Main Body
13
Cynthia Smith and Andrew Reeves
INTRODUCTION
DISCOVERY
One of the most notable examples of re-discovery in history occurred during the Late Middle Ages. Beginning in the late 1300s, literate populations of Europe embraced the Renaissance, the cultural movement that led to the recovery and dissemination of forgotten or lost Classical cultural foundations. Rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture and the rebirth of literacy and scholarship laid the foundation for modern Western philosophy, sciences, mathematics, literature, art and architecture. The Renaissance enabled early modern Europeans to leave behind many strictures and the stagnancy of Medieval life.
This term has since become a compelling reference to movements of other peoples seeking to revive their heritage, identity, and history. Present day indigenous renaissance movements, for example, strive to recover, translate, preserve and disseminate native knowledge in areas such as medicine, storytelling, oral histories, ceremonies, and creative arts. Hawaiian historian George Kanahele noted in 1979, “(c)ultural revivals are taking place among the Cajuns in Louisiana, the Indians of the north and southwest and other parts of the United States; the Maoris in New Zealand, the Rarotongans in the Cook Islands, and the Chamorros in Guam; the Welsh in Wales; the Bataks in Sumatra; the Filipinos in the Philippines. Wherever there are peoples who feel strongly enough about their identities and legacies, there will usually be strong efforts to preserve and strengthen them (Kanehele 1979, 9). And one African historian noted “(i)t is invoked by all sorts of names, this future, names of hope and redemption: the African revolution, reawakening, reconstruction, rebirth, regeneration, renewal, resurrection, revival, and renaissance…” (Zeleza 2009, 155).
During the European Renaissance, humanist scholars sought to discover Greek and Roman manuscripts lost in the violence, upheaval and cultural stagnancy of Medieval Europe. Those carrying out ‘humanist archival archeology’ rescued seminal ancient Greek and Roman works moldering away in monastery libraries (Rundle 2020). Other works were reintroduced to Europe by Crusaders returning from Mediterranean regions.Manuscripts were recovered from Byzantine libraries while in other cases ancient Classical texts were preserved in translation in Islamic libraries. Modern cultural re-discovery efforts require a similar level of creativity and diligence. Efforts include translating and preserving traditional records found in forms other than writing. As one scholar notes, “…. there has to be cognizance of the “languages” of, say, Chippewa birch-bark pictographs, Pueblo pottery, Haida engravings, cave and rock petroglyphs, Kwakiutl and Tlingit clan totem pole, or Navajo sand painting” (Lee 2020, 257).
Native Hawaiian culture has also undergone an inspiring example of renaissance and revival. The diminishment and suppression of Hawaiian language and traditions, in particular following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, resulted in significant cultural loss, including knowledge contained in moʻolelo, chants and oral histories. By the 1960s, less than 2000 residents were native Hawaiian language speakers, and very few of these were children. Decline in use and knowledge of the Hawaiian language also rendered virtually inaccessible the significant historical record contained in Hawaiian language newspapers (nūpepa).
In the 1970s, dedicated Hawaiian cultural activists initiated a renaissance that has flourished and resulted in a renewed appreciation for Hawaiian history, traditions, music, dance and language; this movement has evolved into an influential cultural and political movement. The result has been a significant increase in the number of native Hawaiian language speakers, and in 1978, ‘Ōlelo Hawaii was established as a state language, a significant victory for this movement. The success of the Hawaiian Renaissance and recovery of traditional skills and knowledge was signified by the establishment of the Polynesian Voyaging Society in 1973, and dramatically highlighted by the celebrated global voyages of the Hōkūleʻa and other voyaging canoes in the 21st century.
The concept of a cultural renaissance is most closely associated with the Late Middle Ages Europe, but today this phenomenon is global. Diverse peoples are rediscovering and reclaiming their cultures, celebrating distinctive identities through revived traditions in music, dance and art. The success of these renaissance efforts is evident not only in cultural vibrancy and resurgence, but institutionalized in the form of new academic programs, focused publications, and increased scholarly attention.
OVERVIEW
Between the 11th and 13th centuries, European communities slowly began to emerge from the stifling limits of feudal relations. Trade links with regions outside of Europe grew, fueling a resurgence of towns, currency systems, a middle class, and a renewed dynamism in ideas and technologies. The rise of formalized states and monarchies promoted greater political stability. Constraining patterns of feudalism were slowly eroding, replaced by more complex economics and social relations.
But then Europeans were slammed by crises that shook communities to their core. Natural disasters, epidemics, warfare and religious turmoil were potent influences during the traumatic 14th century and into the 15th century. Yet even as populations confronted these crises, positive developments were also occurring. Europeans experienced a vibrant cultural resurgence, a Renaissance, which slowly but inexorably transformed social, economic, political and cultural life, laying the foundation for modern Western culture. We trace these turbulent decades and influential episodes that marked the end of Europe’s Medieval era and the birth of early modern European societies that emerged, poised to play a far more prominent role in global history.
Chapter Objectives:
- Explain what factors are believed to have caused the Little Ice Age, and describe some significant effects of the global climate changes that resulted.
- Identify significant negative as well as positive effects of the Black Death.
- Describe what factors led to the 100 Years’ War and identify significant outcomes of this conflict.
- Define what is meant by the Italian and later European Renaissance, and describe significant effects of this cultural shift.
- Identify what factors led to the Protestant Reformation and describe some significant consequences.
Chapter Terms:
Renaissance, The Little Ice Age, The Great Famine, The Black Death, Scapegoating, 100 Years War, Joan of Arc, Individualism, Humanism, Secularism, Niccolò Machiavelli, Johann Gutenberg, The Great Schism, Indulgences, Martin Luther, Protestant Reformation, Catholic Reformation, The Age of Religious Wars.
CLIMATE DISASTERS
Think about it…
- Why did changes in the climate impact societies so dramatically?
From about the 9th through the 13th century, a moderate climate had prevailed, referred to as the Medieval Warm Period. Mild conditions in Europe fueled increased agricultural productivity, population growth and economic revival. But as the 13th century drew to a close, Europeans ran into Malthusian limits of how many people available resources could sustainably support. Europe’s climate became cooler and rainier, conditions less suitable for agriculture, reducing food supplies. These results were part of a broader global climate shift in the 14th century referred to as the Little Ice Age, a cooling of the climate that impacted societies across the globe. In Europe, dramatic and damaging effects included several failed harvests, famine, chronic malnutrition and a rise in epidemic disease outbreaks. Between 1315 and 1322, Europeans experienced extremely rainy, wet summers; accounts written at the time even tell of castle walls washed away in flood waters. Harvest failures led to a severe decline in food supplies, resulting in famines, widespread malnutrition and outright starvation. At the same time, livestock throughout parts of Europe died in droves from weather-intensified outbreaks of rinderpest, anthrax, and other diseases, with devastating effects on malnourished animals. In 1321, almost 70% of sheep stocks in Europe were killed by a devastating parasitic worm, severely impacting food supplies and dealing a heavy blow to communities dependent on the wool trade.
