Crusades, Plague, War, and Schism

1096-1453

Islam

• 570-632 Muhammad• 632-710 Expansion of Islam into Africa and Spain• Five Pillars of Islam• There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his

prophet.• Standard prayer 5 times a day and public prayer on

Friday at midday.• Observance of the holy month of Ramadan• Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca once in a person’s life• Charity to the poor• Shari’a Law

Crusades

• Began as an effort to save Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Further to liberate the Holy Land and establish a Christian state there.

• Eight major crusades

• 1095 the Crusades were called for by Pope Urban II at Clermont

Course of the Crusades

• 1095-1096 Peasants Crusade

• 1096-1099 First Crusade

• Kingdom of Jerusalem

• 1147-1149 Second Crusade

• 1187 Jerusalem taken by Saladin

• 1189-1192 Third Crusade

• 1204 Fourth Crusade

Course of the Crusades

• 1212 Children’s Crusade

• 1219-1221 Fifth Crusade

• 1228 Sixth Crusade

• 1248-1254 Seventh Crusade

• 1270 Eighth Crusade

• 1291 Acre fell to Muslims, Crusades came to an end

Black Death

• 1315-1317 The Little Ice Age

• October 1347 the Bubonic Plague arrived in Italy

• By 1350 the plague swept throughout Europe

• Symptoms include high fever, sore joints, swelling in the lymph nodes, dark blotches caused by internal bleeding

Plague

• 25 to 50% of Europeans died in the plague

• In Germany alone about 40,000 villages ceased to exist

• 19 to 38 million deaths

• Returned again in smaller outbreaks until the 1500’s

Reactions to the plague

• Flagellants

• Rise in anti-Semitism

• Church officials abandoned their posts, leading to a questioning of Christianity

• Life became viewed as cheap and short

• Pursuit of pleasure

• Obsession with death

The Church in Decline

• Boniface VIII Unam Santam 1302

• Stated that the pope was above all earthly rulers

• Conflict with French king Philip IV arose over taxation of the clergy of France

• Boniface was kidnapped by French troops after the excommunication of Philip

• The pope died shortly after his rescue

Avignon 1305-1378

• In 1305 a French pope, Clement V (1305-1314), was elected to replace Boniface

• Citing turmoil in Rome, Clement moved the papal seat to Avignon

• Charges of religious corruption and manipulation were leveled against the French popes

The Great Schism

• 1378 Pope Gregory XI returned the seat of papal power back to Rome

• He died within a few weeks of the return • The citizenry of Rome threatened the college of

cardinals with violence if they elected a French pope

• Urban VI (1378-1389) was elected• Five months later French cardinals nullified the

election of Urban and elected Clement VII (1378-1394), who returned to Avignon

Schism

• Both popes refused to resign, and so they excommunicated each other

• Council of Pisa 1409 failed to reconsile the opposing sides and began a third division Alexander V

• Schism did not end even after the deaths of the original rival popes

• Finally ended with the Council of Constance (1414-1418) elected Martin V

Hundred Years War1337-1453

• 1337 Hostilities began

• 1346 Battle of Crecy

• 1396 Truce

• 1415 War renewed by Henry V

• 1415 Battle of Agincourt

• 1429-1431 Joan of Arc

• 1453 War ended in French victory

Reactions to the 1300’s

• Tarnished image of the Church and its leadership

• Emergence of secularism

• Renewed interest in Greek and Roman writings

• Desire for real and authentic religion

• Weakened Church