel
1) Conciliar government of church rose and fell during Council of Basel.
2) Negotiated peace with Hussites of Bohemia, and let them govern
themselves.
3) Pope Eugenius challenged Council of Basel, regaining much prestige.
4) Papal made new law, or bull, called Execrabilis.
5) Condemned all erroneous and abominable appeals to councils as null and
void.