European population growth in towns and cities in previous centuries had created dense populations; these communities now suffered from dwindling food supplies and high prices for even the most basic supplies. Widespread, persistent hunger became a dominant feature of life in the early 14th century. Thousands of Europeans died from starvation, particularly during the years of the Great Famine (1315 – 1322). Years of inadequate food production, soaring prices and chronic hunger led to the deaths of 5 to 12% of the population from starvation or the effects of acute malnourishment. Some accounts from the time refer to starving peasants resorting to cannibalism. Grain that should have been preserved for planting seeds was consumed by desperate communities, ensuring future harvest shortfalls. Regions of Central Europe, Northern France, Scandinavia and the British Isles were particularly hard hit by what has been called “…. perhaps the single worst subsistence crisis in Europe’s recorded history” (McMichael 2017, 177). Agricultural disasters were especially severe for the estimated 85-90% of Northern Europeans living in rural areas.
Those who survived suffered from malnourishment and greater vulnerability to diseases. In filthy overcrowded boom towns fueled by earlier economic resurgence, there was increased morbidity (vulnerability to diseases) as several epidemics swept through Europe in the 1300s. Diseases hit towns hard, leading to the collapse of an estimated 5-10% of Europe’s urban population. Some historians estimate up to 10% of Europe’s population died in the early decades of the 14th century from diseases such as typhus, dysentery, tuberculosis and pneumonia. Though there are no specific numbers, estimates are millions died from starvation or the fatal consequences of acute malnourishment in the early 14th century. And the worst epidemic was yet to come.
Questions to answer:
- What factors are believed to have caused this climate shift?
- What regions in the world were hardest hit by climate changes?
- What were some historical examples of serious political consequences of natural events?
Climate change is a critical topic today as human-generated emissions contribute to an increasingly warming climate. Effects of current climate shifts are global, dominantly negative, and increasingly acute. Influential climate changes also occurred in the past, caused by natural events such as shifts in the earth’s orbit and axis, variations in solar radiation emitted, changes in the reflection of solar energy, and volcanoes spewing greenhouse gasses and ash clouds that prevented solar energy from reaching the earth.
During the 14th century regions across the globe felt the impacts of “(t)he largest-scale disequilibrium in the natural world… a global downturn in climate that is usually labelled the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA)” (Simmons 2008, 114). Though lack of accurate records means debates exist, the consensus is this shift started around the 1300s, became more apparent by the 1500s, and effects were still visible until the shift to a milder, more consistent climate by the mid-1800s. This Little Ice Age represented the end of the Medieval Warming Period, or Medieval Climate Optimum, from around 950 to 1250 during which Europe and other regions had enjoyed milder winters. Impacts of the Little Ice Age were global, though effects varied based on region and century. Those living in the mid 1600s and early 1800s experienced the most extreme weather experiences.
Causal factors of the Little Ice Age included intensified volcanic eruptions which set in motion a cooling momentum. Additionally, ice built up in colder regions, increasing albedo reflection – more sunlight was reflected away, further cooling the climate. Other likely contributing factors included decreasing solar radiation due to changes in the earth’s orbit and axis orientation, as well as shifts in the ocean currents that regulate climate. Some historians point to another contributing factor – the massive depopulation of native peoples in the Americas following European ‘discovery’, conquest and introduction of diseases. Following the dramatic collapse of native populations beginning in the 16th century, and prior to extensive European colonization in the 17th century, massive swaths of land were left uncultivated and uninhabited. Forests recovered, leading to a greater capture of CO² and this reduction in greenhouse gasses intensified cooling effects.
The Little Ice Age ushered in significantly longer, colder winters and intense precipitation in Northern Europe, North America and Asia. There are reports of episodes of over 100 days of continual rain in parts of Northern Europe, for example. It was also an era of more unpredictable and extreme weather conditions such as destructive coastal storms. In parts of Europe, the growing season shrank by up to three weeks. Crops were destroyed by blights and diseases, or rotted in fields. Pastures and fields were underwater or too soggy to plant, while some crops were killed by early frosts. Failed harvests could be devastating; during some periods, estimates are harvests declined by 40-45% in Southern England and by as much as 72-89% Northern England. These conditions led to several deadly famines, including the Great Famine of 1315-1322 which killed at least 1.5 million Europeans. Famine and outright starvation created malnourished populations, the ideal breeding ground for the many epidemics that wracked European societies. The bubonic plague is the most infamous, but other deadly epidemics hit during the 14th century including influenza, typhus, smallpox and dysentery.
Conditions worsened as effects of the Little Ice Age intensified in the 1600s, leading to a troubled century in societies across the globe. Disasters associated with the Little Ice Age included famine, drought, colder winters, shorter growing seasons, starvation and chronic malnutrition, all of which intensified economic stagnancy, class tensions, riots, revolutionary episodes and warfare across the globe. Suffering during the grueling 30 Years War in Central Europe, for example, was significantly exacerbated by miserable weather conditions.
As Northern populations suffered from cold and rain, extreme weather had equally devastating effects on those in southern regions. Declining summer monsoons in South Asia resulted in devastating droughts, killing millions in India alone. In China, peasant uprisings that helped bring down the Ming Dynasty were in part fueled by food shortages exacerbated by climate disasters. Extreme flooding of the Yellow River, a devastating drought that lasted years, and erratic harvests were all linked to turbulent weather conditions. China’s population in the 17th century plummeted by as many as 70 million due to starvation, violence and epidemics. Pacific Island societies also suffered from climate changes, leading some to abandon coastal settlements, retreating inland in pursuit of more reliable food sources. Significant political and economic shifts during these centuries are all seen as, in part, products of the Little Ice Age climate changes and environmental crises.
Though causes differ, there are parallels between this ancient period of climate change and current concerns. During the Little Ice Age, climate change impacts differed regionally in terms of severity. The same is true with global warming today. Those in southern parts of the globe, especially in already arid climates, are experiencing far starker consequences than countries in the North. Historical reports and descriptions make clear 14th century climate changes led to deadly famines and droughts, fomenting social, economic and political unrest, violence and revolutions. Today environmental problems are again exacerbating and intensifying poverty, economic inequalities, civil strife and political turbulence. The fact that current climate change is due primarily to human actions makes these tragic costs even more troubling.
Learning in Action – The Little Ice Age
Watch the video: “The Little Ice Age”, The History Chronicles 2021.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86FIVLErbg
Questions to answer:
- Describe all of the factors that potentially caused the Little Ice Age.
- What were some of the most dramatic effects of the Little Ice Age on Europeans in the 14th century?
- What were some dramatic effects on Africa and China in the 17th century?
- What lessons can be learned from studying historical effects of climate change?
THE BLACK DEATH
Think about it…
- How did grim consequences of the plague also lead to beneficial effects?
By the 1330s, societies experiencing a limited, fragile recovery from the Great Famine and Little Ice Age effects were hit by a devastating global pandemic: the Black Death. The Black Death was almost certainly an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague, caused by the bacterium Yersina pestis. Along with smallpox, the plague is one of the two deadliest pathogens in history and this disease still evokes dread. The disease acts in three ways: the variety called Bubonic Plague results in painful, swollen lumps around the armpits, crotch, and neck, locations associated with lymph nodes; when they burst, a foul-smelling pus emerges. The septicemic variety results in skin turning black and dying throughout the body. The pneumonic (airborne) variety, almost always fatal, shows no visible symptoms but affects the lungs. A victim can go from healthy to dead in the space of twenty-four hours.
