The 100 Years’ War CLASS SET!

Between 1337 and 1453, England and France fought a series of battles for control over lands in France. Known as the Hundred Years’ War, this long conflict contributed to the erosion of feudalism in England and in France.English monarchs had long claimed lands in France. This was because earlier English kings had actually been feudal lords over these French fiefs. French kings now disputed these claims. When Philip VI of France declared that the French fiefs of England’s King Edward III were part of his own realm, war broke out in France.Early English Successes Despite often being outnumbered, the English won most of the early battles of the war. What happened at the Battle of Crécy (KRAY-see) shows why. Two quite different armies faced each other at the French village of Crécy in 1346. The French had a feudal army that relied on horse-mounted knights. French knights wore heavy armor, and they could hardly move when they were not on horseback. Their weapons were swords and lances. Some of the infantry, or foot soldiers, used crossbows, which were effective only at short ranges. In contrast, the English army was made up of lightly armored knights, foot soldiers, and archers armed with longbows. Some soldiers were recruited from the common people and paid to fight. The longbow had many advantages over the crossbow. Larger arrows could be fired more quickly. The arrows flew farther, faster, and more accurately, and could pierce the armor of the time. The longbow was cheap, easy to carry, and deadly. It was powerful enough to penetrate armor, thus reducing the impact of mounted cavalry. It could be fired so fast that the longbow has been called the “machine gun of the Middle Ages”. The average archer could fire 12 to 15 arrows per minute and hit a man 200 yards away. The mounted, heavily armored medieval knight was soon to become extinct. At Crécy, the longbow helped the English defeat the much larger French force. The French Fight Back The French slowly chipped away at the territory the English had won in the early years of the war. In 1415, after a long truce, English King Henry V again invaded France. This time, the English met with stronger resistance. One reason was that the French were now using more modern tactics. The French

king was recruiting his army from commoners, paying them with money collected by taxes, just as the English did. Another reason for increased French resistance was a new sense of national identity and unity. In part, the French were inspired by a 17-year-old peasant girl, known today as Joan of Arc. Joan claimed that she heard the voices of saints urging her to save France. Putting on a suit of armor, she went to fight. In 1429, Joan led a French army to victory in the Battle of Orléans (OR-lay-uhn). The next year, the “Maid of Orléans” was captured by English allies. The English pushed certain Church leaders to accuse Joan of being a witch and a heretic [heretic: a person who holds beliefs that are contrary to a set of religious teachings] and to burn her at the stake.

Joan of Arc’s heroism changed the way many French men and women felt about their king and nation. Twenty-two years after Joan’s death, the French finally drove the English out of France. Almost 500 years later, the Roman Catholic Church made Joan a saint. The Impact of the Hundred Years’ War The long, exhausting war finally ended in 1453 and each side experienced major changes. The Hundred Years’ War contributed to the decline of feudalism by helping to shift power from feudal lords to monarchs and to common people. During the struggle, monarchs on both sides had collected taxes and raised large professional armies. As a result, kings no longer relied as much on nobles to supply knights for the army. In addition, changes in military technology made the nobles’ knights and castles less useful. The longbow proved to be an effective weapon against mounted knights. Castles also became less important as armies learned to use gunpowder to shoot iron balls from cannons and blast holes in castle walls. The new feeling of nationalism also shifted power away from lords. Previously, many English and French peasants felt more loyalty to their local lords than to their monarch. The war created a new sense of national unity and patriotism on both sides. In both France and England, commoners and peasants bore the heaviest burden of the war. They were forced to fight and to pay higher and more frequent taxes. Those who survived the war, however, were needed as soldiers and workers. For this reason, the common people emerged from the conflict with greater influence and power. Some people consider the end of the Hundred Years’ War in 1453 as the end of the Middle Ages. The twin pillars of the medieval world, religious devotion and the code of chivalry, both crumbled.

THE PLAGUE: BLACK DEATH CLASS SET!The bubonic plague, or Black Death, most likely originated in Asia. In the 14th century, this disease killed about one-third of the population of Europe and brought about major political and social change. Unlike catastrophes that pull communities together, this epidemic was so terrifying that it ripped apart the very fabric of society.

