Cornell Johnson

There are many aspects of European history that made life in the
fourteenth century miserable, if not downright unbearable. There were
s i c k n e s s e s , p l a g u e , r a m p a n t w a r f a r e , r e l i g i o u s c o n t r o v e r s y, f a m i n e s , a n d a
host of other events and factors that contributed to creating an incredibly
l o w s t a n d a r d o f l i v i n g a c r o s s a l l s t r a t u m o f s o c i e t y.
The very foremost, the one that, by necessity must be at the
beginning of the list, nearly made life in the fourteenth century actually
impossible. I speak, of course, of the Black Death. Over the course of
seven years, from 1346 until 1353, no one in Europe was safe. The death
rate varied, one in five in some places, nine in ten in others, and a few
u n f o r t u n a t e l o c a t i o n s w e r e w i p e d o u t c o m p l e t e l y. I n L o n d o n , s o m a n y
people died that corpses piled up in layers until they overflowed. 1 Pope
Clement VI forgave the sins of everyone who died of the plague because
there were not enough priests to deliver the last rites to the victims.
B a r b a r a Tu c h m a n q u o t e s a c h r o n i c l e r o f S i e n a , A n d n o b e l l s t o l l e d , a n d
nobod y wept no matter what his loss because almost everyone expected
deathAnd people said and believed, This is the end of the world. 2
The end of the world has been predicted by Christians pretty much since

1 Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York:
Knopf, 1978. Print. Page 94.
2 Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. New York:
Knopf, 1978. Print. Page 95

t h e a d v e n t o f C h r i s t i a n i t y, b u t p e r h a p s e v e n m o r e s o t h a n t h e f a l l o f t h e
Roman Empire, this was a time when truth of seemed apparent.
Along with plague, the specter of war hung over Europe throughout
t h e e n t i r e t y o f t h e f o u r t e e n t h c e n t u r y. Wik i p e d i a i s n o p r o p e r s o u r c e f o r a
p a p e r, b u t a q u i c k p e r u s a l l i s t s n o f e w e r t h a n f o r t y - t w o s e p a r a t e w a r s t h a t
took place in Europe during this period. The most significant of which,
between France and England, came to be known, without exaggeration, as
t h e H u n d r e d Yea r s War a n d l a s t e d , w i t h o c c a s i o n a l r e s p i t e , f r o m 1 3 3 7
until 1453, and was fought over the disposition of the ancestral lands
belonging to the English kings within the territory of France. Even
t h o u g h i t e n d e d w i t h a F r e n c h v i c t o r y, E n g l a n d l o s i n g a l l t h e i r c o n t i n e n t a l
h o l d i n g s e x c e p t t h e c a s t l e o f C a l a i s , t h e H u n d r e d Yea r s War s e t t h e s t a g e
for almost continuous conflict between them that lasted until the twentieth
c e n t u r y. I h a v e h e a r d t h i s n e a r l y s i x h u n d r e d y e a r p e r i o d d e s c r i b e d a s o n e
long war with occasional outbreaks of peace.
T h e l a s t a s p e c t o f t h e c a l a m i t o u s f o u r t e e n t h c e n t u r y, t o b o r r o w a w o r d
f r o m Tu c h m a n , t h a t w i l l b e t o u c h e d u p o n i n t h i s p a p e r i s r e l i g i o u s
c o n t r o v e r s y. D u r i n g t h e m e d i e v a l p e r i o d , t h e C a t h o l i c C h u r c h w a s
unparalleled in its influence upon the lives of the people. Religious
authority reinforced and strengthened the rule of the secular authorizes
and provided a spiritual balm to common people who might otherwise have
felt entirely beaten down by their social betters.

This balm lost some appeal in 1378 when Pope Gregory XI died.
T h e C o l l e g e o f C a r d i n a l s e l e c t e d U r b a n V I a s h i s s u c c e s s o r. N o t v e r y
long into his reign, however, some of those same cardinals withdrew from
Rome and elected Clement VII as pope. This was not the first time there
had been more than one pope, but it was the first time there was no clear
distinction between pretender and legitimate leader of the Catholic
Church. Until this point, Europe had, despite consisting of many nations,
been relatively united under one faith, but for the next thirty-six years
this was not the case, as the powers-that-be, following different popes,
divided the continent.
What these aspects of life tell me about the fourteenth century is
s i m p l e . I t w a s c h a o s . Al l t h e s i g n p o s t s t h a t m e n h a d c o m e t o d e p e n d
upon to guide them through life were taken from them. Political stability
w a s a t h i n g o f t h e p a s t , a s k i n g s a n d n o b l e s w a g e d w a r a f t e r w a r.
R e l i g i o u s c e r t a i n t y d i s a p p e a r e d a s r i v a l p o p e s c l a i m e d t h e p a p a c y. T h e
only certain thing seemed to be death, as sickness spread across the
continent.