AP Euro Unit 1 Exam: the High Middle Ages – Flashcards

warmer-than-usual climate in Europe, underlay all changes and vitality of the High Middle Ages

"little ice age"; climate of Europe becomes colder and wetter; rivers freeze and crops fail to ripen; ice floes cut off contact with the rest of the world and the harsh climate meat that the few hardy crops grown in earlier times could no longer survive; poor harvests due to an unusual number of storm led to scarcity and starvation --> led to Great Famine of 1315 to 1322

The Great Famine of 1315-1317 (occasionally dated 1315-1322) was the first of a series of large scale crises that struck Northern Europe early in the fourteenth century. Places affected include continental Europe (extending east to Russia and south to Italy) as well as Great Britain. It caused millions of deaths over an extended number of years and marks a clear end to an earlier period of growth and prosperity between the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Starting with bad weather in spring 1315, universal crop failures lasted through 1316 until summer harvest in 1317; Europe did not fully recover until 1322. It was a period marked by extreme levels of crime, disease, mass death and even cannibalism and infanticide. It had consequences for the church, state, European society and future calamities to follow in the fourteenth century.

-poor harvests and famine led to the abandonment of homesteads -entire villages were deserted in parts of the low countries and in the Scottish-English borderlands and many people became vagabonds, wandering in search of food and work -In Flanders and eastern England, some peasants were forced to mortgage, sublease or sell their holding to richer farmers in order to buy food - Overall, the population declined because of the deaths caused by famine and disease, though the postponement of marriages and resulting decline in offspring may have also played a part -starving people blamed Jews, the rich and speculators for the crises -international character of trade and commerce meant that a disaster in one country had serious implications elsewhere: infection that attacked English sheep in 1318 caused a sharp decline in wool exports in following years --> led to unemployment all over Europe -unemployment leads to crime -all three sons of Phillip the Fair who sat on the French throne from 1314-1328 condemned speculators (those who held stocks of grain back until conditions were desperate and prices high) and forbade the sale of grain abroad; efforts failed -In England, Edward II (r. 1307-1327) also condemned speculators after attempts to set price controls on livestock and ale proved futile; attempted to buy grain abroad, but found little available; efforts failed

-colder weather, failed harvests, and resulting malnourishment left Europe's population susceptible to disease -around 1300 improvements in ship design had allowed year-round shipping for the first time; ships carried vermin of all types, especially insects and rats, both of which harbored pathogens -medieval shipping allowed the diseases of the time to spread quickly over very long distances -Black Death first emerged in western Europe in 1347 (carried over from Geonese ships)

-most historians identify the disease that spread in the 14th century as the bubonic plague, which is caused by the bacillus *Yersinia pestis* -usually limited to rats and other rodents; when most rats have been killed off fleas jumped from their rodent hosts to humans and other animals -^occurred in the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th century and in China and India in the 1890s -Black Death showed many similarities to 19th century outbreak, but also many differences; no reports of massive rat die-offs and 14th century plague spread thru coughing and sneezing as well as thru fleabites, much more deadly -^these difference have led some historians to believe that the Black Death was not the bubonic plague, but perhaps something different, such as the Ebola virus -classic symptoms of the bubonic plague include: a growth the size of a nut or an apple in the armpit, in the groin or on the neck (boil, or *bubo* that gave the disease its name and caused agonizing pain) -if the bubo was lanced and the pus thoroughly drained, the victim had a chance of recovery -boil very rarely lanced; next symptom was the appearance of black spots or blotches caused by bleeding under the skin (did *not* give the disease its common name) -finally, victim began to cough violently and spit blood --> signaled the end, and death followed in two or three days

Kaffa-->Messina-->Sicily-->-->Venice and Genoa-->Pisa-->Rome-->Florence and Tuscany-->southern Germany-->southern France and Spain;

-narrow streets filled w/ refuse, human excrement, and dead animals -upper level houses blocked light and air -many houses constructed out of wood, clay and mud; easy for rats to enter -people already weakened by famine, standards of personal hygiene remained frightfully low, and the urban populace was crowded together -fleas and body lice were universal afflictions: One more bite did not cause much alarm, and the association between rats, fleas, and the plague was unknown