Periodic epidemics of the plague have killed people and animals going back to ancient times, particularly in the Mediterranean and Central Asia. The Byzantine Empire under Justinian, for example, was devastated by a plague outbreak that began in 541 CE. The Justinian Plague pandemic lasted several years, spreading via established roads and sea ports throughout the empire, leading to the deaths of tens of millions. Grim stories of bodies piled in the streets mirrored conditions experienced centuries later in Europe and Asia during the 1300s pandemic. Turmoil and depopulation from the Justinian Plague caused significant economic decline and destabilization, contributing to Byzantine decline. The plague remained a threat, with continued outbreaks occurring periodically for centuries. Then in the 14th century an especially deadly plague epidemic hit Asia, the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe, with catastrophic effects.
The 14th century plague outbreak was caused by a virulent strain which first broke out in Asia; recent genetic research has identified modern day Kyrgyzstan as the originating region. The pandemic spread quickly along trade routes to communities in North, East and Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and along the Swahili Coast, causing an estimated 75 million deaths. When it hit Europe, the plague had devastating effects on communities already weakened by decades of famine, malnutrition and earlier epidemics.
After centuries of Medieval isolation, Europeans were enjoying a revival of trade and interchange. But an inevitable cost of trade and interchange is greater exposure to diseases, a phenomenon still evident in our ever-shrinking world. The plague struck the commercially active city of Genoa, Italy in 1348 and within a year had spread along coastal communities. The pandemic swept inland through the Italian peninsula, then throughout Europe, reaching the far reaches of Scandinavia by 1352. Black rats, thriving in booming and dirty cities, are believed to have initially been the carriers. Later the disease apparently took pneumonic form, accelerating its spread.
This devastating pandemic was called at the time the Great Pestilence, the Great Plague or the Great Mortality; only in later years was the term Black Death used. This strain of the plague had an extremely high mortality rate, though levels differed depending on the region, population distribution, public sanitation practices (universally rather poor), and proximity to centers of trade and contact with travelers. This disease killed in a horrific manner, with victims dying in pain, blood hemorrhaging beneath the skin and spitting up blood. The dying were shunned or deserted as those around them fled and those afflicted were sometimes shut away.
When the plague hit a town or neighborhood, the result was often hysteria and punitive public health measures. In some Italian cities, city leaders walled up families in infected buildings, leaving them to die, in a desperate attempt to stop the disease. Social structures and bonds eroded as parents deserted children, and communities fragmented and turned on each other. People did not understand the disease’s origins so did not know how to protect themselves, feeding irrational fear and hysteria. Most looked to religion for an explanation, with some turning to God with a religious fervency bordering on hysteria in hopes of being spared. Others felt they were already doomed, leading to nihilism, hedonism, and disregard for laws and social obligations. Social breakdown, anarchy, crime and violence added to the horrors for those living in societies hit by the disease.
Trade slowed or halted as cities shut their gates, fearing new faces or goods that might bring the plague. Agricultural production and food supplies declined as peasants died or fled the plague. Some desperately blamed those they believed had brought on this disease. Scapegoating, the simplistic targeting and blaming of those defined as ‘others’ in times of crisis, is a tragic and ugly pattern in history. Medieval Europeans carried out frenzied scapegoating attacks on vulnerable members of the community such as transients and lepers. Particularly horrific were mob attacks across Europe by Christians against Jewish members in their communities, episodes which led to the brutal deaths of thousands of Jewish citizens.
The initial outbreak of the plague in Europe lasted from the 1340s -1350s, then the plague subsided, only to reappear in the 1370s. As a result of these two 14th century outbreaks, Europe lost an estimated 30-60% of its population. Whole towns disappeared; cities such as Florence, London and Marseilles lost tens of thousands of citizens in a matter of weeks. European population collapse was staggering, with estimates ranging from 25 to 75 million dead. Dread permeated European cultures and a pervasive fatalism influenced European literature and art. Europe’s population did not begin recovering until the 15th century, not returning to pre-plague levels until the 17th, or in some regions the 18th, centuries. Less virulent outbreaks of the plague continued to strike parts of Europe nearly every year until 1782.
Reading the Past – The Black Death
Read: “Introduction – The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio in 1351,” trans. Richard Hooker, 1993.
Link: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/decameronintro.asp
Questions to answer:
- How did the disease appear to spread, according to Boccaccio’s descriptions?
- What are some ways people tried to protect themselves from the ‘pestilence’?
- What are some examples Boccaccio describes of societal breakdown resulting from this epidemic?
The plague caused death, horror and upheaval, yet living conditions for peasants who survived did improve in many ways. Turmoil caused by depopulation and social upheaval weakened feudal bonds as people fled traditional lands and ignored restrictive feudal relationships. Because there were fewer people, those who survived had greater potential access to lands, resources, and employment. The workforce became more mobile and fewer people meant lower rents as landlords tried to fill their estates with workers. Since agricultural workers were in short supply, some achieved more advantageous agreements as nobles offered better wages or tenancy conditions. There were greater opportunities for economic mobility in the towns as well. While monarchs and aristocrats sought to reinforce the social status of the peasantry, the decline of medieval social strictures was accelerated by the depopulation and tumult created by the plague. In the long run, the plague actually helped some Europeans achieve greater economic and social mobility. These positive developments were not seen globally, however. For example in Mamluk Egypt, in the aftermath of the plague, Egypt’s ruling class kept the peasantry in a firmly subordinate role and prevented the rise of peasant wages.
The plague continued to haunt cultures and cities for centuries in Europe and throughout the world. Later outbreaks in Europe never spread as far or killed as many as this 14th century pandemic, but London and other cities did endure outbreaks well into the 1500s and 1600s. A final major era of global plague outbreaks took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when, between 1894-1930, plague epidemics killed 12 million in India. Spreading to China, the devastating outbreaks in Manchuria in the early 1900s resulted from fleas from marmots. This Asian outbreak reached Honolulu in 1900. When a desperate attempt to eliminate rats by razing buildings in Honolulu’s Chinatown district blew out of control, almost one fifth of the city burned down. Episodes of the plague continue to crop up. A highly publicized outbreak of the plague occurred in India in the 1990s, while Madagascar in 2014 experienced a troubling outbreak. Rodents continue to be the primary vector. Although current medicines provide some recourse, the plague continues to exist in the natural world, still causing dread and fear.
Questions to answer:
- What advances have been made in combating communicable diseases?
- What are some deadly diseases still impacting societies in the 21st century?
