1300 - 1453

1300 - 1453Worst century and a half in European History

Black Death

• 1330 – Plague devastates parts of western China• 1331-40 – Plague gradually spreads through central Asia

and into Crimea• 1344-47 – Mongols fight at Kaffa• Army stricken with Plague

• 1347 – Genoan traders fled Kaffa to return to Italy• Carried Plague to Sicily and up the coast of Italy

• 1347-78 – Plague outbreaks devastated Europe• 25 million deaths in Europe (one-third total population)

Black Death

Hundred Years War

• 1337-1453 – France versus England• Started by Edward III (Eng) and Philip VI (Fr)• Both had claims to French throne (but Ed is vassal of Phil)

• 1337-1428 – England won most of the battles• Used longbow and dismounted warriors (new tactics)• Battles – Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt

• 1428-29 – France turned tide in Battle of Orleans• Joan of Arc led the French army

• Resulted in about 3.5 million deaths

Hundred Years War

Papal Schism

• 1309-1378 – Papacy in Avignon• Controlled by French king• Rome became wasteland

• 1378-1417 – Popes in Rome and Avignon• 1377 – Gregory XI returned to Rome but died in 1378• French cardinals unhappy with replacement and elect another

• 1410 – Council of Pisa elects a third pope• 1417 – Council of Constance finally replaces 3 popes• Martin V is new pope in Rome

• Schism taints the image of the Church and the papacy

Papal Schism

Fall of Constantinople

• 1200s - Nomads chased out of central Asia by the Mongols• Establish small kingdom in northwestern Anatolia

• 1307 – Seljuk Sultanate of Rum defeated by the Mongols• Ottomans begin to conquer the remaining small Turkish clans

until they dominate Anatolia• Filled power vacuum left by Seljuks and weakened Byzantines

• By 1450, Ottomans control most of Anatolia and eastern Balkans

• Mehmet II decided to attack Constantinople• Constantinople fell in 1453

• Post-1453 – Ottomans threatened western Europe

Fall of Constantinople

What is going on???

• Black Death• Hundred Years War• Papal Schism• Fall of Constantinople

• These catastrophic events shook the foundations of European civilization• Europeans began to question everything• Additionally, new ideas “escaped” Constantinople with

Byzantine scholars