The 'Late Middle Ages' is a term used by historians to describe
European history in the
period of the
14th to
16th centuries (AD 1300–1500). The Late Middle Ages were preceded by the
High Middle Ages, and followed by the
Early Modern era (
Renaissance).
Around
1300, centuries of
European prosperity and growth came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, such as the
Great Famine of 1315-1317 and the
Black Death, reduced the population perhaps by half. Along with depopulation came social unrest and
endemic warfare.
France and
England experienced serious peasant risings (the
Jacquerie and the
Peasants' Revolt), and the
Hundred Years' War. The unity of the
Catholic Church was shattered by the
Great Schism. Collectively it is sometimes called the
Crisis of the Late Middle Ages.
On the other hand, the 14th century was also a time of great progress within the arts and sciences. The rediscovery of ancient
Greek and
Roman texts led to what has later been termed the
Renaissance – the rebirth. This process had started already through contact with the
Arabs during the
Crusades, but accelerated with the capture of
Constantinople by the
Ottoman Turks, when many
Byzantine scholars had to seek refuge in the West, particularly
Italy. Meanwhile, the invention of
printing was to have great effect on European society. This facilitated dissemination of the printed word and democratized learning, one end result of which for the Catholic Church would eventually be the
Protestant Reformation. The growth of the
Ottoman Empire, culminating in the fall of Constantinople in
1453 (incidentally also the year counted as the end of the Hundred Years' War), cut off trading possibilities with the east. But
Columbus’s discovery of
America in
1492, and
Vasco da Gama’s circumnavigation of
India and
Africa in
1498, opened up new trade routes, strengthening the economy and power of European nations.
All these developments taken together make it convenient to talk of an end to the Middle Ages, and the beginning of the modern world. It should be noted that the division will always be a somewhat artificial one, since ancient learning was never entirely absent from European society, and therefore there is a certain continuity between the
Classical and the Modern age. Also, some historians, particularly in Italy, prefer not to speak of the Late Middle Ages at all, but rather see the 14th century Renaissance as a direct transition to the Modern Era.
Historical events and politics
Britain
:''Main article:
Britain in the Middle Ages''
The
Battle of Bannockburn in
1314 effectively ended English aspirations of subjugating
Scotland, and the Scottish were able to develop a stronger state under the
Stuarts. From
1337, England’s attention was largely directed towards France in the
Hundred Years' War.
Henry V’s victory at the
Battle of Agincourt in
1415 briefly paved the way for a unification of the two kingdoms, but his son
Henry VI soon squandered all previous gains. Almost immediately upon the end of the war, in
1453, followed the dynastic struggles of the
Wars of the Roses (
1455-
1485). The war ended in the accession of
Henry VII, and the strong, centralized
Tudor monarchy. While England’s attention was thus directed elsewhere,
Ireland was allowed to develop virtual independence under English overlordship.
Scandinavia
:''Main articles:
Denmark,
Norway,
Sweden''
After the failed union of
Sweden and
Norway of
1319-
1365, the pan-Scandinavian
Kalmar Union was instituted in
1397. The Swedes were reluctant members of the
Danish-dominated union, and broke away for good in
1523, after the
Stockholm Bloodbath in
1520. Norway, on the other hand, became an inferior party, and remained united with Denmark until
1814.
The Norwegian colony on
Greenland died out under mysterious circumstances in the 15th century.
Western Europe
:''Main articles:
France in the Middle Ages,
Burgundy,
Burgundian Netherlands''
The
French House of Valois, which followed the
House of Capet in
1328, was at its outset virtually marginalized in its own country, first by the English invading forces of the
Hundred Years' War, later by the powerful Duchy of
Burgundy. The appearance of
Joan of Arc on the scene changed the course of war in favour of the French.
Charles the Bold,
Duke of Burgundy was killed during the
Burgundian Wars at the
Battle of Nancy in
1477; the
Duchy of Burgundy was reclaimed by
Louis XI of France, while the
County of Burgundy and the wealthy
Burgundian Netherlands came into the
Holy Roman Empire under
Habsburg control, setting up conflict for centuries to come.
