Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century

CLIMATE CHANGE and PLAGUE in the FOURTEENTH CENTURY HIST 1301 | History Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century In the face of hunger, conflict, and finally plague, Europe was experiencing broad crises of authority and shifting axes of power, even as its neighbours to the east and south strove to overcome the obstacles of the early fourteenth century. A period of severe weather at the start of the century led to crop failures and food shortages, which exposed Europe to the fatal bacterial illness known as the bubonic plague. These crises brought about economic and demographic shifts that foreshadowed significant changes to the political and ecclesiastical underpinnings of mediaeval civilization. In general, the fourteenth century was a time of chronic strife and instability for the majority of Europe; other parts, including the Italian Peninsula and the French city of Bourges, did not endure the same level of upheaval and economic loss. The European Christian Church saw considerable destabilisation at the start of the fourteenth century, as tensions between the pope and national monarchs resulted in a decline in papal authority and division within the church, in contrast to the stability that had characterised much of the thirteenth century. Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France had a famous falling out when Philip attempted to tax the clergy in his nation without the pope's consent. Thus, in 1303, in response to an order from Boniface that reaffirmed the primacy of the pope over secular kings, Philip made an attempt to assassinate the pope. A number of popes settled in Avignon, France, but during their tenure, the pope's spiritual reputation suffered and many began to doubt the integrity of the church's administrative structures, even though the pope maintained its political autonomy and independent bureaucratic structures. Even though Pope Gregory XI returned the papal court to Rome in 1377, ongoing disputes among church groups over the legitimacy of the pope resulted in the nomination of three popes at the same time, marking the beginning of the Great Western Schism (1378–1417). The papacy's image had already drastically declined by the time the Council of Constance (1414–1418) convinced two of the popes to leave, ultimately resolving this crisis of authority. The English satirical poem The Land of Cockaigne illustrates the erosion of respect for the Roman Catholic priesthood. In a period of widespread food crisis, the poem draws attention to the church's alleged gluttony by imagining a monastery constructed of delectable breads and pastries. "There is a fair abbey for monks, white and grey, and its chambers and halls have walls made of pies filled with fish and rich meats, the most delicious man can eat," is the description of a church constructed of food, which alluded to the avarice of the clergy. The pinnacles are rich, plump puddings fit for princes and monarchs, while the shingles on the church, cloisters, bowers, and hall are made of wheat cakes. Since it is shared by young and old, powerful and stern, meek and daring, everything may be eaten with impunity. During the majority of the fourteenth century, political and military turmoil ravaged many parts of Europe, compounding the church's crisis of power and position. England and France engaged in the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) over claims to French territory that the English ruler was holding. When France's King Charles IV passed away in 1328 without having a son, the strain increased. Charles's younger brother Philip, the Count of Valois, his nephew, received the throne. The elder of the two claimants and the son of Charles's sister, King Edward III of England, insisted that he was the more deserving of the French crown. Devastation and severe political factionalism resulted from the battle, especially in France where the majority of the combat took place. Even though the war lasted 116 years, there were intervals of ceasefire in between its phases of fighting. Much of the fight was determined by the new military technology of the late mediaeval era, which also made combat particularly brutal. Although the English longbow, which was highly valued for its capacity to shoot arrows faster and farther than the French crossbow, dominated the early years of the war, the ability of firearms and gunpowder to breach fortifications and cities made their use more common and devastating. England dominated the war for much of its duration, but by the time it ended in 1453, France was the leading nation in western Europe. At this time, the Holy Roman Empire was another hotbed of political unrest. The Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Germany (which included areas that are now part of Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), the Kingdom of Burgundy, a region in southeast France, and the Kingdom of Bohemia, which is now the Czech Republic and part of Poland, were the four main entities that made up the Holy Roman Empire in the fourteenth century. The Holy Roman Empire had been founded by Charlemagne in 800. In turn, each of these kingdoms was made up of a loose alliance of several nations ruled by various hereditary dynasties. Electors, a small group of these rulers, selected the emperor. Conflict sometimes resulted from noble families competing with one another for the title of emperor. For instance, in 1314, the emperor of Austria was named by one set of electors, while the emperor of Bavaria was named by another. The Golden Bull, which was announced later in the century by Emperor Charles IV in 1356 (bull is the Latin word for "seal"), made an effort to make the emperor election procedure more straightforward and understandable. According to the text, the archbishops of three towns in the empire and the secular rulers of four principalities would choose the emperors out of a group of seven prince-electors. In sharp contrast to the hereditary monarchy of other European nations like France and England, this practice of choosing emperors was adopted. The Holy Roman Empire continued to be a patchwork of semiautonomous princes rather than establishing a single currency, judicial system, or representative assembly. Even though all of them settled down quite quickly, the empire remained a weak and dispersed governmental system. It had more than a hundred principalities by the end of the fourteenth century, each with a different level of autonomy and strength. Now, the pope, who conferred the imperial crown in principle, as well as the kings who elected him, held sway over the emperor.