Huy Lam

World Studies
3rd period
September 20th, 2007
Chapter #16, pages 433-445

The Late Middle Ages and The Renaissance in the West (1300-1522)
I. Introduction
A. Middle Ages / Renaissance = calamity
1. Hundred Years’ War
a. 1337-1453
b. gunpowder and heavy artillery
2. Black Plague
3. Schism in Roman Catholic Church
4. Turks capture Constantinople
B. Middle Ages / Renaissance = rebirth
1. Waning, Waxing
2. Scholarly Renaissance
a. limiting papal power
b. spread of ideas – printing
c. educational reforms – vernacular

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II. Hundred Years’ War

A. Causes of the War – Charles IV died without heirs
1. control of Flanders – fief of France
2. dislike between French and English
3. social conflicts
4. England had better weapons – longbow
5. England bad better military personnel

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III. Stages of the War

A. Stages of the War
1. Edward III embargoed English wool to Flanders
2. 1347 – Black Death causes truce
3. 1356 – French political order collapsed
4. Second stage – 1420 – Henry V proclaimed heir to French throne
B. Cause of the War
1. Edward III wanted control of both England and France

Ranking of Power

Feudalism – hierarchy
Monarch – Clergy / Priests
Lords – Nobles
Vassals
Knights
Merchants
Artisans
Peasants

-The Jacquerie – Revolt of peasants against nobles.

-Estates General – Townsmen and noblemen = council

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IV. Joan of Arc and the War’s Conclusion

A. Joan of Arc – peasant from Lorraine
1. Since England’s king wanted France to loose the war, he accepted Joan’s “heavenly
message”.
2. Joan led French troops to kill English soldiers.
B. Joan Captured – May of 1430
1. King of England did nothing
2. Joan killed – May 30th, 1431 as a heretic (disloyalty to the Church)
3. Joan found innocent 1456, England king reopened Joan’s trial

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V. Effects of the War

1. Devastated France
2. Awakened French nationalism
3. Hastened France’s transition from a feudal monarchy into a centralized state
4. Encouraged English to develop own clothing industry and foreign markets
5. Peasants loose money from forced to pay taxes and services for the war

-Charles VII – King of France

-Feudalism – Political and economical system
-Treaty of Troyes – Disinherited French heir, proclaimed Henry V as French successor.
-Taille – Tax levied by King Seigneur
-Babylonian Captivity – Movement of the Church to Avignon

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VI. The Black Death

A. Preconditions and Causes
1. Food supplies increases
2. Europe’s population doubles between 1000-1300
3. Overpopulation
4. 1348 – social suffering
5. Black Death – from Asia into Europe
6. Bubonic Plague – appeared decades after Black Death
B. Popular Remedies
1. Amulets
2. Seclusion – isolation
3. Flagellants – people who punished themselves because the Black Death had affected
them
C. Social and Economic Consequences
1. Whole villages wiped out
2. Price for everyday items fell
3. Pays rose
4. Nobles’ powers decline
5. 1381 – English Peasants Revolt
D. New Conflicts and Opportunities
1. Economic and Political powers of local artisans and trade guilds grew
2. Plague killed many clergy

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VII. Ecclesiastical Breakdown and Revival : The Late Medieval Church

 1. Thirteenth century churches improved
A. Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair
1. Clericis Laicos – a bull which forbade taxation of the clergy without prior papal approval
2. Edward I denied clergy right to be heard in royal court
3. Philip forbade money shipment from France to Rome
4. Boniface puts down Edward I
5. Unam Sanctum – bull declares temporal authority was “subject” to the spiritual power of
the Church
6. Philip’s troops beat up Boniface
B. The Great Schism (1378-1471) and the Concilliar Movement to 1449
1. Charles V (French) supported schism in the church
2. Two popes face off after Pope Gregory XII gives up (Pope Urban VI and Pope Clement
VII)
C. The Council of Constance (1414-1417)
1. Haec Sancta – declaration where the council fathers asserted their supremacy and
proceeded to conduct the business of the church.
D. The Council of Basel (1432-1449)
1. Council collapses – 1449
2. Execrabilis (1460) – condemned all appeals to the Council as “erroneous and
abominable” and “completely null and void”
3. popes regain power

-Cardinals – People directly below the pope in power

-Curia – The Church’s court
-Pisa – Where council met

Jan Hus

- Said the people should get bread and wine like the priests, brought issue of each Eucharis (human body
offering).
- Calls the transubstantiation fake.
- Jan gets killed.