Central Europe
:''Main articles:
History of Germany'',''
History of the Czech Lands''
In
Germany and
Bohemia, the
Holy Roman Empire passed to the
Habsburgs in
1438, where it remained until its dissolution in
1806. The Empire, however, remained fragmented, and much real power and influence was held by financial institutions such as the
Hanseatic League and the
Fugger family. Other Central European states such as Hungary also saw growth.
Eastern Europe
In the north, the main development was the enormous growth of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a Baltic-Slavic polity ethnically, linguistically, and confessionally dominated by
East Slavs. Further east, the defeat of the
Golden Horde, at
Kulikovo in
1380 established the Grand Duchy of
Muscovy as a regional power, following the decline of the state of
Kievan Rus'.
Ivan III, the Great, annexed the vast
Republic of Novgorod and laid the foundations for a Russian national state.
Vlad III the Impaler, also known as Vlad Dracula, ruled
Wallachia, a region of
Romania, in the mid-15th century.
Byzantine Empire
The
Byzantine Empire had for a long time dominated the Eastern Mediterranean in politics and culture. By the time of the
Fall of Constantinople in
1453, it had almost entirely collapsed into a tributary state of the
Ottoman Empire, centred on the city of
Constantinople and a few enclaves in
Greece. From this point on the area was firmly under Turkish control, and remained so until the tide turned at the
Battle of Vienna in
1683.
Southern Europe
:''Main article:
Italy in the Middle Ages''
Avignon was the seat of the Papacy from
1309 to
1377. With the return of the Papacy to
Rome in
1378, that city once more became a political and cultural metropolis.
Florence grew to prominence among the Italian city-states through financial business. The dominant
Medici family became important promoters of the Renaissance through their patronage of the arts.
Iberian Peninsula
:''Main articles:
Spain in the Middle Ages,
History of Portugal''
The
1469 marriage of
Isabella of Castile and
Ferdinand II of Aragon led to the creation of modern-day
Spain. In
1492 Granada was captured from the
Moors, thereby completing the
Reconquista.
Portugal had during the 15th century gradually explored the coast of
Africa, and in
1498 Vasco da Gama found the sea route to
India. The Spanish monarchs met the Portuguese challenge by financing
Columbus’s attempt to find the western sea route to India, leading to the discovery of
America in the same year as the capture of Granada.
Climate and agriculture
Around 1300-1350 the
Medieval Warm Period gave way to the
Little Ice Age. The colder climate resulted in reduced agricultural output;
famine,
plague and endemic
warfare followed. Most notable are the
Great Famine of 1315-1317, the
Black Death, and the
Hundred Years' War. As the population of Europe was reduced by perhaps as much as half, land became more plentiful for the survivors, and labour consequently more expensive. Attempts by landowners to forcibly reduce wages, such as the English
1351 Statute of Laborers, were doomed to fail. The result was the virtual end of
serfdom over great parts of Western Europe. In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, there were few large cities with a viable
bourgeoisie to act as a counterweight to the great landowners, and these were able to force the peasantry into even more repressive bondage.
Military developments
:''Main article:
Medieval warfare''
Through battles such as
Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302),
Bannockburn (1314), and
Grandson (
1476), it became clear to the great territorial princes of Europe that the significant but historical military advantage of the feudal
cavalry was lost, and that a well equipped
infantry was preferable. The English held a great advantage over the French in the Hundred Years’ War through the deployment of their highly efficient
English longbows, originally a
Welsh invention. In the long run this development, along with economic and political considerations, would lead to a preference for mercenary forces over the
feudal levy.
Swiss soldiers were in particularly high demand.
The introduction of
gunpowder changed the conduct of war significantly: not through the use of
firearms in the field of battle, where they would still long remain insignificant, but as
siege weapons. The treatise on
military engineering ''
Bellifortis'' (ca. 1405) represents state-of-the-art technology of the time, showing surprisingly advanced constructions including hydraulic siege engines,
diving suits and elaborate uses of gunpowder.
