CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Introduction

II. Famine, Economic Decline, and the Black Death

(1315–50)

A. The Economic Consequences of the Black
Death
B. Social Disorder from the Jacqueries to the
Bundschuh Revolts
III. The Transformation of Warfare: The Emergence
of the Soldier

IV. Centers of Conflict: The Eastern Frontiers
A. The Hundred Years’ War in the West
B. Political Turbulence and Dynastic Collapse:
France, Castile, and England

V. Art and Literature: The Measure of Discontent

CHAPTER 12

PLAGUE, WAR, AND SOCIAL CHANGE

IN THE “LONG” FOURTEENTH CENTURY

T

he transition from medieval to early modern

times is generally thought to have begun in

the fourteenth century when economic de-

cline, plague, and endemic warfare weakened

the bonds of feudal society and undermined its values.

Great historical transformations rarely limit themselves

to the confines of a single century, and this one was no

exception. Thinking, therefore, in terms of a “long”

fourteenth century is helpful; that is, of an extended pe-

riod of demographic, social, and political stress that in

some of its manifestations lasted until well into the fif-

teenth century and beyond.

Famine, Economic Decline, and the

Black Death (1315–50)

The fourteenth century was marked by a series of eco-

nomic and demographic crises that had a profound ef-

fect on the social structure of Europe. Local crises of

subsistence became common and, for the first time in

two centuries, a large-scale famine struck northern Eu-

rope in 1315–17 (see document 12.1). Southern Europe

suffered a similar catastrophe in 1339–40. Overpopula-

tion was the underlying cause. By 1300 only the culti-

vation of marginal soils could feed the ever-growing

populace. A succession of bad harvests brought on by

unusually cold, wet weather made these lands virtually

unusable and destroyed the ecological balance between

the people and their food supply. The result was wide-

spread misery and an end to population growth.

Scarcity pushed the price of bread to levels that only

the rich could afford. Desperate peasants ate their seed

grain, thereby destroying all hope for a harvest in the

year to come. Others ate leaves, bark, and rats. Though

adult deaths from malnutrition were probably rare, the

demographic impact of the famine was seen in a declin-

ing rate of conception and increased infant mortality.

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