Chapter 14The Latin West (1200 - 1500)

Irsia Khan

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Rural Growth and CrisisPeasants and Population - During the 1200s, most of the European population consisted of poor peasants, living on wealthy lords manors. The contrast in wealth between the serfs and thenobles was dramatic; the a serf and his family lived in a small one room hut, while the nobles lived in huge manor houses, surrounded by anywhere from 15 to 30 serf families to meet their needs. The lord would tax them heavily, taking half of the crops each family grew.

Serfs also sometimes lived and worked on Church land, however they were no better off than any of the other serfs.-Daily serf life centered on the large amount of work they would be doing everyday. Women worked alongside men in the fields; however they were socially subordinate to males and the men made all of the household decisions.-As the population of Europe grew between 1000 and 1445, more and

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more farmers began to use the three-field system (They would cultivate 2/3 of their land, and grow oats on the last 1/3 to feed to their pack animals. The oats replenished the nitrogen in the soil, and the farmers would shift the oat area around each year) However, since the peasants lived in extreme poverty andmost of their day was taken up by work, new agricultural technologies in Europe were scarce.-At one point the population grew so large that swamps were drained and areas with poor soil were used for the cultivation of crops. This led to an overall decline in crop output and quality.

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The Black Death and Social Change

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The Black Plague helped to end Europes overpopulation crisis by practically eliminating 2/3 of the population. The plague killed of many people and destroyed cities, where city officials tried to avoid contracting the plague by quarantining the city and burning the bodies and possessions of those who had been affected. During the two-year period in which the plague wreaked havoc, many people became more religious, paying the church and whipping themselves in order to remain spiritually pure, and hopefully plague-free.

After the brunt of the plague had

disappeared, the demand for skilled

labor was high; however the supply was

low due to the disease. The remaining

laborers demanded better wages as a

result. When the government tried to

stop this, mass revolts broke out and the

peasants killed many of the surviving

upper class.

Eventually the nobles complied and this lead to an overall rise in the quality of life for peasants. Serfdom became very scarce in Western Europe and as a result, the gap between rural and urban decreased in size.

Mines and Mills

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During the period of 1100-1500, England had its own small industrial revolution.People began to create and embrace new technologies such as the water wheel.Most lords began creating them on their land by the river and using it to grindgrain and flour, crush olives, saw wood, make paper and other monumental butuseful tasks.

The lords could then charge the people

on his land for using the mill too, making

the expensive wheel worth it. People

also used windmills in areas where the

water would freeze, making a water

wheel impractical. Usually, a group of

people would all invest in creating a

water wheel because of its great

expense.

However since it was free to run these mills, they became very profitable very quickly.-England also started to use the power of water to further advance their ironmaking capabilities. Now that blacksmiths could mold iron and create high-quality iron, the demand for iron spiked dramatically.

Therefore new mines opened up

and the mining industry increased.

-In 1388, the first anti-pollution law was

introduced, because of people and shops

duping waste into the river where it

contaminated the drinking water.

Urban Revival

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Trading Cites-After the 1200s, there was a dramatic growth in cites due to the increase intrade and manufacturing. People began to re-establish long-distance tradingroutes and the Mongols control over Asia helped to facilitate that process. There was an especially high demand for Chinese luxury items

-This high demand for Chinese goods

helped to increase Europes trade

output, as it needed materials to trade

with. After the fall of the Mongols,

trading with China became harder,

sparking exploration expeditions.

-Areas in Italy like Venice profited

greatly from all of this long-distance

trade, as they had direct access to the

Mediterranean maritime trading

system.

-The Europeans also furthered their textile industries, using wind and water mills to produce large quantities of wool for clothes. This led to even morespecialization of labor as local businesses stated to focus on how to meet the growing consumer demand.

Civic Life

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-Most people who lived in the urban cities enjoyed more freedom and socialmobility than those who lived in rural areas. This caused many people to flock to cities where they might be free after living there for a year. This also helped the cities because it brought new diverse peoples and cultures, along with their specialization of labor.

-During this period Jews faced heavy and

harsh persecution from other religious

groups. Many people blamed the Jews for the

plague and they were expelled and shunned

in once welcome areas such as Spain. -This

time period also brought the creation of

guilds. Guilds were created to help shorten

the apprenticeship time and to help regulate

certain areas of labor. It helped to regulate

trade and how it was practiced.

Women were still social unequal to men during this time, and were not allowedto join guilds. They were allowed to work in unskilled areas of work such as in the food and textile industry, though they received lower wages than men. Some women tried to improve their social status through marriage.

