4. Decision #1: Should you…
a) hire mercenaries from France to fight
for you against the English nobles?
b) meet with the English barons and lords
to discuss your disagreements?
c) stall for a time, pretending to be
interested in negotiations, in order to
have time to raise a mercenary army
from England and France?
d) Another option of your choice.
5. The story continues…
• Barons and lords will renew their loyalty to the monarchy
• Supremacy of rule of law over arbitrary (changing,
unreasonable) power of the king
• Trial by ordeal or local courts for commoners
• Jury of peers for nobles, not king’s officials or king deciding
• Nobles can’t be held in jail without charges being made
• King can’t raise taxes without approval of advisory body of
barons to be called Parliament
• Parliament could meet if Magna Carta agreement is broken
and raise another army
• Worst Norman officials are to be fired
• Note that no English or French king has ever signed such
a document, which limits a monarch’s freedom of action.
6. Decision #2: Should you…
a) sign the Magna Carta reluctantly, agreeing
to live with the restrictions and
embarrassment.
b) have a temper tantrum, swear at the nobles
and prepare for war.
c) sign the document, using the time to stall
until the French mercenaries arrive.
d) only agree to certain terms, which will
anger the barons.
16. Empress: I know, Death means me! I was never terrified so greatly! I thought he was not in his right
mind, after all, I am young and also an empress. I thought I had a lot of power, I had not thought of
him or that anybody could do anything against me. Oh, let me live on, this I implore you!
Death: Empress, highly presumptuous, I think, you have forgotten me. Fall in! It is now time. You
thought I should let you off? No way! And were you ever so much, you must participate in this play,
and you others, everybody…”
17. Consequences of the Black Plague
for Europe
• Economically
– labor shortage
wages rise better
standard of living
18. Consequences of the Black Plague
for Europe
• Economically
– labor shortage
wages rise better
standard of living
– The rich get richer
inheriting from those
who died & the poor
can demand higher
pay peasant
rebellions
19. Consequences of the Black Plague
for Europe
• Economically
– labor shortage
wages rise better
standard of living
– The rich get richer
inheriting from those
who died & the poor
can demand higher
pay peasant
rebellions
• Cultural
– Jews flee to the East to
escape persecution
20. Consequences of the Black Plague
for Europe
• Economically
– labor shortage
wages rise better
standard of living
– The rich get richer
inheriting from those
who died & the poor
can demand higher
pay peasant
rebellions
• Cultural
– Jews flee to the East to
escape persecution
– Less confidence in
Church (Petrarch:
“God does not care for
mortal men”)
25. The Renaissance (13th-17th centuries)
• Driving force behind Renaissance was
humanism:
• celebrates the individual
• inspired by Greek and Roman civilization
• combines ancient thought with Christianity
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-94), Oration on
the Dignity of Man
I have not given you, Adam…a predetermined
place…in order that you may find your own
place through your own decision and
choice…You shall determine your own nature
without constraint, by means of the freedom
which I have entrusted you…like a free and
sovereign artificer, you might mold and fashion
yourself into that form you yourself shall have
chosen.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44. Global Events and Effects on
Europe
• Crusades
Increased commerce Increased exchange of
ideas between Europeans and Muslim Empires
(including technology and philosophy)
• Mongol Empire
increased trade and global contacts Europeans
become curious for and desire foreign goods
desire for access to these goods will drive
European states to compete with one another
Black Death Europe loses population but is the
world better for survivors….?
Editor's Notes
The Romans ruled the British Isles, up to Hadrian’s Wall, until the 5th century CE, when they abandoned the region and the area succumbed to the invasions and divisions of the German Angle and Saxon tribes. In the 9th century England was united under Alfred the Great, the first “King of the English” (Angles). He staved off Viking invasions.
By the 8th century the majority of the residents had converted to Christianity, and in 1066 William the Conqueror from Normandy (northern France) invaded and defeated the Anglo-Saxons in England. He introduced a French-speaking monarchy to England and quickly consolidated his power.
