Studying Late Medieval History

A Thematic Approach

Cindy Wood

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317211198
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European Medieval History
• Index: History

Studying Late Medieval History is an accessible introduction for undergraduate history students wishing to understand the major topics of late medieval history. Examining the period from 1300–1550, this introductory guide offers an overview of 250 years of transformation, which saw technology, borders and ruling dynasties across the continent change.

The book focuses on ten key themes to explain what happened, who the important personalities were and the significance of these events in shaping medieval Europe. Each chapter is a thematic essay which looks at the central topics covered at undergraduate level including the Church, the monarchy, nobility, parliaments, justice, women, children, warfare, and chivalry. The chapters are supported by a detailed evaluation of the key events students need to know and a guide to further reading for each topic.

Studying Late Medieval History will be essential reading for all those beginning their studies of the late medieval period.

1 Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9781315618524-1

Studying the late medieval period can be a challenge at undergraduate level especially if this period has not been covered in either school or college. This book is intended to help bridge this gap, offering a thematic approach to the period rather than a chronological one. Not only do students of this period have to deal with the changes over a period of 250 years, but also the many changes in technology, borders and especially ruling houses. To add to this vast amount of information is the confusion that can come from the use of familiar terms, such as government, parliament, kings, princes, etc., that are used and need to be understood in a vastly different way. I hope this book will address many of these areas.

While this book has the backing of many years of academic study, and especially academic sources, it is written in a deliberately conversational style. If we were to meet and have a conversation about, for example, the medieval church, I would tell you exactly the same things and in this order. The advantage of this book is that you can put it down and have a break.

The period of 1300–1550 has been deliberately chosen as significant. Each section does start a little earlier for context, but 1300 is a pivotal date in many areas. For example, this date marks the end of the rise in the power of the popes across Europe – after this they were significant but their power was curtailed. It marks the start of the consolidation of power by the French kings beyond the Ile de France area, and this change in influence affected the balance of power in Europe in this whole period. In 1300 the population of Europe was at its highest, with its growth being halted by the Great European Famine 1315–17 and then suffering the arrival and devastation of the Black Death 1346–50. This was not to reach the levels of 1300 before the early sixteenth century. This date also marks the decline in the feudal system in operation across the majority of Europe. From 1300 the role and breadth of influence of parliaments across Europe began to rise, to varying degrees of success. In warfare, chivalry was still important but in a different form from that of the popular imagination and its origins in the eleventh century. The great changes in Europe during this period were geographical and territorial as well as political, religious and cultural. A comparison of maps of Europe at the beginning and end of our period is telling (see Maps 1.1 and 1.2).

1550 has been chosen as an end date mainly on the basis that it marks a radical change in European history, with the various Reformations or defence of the Old Religions that occurred at different times and different speeds across the previously united Roman Catholic world. These Reformations had a profound effect on governments, kings and churches across Europe. While the Early Modern period can truly be said to be underway by 1550, this date is also flexible, as the Scottish Reformation can be dated specifically to 1560.

The geographical spread of this book is contained within the bounds of the influence and authority of the Roman Catholic Church. This institution provided a unity in 1300 across Western Europe that will be used as a boundary. In the same way this area covers much of the ancient Roman Empire in the western half of Europe and the Roman Catholic Church based itself on this Empire, with its reuse of buildings and terminologies. For example the pope is also known as the pontiff, based on the ancient Roman office of Pontifex, Roman basilicas were reused as early churches and the use of the ancient Roman Law was widespread. Many of the countries in the east of our area, such as Germany, were under the authority of the Roman church, but had never been part of this earlier, ancient Empire. In this case it is ironic that the temporal successor of the Roman Empire, namely the Holy Roman Empire, should be based in many of these eastern areas especially Germany.

Although there will be a concentration on the countries of England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany, other countries will also be considered. The influence and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church came later to the Scandinavian countries, and these will be discussed when relevant, in the same way as those to the east, such as Poland and Hungary. In the period covered by this book these eastern limits of the Church were still fighting the Muslims, who at various times threatened to overrun the Western part of Europe. The Roman Catholic Church also provided a unity for this period, in language –it used Latin across all boundaries; liturgy – the form of church services, and its belief structures. It was the only truly international organisation of the period.

Map 1.1 Europe, 1300

Map 1.2 Europe, c. 1550

Europe at 1300 was still threatened on its eastern borders by the Turks, but by 1550 these borders had been firmly established, with the kingdom of Hungary at the forefront of this fight. To the southeast the remnants of the ancient Roman Empire were still to be found in the Byzantine Empire based in Constantinople (now Istanbul), and included most of Greece. The Crusader States in the Holy Land had been lost by this date and any crusades in our period were against the Turkish threat or heretics. To the south, the Mediterranean made a natural border, and the islands in this sea were under Christian control. To the west, the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula was ongoing. The earlier invasion of Moors into this area after the fall of the ancient Roman Empire was being reversed in our period. While in 1300 the Moors (Muslims) were only in the south in Granada and Andalusia, by 1492 they were all expelled, leading to the consolidation of the three kingdoms of Portugal, Castile and Aragon. Navarre (the current Basque region) was a separate kingdom linked to the French throne. To the north, the kingdom of England had just taken over the principality of Wales in 1300, and the subsequent attempt to do the same to the independent kingdom of Scotland was not successful. The kings of England also claimed lordship over Ireland. Further north the kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway were in the Kalmar Union until the early sixteenth century, but still remained independent kingdoms. While their borders remain much as they are today they did extend their power and influence further to the north in our period. In the centre of Europe the largest block was the Holy Roman or German Empire, which covered most of modern Germany, northern parts of Austria and France.