Religion
The Great Schism
:''Main article:
Western Schism''
From the early 14th century, the
Papacy came more and more under the dominance of the French crown, culminating in its transference to
Avignon in
1309. When the Pope decided to return to
Rome in
1377, different popes were elected in Avignon and Rome, resulting in the
Great Schism (
1378-
1417). The Schism was as much of a political as a religious nature; while
England supported the Pope in Rome, her military opponents
France and
Scotland stood behind the Avignon Papacy.
At the
Council of Constance (
1414-
1418) the Papacy was once more united in Rome. Even though the unity of the Western Church was to last for another hundred years, and though the Papacy was to experience greater material prosperity than ever before, the Great Schism had done irreparable damage. The internal struggles within the Church had promoted
anti-clericalism among the people and their rulers, and the split had opened up the possibility of reform movements.
Reform movements
John Wyclif
:''Main article:
John Wyclif''
Though the
Catholic Church had long fought against heretic movements, in the Late Middle Ages it started to experience demands for reform from within. The first of these came from the
Oxford professor
John Wyclif in England. Wyclif held that the
Bible should be the only authority in religious questions, and spoke out against
transubstantiation,
celibacy and
indulgences. He also made an English translation of the Bible. In spite of influential supporters among the
English aristocracy, such as
John of Gaunt, Wyclif’s supporters, the
Lollards, were eventually suppressed in England.
Jan Hus
:''Main article:
Jan Hus''
The teachings of the
Czech priest
Jan Hus were based on those of John Wyclif, and had little originality. Yet his followers, the
Hussites, were to have a much greater political impact than the Lollards. Hus gained a great following in
Bohemia, and when he was burned as a heretic in
1415 it caused a popular uprising. The subsequent
Hussite Wars did not result in religious or national independence for the
Czechs, but both the Church and the German element within the country were weakened.
Martin Luther
:''Main article:
Martin Luther''
Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach
Though technically outside the time-period of the Middle Ages, the
Protestant Reformation of
Martin Luther ended the unity of the Western Church - one of the distinguishing characteristics of the medieval period.
Luther, a
German monk, started the Reformation by the posting of the
95 theses on the castle church of
Wittenberg on
October 31,
1517. The immediate provocation behind the act was
Pope Leo X’s renewing the indulgence for the building of the new
St. Peter's Basilica in
1514. Luther was challenged to recant his heresy at the
Diet of Worms in
1521. When he refused, he was placed under the ban of the Empire by
Charles V. Receiving the protection of
Frederick the Wise, he was then able to translate the Bible into
German.
To many secular rulers, the Protestant reformation was a welcome opportunity to expand their wealth and influence. The Reformation was met by the Catholic Counter Reformation. Europe was split into a northern Protestant and a southern Catholic part, resulting in the Religious Wars of the
16th and
17th centuries.
Economy
Several changes took place in the patterns of European trade in this period. While the
Hanseatic League retained their control of the
Baltic and
North Sea, the
Champagne fairs became less important in the north-south trade. Instead the sea route was preferred between
Flanders and
Italy. Furthermore,
English wool merchants more and more started exporting cloth rather than wool, to the detriment of the Dutch cloth manufacturers. Most importantly, the replacement of the
Byzantine Empire with the
Ottoman Empire made the
Levant trade more difficult. As an alternative, new trade routes were opened up – south of
Africa to
India, and across the
Atlantic Ocean to
America.
On the financial field, European nations saw the emergence of
trading companies – corporations that would finance large-scale trade and manufacture, often receiving special
privileges and
monopolies from the state. The greatest
financiers, a role previously often held by
Jews, would finance the wars of the rulers. Families like the
Fuggers in Germany, the
Medicis in Italy and the
de la Poles in England would achieve great political, as well as economic power.
Arts
Philosophy and science
Main articles: History of science in the Middle Ages,
Medieval philosophy
The beginning of the Late Middle Ages saw the continuation of the intellectual revitalization of Europe that was started in the 12th century from the birth of
medieval universities and the the rediscovery of
Arabic and
Greek philosophical texts, especially the works of
Aristotle.