William the Conqueror is one of your ancestors and you used to control land in both France and England, but preferred to spend most of your time in France while being gone from England for years at a time.
You have left the collection of taxes and administration in the hands of your mostly Norman (French speaking) officials in England, and the English barons and lords prefer it when are in Normandy because it means you do not generally interfere in their affairs.
You also wanted the new Archbishop of Canterbury (i.e. the top Roman Catholic official in England) to be loyal to you, but the Pope elected someone you didn’t like. So you took church land and money. As a consequence you were excommunicated, then reinstated when you gave the land and money back to the church. Devout Christian (Catholic) barons and lords considered your behavior scandalous.
Then in 1214 you fought and lost all your land in Normandy to King Philip II of France. Many of the English barons and lords did not send the knights and troops they promised. Now you must live in England and are angry with the English barons and lords who didn’t support your war in France. You quarreled with many of them and dramatically raised many taxes and fines to raise money for another army to take land back in France. Also, you blackmailed nobles to raise money, threatening to publicize their affairs with other nobles’ wives.
Angered barons and lords have raised an army against you and have taken control of London and a smaller city. They want you to stop what they consider you heavy-handed and autocratic ways.
You haven’t been able to raise many soldiers in England, because you are so disliked. The mercenaries from France haven’t arrived yet. The barons, lords and their army are at Runnymede, outside of London, waiting to negotiate with you. You meet with them under a large oak tree. They have a document for you to put your seal on, called the Magna Carta (the Great Charter). Key provisions of 63 specific problems addressed include:
John chose c, got the Pope to say the document was invalid since it was “not only shameful and demeaning, but illegal and unjust” and excommunicated the barons. Civil war ended upon John’s death, when new dynasty made concessions for barons. Ideas of Magna Carta become important later when absolute monarchies are questioned: puts limit on power of king in England!
(BTW, the story of Robin Hood takes place during King John’s reign…)
Europe around 1000
the Catholic Church attended all great passages of life
birth
marriage
death
Major Christian themes dominated people’s worldview
sin & repetence
salvation & heaven
comfort available through Jesus, Mary, and saints
the Catholic Church sometimes gave the message that the plague was God’s punishment for sins.
There existed religiously based attacks on prostitutes, homosexuals, and Jews.
In this section of the painting from 1463 by the German artist Berndt Notke, look closely at the image and then read the translated inscription at the bottom concerning the empress in red at the right and the skeleton nearby.
Notice that the living figures face outward toward the viewer rather than toward the skeletons. What might this mean?
How might this painting be used as evidence of the breakdown of feudalist ideas on account of the Black Death?
Does the portrayal of death pictured here reflect Christian views of death or does it challenge them?
Hygiene
houses
baths and clothes
Long-distance travel
trade
pilgrimages
armies
Why is the death figure smiling?
How are the priest and the Christ figure depicted? What possible interpretations of their gestures can you imagine?
Christ figure says, “Tho it be late ere thou mercie came: yet mercie thou shalt have.” The priest says, “Commit thy body to thy grave: pray Christ thy soul to save.” The death figure says, “I have sought thee many a day: for to have thee to my pray.” How do these captions influence your understanding of the painting?
Would you characterize the overall message of the painting as hopefulness, despair, or something else? What specific elements of the painting make you feel this way?
Those who survived the plague live in a changing Europe. Rise in wages = more consumers. Access to items in East. Urban growth due to maritime trade (port city like Venice). Guilds and the rise of women.
Intellectual life originally based on Catholic Church: training for priesthood.
Aristotle comes into fashion after Greek texts return to prominence after their ‘rediscovery’ through Spain
Emphasis on the ability of human reason to understand the divine
Aquinas: Italian; finishes studies at Univ. of Paris; faith and philosophy. Influence of Greek texts returning to prominence
This thinking was not meant to question faith – logic & philosophy would operate in the service of Christ.
BUT European intellectuals begin to apply their confidence to other studies, like law, medicine, and the world of nature.
