Chapter 10
Webs of Stone and Blood
Gothic-style architecture began in twelfth century France. Emperor Charles IV had Peter Parler be the architect for the construction of Saint Vitus Cathedral in Prague, capital of Bohemia. Peter Parler made sculptures with realism, the way people really are, instead of making them ideal. Parler learned architecture from his father, who he later surpassed. A French architect started Saint Vitus Cathedral.
The Struggle for Central Europe
Charles’ IV’s daughter married Richard II of England. The Luxembourgs, Habsburgs, Wittelsbachs, and Anjous (families) competed for power in the Holy Roman Empire. The Wittelsbachs were the chief competitors of the Luxembourgs. The Habsburgs were allies of the Luxembourgs. The Anjous were the descendants of Charles of Anjou, younger brother of the Louis IX (French king), father of Charles Robert (king of Hungary), grandfather of Louis.
When Rudolf I of Habsburg was elected Holy Roman Emperor, Otakar II, head of the powerful Premysl family, dismissed him as “poor”. He was poor compared to the Premysl family.
German lords created an economy in unoccupied areas that specialized in grain production. Each fall, hundreds of ships brought the grain to western nations and brought back cloth and salt. This caused a decline in grain prices. New mines needed skilled workers, who came from overpopulated areas. Charles IV’s grandfather, Emperor Henry VII, arranged for his son, John of Luxembourg, to marry Elizabeth, Premysl heiress of Bohemia, so he would acquire the Bohemian crown. He passed on the Bohemian crown to his son, Charles IV.
Charles was born in Prague, but spent most of his youth in France. He later returned to Prague and rediscovered its culture as king of Bohemia. He made the Saint Vitus Cathedral and the University of Prague, modeled after the University of Paris. He had the bible translated into Czech and created an autobiography. His son, Sigismund was king of Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, and Holy Roman Emperor. During his reign, Czechs conflicted with German-speakers in the University of Prague.
Charles issued the Golden Bull, an edict that made the Holy Roman Empire chosen by seven great princes without interference of the pope. This made the position of Holy Roman Empire less significant. The empire then fragmented into a number of kingdoms, which were often organized into estates (political untis of knights, burghers, and clergy), to deal with their prince. The only power the prince had was given to him by the estates.
A Hundred Years of War
Spain saw some unification only when Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile.
Three causes of the Hundred Years’ War:
1) Issue concerning Gascony in southern France. Kings of England held Gascony as a fief. Neither monarchy liked this idea; quarreled for 75 years continuously
2) close relationship between England and Flemish cloth towns; manufacturing centers were primary customers of English wool; Flemish artisans rose up in revolts against aristocratic cloth dealers who had monopolized power; French king supported the cloth dealers, England supported the artisans
3) Charles IV, son of Philip IV, died with no male heir. Closest descendant was Charles IV’s sister’s (Isabella) son, King Edward of England. French didn’t want to unite kingdoms; said crown couldn’t pass through a woman. Crown went to Philip VI, cousin of Charles IV. England didn’t argue until dispute over Gascony resurfaced.
Philip VI attempted to confiscate Gascony from Edward III. The English declared war on Philip. Edward wanted to regain Gascony and claim French throne.
Chivalry and Warfare
The Hundred Years’ War was also a cause of chivalry, as families strived to maintain or gain honor. Edward III organized a four-day long round table celebration, resembling King Arthur’s Round Table, to which he invited nobles from across England. Edward III then organized the Order of the Garter, a group of nobles who were ideal examples of chivalry. Philip VI was the first French king to be elected into position. Edward III was better than Philip VI in strategy and tactics.
France had 16 million people; England had 5 million. France was a major producer of cereal, wine, and was a major commercial center. England’s only major export was wool. France’s income was three to five times greater than England’s. ‘
Nobles no longer faught because of loyalty to kings, but because they were paid. The French had hired Italian crossbownmen, which they didn’t use effectively. The English had experience fighting the Welsh and Scottish armies. Most of the army consisted of professional companies of foot soldiers. Many were pikemen or longbowmen. Longbows had a great range.
At the Battle of Crecy, a superior French force surrounded the English army. The English sprayed the French with arrows. King John of Bohemia, father of Charles IV, faught as a mercenary. He was totally blind and commanded part of the first French division. He had them tie their horses together. The next day they were all found dead with their horses tied together. The French failed in all 16 of their assaults and lost 100 men, while the French only lost 3000. Philip VI fled the battle.
Philip’s successor, John II, attacked an English army at Poitiers and was captured.
French tried getting off their horses and attacking at Agincourt. They charged uphill on soggy, muddy ground. All were captured; 1500 nobles along with 3000 ordinary soldiers were killed because of England’s fear of the vast French army, and 1000 nobles were held ransom. The English only lost 100.
There were constant attacks on the French countryside. Pope Benedict XII had 12,000 pounds (equivalent to one-third of England’s annual income) paid to one devastated region of northern France.
France was falling apart from the inside. Nobles started fighting each other. Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy allied against France and profited.
Commerce decreased because of France’s problem. French kings stole from Italian bankers. Italians, the backbone of lenders to the French, stopped lending them money. French kings now stole from French merchants, further decreasing industry and commerce.
Joan of Arc and the Salvation of France
Joan of Arc, from Champagne, helped France get an upper hand. England and Burgundy had almost all of northern France, including Paris. Now they were working on Orleans. The heir to the French throne, the dauphin, was Charles VII. Joan of Arc claimed to him she heard voices of saints telling her to save Orleans and to have Charles VII crowned as king.