This book will look at the late medieval period in themes, such as the Church, women, warfare and monarchy for example. It is important to realise that while these are written in distinct groups, in reality there were always overlaps and all were intertwined. The focus is on offering an insight into life in this period through these themes, and helping to understand that many terms that were common then had a different connotation in this period. Parliaments grew in importance and influence in many countries in this period, but the meaning of the term has changed; they did not use it as we would today. Universal suffrage was centuries away in both 1300 and 1550, but all countries had a degree of consultation; the differences and similarities between countries will be discussed. Likewise, kings and princes survive to the present and while the term remains the same their roles and level of power do not.

Compressing 250 years of history is a mammoth task, and it is hoped that consideration of many of these themes will encourage the reader’s understanding and keenness to read more deeply and widely on this topic. The late medieval period is a fascinating time of changes, developments, murder, mayhem and crisis. All of these were enacted or lived through by real people, and their experiences form the basis of our study. This period can offer many insights to our world today and as such is deserving of a wider and better understanding by students and the general public than currently exists. I hope this book moves this understanding forward a small amount, and that you enjoy a brief glimpse into this fascinating period of history.

Further reading

• Barrell, A.D.M. Medieval Scotland (Cambridge, 2000)
• Keen, M., The Penguin History of Medieval Europe (London, 1991)
• Mackay, A. and Ditchburn, D., Atlas of Medieval Europe (London, 1997)
• Waley, D., Later Medieval Europe (Harlow, 2001)

2 The Church

DOI: 10.4324/9781315618524-2

Introduction

It is impossible to comprehend the late medieval period without an understanding of the importance of the Church, and until the early sixteenth century this meant the Roman Catholic Church, headed by the Pope in Rome, which had a virtual monopoly over religion in Western Europe. The only exceptions were the Muslims on the fringes of Christendom, for example, in the Iberian Peninsula and south-east Europe, and the small but significant groups of Jews who were at various times in many European countries.

This chapter will look at the Church in its many guises, its beliefs, organisation, the types of religious men and women, the monastic experience, the parish, types of churches and finally the Reformations that occurred across Europe in the sixteenth century.

The influence of religion and the Church was experienced in many different areas of life and was believed by the population in a much more intimate way than is perhaps normal for many today. Religion shaped the year, with the major festivals of Christmas and Easter taking place at the changes of the seasons. Christmas had appropriated the pagan festival of Saturnalia and takes place just after the shortest day of the year, as days start to lengthen. Likewise, Easter, although a moveable feast, takes place in spring.

Many of the major feasts in the liturgical year were not just celebrated but EXPERIENCED, by both the laity and clergy. For example, in Holy Week the Stations of the Cross were used (and still are) to recreate Jesus’ journey to crucifixion. These experiences start on Palm Sunday (Sunday before Easter Day), with a procession, and involved ‘creeping to the Cross’ on Good Friday; this was a physical journey, not just a mental one. At this time of year most churches also built an Easter Sepulchre, a representation of the tomb of Jesus, and placed a crucifix within it until Easter Sunday. Likewise processions and physical movement around the church, churchyard or community accompanied the many celebrations of the year, especially major saints’ days. Medieval religion was a living and vital force for the majority, and the celebrations linked religion to the everyday experiences of believers, such as Candlemas (40 days after Christmas), when processions and candles were dedicated to the Virgin Mary to mark her Purification. This is celebrated around 2 February, and it celebrates Mary’s return to the Temple 40 days after giving birth.

Other important days across the year were saints’ days. The major saints, include John the Baptist, whose birth (24 June) and beheading (29 August) were both celebrated. Likewise the Virgin Mary (also known as the Beata Virgo Maria/Beate Virginis Marie or BVM) had several feast days, for example her birth (8 September), the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel told her she was pregnant with the Holy Spirit (25 March, nine months before Christmas, also called Lady Day), and her Purification. There were in fact hundreds of different saints’ days; and while the major saints, such as the Apostles and some early Church Fathers, were Europe-wide, others were more local, by either region or country. The term ‘red letter days’ comes from the calendars of saints’ days, where the days celebrating major saints were written in red ink, not black. Celebrations could include special masses as well as feasts and fairs. Those people belonging to a guild dedicated to a particular saint also celebrated with feasts on these days, and were often major events in the annual calendar.

Other events in the year not linked specifically to saints were Ascension Day and Holy Week, all connected to Easter, a moveable feast. Local saints were also celebrated, but not widely; examples include St Heribert of Cologne (16 March) in Germany, St Aldric of Le Mans (7 January) in France, St Illuminata of Todi, Umbria (29 November) in Italy, and St Edburg of Winchester (15 June), in England. There was a definite hierarchy of saints, and their relative importance is denoted by their regional influence.

Medieval life was also broken into definite phases by the Church in the same way that religious festivals and events broke up the year. All the important events of life were recognised by the Church, and rites developed around them. Baptism was the most important for any medieval Christian as it welcomed the individual into the family of the Church. Such was the importance of this rite that non-priests, such as midwives, were allowed to baptise children if they were in danger of death, to avoid a child dying outside the Church family. Likewise, marriages were mostly conducted under the authority of the Church, and in parish churches this often took place in the church porch, not in the body of the church itself. Death was also recognised by the Church as an important transition, and by the fifteenth century there was considerable advice on how to die well. The deathbed was recognised as a place where the Devil would be at hand to tempt the dying into sinful thoughts. Therefore the dying hoped to be comforted by their friends and clergy, on their deathbed, with prayers helping the soul in this period of temptation. Most in this period aspired to di...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table Of Contents
• List of figures
• List of maps
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Church
• 3 Monarchy
• 4 Nobility
• 5 Women in medieval Europe
• 6 Children and education
• 7 Parliaments
• 8 Justice
• 9 Chivalry
• 10 Wars and warfare
• 11 Peasants, manors, and towns
• 12 Conclusions
• Index