50 12. The Late Middle Ages: Crisis and Dissolution. The 14th and 15th centuries are called the Late Middle Ages, a time when medieval civilization was in decline. The 14th century was a time of adversity, marked by crop failures, famine, population decline, plagues, unemployment, inflation, warfare, rebellion. Was also a time of decline of medieval theology, a period of general gloom and despair. In some areas, as Italy, the spirit of the coming Renaissance was just beginning to flower. A. An Age of Adversity. 1. Economic Problems. Agricultural production faltered, and there were food shortages, even malnutrition and starvation. A shortage of silver led to the debasement of coinage and spiraling inflation, with lords and knights resorting to plunder to meet their needs. 2. Plague. Black Death, or bubonic plague (carried by fleas on rats) ravaged Europe, the first attack from 1347 to 1351, with smaller attacks later in the century. Struck hardest at the towns, and has been estimated that 20 million (from 1/4 to 1/3 the population of Europe) died. 3. Psychological and Social Consequences of the Plague. Black Death the worst human disaster in recorded history, causing mass hysteria, growth of immorality, superstition, black magic and witchcraft being practiced. Were massacres of the Jews, who were blamed. Deaths caused great economic instability, while laws were passed fixing wage rates, which led to social discontent by workers. In some places, as England and France, there were revolts by peasants, and social unrest also hit the towns where wage earners rose up against shop owners. 4. A Time of Wars: The Hundred Years War. Were long wars in the century, the most destructive being the Hundred Years War between France and England. Arose out of the claims of the English kings to lands in France. When the French Capetian line became extinct in 1328, the nobles awarded the throne to Philip of Valois, but Edward III of England claimed a better right to the crown through his mother, the daughter of one of the last Capetian kings. Another cause was the attempt of the French kings to gain control of the Flemish towns manufacturing English wool. England won the early stages of the war at Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1360), utilizing their long bowmen. After English victory at Agincourt (1415) it seemed that Henry V would conquer all France, but Joan of Arc, a peasant girl, rallied the French troops. Subsequently the English were driven from all of France but Calais by 1453. The war was a major factor driving both England and France toward national consolidation. B. The Decline of the Church. Power of the Catholic Church gradually disintegrated during the later Middle Ages. Papal prestige waned as the Church grew more secular and confronted the rising power of the national monarchies. 1. Conflict with France. In 1302 Pope Boniface VIII issued the bull Unam Sanctum, asserting the supremacy of the Church over secular authorities, that every human being was subject to the pope. But he was not able to enforce it effectively. Boniface also tried to stop English and French taxation of clergy through the bull Clericis laicos (1296), but both kings challenged Boniface and forced him to back down. Later Philip the Fair sent ruffians to attack the pope personally, who died shortly afterward. One important outcome was that in 1309 the popes moved to Avignon in France and were resident there from 1309 to 1377, an event known as the Babylonian Captivity, and during this period all of the popes were French and under French control. 2. Critique of Papal Power. These controversies brought on a debate as to the extent of papal power. Giles of Rome in his On Ecclesiastical Power defended the authority of the church, while John of Paris in On Kingly and Papal Power held that each authority - spiritual and temporal - was supreme in its own area of respsonsibility. Most important document was The Defender of the Peace (1324) of Marsiglio of Padua, who held that the state was a self-sufficient authority which needed no instruction from the Church; the Church was a spiritual power with no temporal authority. 3. The Great Schism. In 1377 the Babylonian Captivity came to an end with return of the papacy to Rome. But next pope was mentally unbalanced, the cardinals fleeing Rome and electing a new pope, which led to a period during which there were two rival popes (and for a time a third). Schism was settled at Council of Constance in 1414 with restoration of papal unity in Rome. 4. The Conciliar Movement. Church councils met frequently in the first half of the 15th century, and there was a frank effort to transform the papal monarchy into a kind of constitutional system in which papal power would be subordinate to that of a council. Known as the Conciliar Movement, it finally failed when the French king and the Holy Roman Emperor withdrew their support. 5. Fourteenth Century Heresies. Radical reformers arose who were to be forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. Two most important were John Wycliffe (English, 1320-1384) and John Huss (Czech, 1369-1415), both stressing a personal relationship between the individual and his God, giving greater emphasis to the Bible, and seeking a return to earlier spiritual purity and simplicity. They rejected the sacerdotal power of the clergy, and both movements were termed heresy, with Huss being burned at the stake. But the Reformation was to owe much to them. 6. Conclusion. Perry: "The papacy was deeply embroiled in European power politics and the worldly life of Renaissance Italy and often neglected its spiritual and moral responsibilities. Many devout Christians longed for a religious renewal, a return to simple piety; the papacy barely heard this cry for reform. The papacy's failure to provide creative leadership for reform made possible the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. ... In the late Middle Ages, the papacy lost power as kings, political theoriests, and religious dissenters effectively challenged papal claims to supreme leadership. In the struggle against the papacy, feudal monarchs sharpened their own self- awareness and, with greater confidence, resisted papal interference. A similar break in the medieval synthesis occurred on the level of philosophy." C. Breakup of the Thomistic Synthesis. The medieval theocratic formulation of Thomas Aquinas was also breaking down. Philosophy tended to grow more analytical and critical, and reason tended to become separated from faith. It was held that the basic truths of Christianity were not open to rational proof. Reason was not an aid to theology, but a separate sphere. One proponent of this outlook was William of Ockham (1280-1349), who insisted that natural reason could not prove any essential Christian doctrine. It could only say that God probably exists, but not with certainty. But reason could be used to explore the natural world and to discover its truths. D. The Middle Ages and the Modern World: Continuity and Discontinuity. In many ways the modern world is linked to the medieval. 1. The development of cities, growth of the middle class, the European state system, English common law, universities all came from the Middle Ages. 2. There are connections between Medieval Scholasticism and modern philosophical thought. 3. In the late Middle Ages Europeans began to overtake the Muslims and other peoples to the East, especially in technology, in part because Christian doctrine taught that God had created the world for humans to subdue and utilize. Nor was manual labor humiliating. 4. The Middle Ages gave to Western thought the idea of the worth of the individual, that both the ruler and ruled are bound by a higher law. The Christian command to love has been behind modern movements of reform and has played a major part in movements of political and social reform. 5. Aristocratic notions stemming from feudalism long outlived the medieval period and could even be seen in early 20th century military customs. Feudalism also made its contribution to the spirit of liberty, the right of resistance against a tyrannical king. One outstanding example is Magna Carta (1215). Gradually, also, the idea arose in England that law was made by the king with the consent of his subjects. 6. But the Middle Ages was also quite different from the modern world. Religion was the integrating feature of the Middle Ages, medieval thought beginning with the existence of God and the truth of his revelation. Reason was not autonomous, and knowledge was useless without first the knowledge of God. Rationalism had to be guided by the divine truth, while the modern world tends to hold that nature and the human intellect are both self-sufficient. The modern world holds that nature is a mathematical system operating without divine intervention. The medieval mind saw the world divided into a number of hierarchies, from the heavenly to the earthly, including society, all knowledge, etc. The modern world denies all of this and regards the universe and nature as one. 7. The modern world also broke with the three-fold division of the medieval world's social classes and rejected the personal and customary character of feudal law. Names and Terms to Remember Black Death Joan of Arc Hundred Years War Boniface VIII Valois kings Unam Sanctum Edward III Clericis laicos Flanders Philip the Fair Henry V Avignon Babylonian Captivity Marsiglio of Padua Great Schism Council of Constance Conciliar Movement John Wycliffe John Huss