The first half of the 14th century saw much important philosophical and scientific work being done, largely within the framework of
scholastic commentaries on Aristotle's writings.
[1] William of Ockham introduced the principle of
parsimony: natural philosophers should not postulate unnecessary entities, so that motion is not a distinct thing but is only the moving object
[2] and an intermediary "sensible species" is not needed to transmit an image of an object to the eye.
[3] Scholars such as
Jean Buridan and
Nicole Oresme started to reinterpret elements of Aristotle's mechanics. In particular, Buridan developed the theory that impetus was the cause of the motion of projectiles, which was an important step towards the modern concept of
inertia.
[4] The
Oxford Calculators began to mathematically analyze the
kinematics of motion, making this analysis without considering the causes of motion.
[5]
In 1348, the devastation brought by the
Black Death and
other disasters sealed a sudden end to the previous period of massive philosophic and scientific development.
[6] Yet, the
rediscovery of ancient texts (started in the 12th century) was improved after the
Fall of Constantinople in 1453, when many
Byzantine scholars had to seek refuge in the West. By then the writings of
Cardinal Nicholas Cusanus were anticipating
Copernicus’
heliocentric worldview. New ideas and technologies also helped to influence the development of European science at this point: not least the invention of the
printing press and the dissemination of
Algebra. These developments paved the way for the
Scientific Revolution, which may also be understood as a resumption of the process of scientific change, halted at the start of the Black Death.
Mechanical arts
:''Main articles:
Medieval technology,
artes mechanicae''
Most European technical innovations of the 14th and 15th centuries were not original, but more often of
Chinese or
Arab origin. The revolutionary aspect lay not in the inventions themselves, but in their application. Though
gunpowder had long been known to the Chinese, it was the Europeans who fully realized its military potential, allowing the European expansion and world domination of the Modern Era. Also significant in this respect were advances within the fields of
navigation. The
compass,
astrolabe and
sextant, along with advances in shipbuilding, enabled the navigation of the
World Oceans.
Gutenberg’s
printing press made possible not only the
Reformation, but also a dissemination of knowledge that would lead to a gradually more egalitarian society.
Visual art
:''Main article:
Medieval art''
The
visual arts experienced a tremendous development in the Late Middle Ages; a precursor of the
Renaissance can be seen already in the early 13th-century works of
Giotto. In painting one speaks of a
northern Renaissance, centred on the
Low Countries, and an
Italian Renaissance with
Florence as its hub. While northern art was more concerned with textures and surfaces, as can be seen in the paintings of
Jan van Eyck, Italian painters also explored such subjects as
anatomy and
geometry. The discovery of single-point
perspective, attributed to
Brunelleschi, was an important step towards optically realistic art. The Italian Renaissance reached its zenith in the art of
Leonardo da Vinci,
Michelangelo and
Raphael.
Architecture
:''Main article:
Medieval architecture''
While the
gothic cathedral very much remained in vogue in Northern European countries, this style of building never really caught on in Italy. Here, renaissance architects were inspired by classical buildings, and the crowning work of the period was
Brunelleschi’s dome of the
Santa Maria del Fiore in
Florence.
Literature
:''Main article:
Medieval literature''
The most important development of late medieval literature was the ascendancy of the
vernacular languages over
Latin. A popular genre was the
romance, mostly taking its themes from the legends of the
Holy Grail.
The writer who more than any other heralds the new age is
Dante Alighieri. His ''
Divine Comedy'', written in
Italian, describes a medieval religious world-view, but does so in a style based on classical ideals. Other promoters of the Italian language were
Petrarch, whose ''
Canzoniere'' are considered the first modern
lyric poems, and
Boccaccio with his ''
Decameron''. In England
Geoffrey Chaucer helped establish
English as a literary language with his ''
Canterbury Tales''. Like Boccaccio, Chaucer was concerned with everyday life rather than religious or mythological themes. In Germany, it was Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible that was to serve as the basis for written German.