Humans, in common with all life forms, are vulnerable to infectious pathogens. When hunter-gatherers embraced agricultural lifestyles, the incidence, range and lethality of diseases increased because people lived in denser populations. Additionally, humans now lived in close proximity to domestic animals and many communicable diseases jumped from animals to humans. Irrigation techniques increased the amount of stagnant water, creating breeding grounds for mosquitos, the biggest killers on the planet, spreading diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness and yellow fever. Cultivating and storing grain increased rat and mice populations, also vectors of deadly diseases. And as humans pursued ever-broader, intensive trade connections, diseases spread more rapidly. Not surprisingly, throughout written history, societies have bemoaned the burdensome, often deadly, effects of diseases.
When a disease occurs on a chronic basis in a localized area, it is endemic. When that disease spreads to nearby societies, it is an epidemic. Global trade links and advances in transportation have led to worldwide outbreaks known as pandemics. Diseases have often played a critical role in history. Significant depopulation impacts the functioning of societies, creating hysteria, fear and desperation that contributes to political and social breakdown as well as economic decline. Societal growth and demographics are directly impacted, for example for much of history, infectious diseases “…were the main reason why child mortality was so high: No matter where or when they were born, around half died as children” (Roser 2020). Diseases also have impacted armed conflicts; in most wars prior to the First World War, deaths from deprivation and diseases outnumbered combat deaths.
While harrowing stories of the Black Death are widely known, there have been many other significant disease episodes, some at the pandemic level, and many are ongoing. A particularly virulent flu strain produced the globally devastating ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic in the last weeks of the Great War. Between March 1918 and late 1919, about one third of the world’s population was infected and an estimated 50-100 million people died. Other deadly flu outbreaks occurred, such as the 1956-58 outbreak that killed close to 2 million, and one in 1968 that led to 1 million deaths. Influenza today is “… constantly mutating – essentially putting on ever-changing disguises – to evade our immune systems” (Influenza: Are We Ready?).
Typhus, with a mortality level as high as 20%, remains chronic and deadly. Measles is still a deadly presence with cases apparently on the rise. In 2019 an estimated 83,000 people died from this disease, while in 2021, there were 128,000 global deaths, a troubling upsurge. Dengue fever impacts an estimated 100 – 400 million people worldwide each year, and is fatal in up to 20% of cases. An estimated 40% of the world’s population live in conditions that make them vulnerable to dengue fever. Malaria remains a major killer, with hundreds of thousands dying each year, most are children under five. Despite modern advances in medicine and prevention strategies, malarial deaths are increasing, with an estimated 627,000 deaths worldwide in 2020.
Cholera outbreaks continue to erupt in the world’s longest pandemic which has lasted from 1961 to the present. Millions are infected annually and many die from this disease. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) emerged and spread dramatically in the 1980s-1990s and continues to threaten lives today, despite medical responses that have reduced mortality. AIDS has already led to over 40 million deaths. In 2022, close to 40 million people had AIDS, over two thirds of them living in Sub Saharan African regions. Tuberculosis remains the second most infectious killer, with an estimated 1.6 million dying globally from this disease in 2021. Only Covid-19 has been a bigger killer in recent times.
For most of human history, humans were largely helpless to resist disease outbreaks. Scientific and technical breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th centuries, for example penicillin in the post-WWII era, enabled humans to gain ground in their non-ending war with microbes. Better sanitation and public health programs, elimination or control of insect and rodent populations, discovery of vaccinations, and use of antibiotics have all aided in reducing deaths from some diseases. One of the oldest and deadliest killers, small pox, was even declared officially eradicated in 1980. Yet the recent Covid-19 pandemic is clear testament to the fact diseases remain a potent factor in human history.
Concerns about ongoing and future epidemics and pandemics are heightened by overuse of antibiotics that are creating ‘super’ strains or ‘MDR’ (multiple drug resistant) forms of age-old killers. And as humans move into new habitats, for example cutting deeper into forests, increased interactions with animal populations have led to outbreaks of terrifying diseases such as the Marburg hemorrhagic virus and Ebola, a gruesome bleeding disease with up to 90% mortality. Ebola was first identified in 1976 and there have since been several frightening outbreaks. While these have remained localized epidemics in Africa, the possibility of a pandemic event remains.
As one scientist pointed out “….certain patterns have emerged about the way microbes turn into plagues…. Growing international trade and increased human mobility amplify the spread, and pathogens usually have found heightened vulnerabilities among people marginalized and impoverished by society, who have few resources to protect themselves. We are now seeing these patterns again as our current pandemic, driven by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, races across the globe” (Close 2022). So while there have been many positive gains over the last few centuries, the story of diseases significantly impacting societies remains a prominent part of our world.
Learning in Action – Infographic on Pandemics
View graphic: “Infographic: Outbreak: Deadliest Pandemics in History”, Good Worldwide. 2020 (prior to COVID).
Link: https://assets.rbl.ms/19822207/origin.jpg
Questions to answer:
- What is the indicated definition of a ‘pandemic’?
- Identify the three deadliest pandemics in history and indicate estimates of how many died.
- Identify which diseases are still considered threats today.
WAR AND REALIGNMENT
Think about it…
- How did the balance of power change in Western and Southeastern Europe?
The Hundred Years War
Famines and diseases were not the only disasters to strike beleaguered Europeans in the Late Middle Ages. During the 14th century there was chronic violence from civil wars and conflicts between emerging, early states. Central Europeans residing in the loose confederation of the Holy Roman Empire experienced nearly a decade of civil war between rival emperors (1314–1326). Sweden, Denmark, and Norway were plunged into violence from civil and interstate wars, until the 1397 Union of Kalmar brought the three together under one crown. The longest-running conflict was between England and France, called the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453). For those living in England or France – already attempting to survive famine, cholera, typhus and the plague – this conflict was yet another threat to survival.
The new monarchs of France and England flexed their growing state and military powers in a conflict over territory and competing claims to the French throne. In 1328, the French king Charles IV died without a direct heir. England’s king, Edward III (r. 1327–1377), related to the French royal family, claimed to be rightful heir to the crown of France. The resulting war over the French throne lasted over a century, with periods of armed conflict punctuated by frequent, lengthy truces. Although France had more people than England, the kingdom of England often dominated due in part to English use of trained, disciplined infantry armies, rather than the traditional medieval reliance on mounted soldiers. Using a combination of archers and infantry, the English inflicted severe defeats on the French at both Crécy (August 26, 1346) and Poitiers (September 19, 356).
England dominated for many years but in the early 1400s the momentum of the war shifted due in large part to the intriguing and ultimately tragic involvement of Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc). A French peasant who believed she was chosen by God to lead the French against the English, Joan of Arc inspired those who believed she was divinely guided. By exploiting significant internal problems of the English army, the French took control of the city of Orleans from the occupying English in early 1429. After this movtivating victory at Orleans, the French army maintained its momentum, ultimately pushing the English off the continent.
Despite her significant contributions to France’s victory, Joan of Arc was not treated as a hero. She threatened the Church with her claims of having direct communication with God. She deeply disturbed many by wearing men’s clothing and waging war, breaking established social conventions about the role of a woman. Ultimately she was put on trial by the Catholic Church for heresy, condemned on the basis of a confession gained after weeks of torture, and was burned at the stake. Only centuries later was she rehabilitated by the Church and ultimately made a saint.