-of a total English population of perhaps 4.2 million, probably 1.4 million died of the Black Death -Florence lost between 1/2 and 2/3 of its population -The most widely accepted estimate for western Europe and the Mediterranean is that the plague killed about one-third of the population in the first wave of infection -Milan, Liege and Nuremberg were largely spared primarily because city authorities closed the gates to all outsiders when plague was in the area, and enough food had been stored to sustain the city until the danger had passed

-Black Death recurred intermittently from the 1360s to 1400 -last appearance made in 1721

-people understood that plague and other diseases could be transmitted person to person, and they observed that crowded cities had high death rates, especially when the weather was warm and moist -14th century people believed that the plague spread faster and more violently due to "corrupted air" coming from swamps, "poisons", unburied animals, of the position of the stars -treatments focused on ridding the air and body of these "poisons" and on re-balancing bodily fluids -tried ringing church bells or firing the newly invented cannon to attempt to clean the "poison" air -made medicine from plants that were bumpy or that oozed liquid in an attempt to keep the more dangerous swelling and oozing of the plague away -magical letter and number combinations, called *Cryptograms*, were especially popular in Muslim areas -priests, monks and nuns cared for the sick and buried the dead; consequently, their mortality rate was phenomenally high -to avoid contagion, wealthier people often fled cities for the countryside, though sometimes this simply spread the plague faster -some cities tried shutting their gates to prevent infected people and animals from coming in, which worked in a few cities; walled up houses in which there was plague in an attempt to isolate those who were sick from those who were still healthy

-traditional view that the plague had a disastrous effect on the Medieval economy has been greatly modified -dramatic drop in population allowed less fertile land to be abandoned -people turned to more specialized kinds of agriculture, such as raising sheep or wine grapes - however, the Black Death brought on a general European inflation; high mortality produced a fall in production, a shortage of goods, and a general rise in prices -labor shortages caused by high mortality meant that workers who survived could demand better wages, and the broad mass of people who survived enjoyed a higher standard of living -greater demand of labor also meant greater mobility for peasant in rural areas and for artisans in towns and cities

-some people sought release from the devastating affliction in wild living, but more became deeply pious -rather than seeing the plague as a medical issue they interpreted it as a result of an evil within themselves; God must be punishing them for terrible sins, they thought, so the best remedies were religious ones: asking for forgiveness, praying, trusting in God, making donations to churches, and trying to live better lives -In Muslim areas, religious leaders urged virtuous living in the face of death: give to the poor, reconcile with your enemies, free your slaves, and say a proper goodbye to your friends and family -some Christians turned to the severest forms of asceticism and frenzied religious fervor, joining groups of *flagellants* who whipped and scourged themselves as penance for their and society's sins; eventually, officials, worried that the groups would incite violence and riots, ordered the groups of flagellants to disband or forbade them to enter cities

-along with seeing the plague as a call to reform their own behavior, people also searched for scapegoats, and savage cruelty sometimes resulted -many people believed that the Jews had poisoned the wells of Christian communities and thereby infected the drinking water -others thought that killing Jews would prevent the plague from spreading to their town, a belief encourage by flagellant groups -charges led to the murder of thousand of Jews across Europe, especially in the cities of France and Germany -^several hundred Jews were publicly burned alive in Strasbourg, Germany alone -^their houses were burned, their property was confiscated, and the remaining Jews were expelled from the city

-the literature and art of the late Middle Ages reveal a people gripped by a morbid concern w/ death -the years of the Black Death witnessed the foundation of new colleges at old universities and of entirely new universities -^charters explain the shortage of priests and the decay of learning as the reasons for their establishment -^new establishments in the wake of the Black Death had more national or local constituencies -^Thus the international character of medieval culture weakened, paving the way for schism in the Catholic church even before Reformation -the plague highlighted central qualities of medieval society: deep religious feeling, suspicion of those who were different, and a view of the world shaped largely by oral tradition, with a bit of classical knowledge mixed in among the educated elite

-sporadic military hostilities between England and France from the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 evolved into the longest war in European history by the time of the mid-14th century (1337-1453)

