Send comments and questions to
Dr.
Richard Baldwin, Gulf Coast State College.
This page last updated 3/17/12
|
|
|
|
THE
FOURTEENTH CENTURY: A TIME OF
TRANSITION I. Pessimism and General Insecurity 1.
population decline: crop failures
& famine and Black Death Europeans
had exhausted the topsoil by converting grazing lands to the cultivation of
cereals; this also resulted in a
manure shortage. If this wasn’t
bad enough, heavy rains and frost also ruined crops (bet. 1315 and 1317 in
northern Europe and in southern Europe in the 1330s and 1340s famine may have
killed off 10%, Spiel. 377).
Then the Black Death hit and killed at least1/3 of the population, maybe
50%. “Recent estimates are that
the European population declined between 60 and 75 percent between 1347 and 1450
and did not begin to recover until the end of the fifteenth century; not until
the mid-sixteenth century did Europe begin to regain its thirteenth-century
population levels. Even then, recurrences of the plague did not end until the
beginning of the eighteenth century when a new species of brown rat began to
replace the black rat” (Spiel. 3381). 2.
economic decline: stagnating
production (from deaths), unemployment and inflation (silver shortage).
There was a shortage of labor from the devastation of the plague and
wages increased though the demand for produce remained level because of the
deaths. Thus the position of noble
landlords declined while that of peasants improved.
But peasants “faced the same economic hurdles as the lords.
Moreover, peasants were faced with the attempts of lords to impose wage
restrictions, reinstate old forms of labor service, and create new obligations.
New governmental taxes also hurt. Peasant
complaints became widespread and soon gave rise to rural revolts that were
largely socioeconomic in character” (Spiel. 383). 3.
political unrest: Hundred Years’
War (1337-1453) & peasant revolts
English kings wanted their land in France back (Philip Augustus had taken
it from King John). In addition, the English were worried about French
involvement
in the disputes between merchants and artisans in Flanders where the English had
interests in the wool trade (supplying wool for the textile industry in
Flanders). Finally, Edward III
claimed he was the rightful heir to the French throne after the death of the
last Capetian king Charles IV (Ed.’s mother was the daughter of Philip IV and
sister of Charles IV). The French
said no (they emphasized descent through the male line). Instead Philip VI (duke of Valois), a cousin of the Capetians
becomes king. Philip then seized
Gascony (Edward III was duke of Gascony, the only French territory retained by
the English kings).
The English fared well at the beginning with superior military tactics
and the longbow (they merely shot the charging Frenchmen before they reached the
knights for hand-to-hand combat). NOTE:
the peasant foot soldiers, instead of knights, determined the outcomes of the
chief battles of this war.
A turning point in the war occurred when Joan of Arc (1412-1431) appeared
on the scene. She heard the voice
of God and persuaded the French ruler to allow her to lead the army to relieve
the besieged city of Orleans in 1429. It
was rescued but she was captured and burned at the stake for bewitching English
soldiers.
Toward the end of the war the French development of artillery caused the
French to prevail. England was left
exhausted and the peasants were still not happy (esp. after the suppression of
the 1381 peasant revolt). On
the other hand, the Hundred Years’ War left the French monarchs stronger than
ever. They would retain the taille,
a land tax to support a standing army. This
made the French kings financially independent of the Estates-General while the
English kings became even more dependent on Parliament. On the other hand, thousands of French farmers had been
killed and land destroyed by the English armies. PEASANT
REVOLTS: “In 1358, a peasant
revolt, known as the Jacquerie, broke out in northern France. The destruction of normal order by the Black Death and the
subsequent economic dislocation were important factors in causing the revolt,
but the situation of the French peasantry was complicated by the ravages created
by the Hundred Years’ War. Both
sides followed a deliberate policy of laying waste to peasants’ lands while
bands of mercenaries lived off the land by taking peasants’ produce as well”
(Spiel 383).
“The English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was the most famous of
all. It
was a product not of desperation but of rising expectations.
After the Black Death, the condition of the English peasants had improved
as they enjoyed greater freedom and higher wages or lower rents.
Aristocratic landlords had fought back with legislation to depress wages
and an attempt to re-impose old feudal dues.