Reading the Past – Joan of Arc
Read: “The Trial of Joan of Arc, 1431”, from Selections from the Sources of English History, B.C. 55 – A.D. 1832, edited by Charles W. Colby, 1920.
Link: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/1431joantrial.asp
Questions to answer:
- What were some messages Joan of Arc stated she received from the voice she heard?
- Why might those hearing this testimony have been threatened by her testimony?
The Hundred Years’ War ended with England losing both its claim to the French throne as well as territory on the continent, most notably the Aquitaine region. This conflict also spilled over into Spain, where a vicious war between Castile and Aragon eventually caused a Castilian civil war, with both French and English intervening. The war shifted territorial control in France and caused thousands of deaths, military and civilian. Pre-modern war tactics often entailed invading enemy territory and burning crops, looting villages, and murdering civilians. The war was particularly hard on civilians in the French countryside. Miserable peasants already contending with the plague and famine were forced to endure enforced service as foot soldiers, or watch helplessly as farms became battle fields. French peasants suffering first from the plague and then a protracted war, in 1358 rose in rebellion. This rebellion was ruthlessly crushed, with peasants slaughtered and leaders brutally executed. State leaders were the only ones who gained from this war. France secured control of territory on the European continent, and the monarchs of both states used the conflict as justification to build up powerful militaries, expand taxation and decrease the power of feudal lords.
Learning in Action – 100 Years War
Watch the video: “Ten Minute English and British History #15 – The Hundred Years’ War”, History Matters 2018
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6CrOGoXtMI
Questions to answer:
- What factors led to gaps in fighting during the long period of this war?
- What are your observations about how emphases on bloodlines and succession fueled this war?
- Summarize the outcome and effects of the war for England.
Southeastern Europe
The Late Middle Ages was a time of dramatic changes in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. The declining Byzantine Empire faced increasing challenges from several rising powers. The Italian city-states of Genoa and Venice asserted Italian power through control of many of the best ports of the Aegean, Adriatic and Black Seas, building on the economic revival of the 12th and 13th centuries. In Anatolia, the Turkish Ottoman Empire was on the rise. In the aftermath of the Mongol destruction of the Saljuq sultanate, Ottoman leaders asserted control of Turkish tribes in Anatolia and set their sights on expansion in the Mediterranean and Near East. By 1331, nearly all Byzantine territory in Asia Minor was under Turkish rule; shortly thereafter, the nascent Ottoman Empire began expanding into southeastern Europe.
Decline of the Byzantine state made possible the 14th-century flourishing of the Serbian and Bulgarian Empires. Their cultures emerged as a melding of both Greek and Slavic elements, creating a unique synthesis of cultures and institutions. In the end, however, these empires were overwhelmed by the Ottoman Turks who conquered Serbia between 1389 and 1459, and Bulgaria in 1396. Ottoman power ultimately swept away all Bulgar, Serbian, and Byzantine resistance, and in 1453 the Turkish army conquered Constantinople. After two thousand years, the last remnant of the Roman Empire was gone. In addition to transforming economic and political power in the Mediterranean and Near East, the fall of the Byzantine Empire was one factor contributing to the Renaissance in Western and Central Europe.
THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE
Think about it…
- What were the major changes in values and priorities that characterized the Renaissance?
Roots of the Renaissance
The 14th century was dominated by difficulties and disasters, but as threats and crises subsided, many parts of Europe experienced a resurgence of political stability and trade, reaping the benefits of declining feudal power. Though the Late Middle Ages was a time of great suffering for many, by the late 1300s and early 1400s, recovery was evident not only in economic and social terms but by the resurgence of literacy, scholarship and art – the Italian (later European) Renaissance. The term Renaissance comes from the French word for rebirth, an apt name for a movement based on recovering and restoring knowledge of Ancient Greek and Roman achievements in art, literature, and science.
A number of factors in the 14th century Mediterranean world fostered the intellectual and cultural momentum of the Italian Renaissance. The city-states of Italy were the first to recover from the plague due to the disease’s northward movement. Cities like Naples, Florence, and Venice carried out inspection of goods and people, better controlling spread of the disease; the death rate dropped and life stabilized. Once the threat of the plague was largely behind them, people in Italian city states began to look at life in a new way. With the threat of abrupt demise lessened, people of all classes became increasingly focused on economic and lifestyle issues, rather than dominantly spiritual ones. Additionally, increased demand for labor made individual mobility possible, highlighting the fact one’s living standards could be made better through individual action.
Other factors contributed to Italy’s cultural blossoming. Even during the heart of the Middle Ages, Italians, unlike their northern neighbors, had not descended into total isolation and maintained trade contacts with the Muslim world, exporting goods such as woolen textiles and grain. When Europe emerged from the darkest decades of the 14th century, Italian trading centers were well situated to play a prominent role in the reemerging commerce. Strong links to Mediterranean trade and interchange made Northern Italy one of the wealthiest and most urbanized regions of Western Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
The region was politically fragmented by princes competing with each other and these leaders sought to glorify their reigns through sponsorship of artists and intellectuals. Italy was also home of, and had never lost touch with, its ancient Roman roots. Italy’s education system remained more focused on Ancient Roman literature, compared to the rest of Europe where scholastic curricula often focused on logic, philosophy, or theology. In addition, the Crusades contributed to increased exposure to the past, at a bloody cost. European elites who traveled to fight were stunned by the knowledge, achievements and sophistication of neighboring Byzantine and Islamic realms. Wealthy and literate elites in Italy were determined to invigorate European culture and scholarship to catch up with these impressive achievements of the Mediterranean and Asia. Finally, violence in Byzantine territories in the face of Ottoman expansion, particularly after the conquest of Constantinople, meant those fleeing West brought with them ancient knowledge and forgotten manuscripts, helping to invigorate this cultural rebirth.
New Ideals
The Renaissance was based on the reassertion of classical wisdom and knowledge, a conscious campaign to revive literacy, education and inquisitive scholarship. The Renaissance was characterized by enthusiastic supporters as a long overdue end to the ‘Dark Ages’ and a dominant Medieval culture based on war, violence and stagnation. Feudal, military customs and priorities, and the dominance of Catholic Christianity, were no longer primary influences in the society. Ideas taking root in Italy and throughout Europe during the Renaissance reflected four new hallmark ideas: revival of ancient Greco-Roman knowledge and emphases on individualism, secularism, and humanism.
Although connections to Greco-Roman art, architecture, writings and law were never completely lost during the Medieval Period, much of Europe had experienced a drastic decline in literacy and scholarship. Ancient works had disappeared or been forgotten during centuries of violence and neglect. Some manuscripts disappeared completely from Europe. Renaissance thinkers sought to actively recover, translate and restore Classical knowledge and achievements. This meant translating lost or forgotten ancient works, many of which were found in the libraries of the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world. The writings of scholars such as Italian poet Francesco Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) who lived 1307–1374, fostered greater interest in the literature of Ancient Rome. Poetry and literature were fundamental fields of scholarship in the emerging movement of humanism and humanist studies.