-The sudden growth in commerce also led to the growth of banking institutions. The banks specialized in everything from investments to loans and even checking accounts! Some of the wealthier banks even wrote news about the economy and what was affecting it, much like the Wall Street Journal today. These banks did business with all people, from the lowest merchants to kings and queens needing loans for war campaigns.

The banking industry was mostlycontrolled by the Jewish since the Christian Church did not allow usury, or interest. Some Christian bankers got around that however, by asking for gifts in return for their services. -Most people living in cities however, were still very poor and lived in filthy and poverty-stricken areas.

Gothic Cathedrals -The style of gothic cathedrals was extremely popular during this period of Europe. They were characterized by their pointing steeples, flying buttresses, and their enormous stained glass windows. Most of the cities would try to out do each other, building more and more magnificent and giant cathedrals. Yet the builders and engineers had little formal training or knowledge like our civil engineers have today. They learned purely though trial and error, and that error

Learning, Literature, and the Renaissance

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University and Learning-After 1100, Jewish scholars began to translate manuscripts written by the Greeks and Arabs concerning ideas of science, philosophy, and medicine. These writings were then studied at Christian monasteries, the schools of that time.-After the 1200s, universities and colleges began emerging over the Churches and monasteries as learning centers. They were created mostly by guilds in order to educate their students. Most of the colleges and universities focused on one subject or specialization, such as medicine or theology.

Humanists and Printers

-During the Renaissance, great writers

emerged and offered a cross-section of

renaissance life and outlook. Geoffrey

Chaucers Canterbury Tales offered a

look at the different occupations and

mindsets of the Renaissance man/

women, in a funny and humorous way.

Many authors of the time wrote in

vernacular and Latin, regardless of their

spoken language so that they could

reach a larger audience.

-The humanists of that time focused on social reform and the texts and writingsfrom Classical Greece and Rome. They helped to influence the reform ofRenaissance society. They were helped by John Gutenberg, who perfected theprinting press and helped to publish all of these works.

Renaissance Artists-Many Renaissance artists were influenced by earlier artists, painting in a more

natural style, rather than in the staring blank look style of the Byzantium.

Many artists also started to paint more earthy and rich scenes, rather than

laying it on a gold leaf background. New art technologies came into existence as

well, such as the artists mixing their pigments with oil rather than with egg

yolk, giving it a better finish and making it more versatile. -Wealthy families also

helped this process by paying enormous amounts of money to fund the artists.

Political and Military Transformation

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Monarch, Nobles, and the Clergy-The Renaissance social classes and structure were still very much like the medieval times. Monarchs who inherited power from the family (hereditary) were at the top of the social and political hierarchy. Next came the powerful nobles and vassals. However unlike in medieval times when the vassals were required to give military service to their lord, the renaissance vassals tried every way to take away power from the Monarch and give it to themselves.

-The knights were still the predominant force of Europes army, but the advent

of two new weapons helped to weaken their social standing in society. The

firearm and the piercing crossbow were two powerful new weapons that upset

the noble knights high standing, and lowered their status. This also meant

that Europes knights lost some of their wealth. -The church and nobles

undermined the monarchy of the royal family. When Pope Boniface VIII tried

to resist their power though, the reigning monarch, King Philip went as far as

to arrest the pope!

The monarchy was also limited in powerby the wealthy vassals who held enough money to stop the kings from having complete control. Also, when the king tried to raise taxes, it led to a revolt of the nobles, and the Magna Carta was signed, further limiting the kings power. -In order to try to gain more control over the nobles, kings would marry off sons and daughters to powerful vassals, in an attempt to control that family. However it was not always successful because the marriages didnt always work out. -The Great Schism between the Roman and Latin Church also happened during this time period, weakening the Churches power.

The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)

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-The Hundred Years War consisted of the English King Edward III fighting for theFrench throne. The war was almost like a showcase of new military technologies,like the piercing crossbow, the firearm, the cannon, and the pike. The Frenchwon the war in 1453, after rallying around Joan of Arc and using their

cannons todemolish the English walls and castles.

Both countries came away learning

something from one another, however

the French were now in the lead over the

English.

These armies now reliedon professional soldiers using the new military technology, instead of relying on the Knights. This made the Knight class drop way down in status, and iteventually became obsolete.-Because the new central governments had more control over their nobles andthe church, they raised taxes and taxed more items.

New Monarchies in France and England-The Hundred Years war helped both France and England centralize theirgovernments and gain control over the nobles. The war also motivated them tocreate stronger boundaries and build up better armies.

This helped them build uptheir armies and create a better state. However, the nobles still held some power in the political institutions like parliament.