Joan was allowed to accompany a relief force to Orleans, where they ended the siege. Other victories and the crowning of Charles VII followed this. Joan failed to take Paris, was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried as a heretic, and burned at the stake in Rouen.
France had pushed English back. At final battle at Formigny, the French used gunpowder for cannons and defeated the English.
Aristocratic families with armies formed in England and faught. The house of York (white rose) fought the house of Lancaster (red rose) for thirty years. This became known as the Wars of the Roses. This ended when Henry Tudor of the Lancasters defeated the Yorks. He became Henry VII, first king of the Tudor dynasty.
Life and Death in the Later Middle Ages/ Dancing with Death
More and more land was being used to fit the needs of Europe’s growing population. But a slight disturbance could mean disaster. The population began to decline. Between 1300 and 1450, Europe’s population fell by more than 30 percent.
A great famine caused by crop failure and war hit Europe, killing people by the thousands. The Italian city of Pistoia recorded 16 different famines and food shortages.
Low sanitation and trade routes welcomed and transported disease. Pistoia reported 14 years of disease and illnesses.
One-third to one-half of Europe’s population was lost due to bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plagues called the Black Death. The disease was carried by fleas of infected rats and brought to Messina, Sicily from Asia aboard a merchant vessel. It climbed up Italy and into the rest of Europe.
Plague victims were bitten by a flea, developed high fever, began coughing, had painful swellings in the groin or armpits known as buboes (hence “Bubonic Plague”), vomited blood, and died. The bubonic form (being bitten) killed in 5 days, the septicemic (through blood) was even faster, and the pneumonic (through air) form could kill in a few hours to 3 days.
People said the plague was divine punishment for sin, was caused by Jews poisoning water, and the conjunction of the planets causing corruption of the air. Some responded by fasting, praying, whipping themselves; others had fun to forget the plague; yet others locked themselves away from society.
The plague returned roughly once each generation. Pistoia lost about two-thirds of its population. The last epidemic was in Moscow in 1771, killing 60,000.
People became more somber, as expressed in the Dance of Death- an increasingly popular image in art and literature first depicted in the murals of the Church of the Holy Innocents in Paris. Rotting corpses danced before the living.
The Plague of Insurrection
The plague left labor in great demand. Wages increased. But taxes increased and some landlords didn’t change their wages. People couldn’t change classes. Guild membership became hereditary.
The French government increased taxes for peasants to pay the ransom for King John II. Peasants in Beauvais rebelled against their landlords. This rebellion is known as Jacquerie, for the French peasant Jacques Bonnehomme. Peasants attacked all nobles in sight and their families. Peasants burned churches and killed priests.
Etienne Marcel, a wealthy Parisian cloth merchant, led Parisian merchants to force reforms on the dauphin, Charles V. They even joined forces with the Jacquerie. The Jacquerie eventually met its end at Meaux, outside Paris. Survivors were hunted down and killed. The Paris merchants were surrounded and had their food supply cut off. Marcel was assassinated and Charles regained control.
English peasants reacted to new taxes in the Great Rebellion. The largest Spanish revolt was the great Peasants’ Revolt.
Wool workers rioted and forced recognition of two guilds of laborers in addition to the powerful guilds of masters in the Ciompi revolt.
Living and Dying in Medieval Towns
The Hundred Years’ War bankrupted many great banking houses, such as the Bardi and Peruzzi, who lent to the French and English. The Hanseatic League (Hansa means company) monopolized the northern grain trade. Many English landlords switched from traditional farming to sheep raising. English made more wool than ever. They also began to make their own wool into cloth themselves, rather than sending it to Flanders.
Poverty and Crime
Two systems were made to deal with poverty: public assistance and social control/repression. Charity had been more for the salvation of the giver than for the sake of the recipient.
confraternities- religious organizations of lay people and clergy who ministered to the poor and sick
hospitals- all-purpose religious institutions that provided lodging for pilgrims, the elderly, and ill
pesthouses- places where plague victims could be isolated
Antwerp- city where badges were distributed to those worthy of public assistance
Nuremberg- city that forbade begging without a special license.
Strasbourg- city where blind beggars organized an official “Cofraternity of Strasbourg
Beggars”
Poverty led to increased crime. Major crimes were punishable by execution. Many crimes were punishable by mutilation or cutting off of body parts. Hanging was sometimes replaced with breaking on the wheel, in which the prisoner’s limbs and back were broken with a wagon wheel which was then tied to the person and left hanging on a pole.
The Crisis of the Papacy
The College of Cardinals elected Clement V, who was close to Philip IV, as the new pope. He moved the capital of the church from Rome to Avignon, which was under the control of France.
The Avignon Papacy
For seventy years, French popes and cardinals ruled the Church. The Church became more focused on money than religion. The Italian poet Petrarch denounced what he called the “Babylonian captivity”.
Pope John XXII tried to block the election of the Wittelsbach Louis of Bavaria as emperor. Louis invaded Italy and was proclaimed emperor by the people of Rome. The German electors declared that the imperial office did not require papal confirmation, as later upheld in the Golden Bull.
curia- papal court
Papal income came from two major sources: the sale of 1) indulgences 2) benefices
People could repent and be forgiven for sins. But they then had to go through penance in which they fasted, prayed, or did a good deed. If they died before doing this, they went through purgatory before getting into heaven. Saints did extra penances and saved them in a treasury of merit. The pope could then sell these surplus penances. Some people used the penances themselves while others gave them to their dead ancestors in purgatory. The sellers of these “indulgences” were paid on commission.
The church also sold Church offices, or benefices. Pluralism was common, in which
individuals had numerous benefices. Because those who bought benefices did so for the money, and not the job, they typically hired local inexperienced local clergy members to do the work..