-main causes: disagreements over rights to land, a dispute over the succession to the French throne, and economic conflicts -^many of these revolved around the duchy of Aquitaine, a province in southern France that became part of the holdings of the English crown when Eleanor of Aquitaine married King Henry II of England in 1152 -in 1259, Henry III of England signed the Treaty of Paris with Louis IX of France, laying claim to Aquitaine in return for becoming a vassal of the French crown -^However, French policy in the 14th century was strongly expansionist, and the French kings resolved to absorb the duchy into the kingdom of Franc

-the immediate political cause of the Hundred Years' War was a disagreement over who would inherit the French throne after Charles IV of France died in 1328 (his death signified the end of the Capetian dynasty of France -Charles IV's sister, Isabella, was a potential nominee for the throne, but her son was Edward III, king of England -^an assembly of French high nobles, meaning to exclude Isabella and Edward from the French throne, proclaimed that "no woman nor he son could succeed to the [French] monarchy" -one reason the war lasted so long was because it became a French civil war, w/ some French nobles (most importantly the Dukes of Burgundy) supporting English monarchs in an effort to thwart the centralizing goals of the French kings -Scotland, resisting English efforts of assimilation, often allied w/ France

Jewish grammar and scholarly work on the Hebrew Bible

Florence

independent and often squabbling w/ each other

-the spread of humanism -struggles within the Church

the French invasion of Italy

the unification of Italy under a single, strong leader

chiaroscuro

the townspeople and nobles

relatively fragmented, decentralized states

a sense of national identity and destiny

noble landowners

temporal (secular) authorities were were subject to the spiritual authority of the Church

deny kings the right to tax the papacy or to try them in court

independence and autonomy for secular gov'ts in his book, Defender of the Peace

-Preached in the vernacular - Distributed translations of the bible in English - - Thought the clergy should hold to a vow of poverty -Were sometimes put to death for their views

annate

-gov'ts of both England and France manipulated public opinion to support the war -the English public was convinced that the war was waged for one reason: to secure for King Edward the French crown he had been unjustly denied -Edward III issued letter to the sheriffs describing the evil deed of the French in graphic terms and listing royal needs -Phillip VI (nephew of Philip the Fair, seated on the French throne during the Hundred Years' War) sent agents to warn communities about the dangers of English invasion -Kings in both countries instructed the clergy to deliver sermons filled w/ patriotic sentiment --> royal propaganda on both sides fostered s kind of early nationalism, and both sides developed a deep hatred of the other

-wool trade between England and Flanders served as the cornerstone of both countries' economies -^Flanders belonged to the French crown, Flemish aristocracy sided w/ the French monarchy and Philip IV -however, Flemish burghers strongly supported the claims of Edward III of England -the disruption of Flemish commerce w/ England threatened their prosperity

-poor and idle knights promised regular wages -criminals enlisted were granted pardons -great nobles expected to be rewarded w/ estates -royal exhortations to the troops before battle repeatedly stressed that, if victorious, the men might keep whatever they seized

1337: Philip VI of France confiscates Aquitaine; war begins 1346: English longbowmen defeat French knights at Crecy 1356: English defeat French at Poitiers 1370s-1380s: French recover some territory 1415: English defeat the French at Agincourt 1429: French victory at Orleans; Charles VII crowned king 1431: Joan of Arc declared a heretic and burned at the stake 1440s: French reconquer Normandy and Aquitaine 1453: War ends 1456: Joan cleared of all charges of heresy and declared a martyr

-war began w/ a series of French sea raids on English coastal towns in 1337, but the French fleet was almost completely destroyed when it attempted to land soldiers on English soil, and from that point on the war was fought almost entirely in France and Low Countries -war consisted mainly of a series of random sieges and cavalry raids, fought in fits and starts, w/ treaties along the way to halt hostilities -England highly successful during early stages of the war: English defeated French crossbowmen at Crecy -English longbowmen had an advantage concerning speed: could send off three arrows to the French crossbowmen's one; also newly invented English cannon -brief peace after English manage to hold Aquitaine and other provinces until 1370s and 1380s, when France fought back and recovered some territory , then treaty halted hostilities again as both sides concentrated on conflicts over power at home -war began again in 1415: English soldier-king Henry V invaded France, won using English longbowmen, and then reconquered Normandy -Henry eventually married the daughter of a French king, and a treaty made Henry and any sons the couple would have heir to the French throne -^However, Henry died unexpectedly in 1422, leaving an infant son as heir -English still continued to win victories, and besieged the city of Orleans