A critical element of the humanist movement was studying ancient texts rather than relying on centuries of later commentaries about these texts. Returning to original texts led to focused study of how ancient Roman writers used the Latin language, and how Latin use had changed throughout the Roman Empire’s history. Humanistic pursuits fostered creation of formal universities and academic institutions, as well as expanded the disciplines studied. Renaissance education taking place in universities in cities like Bologna, Milan, and Pisa examined topics related to human society such as ethics, law, history, and philosophy. These disciplines, part of the emerging Humanities field, were now studied in addition to the traditional emphasis on theology.
Reading the Past – Humanist Education
Read: “Petrus Paulus Vergerius: The New Education (c. 1400)”, from Vittorino da Feltre and other Humanist Educators, trans. W.H. Woodward 1897
Link: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/vergerius.asp
Questions to answer:
- What are some reasons given by Vergerius for the importance of studying literature?
- What are some disciplines he notes are part of ‘Liberal Studies’ and why did he assert they were important fields of study?
Humanist scholars initially focused on the study of Latin but circumstances soon brought about greater emphasis on the study of Greek. As the Byzantine Empire crumbled in the face of Ottoman expansion, many Greek-speaking refugees fleeing the Aegean area settled in Italy, particularly in the city-state of Florence. These refugees brought Greek books and founded schools for the study of Greek. Most readers knew of the literature of Ancient Greece but usually only in the form of Latin summaries. By the 12th century, Western Europeans were reviving knowledge of Aristotle and Ptolemaic science but in translations, often from Greek to Arabic to Latin. A return to the study of Greek meant scholars could now read Greek works in the original language, direct accessing the writings of Plato and Homer for the first time in centuries. Emphasis on the study of languages of ancient texts led to intense study of the ancient text most important to Western Europeans: the Bible. Humanists like Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus (1469–1536) used linguistic investigation to analyze the Greek text of the New Testament. They examined the text as it had been written rather than based on the intervening fourteen centuries of commentary. The results of such readings were explosive and helped pave the way for the later Protestant Reformation.
An exciting change during the Renaissance was renewed attention given to the idea of the individual. In the feudal Middle Ages culture based on binding reciprocal relations, there was little room for individual eccentricities or distinctive genius. In a reciprocal-based society, individual uniqueness was discouraged. The wealthy merchant elite during the Renaissance, however, were interested in cultivating, celebrating, and preserving their own individual distinctiveness. This led to an increased focus on education for personal cultivation, as well as growing attention to individual depictions in art and literature. Many wealthy Italians commissioned portraits of themselves, eager to preserve their particular likenesses. Initially, the emphasis on individual importance and worth was only apparent for those in the elite classes. But over centuries, belief in the importance of the individual took root in Western society and culture, permeating even to the lower classes in later centuries.
Secularism was also a prominent part of Renaissance culture. Throughout the Middle Ages, Catholic Christianity was a primary influence in intellectual and social life. Morals and values were based on Christianity, and scholars focused on reading and debating issues of theology. For poorer classes, their grim and challenging existence was endured by focusing on a possible heavenly reward. But in Renaissance Italy, the wealthy merchant elite became increasingly interested in a material world that was enriching and rewarding. Though religious devotion to Christian ideals remained a fundamental part of European culture, there was now a resurgent interest in earthly pursuits and concerns, a renewed interest in the human condition and human possibilities. In art and scholarship, people explored a broader array of topics and issues rather than a narrow focus on theological and religious subjects. Classical Greek and Roman explorations of the human condition were revived and built on. One of the popular phrases of the Renaissance was ‘man is the measure of all things’; such a proud, even arrogant, sentiment would have been inconceivable in the Medieval era.
The Renaissance was not simply embraced by Italian scholars and artists. Its impacts were far-reaching throughout Western Europe. Children of royalty and wealthy merchants were educated along humanistic lines. Humanist education spread from Italy to elites throughout Western Europe by the late 16th and early 17th centuries, resulting in the Northern Renaissance. Humanism’s political and social effects were broad ranging, impacting even the authority of the Catholic Church. Since the 8th century, popes had used the text of the Donation of Constantine to demonstrate their right to rule as earthly princes as well as spiritually direct the Church. In 1440, humanist scholar Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457) analyzed the Donation of Constantine and definitively proved that it was a forgery. The document’s Latin writing style was most certainly not the Latin of 4th century Rome. Valla, using textual analysis, showed that one of the foundational documents by which the papacy claimed legitimacy as an earthly power was a fraud.
Even the ideals of how a ruler should govern reflected the influence of Renaissance humanism and secular focus. In his seminal work The Prince, based on analyses of historical Roman writings, Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) argued history showed a prince should not necessarily attempt to rule virtuously but should ruthlessly set aside ethics and morality to accomplish the goals of the state. In many ways rulers already behaved this way, but Machiavelli provided intellectual justifications for doing so. These ideas, so removed from the Medieval emphasis on Christian-based leadership, shocked many during Machiavelli’s time. They represented a far cry in political thinking from the era when Charlemagne or feudal lords sought to justify power based on their perceived standing as good Christian leaders. In Renaissance Europe, political leaders increasingly focused on acquisition of power for its own sake, separate from religious justification and standing.
Reading the Past – The Prince
Read: “Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince [excerpts] 1513″, edited by W.K. Marriot, 1908.
Link: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/prince-excerp.asp
Questions to answer:
- What did Machiavelli feel was the most critical area of study for a ruler?
- Explain how Machiavelli answers the question – is it better to be loved or feared?
Renaissance Art and Literature
The creative impulses of the Renaissance were manifest in music, architecture, literature, and stunning artwork produced by Italian painters and sculptors. In later years, a similar flowering of artistic achievement occurred in Northern regions of Europe. Revival of ancient Western culture led to interest in and emulation of Classical art and architecture. Churches such as Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence (built between 1420 and 1436) sprang up in imitation of the domed temples and churches of ancient Rome. Sculptors such as Donatello (1386–1466) produced naturalistic sculptures the like of which had not been seen for more than a thousand years. Individual genius was encouraged and celebrated in Renaissance culture, with artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci well rewarded in their lifetime for their brilliance and distinctive creativity in portraying and capturing reality.
During the Medieval era, stunning architectural achievements of cathedrals, sculptures of religious figures, and gorgeous stained glass cathedral windows had generated awe and devout feelings towards God and the Church.
Paintings and sculptures of Judeo-Christian subjects were intended for veneration and worship. The subjects were almost universally Christian and allegorical, usually commissioned by the Catholic Church. In comparison, during and after the Renaissance, Christian topics remained important but subject matter and styles varied dramatically. Portraits of prominent members of the merchant class, images from Greek and Roman history and mythology, depictions of the natural world, and human events and activities were all now portrayed in art.
The naturalism of the ancient Greeks and Romans deeply influenced Renaissance sculpture. In creating depth, perspective and scale, Renaissance artists built on and improved on Classical techniques. Artists portrayed individuals or the natural world, as well as Christian subjects, in a realistic manner, capturing nuances of human forms and faces with breathtaking results. Painting and sculpting the real world, these artists soon became obsessed with the idea of perspective, attempting to make everything in their paintings look as real as possible, to capture life in the moment.