The most immediate cause of the revolt, however, was the monarchy’s
attempt to raise revenues by imposing a poll tax or a flat charge on each adult
member of the population. Three
such poll taxes were levied between 1377 and 1381.
The last one was met by a revolt of peasants in eastern England, the
wealthiest part of the country. They
refused to pay the tax and expelled the collectors forcibly from their
villages” (Spiel. 384).
“The rural and urban revolts of the fourteenth century ushered in an
age of social conflict that characterized much of later European history”
(Spiel 386). II.
Period of Disintegration of the Church 1.
reasons 1)
threatened by the growth of nation-states that challenged the church’s
temporal power 2.
Boniface VIII (p.1294-1303)- one example of major disputes upholding papal
claims to supremacy over secular rulers.
Boniface lost his bid to fight taxes on church property by Edward I and
Philip the Fair of France (raising money to fight each other).
Philip IV had the French clergy charge Boniface with heresy and sent a
small contingent of French forces to capture him and bring him to France for
trial. In this dispute with Philip
IV the Fair he eventually died, having been captured and then rescued; the
experience was just too much for the old pope. [He had declared that everyone
must be subject to the pope for salvation in Unum
Sanctum (1302).] 3.
Babylonian Captivity or Avignon Papacy (1309-1377) “To
ensure his position and avoid any future papal threat, Philip IV brought enough
pressure to bear on the college of cardinals to achieve the election of a
Frenchman” (Spiel. 3987). Clement
V, a French archbishop, becomes pope and moves the papal headquarters to Avignon
(controlled by the French but not in France yet; part of the Holy Roman Empire).
English, Germans, and Italians were unhappy about this, especially when
the Avignon papacy: 1) expanded papal bureaucracy, 2) added new church taxes, 3)
collected old taxes more efficiently, 4) lived in splendor in a newly built
fortress-palace. [viz. the details of the new papal administration, Spiel.
397f.] 4.
Great Schism (1378-1417) The papacy (Gregory XI) returned to Rome in 1377 because of pressure of the people, but when an Italian pope (Urban VI) was elected in 1378 (capital in Rome), the French cardinals elected their own pope (Clement VII) with capital in Avignon.
Now there were 2 popes each with his own College of Cardinals and capital
each: each
sending forth papal administrators and taxing Christendom each
excommunicating the other
Nations basically heeded the pope that suited their interests and this
all caused doubt and confusion as to the validity and sanctity of the church.
[“...France, Spain, Scotland, and southern Italy supported Clement,
while England, Germany, Scandinavia, and most of Italy supported Urban” (Spiel.
399).] 5.
Conciliar Movement In
1395 the professors at the University of Paris suggested a church council to end
the schism, combat heresy, reform the church by regulating the pope’s power
with a general council; therefore this is called the Conciliar Movement.
In 1409 the Council of Pisa was called by disappointed cardinals and
deposed both popes and elected a third (Alexander V), but now there were THREE
popes!
In 1414 another council was called by Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor,
the Council of Constance (1414-1418). Representatives
were called by nations with each nation having one vote and a single pope was
restored at Rome in 1417 (Martin V). NOTE:
this attempt to transform the papal monarchy into a constitutional system
in which the pope’s power would be regulated by a general council would fail
as the Holy Roman Emperors and French monarchs withdrew their support from
councils and the papacy regains its power over the higher clergy.
In fact, in 1460 Pope Pius II declared the Conciliar Movement heretical. III.
Radical Reformers Meanwhile,
the Council of Constance was also involved in combating heresy. 1. John Wyclif (c.1328-1384), a professor at Oxford, Wyclif believed: 1)
the church should be subordinate to the state [“Wyclif alleged that there was
no basis in Scripture for papal claims of temporal authority and advocated that
the popes be stripped of both their authority and property.
At one point, he even denounced the pope as the Antichrist” (Spiel.
449)]. 2)
salvation was between the individual and God. 3)
transubstantiation was false. 4)
outward rituals and the veneration of relics were idolatrous.
He
formed the Lollards, bands of poor priests.
He also produced an English translation of the Bible. 2.
John Huss (1369-1415) A preacher and late rector of Prague University, Huss accepted Wycliff’s views (except he accepted transubstantiation). The Council of Constance would burn him at the stake in 1415. Since Wycliffe was already dead, all they could do to him was dig up his bones and burn them. |
|
|