-The ultimate French success rests heavily on the actions of Joan, an obscure French peasant girl whose vision and military leadership revived French fortunes and led to victory - During adolescence she began to hear voices, which she later said belonged to Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret. In 1428 these voices spoke to her with great urgency, telling her that the dauphin (DOH-fuhn), the uncrowned King Charles VII, had to be crowned and the English expelled from France -The king made Joan co-commander of the entire army, and she led it to a string of victories; other cities simply surrendered without a fight and returned their allegiance to France. In July 1429, two months after the end of the siege of Orléans, Charles VII was crowned king at Reims. - In 1430 the Burgundians captured Joan. Charles refused to ransom her, and she was sold to the English. A church court headed by a pro-English bishop tried her for heresy, and though nothing she had done was heretical by church doctrine, she was found guilty and burned at the stake in the marketplace at Rouen. -The French army continued its victories without her. Sensing a shift in the balance of power, the Burgundians switched their allegiance to the French, who reconquered Normandy and, finally, ejected the English from Aquitaine in the 1440s. As the war dragged on, loss of life mounted, and money appeared to be flowing into a bottomless pit, demands for an end increased in England. Parliamentary opposition to additional war grants stiffened, fewer soldiers were sent, and more territory passed into French hands. At the war's end in 1453, only the town of Calais (KA-lay) remained in English hands. -Joan was eventually cleared of all charges of heresy and canonized as a saint -Joan saved the French monarchy and became a symbol of deep religious piety to some, of conservative nationalism to other, and of gender-bending cross-dressing to others

France: -rural economy left in shambles -drastic reduction of French participation in international commerce -widespread dissatisfaction and aggravated peasant grievances England: -enormous financial loss -^gov't attempted to finance war thru taxation of the wool crop, which priced wool out of the export market -creation of English Parliament Both: -stimulation of technological innovation -social order disrupted because the knights who ordinarily served as sheriffs, coroners, jurymen and justices of the peace were abroad -growth of nationalism -pride in each country's military strength

-period in which the Popes lived in Avignon (1309-1376) -badly damaged papal prestige; the seven popes at Avignon concentrated on bureaucratic and financial matters to the exclusion of spiritual objectives -Pope Gregory XI brought the papal court back to Rome in 1377, but died shortly after -^ Roman citizens pressured the cardinals to elect an Italian, chose *Urban VI*

-Urban VI attacked clerical luxury and denounced several individual cardinals and bishops by name, and even threatened to excommunicate them -threatened/excommunicated cardinals elect Clement VII -^thus, there were two popes in 1378 - Urban at Rome and Clement VII in Avignon -^so began the Great Schism, which divided Western Christendom until 1417 -France, Scotland, Aragon, Castile, Portugal and Italian city-states opt for Clement VII; England and Germany opt for Urban --> aligned strictly along political lines -Schism weakened the religious faith of many Christians and brought church leadership into serious disrepute

-argued vigorously against the papacy and also wrote philosophical works in which he questioned the connection between reason and faith that had been developed by *Thomas Aquinas* -claimed that the state was the great unifying power in society, and the church should be subordinate to it -Church leadership should rest in a general council made up of laymen as well as priests and superior to the pope -William of Occam and Marsiglio of Padua excommunicated for their radical ideas, but their ideas live on: those who believed that reform of the Church could best be achieved through periodic assemblies, or councils, representing all the Christian people became known as *conciliarists*

-went further than the conciliarists; wrote that Scripture alone should be the standard of Christian belief and that the Church should have no secular power in the state -Wyclif wanted Bible translations into English; Hus into the local Czech language -Wyclif's followers (*Lollards*) persecuted; Hus's followers successful at defeating the combined armies of the pope and the emperor of Czech many times, emperor eventually agrees to recognize the *Hussite Church of Bohemia* in the 1430s, which survived into the Reformation and then merged w/ other *Protestant churches*