Reading the Past – Virtual Museum Visit
View and explore a virtual stroll around the Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy. This gallery houses many Renaissance era sculptures and paintings, some were part of the Medici family collection.
Questions to answer:
- Identify four different Renaissance artists displayed (those whose works dated from the mid 14th to the 16th century).
- Choose two paintings and explain how they reflect one or more of the Renaissance themes: revival of ancient Greece and Rome, individualism, secularism, or humanism.
European literary voices expressed the same genius and creativity as artists. Authors such as Dante Alighieri and Edmund Spenser composed works reflecting topics from the Middle Ages, such as Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Spenser’s feudal-based The Faerie Queen. But their treatment of themes such as good and evil, honor and virtue, moved beyond Medieval thinking, conveying insights and questions raised by Renaissance education and humanism. Perhaps the most famous example of literacy brilliance and sophistication in this era was William Shakespeare. His works of tragedy and comedy highlighted difficult questions and complex observations about the human condition, expressing the same fascination with human talents and foibles seen centuries earlier in works of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
As one of the worst centuries in European history drew to a close, those who survived rebounded to embrace a period of remarkable growth and creativity. Between 1400-1600 in Italy, and the 1500s-1700s in Northern European regions, European elites revived cultural emphases on literacy, scholarship and learning. This cultural resurgence was intensified by the accelerated spread of literacy and production of books made possible by Western discovery of the movable type printing press, credited to Johann Gutenberg. After centuries of stagnation, the creativity and curiosities of European intellects were awakened and rejuvenated as they rediscovered and embraced Classical cultural attention on the importance of individual genius and innovation. The cultural reorientation of the Renaissance laid the groundwork for later modern European advances in art, math, music, science, philosophy and politics. The Renaissance increased European curiosity about the world, leading to the acquisition of knowledge necessary to launch exploratory expeditions, as well as fostered a pride in Western culture that Europeans carried, and imposed on others, as they expanded in later centuries.
CRISES IN THE CHRISTIAN WORLD
Think about it…
- What were some religious differences dividing Christians into different faiths and churches?
The Great Schism
A defining feature of Medieval European societies was a dominant belief in Christianity and shared obedience to the authority of the Catholic Church. Even as regional differences evolved into diverse languages, cultures and political systems, Western and Central Europe communities throughout the Middle Ages continued to share a common belief system and allegiance to the authority of the Catholic Church. But this religious unity was showing serious signs of strain by the 14th century, ultimately leading to the fragmentation of the European Christian world in the early 1500s. The roots of this crisis can be traced to earlier developments during the Middle Ages.
In 1250, after nearly two centuries of struggle, the papacy had broken the power of the Holy Roman Empire, ushering in an era of visible strength for the Catholic Church. But in less than a century, the power and prestige of the papacy faced a significant challenge initiated by the clash between Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294–1303) and the King of France, Philip IV (r. 1285 – 1314). When King Philip attempted to tax French clergy, Pope Boniface resisted, claiming not only that a king had no right to tax any clergy, but that all earthly authority was subordinate to the authority of the popes. This conflict ended when King Philip had a gang of mercenaries kidnap and abuse the pope. Even though Boniface escaped, he died of the shock shortly thereafter.
To avoid further antagonizing the French crown, the College of Cardinals (Church officials in Rome who elect the pope) elected a Frenchman to succeed him as Pope Clement V (r. 1305 – 1314). Clement, however, never took up residence in Rome. In 1309, he settled the papal court in Avignon, a city owned by the papacy just across the border from the Kingdom of France. To many observers at the time, it looked as though the papacy had relocated to be under the thumb of the French monarchy. Italian poet Petrarch referred to the papacy residing at Avignon as the ‘Babylonian Captivity of the Church’, referring metaphorically to the account in the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible) when the people of Judaea were held captive in the city of Babylon. Petrarch was insinuating God’s community was now held captive in a foreign land rather than residing in Rome, the city of St. Peter and thirteen subsequent centuries of popes.
The crisis only grew worse. In 1377, Pope Gregory XI (r. 1370–1378) moved the papal court back to Rome. When he died, the cardinals, pressured by an angry Roman mob, elected an Italian, Urban VI. Urban soon proved to be erratic and abusive, leading many cardinals to flee Rome to Avignon. Here they elected another pope. The Catholic Christian world now had two popes, each claiming to be the rightful representative of Jesus Christ on earth. This destructive episode, lasting from 1378 to 1417, is known as the Great Schism.
Cardinals aligned with different papal claimants; political leaders became involved, choosing sides often for political reasons. Added to despair from famine, war and disease, Europeans now had to deal with an ugly power struggle between Church leaders, with the identity of the earthly Christian authority in doubt. A 1409 council convened to depose both popes and appoint a single pope failed, leading instead to the absurd and troubling situation of three competing popes, as neither Rome nor the Avignon papacy recognized this new pope. The conflict was finally resolved when the Council of Constance (1415–1417) deposed all three popes and selected a new one, but the prestige of the papacy had been severely tarnished.
The Church’s failure to quickly resolve this schism led to many critical voices. John Wyclif in England and Jan Hus in Bohemia challenged the authority of the Church, arguing the importance of individual interpretation. Wyclif’s followers (Lollards) and the ‘Hussites’ in Bohemia were treated as heretics by the Church. Jan Hus was arrested by the Catholic Church, tried by the Inquisition and burned at the stake. But questions raised by this schism could not be stamped out through the brutality of the inquisition. Seeds were sown for continued and growing skepticism about the Church and its authority.
The Great Schism did not immediately lead to upheaval and widespread religious revolt but in the hundred years after the Schism, criticisms remained. The Renaissance, with its focus on humanism, critical textual scholarship and individualism emboldened some to question authority. Additionally, the Catholic Church failed to address very real problems of moral and fiscal corruption rampant in the Church, evident at local and even the highest levels of the Church administration. Resented practices such as plurality, where one individual was bishop of a number of cities and dioceses, led to absenteeism and eroded trust.
One of the most controversial practices was the sale of indulgences, a practice founded on fundamental Catholic teachings about sin and salvation. Catholic doctrine asserted sins could be forgiven through confession and penance as prescribed by Church officials, with absolution granted by the Church. By the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the Church claimed a person’s sins could be forgiven in return for extraordinary services to the Church, such as military service on a Crusade or a large donation. This practice developed into the morally erosive situation of forgiveness in exchange for donations to the Church and became a money-generating enterprise for the Church. By the early 1500s, the practice of selling indulgences meant people could be forgiven for sins simply by paying a fee, without necessarily demonstrating any remorse or atonement. Anger with this practice fanned the flames of festering criticisms that Martin Luther would spark into a religious revolution.
The Protestant Reformation
Martin Luther was a devout Catholic living in Wittenberg (Central Europe), where the sale of indulgences reached a high pitch in the early 1500s. Martin Luther was appalled by this practice. After intensive introspection and reading of the Bible, he composed several challenges criticizing indulgences and the Catholic Church teachings that justified this practice. Luther presented these challenges as 95 theses (proposals), posting them on a church door on October 31, 1517. His goal was to provoke discussion and reform within the Church. Instead, igniting long brewing frustrations, he launched the Protestant Reformation.