The Black Death Symptoms, or signs, of the plague included fever, vomiting, fierce coughing and sneezing fits, and egg-sized swellings or bumps, called buboes. The term “Black Death” probably came from these black-and-blue swellings that appeared on the skin of victims. The dirty conditions in which people lived contributed significantly to the spread of the bubonic plague. The bacteria that caused the disease were carried by fleas that fed on the blood of infected rodents, such as rats. When the rats died, the fleas jumped to other animals and people. During the Middle Ages, it was not unusual for people to go for many months without a change of clothing or a bath. Rats, covered with fleas, often roamed the floors of homes looking for food. City streets were filled with human waste, dead animals, and trash. At the time, though, no one knew where the disease came from or how it spread. Terrified people falsely blamed the plague on everything from the positions of the planets to lepers and to Jews. Persecution of the Jews did not begin with the plague. Prejudice against Jews had led the English government to order all Jews to leave the country in 1290. In France, the same thing happened in 1306 and again in 1394. But fear of the plague made matters worse. During the Black Death, many German cities ordered Jews to leave. This skeleton appears on a gravestone dating from the Middle Ages. When the plague hit Europe people were surrounded by the dead and the dying, and this was reflected in the objects they created.

The Impact of the Plague The plague took a terrible toll on the populations of Asia and Europe. China’s population was reduced by nearly half between 1200 and 1393, probably because of the plague and famine. Travelers reported that dead bodies covered the ground in Central Asia and India. Some historians estimate that 24 million Europeans died of the plague—about a third of the population. The deaths of so many people sped changes in Europe’s economic and social structure, which contributed to the decline of feudalism. The effects were enormous.The town populations fell along with the amount of trade.Trade and commerce slowed almost to a halt during the plague years. As Europe began to recover, the economy needed to be rebuilt. But it wouldn’t be rebuilt in the same way, with feudal lords holding most of the power. After the plague, there was a shift in power from nobles to the common people. One reason for this was a desperate need for workers because so many people had died. The workers who were left could, therefore, demand more money and more rights. In addition, many peasants and some serfs abandoned feudal manors and moved to towns and cities, seeking better opportunities. This led to a weakening of the manor system and a loss of power for feudal lords. After the plague, a number of peasant rebellions broke out. When nobles tried to return things to how they had been with the feudal system, resentment exploded across Europe. There were peasant revolts in France, Flanders, England, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

THE CRUSADES CLASS SET!

A series of armed conflicts in the Near East, the Crusades started in 1096 CE and continued on and off for several hundreds of years. They began when Christians from Western Europe set off to recapture the Holy Land (the city of Jerusalem and surrounding areas) from the Muslims who now inhabited the area.

The Crusades had economic, social, and political goals as well as religious motives. Muslims controlled Palestine and threatened Constantinople, and the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople appealed to Christians to stop Muslim attacks. In addition, the pope wanted to reclaim Palestine and reunite Christendom, which had split into Eastern and Western

branches. Kings also saw the Crusades as an opportunity to get rid of quarrelsome knights who fought each other. Others were looking for land, money, and adventure.

THE FIRST AND SECOND CRUSADES

After Pope Urban II issued a call for a “holy war,” an army of 12,000 gathered to fight. Those who died on the Crusade were assured a place in heaven and with red crosses sewn on their tunics worn over their armor, Crusaders were fired by religious zeal. Very unorganized and with no strategy, these 12,000 men approached Jerusalem and in a little over a month, they captured the city. Although victorious, the Crusaders were extremely vulnerable to Muslim counterattack and in the Second Crusade, Jerusalem had fallen once again under the control of the Muslim leader Saladin.

THE THIRD CRUSADE

Led by three of Europe’s most powerful monarchs, the plan to take back the city began. On the way, one king left, another drowned, and so Richard the Lion-Hearted was all that was left to fight for the Christian world. After many battles, Richard and Saladin

called a truce in 1192. Jerusalem remained under Muslim control and in return, Saladin promised that unarmed Christian pilgrims could freely visit the city’s holy places. There was a Fourth Crusade, but it failed, again. The knights did not reach Holy Land, but instead ended up looting the city of Constantinople.

IMPACT OF THE CRUSADES

GROWTH OF COMMERCE

Many European trading centers were pushed to the limit to furnish supplies for the crusaders. The city-states of Italy—Venice, Genoa, Pisa and others—provided ships to transport many of the crusaders to the Middle East. The ships returned filled with perfumes, spices, jewels, silk, dyes, and other products which the Europeans gradually came to value. The merchants of Genoa, Pisa, and other Italian cities established new trade routes throughout Europe. Trade routes tied all parts of Europe together. Wool went from England to the cities of Flanders, northern France, and Italy to be woven into cloth and re-exported. Fleets of ships took salt from the coast of France to the Baltic Sea and to Scandinavia where it was used to preserve fish for export.

Increased trade led to the growth of banking. Business became increasingly complex and traders began traveling great distances for long periods of time. Letters of credit and documents of exchange—similar in idea to credit cards—became necessary so that traders could conduct their business more easily. Merchants also increased their wealth by lending money to kings, nobles, and other merchants.

