Western Civilization

of medieval civilization. At

midcentury, one of the most

destructive natural disasters

in history erupted—the Black

Death, a devastating plague

that wiped out at least

one-third of the European

population, with even higher

mortality rates in urban

areas. Reactions varied. Some escaped into alcohol, sex, and

crime. Others, such as the flagellants, believing the Black Death

to be a punishment from God, attempted to atone for peoples’

sins through self-inflicted pain. In many areas, the Jews became

scapegoats. Economic crises and social upheavals, including a

decline in trade and industry, bank failures, and peasant revolts

pitting the lower classes against the upper classes, followed in

the wake of the Black Death.

Political stability also declined, especially during the Hundred

Years’ War, a long, drawn-out conflict between the English and

the French. Armored knights on horseback formed the backbone

of medieval armies, but English peasants using the longbow

began to change the face of war. After numerous defeats, the

French cause was saved by Joan of Arc, a young peasant woman

whose leadership inspired the French, who also began to rely on

cannons and were victorious by 1453.

The Catholic Church, too,

experienced a crisis. The con-

frontation between Pope Boni-

face VIII and Philip IV of

France led to a loss of papal

power and the removal of the

papacy to Avignon on France’s

border in 1305. The absence

of the popes from Rome created a new crisis, but the return of

the papacy to Rome in 1377 only led to new problems. The Great

Schism witnessed the spectacle of two competing popes con-

demning each other as the Antichrist. A new conciliar movement

based on the belief that church councils, not popes, should rule

the church finally ended the Great Schism in 1417.

All of these crises seemed to overpower Europeans in this calam-

itous fourteenth century. Not surprisingly, much of the art of the

period depicted the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse described in

the New Testament Book of Revelation: Death, Famine, Pestilence,

and War. No doubt, to some people, the last days of the world

appeared to be at hand. European society, however, proved remark-

ably resilient. Already in the fourteenth century new ideas and

practices were beginning to emerge, as often happens in periods of

crisis. As we shall see in the next chapter, the pace of change began

to quicken as Europe experienced a rebirth of classical culture that

some historians have called the Renaissance.

CHAPTER TIMELINE

1300 1325 1350 1375 1400 1425 1450

Hundred Years’ War

Joan of Arc

inspires the French

Popes at Avignon The Great Schism

Black Death in Europe

Work of Giotto

Dante, Chaucer,

Golden Bull in Germany Battle of Agincourt

Giovanni di Dondi’s

clock

Peasant revolts

in France

Peasant revolt in England

(truce 1396–1415)

Divine Comedy The Canterbury Tales

Chapter Summary • 271

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