Luther’s interpretations differed substantially from Catholic teachings. He asserted salvation was not achieved through confession and penance via Church authority. He claimed salvation was achieved through faith alone, arguing conversion to Christianity, faith in Jesus Christ and the Bible’s authority were the bases of salvation rather than abiding by Church-prescribed practices and rituals. These ideas were a fundamental challenge to the teachings, authority and key sacraments of the Catholic Church. Over the next decade and a half, Luther moved from promoting internal reform in the Catholic Church to the more revolutionary posture of breaking away from the Catholic Church. By 1530, Luther had formulated a different interpretation of Christianity – Lutheranism. This form of Christianity stressed the importance of individual faith and reading of the Bible, building some of the ideas Wyclif and Hus espoused a century earlier. Lutheranism viewed the church as having less authority and power, emphasizing instead the role of individual conscience and Biblical interpretation.
Reading the Past – Martin Luther
Read: “Martin Luther’s Account of the Hearing at Worms in 1521 (excerpts); (Second hearing, April 18, 1521)”, Famous Trials by Professor Douglas O. Linder
Link: https://famous-trials.com/luther/292-hearing
Questions to answer:
- What criticisms does Luther make about the Catholic Church?
- What rebuttals does Dr. Eck, Archbishop of Trier make in response?
- Summarize what Luther is asserting in the final paragraph of this statement.
The fragmentation of Christian Europe had begun. Luther had introduced a powerful idea – that one could be a Christian in Western and Central Europe but not be Catholic. He established the precedent that many later followed, proposing alternative interpretations regarding critical issues of salvation, sin, religious duties, and moral obligations. His religion, Lutheranism, became the first Protestant Christian church, derived from the word protest. Inevitably others did the same as Luther, providing their interpretations of the Bible and expanding Luther’s revolt into the much broader Protestant Reformation. John Calvin, for example, provided an alternative interpretation of salvation in his 1530 work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. The resulting new faith, Calvinism, broke from both Catholicism and Lutheranism, stressing the importance of linking political and religious authority (theocracy) as well as asserting individual salvation was predestined. Calvinism became the root religion from which emerged the later churches of Presbyterianism, Puritanism and the French Huguenots.
Several more Protestant sects or churches emerged over ensuing decades and centuries as the number of new Protestant beliefs grew in the 16th century. Anabaptism emerged, later giving rise to the Amish and Mennonites. The Anglican Church was created in England by Henry VIII based primarily on his political ambitions. King Henry asserted political control over Christian England with the monarch as head of a new Church of England. The Anglican Church of England later gave rise to the Episcopalian religion. These alternative churches were collectively called Protestant; though they differed from each other in interpretations and practice, what linked them was they were Christian but not Catholic faiths. The continual branching of different Christian sects, interpretations, and sources of authority continued to today.
The Catholic Church sought to stem the tide of those converting to Protestantism by securing the loyalty of those still Catholic and trying to regain adherence from those converted to Protestantism. These Catholic Church responses, referred to as the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation, included use of repression (e.g. the Inquisition), significant reforms dealing with corrupt practices, and a new religious order aimed at restoring the integrity and appeal of the Church – the Jesuits. These efforts were partially successful in retaining adherents and the Catholic Church continued to be a strong presence in many parts of Europe, though it never regained its earlier dominance.
Learning in Action – Protestant Reformation
Watch the video: “History 101: The Protestant Reformation”, National Geographic 2018
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IATyzSAjC1w
Questions to answer:
- What were some factors that led to the Protestant challenges to the Church?
- Summarize Martin Luther’s key criticisms and challenges of existing Catholic authority and doctrine
- Explain the role the printing press had in fostering the Protestant Reformation and challenges to Catholic authority.
The Age of Religious Wars
The splintering of Christian Europe into Catholic and diverse Protestant communities fostered complicated and violent conditions in Europe for centuries to come. Most Protestant religions shared the same intolerance displayed by the Catholic Church towards those who did not agree with them . European Christians entered a long period of strife, even killing each other over religious differences. Some political leaders took advantage of a weakened Catholic Church, using Protestantism to distance themselves from its influence, even seizing Church lands and assets. In other parts of Europe, monarchs made alliances with the Catholic Church, actively suppressing Protestantism in return for the political support from the Pope.
Monarchs throughout Europe attempted to impose a state-dictated form of Christianity on their subjects and punished those who resisted. Protestants in Catholic states, and Catholics in Protestant states, were persecuted, repressed, tortured, and killed. Street-level atrocities and vigilante violence between peoples of different faiths erupted, sometimes with horrifying results, for example in France and Central Europe. Religion was now a source of state conflict in modern Europe, exacerbating tensions between Protestant and Catholic states. This period of fragmentation and religious-based violence that shook Europe, most intensely between 1530-1700, was the Age of Religious Wars. Existing regional differences in language, culture and politics in this region were now complicated by religious divisions.
The Protestant Reformation was the final transformation representing the end of the Medieval age. The Catholic Church, a dominant part of Medieval life and culture, lost its monolithic authority as Christian Europe entered a complex age of religious diversity and division characteristic of modern Western history.
SUMMARY
Between 1200 – 1600, Europeans broke free of many of the defining strictures and institutions of the Middle Ages. Monarch ruled states replaced divided feudal authorities, as trade and a growing middle class fostered dramatic changes in social structure and the economy. Diseases and wars depleted the population but also created greater class mobility for those who survived. As Europeans emerged from decades of crises, the Renaissance led to the rebirth and continued growth of European culture, science and scholarship and the reassertion of Classical traditions and influences. The Protestant Reformation initiated a new era in which European peoples practiced Christianity through different, competing faiths, reflecting the end of the prominence of the Catholic Church. While still pursuing secular goals, modern Europeans were fiercely loyal to their form of Christianity, intent on spreading their faith in Europe and later on a global scale.
WORKS CITED AND FURTHER READING
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Media Attributions
- Ancient Totem pole of Gitanyow
- 170617-n-nu281-0285-magic-island-hawaii-june-17-f8b602
- 640px-Tenture_Apocalypse_Angers_cavalier_3
- The_Frozen_Thames_1677
- Northern Hemisphere_temperature_2ka
- spread-of-the-black-death-8954
- The_plague_of_Florence_in_1348,_as_described_in_Boccaccio’s_Wellcome_L0004057
- World_distribution_of_plague_1998
- Global_malaria_deaths_by_world_region,_OWID.svg
- 2880px-2014_ebola_virus_epidemic_in_West_Africa_simplified
- TimeLine100YearsWar
- Joan_of_Arc_miniature_graded
- OttomanEmpireIn1683
- late-medieval-land–maritime-trade-routes-9759
- Holbein-erasmus
- Portrait_of_Niccolò_Machiavelli
- Florence Duomo as seen from Michelangelo Hill, Florence, Italy
- ‘David’_by_Michelangelo_JBU03
- Grandes_Chroniques_de_Frances_de_Charles_V_-_BNF_fr2813_f208_(Clercs_se_disputant)
- Luther_at_the_Diet_of_Worms