Music
:''Main article:
Medieval music''
In early fourteenth-century France emerged the music known as
Ars nova. This represented the introduction of polyphony into secular music, and its main originators were the composers
Philippe de Vitry and
Guillaume de Machaut. The most popular form was the
chanson, which was poetry set into special patterns of music. In Italy, the corresponding period goes under the name of
Trecento, led by composers like
Francesco Landini and
Jacopo da Bologna. The Italian
madrigal of the Trecento, with its verse/refrain-like form, is not to be confused with its
16th century counterpart.
An important transition in music can be traced to England in the early 15th century;
John Dunstaple and his use of the interval of the third can be seen as an important step towards the music of the modern period.
Timeline
★ 1315-1317 –
Great Famine
★ 1321 – death of
Dante Alighieri
★ 1325 – foundation of the
Order of the Garter, setting the fashion of romantic
chivalry
★ 1337-1453 –
Hundred Years' War
★ 1347-1350 –
Black Death
★ 1355-1378 – rule of
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
★ 1356 – promulgation of the
Golden Bull fixing the election procedure of the
Holy Roman Emperor
★ 1374 – death of
Petrarca
★ 1380-1426 – rule of
Charles VI of France
★ 1378-1417 –
Great Schism
★ 1396 –
Battle of Nicopolis
★ 1410 –
Battle of Grunwald
★ 1414-1418 –
Council of Constance
★ 1415 –
Battle of Agincourt
★ 1415-1460 growth of the
Portuguese Empire under
Henry the Navigator
★ 1420-1434 –
Hussite Wars, rise of mobile
artillery and
gunpowder warfare
★ 1429-1431 – campaign of
Joan of Arc
★ 1431-1448 –
Council of Basel-Ferrara-Florence
★ 1434-1480 – rule of
René d'Anjou
★ 1440-1493 – rule of
Frederick III
★ 1450s – Invention of the
printing press
★ 1453 –
Fall of Constantinople
★ 1455-1485 –
Wars of the Roses
★ 1474-1477 –
Burgundian Wars
★ 1486
Pico della Mirandola's ''Oration on the Dignity of Man''
★ 1486-1519 – rule of
Maximilian I, the "last knight"
★ 1487 – publication of the ''
Malleus Maleficarum'' marks the wave of
witch-trials
★ 1488 – editio princeps of
Homer by
Demetrius Chalcondyles
★ 1488
Bartolomeu Dias rounds the
Cape of Good Hope
★ 1492 – completion of the
Reconquista
★ 1492 –
1st voyage of Columbus to the
New World
★ 1494 –
Aldine Press
★ 1494 – beginning of the
Italian Wars, apex of
Swiss pike warfare
★ 1495-1500 – the
Imperial Reform stabilizies the
Holy Roman Empire
★ 1498 –
Vasco da Gama reaches India
★ 1517 – start of
Protestant Reformation
★ 1519 – death of
Leonardo da Vinci
References
1. Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts,'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996), pp. 127-31.
2. Edward Grant, ''A Source Book in Medieval Science,'' (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1974), p. 232
3. David C. Lindberg, ''Theories of Vision from al-Kindi to Kepler,'' (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1976), pp. 140-2.
4. Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts,'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996), pp. 95-7.
5. Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts,'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996), pp. 100-3.
6. Franklin , J., ''The Renaissance myth'', Quadrant 26 (11) (Nov, 1982), 51-60. (Retrieved on-line at 06-07-2007)
Further reading
★ ''The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 6: c. 1300 - c. 1415'', Michael Jones (ed.) (Cambridge, 1998)
★ ''The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 7: c. 1415 - c. 1500'', Christopher Allmand (ed.) (Cambridge, 2000)
★ C. Warren Hollister, ''Medieval Europe: A Short History'' (New York, 1964)
★ Carlo M. Cipolla, ''Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000-1700'' (London, 1976)
★ M.H. Keen, ''England in the Later Middle Ages'' (London, 1973)
★
Johan Huizinga, ''
The Autumn of the Middle Ages''
External links
★
Original sources
★
Collection of links
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