Laity – all common believers

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VIII. The Renaissance in Italy (1375-1527)

A. The Italian City-State: Social Conflict and Despotism
1. Italian cities expanded into states

Groups

-Grandi – The old rich nobles, merchants

-Popolo Grasso – “Fat people”, challenged old rich for political power
-Popolo Minuto – “Little people”
-Ciompi Revolt – Great revolt by the poor – 1378. Lasted for four years in which power lay with lower
Florentine classes.
-Cosimo dé Medici – Wealthiest Florentine, most astute statesman, controlled the city from behind the
scenes.
-Podesta – Hired strongman

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VIII. Humanism – study of Latin and Greek classics

A. Petrarch, Dante, and Boccoccio
 1. Francesco Petrarch – father of humanism
2. Dante Alighieri – Vita Nuova, Divine Comedy
3. Giovanni Boccaccio – wrote the Decameron
B. Educational Reforms and Goals
1. Christie de Pisan – received as good as a man’s education.
C. The Florentine “Academy”
1. Florentine “Academy” – formal teachings of Plato and the Neo Platonists
D. Critical Work of the Humanists; Lorenzo Valla
1. Lorenzo Valla – author of the standard Renaissance text on Lation Philosophy, the
Elegance of the Latin language
2. exposed Donation of Constantine as forgery
E. Renaissance Art
1. oil paints, shading, proportioned figures in paintings
F. Leonardo da Vinci
1. foresaw future inventions
2. painted Mona Lisa
G. Raphael
1. The Schou of Athems
H. Michelangelo
1. Sculpted David
*** Pope Julius often quarreled with him about art. Also, he assigned Michelangelo the
task of painting a tomb. This took four years.

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IX. Slavery in the Renaissance

1. after the Black Death, slavery demands soared

-Bawdy – Dirty
-Despest – Class that ruled through power (dictator, tyrant)
-Renaissance – Age of the Individual honored artists
-Because of trade routes, the Renaissance started in Italy
-Petrarch wrote about his love for a married woman (Un-Christian)
-Medici Family – Source of wealth
-Neo Platonists – Believed in Plato’s works

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X. Italy’s Political Decline: The French Invasion (1494-1527)

A. Treaty of Lodi – brought Milan, Naples, and traditional enemies, into alliance with Florence.
1. Alliance above goes against : Papal states and Venice (city-states)
2. Pope Alexander VI – wanted to attack Milan, wanted his kids to be royal
B. Charles VIII’s March through Italy
1. While Charles VIII invaded Italy, Ferdinand of Aragon (fears France becoming stronger)
countered with an alliance called the League of Venice
2. did not end until 1559
3. Ludovico il Moro joined Venice, forcing Charles VIII to retreat
C. Pope Alexander VI and the Borgia Family
1. Alexander VI withdraws from League of Venice, League looses Milan to France
2. 1469 – Louis XII invades Milan, 1500, he and Ferdinand of Aragon divided Naples
between themselves. Cesare Borgia conquers the cities of Romagna without opposition.
D. Pope Julius II – brought Renaissance papacy tp peak pf power
1. Pope Julius II places Borgia’s lands in Romagna
2. Holy League consists of: Julius II, Ferdinand, Venice, Emperor Maximilian I, and Swiss
3. By 1512, French fully retreated out of Italy, beaten by Swiss, 1513, Novora
4. Francis I has French invade Italy, massacres Swiss soldiers, Marignano, September,
1515
 5. Concordat of Bologna – Italian Pope gave French king control over French clergy and
the right to collect taxes from them, in exchange for French recognition of the pope’s
superiority over church councils.
6. Habsburg – Valois wars – four wars in first half of the sixteenth century. None of which
Franc won.
E. Niccolò Machiavelli – a wealthy political philosopher from Italy
1. Nicolò Machiavelli believed that Italian political unification and independence were ends
that justified the means.
2. Wrote The Prince in 1513

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XI. Revival of Monarchy: Nation Building in the Fifteenth Century

1. King and people joined
2. Higher classes thought they were immune from government taxation
A. France
1. collapse of the English holdings in France
2. Charles the Bold – killed in Nancy, 1477. Dream of Burgundian empire died with him.
3. France as divided as it was during the Hundred Years’ War
4. a defeated nation
B. Spain
1. Isabella of Castile – wife of Ferdinand of Aragon (1469)
2. together they secured borders and improved Spain
3. ended Islam, Judaism, and Christianity’s coexistence
4. Tomás de Torquemada – Isabella’s confessor (priest)
C. England
1. House of York and Landcaster – sides during The War of the Roses
2. 1461 – Edward IV seized power
3. Henry Tudor – exiled Landcastrian
4. Henry married Elizabeth of York, gains power, joins forces
5. shaped a monarchy

-Exiled – Sent away

-Edward IV – Son of Duke of York, brings York into power
-Edward’s brother – Richard III
-Henry VII – The king of York (also known as Henry Tudor)
-Secular – non religious
-Alexander VI – wants Cesare to marry sister of the king of Navana
-Mesta - a powerful association of sheep holders in the medieval Kingdom of Castile.
-The Inquisition - Set up by Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, aimed at converts from Judaism
and Islam.