GROWTH OF TOWNS AND CITIES

The expansion of trade, wealth, and capital as well as population hastened the growth of towns during the later Middle Ages. Fourteenth-century towns and cities were usually small by modern standards. Populations ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 people. But even this relatively small number of persons found themselves packed tightly within the protecting walls of the city. Townspeople solved the problem of cramped spaces by building upward. They built their houses with three, four, and five stories. To gain additional space, each story was extended a little farther out so that the top floors of facing buildings almost met over the narrow streets. This gave the townspeople more space but it also made life hazardous for passersby. It was not uncommon for those living on upper floors to empty their garbage and sewage out the windows.

Gradually the people of the growing towns and cities obtained greater liberties and privileges from the one who ruled them. Often they bought these privileges with their new wealth. Sometimes rulers granted privileges to cities because of their service. In Spain, for instance, the rulers of Leon and Castile granted special charters to cities that protected the frontiers against the Moors.

Around this time townspeople in France, Germany, and England were also gaining freedom from feudal control. They gradually were released from a number of obligations, including payment of feudal dues. Additionally they gained the freedom to buy and sell as they chose and could organize their own courts of law. A number of towns gained the right of self-government.

THE MIDDLE CLASS

With the development of cities a new and powerful social group arose. It became known as the bourgeoisie or middle class. The power of the middle class was centered in the cities and founded on its new freedoms: knowledge, wealth, and independence. Representatives of the new middle class were received at royal councils and gained a voice in assemblies and parliaments.

The primary reason that the rulers requested middle-class representatives at these meetings was money. Kings and queens needed money and the clergy and nobility were traditionally exempt from taxation. However, the middle class provided a valuable source of income. In return for agreeing to pay taxes,

the middle class began to require additional privileges and rights from rulers. These rulers used this money to equip and outfit soldiers which reduced their dependence on the nobility.

Thus, what began as an effort to free the Holy Land had profound and unintended consequences. The Crusades increased trade and banking which sped the movement of people to towns. In these towns emerged a new and wealthy class which was outside the traditional power structure of medieval society. This new middle class was utilized by monarchs to create a new political order that was not dependent on feudal obligations. This laid the foundations for the emergence of the modern nation state.

Welty, Paul. The Human Experience. New York: J.B. Lippincott. 1977

The Great Schism CLASS SET!At the beginning of the 1300s, Catholicism still seemed strong, but not for long….

Pope and King CollideIn 1300, Pope Boniface VIII attempted to enforce papal (pope) authority on kings as previous popes had. When King Philip IV of France asserted his authority over French bishops, Boniface responded with an official document. It state that kings must always obey popes.

Philip merely sneered at this statement. In fact, one of Philip’s ministers is said to have remarked that “my master’s sword is made of steel, the pope’s is made of [words].” Instead of obeying the pope, Philip had his henchmen break into Boniface’s home to arrest him and take him to France to stand trial. Their kidnapping plot was ruined, however, when the pope was rescued by his friends. Humiliated, the elderly Boniface died a month later. Never again would a pope be able to force monarchs to obey him.

AvignonTwo years after Boniface’s death, a French archbishop was chosen as the new pope. Clement V, the newly selected pope, moved the papal headquarters from Rome to the city of Avignon in France where the papacy remained for the next 69 years.

The move to Avignon badly weakened the Church. English, Germans, and Italians accused the pope and the cardinals, who were also French, of being puppets of the French king. When reformers finally tried to move the papacy back to Rome, however, the result was even worse. In 1378, the College of Cardinals met in Rome to choose a new pope after the previous one had died. As they deliberated, they could hear an angry mob outside screaming, “A Roman, a Roman, we want a Roman for pope, or at least an Italian!” Finally, the cardinals announced to the crowd that an Italian had been chosen: Pope Urban VI. Many cardinals regretted their choice almost immediately. Urban VI’s passion for reform and his arrogant personality caused the cardinals to elect a second pope a few months later. A few months later, the French cardinals declared the election unacceptable and they elected a new pope, Clement VII.

The Great Schism

Now there were two popes. Each declared the other to be a false pope, excommunicating his rival. The French pope lived in Avignon, while the Italian pope lived in Rome. This began the split in the Church known as the Great Schism.

The Great Schism continued after the original rival popes died and each camp elected a replacement instead of working to heal the break in the church. Religious life suffered. With two sections of Christendom each declaring the other lost, each cursing the other, many people began to question the legitimacy of the church as an institution. The church continued to lose more and more credibility and lost its status as the most powerful institution in Europe. Power was restored to politics and the Parliament gained more strength. The Parliament allowed for nobles to voice their opinions in political matters and gave more power to the people. The Great Schism also led to beginnings of the Reformation which was a split in the Roman Catholic Church that created the Protestant (Western) churches.