-cardinals of Rome and Avignon call council in Pisa in 1409 and depose both popes and select another, both Popes of Avignon and Rome refuse to resign, result was creation of threefold schism -Great council met in Constant w/ three objectives: wipe out heresy, end the schism, and reform the Church -^council burned Jan Hus at the stake, deposed Roman pope and isolated Avignon pope; *Martin V* elected new pope; nothing done about reform but foundation laid for 16th century Reformation

-in the 13th century lay Christian men and women formed voluntary lay groups organized by occupation, devotional preference, neighborhood, or charitable activity -carried out special devotional practices w/o the leadership of a priest -famine, plague, war and other crises led to an expansion of confraternities -example of famous confraternity=Brethern and Sisters of the Common Life in Holland during the late 14th century

-Bridget of Sweden began to see visions of the Virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus -laypeople used their own experiences to enhance their religious understanding

-first large-scale rebellion was in the Flanders region of present-day Belgium in 1320s; eventually crushed by French army in 1330s -*Jaceurie*: revolt in response to heavy taxation after the Hundred Year's War in France; nobles worked together to crush the rebellion of the "Jacques" -famous preacher John Ball fanned embers of discontent in England; peasants demanded higher wages and fewer manorial obligations; Lords countered w/ *Statute of Laborers*, a law issued by the king that froze wages and bound laborers to their manors -*English Peasants' Revolt* ignited by the reimposition of tax on all adult males; leaders of revolt tricked by boy-king Richard II, who then crushed the uprising w/ terrible ferocity -^as a result, rural serfdom continued to decline, foretelling the decline of the feudal system as a whole

-unrest occurred in Flanders, France, England, Italy, Spain and Germany -had their roots in changing conditions of work, widening gap between the rich and the poor, and employers' requiring workers to do tasks they regarded as beneath them

-one of the few ways women for able to wholly support themselves in the Middle Ages -largely an urban phenomenon

-during periods of truce during the Hundred Years' War and after it had finally come to an end, many nobles once again had very little to do -many turned to crime as a way of raising money; those higher up on the social scale prey on those who are less well-off

-growing colonization and movement to towns meant people of different ethnic backgrounds lived side by side -*Legal dualism*: native peoples remained subject to their traditional laws, but newcomers brought and were subject to the laws of the countries from which they came -legal pluralism did not exist in England; the English practiced an extreme form of discrimination toward the native Irish; all Irish were considered "unfree" -later Middle Ages witnessed a movement away from legal pluralism or dualism and toward *legal homogeneity* and an emphasis on *blood descent* -dominant ethnic groups in different countries of Europe tried to bar others from positions of church leadership and guild membership -*Statute of Kilkenny*: a law the ruling English imposed on Ireland, which states that "there were to be no marriage between those of immigrant and native stock; that the English inhabitants of Ireland must employ the English language and bear English names; that they must ride in the English way [that is, with saddles] and have English apparel; that no Irishmen were to be granted ecclesiastical benefices or admitted to monasteries in the English parts of Ireland." -blood becomes increasingly important as Europeans come into contact w/ people from Africa and Asia, and particularly as they developed colonial empires, as a way of conceptualizing racial categories

-development of ethnic identities lead to the increasing use of vernacular -Dante's Divine Comedy and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales illustrate a sophisticated use of the rhythms and rhymes of the vernacular -Divine Comedy unites faith and reason, embodies the psychological tensions of the age and contains bitter criticism of some church authorities; perpetuates classical tradition but is the first major work of literature in Italian vernacular -Canterbury Tales depicts the interest and behavior of all types of people, reflects the cultural tension of the times, and suggest the ambivalence of the broader society's concern for the next world and frank enjoyment of this one -spread of literacy represents a response to the needs of an increasingly complex society; trade, commerce and expanding gov't bureaucracies required an increasing number of literate people

Northern Europe

they could only run a shop for a limited time, and they often could not hire journeymen

to defend themselves from his criticisms, some cardinals declared the pope's election invalid

the difficulty involved in transporting food

the view that Christians should seek perfection in a simple life based on scriptures (The Imitation of Christ)

many peasants lost their land and migrated to towns

He had forced a treaty that made himself and his sons heir to the French throne

was interdependent across national boundaries