Changing SocietyIn the Late Middle Ages

Overview

With the advances during the Late Middle Ages; peasants rebelling, new technology in warfare and in literature, the question we want to answer is how will this progress change society?

Peasants’ RevoltsWhat led to the Peasants’ Revolt?

The plague had catastrophic effects that led to social and economic changes.

Craftspeople and Landlords strove to maintain their economic and social advantages.

Peasants’ RevoltsLandlords, for example, persuaded the rulers to pass laws designed to keep wages at pre-plague levels, to control prices, and to stop the free movement of farm labour by upholding serfs’ manorial obligations.

Peasants’ Revolts

As a result of these measures, wage levels were higher than they had been before the plague struck, but they were lower than they might have been.

This situation sparked widespread discontent.

Peasants’ RevoltsKing Richard II (only 14 yrs.) imposed a poll tax, which is a tax on every person, the discontent of the peasantry erupted into open rebellion.

This rebellion was led by Wat Taylor & John Ball.

Peasants’ RevoltsThe peasants in the courtside around London marched into the city, murdered some Flemish merchants, and destroyed the palace of the king’s uncle.

Peasants’ RevoltsThey forced their way into the Tower of London, where they captured – and beheaded – two of the king’s advisers.

Taylor was killed in confrontation with the king’s forces.

Richard persuaded the peasants to go home by promising reforms.

Peasants’ RevoltsThe reforms never carried out.

Ball was later captured and hanged.

As a result, the Peasants’ Revolts did not have a lasting effect.

It is still remembered as the first great popular rebellion in English history.

Peasants’ RevoltsSimilar revolts happened in continental Europe.

In central France, a series of peasant uprisings started in 1358.

The reign of terror they created showed the depth of people’s rage against the upper classes, whom the peasants blamed for their problems.

Commerce & TradeA strong middle class was continuing to emerge.

Banks reappeared, after the European economy was dominated by subsistence

agriculture.During the 14th century, the accounting system that is used today was created.

Commerce & Trade

In 1494, Luca Pacioli, an Italian mathematician and Franciscan monk wrote the first explanation of account. His book which recorded the practices that were already widely used, earned Pacioli the nickname Father of Accounting.

The Carolingians devised a widely used system in exchanging coins. In this system, 12 pennies equaled one shilling and 20 shillings equaled one pound.

This system was used in England until 1971.

Changes in Warfare

Gunpowder had been around for 400 years before it came to Europe.

The Chinese used it in weapons and to create fireworks since the 9th century.

1254, Roger Beacon, a Franciscan monk, was the first European to record a recipe for making gunpowder.

This marked a dramatic change in the way wars were conducted.

Changes in WarfareCombat could now be conducted at a distance.

Fighting was no longer a personal contest that pitted one soldier against another.

Gunpowder could not only propel bullets and cannon balls a great distance but also be planted under city walls and fortifications to blow them up.

Gunpowder changed the tactics used in battle.

The first recorded use of it in warfare was at the siege of Metz in 1324, 70 years after Bacon recorded the recipe.

Changes in Warfare

Sieges were common in the wars fought in the Middle Ages, and until gunpowder, the defenders usually had the advantage.

Fewer soldiers were required to defend a fortification than to attack it.

If the defenders had enough food and water, they could hold out for a long time.

Changes in Warfare

The use of gunpowder shifted the advantage to the attackers.

The did not need to scale walls, they could now blast holes in the fortifications.

This meant that monarchs could more easily control rebellious barons, who had been hard to keep in check because fo the strength of their fortresses.

This increased the power of the monarchies.

Changes in WarfareLater advances in the use of gunpowder include:• larger cannons• smooth-barreled, muzzle-loading

muskets

They would enable bands of European soldiers to overwhelm opposition they encountered overseas.

This set the stage for European colonial dominance of the world.

The New MediaJohannes Gutenberg developed the printing press in 1453.

This technology revolutionized the printing process.

Until then, books had been painstakingly created by hand in monasteries or as special commissions, making them very expensive to obtain.

The Printing Press

New MediaBefore the printing press, about 30 000 books existed in all of Europe.

By 1500, less than 50 years later, there were about 12 million.

Literacy and learning were within reach of many more people.

The New Media

The Bible was the first book printed in English was the Bible.

It was translated and printed by William Caxton.

He had published about 100 items of various kinds, earning himself the right to be called the first English-language publisher.

Medieval BestsellersFirst European known to make a living as a writer was Christine de Pisan.

She lived her entire life in the shadow of the Hundred Years’ War, she felt moved to write a poem praising Joan of Arc.

Her best known work, The Book of City of Ladies, it was written in 1405.

Medieval BestsellersThis was a history of women which recalls great women of the past and examines the role of women in medieval society.

As the first woman to speak out in the vernacular about issues affecting women, de Pisan can be called the first feminist historian.

Medieval Bestsellers

The Canterbury Tales was written by Geoffrey Chaucer, in the 14th century.

It was about a group of very different people who tell stories to entertain one another on a religious pilgrimage.

Courtly love continued to dominate French literature, which used humour, symbols, and stire in poetry and romance writing.

Medieval BestsellersDante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265, Dante was exiled for his role in a bitter political controversy.

In 1314, he finished writing The Divine Comedy, which tells a story of a poet’s journey from despair to salvation as he makes his way through hell and purgatory to paradise.

Considered a masterpiece, it influenced many writers.

Medieval Bestsellers

Boccaccio was one of the many writers influenced by Dante.

He wrote about the Black Death, in Decameron, describing the story of 10 young people who flee the plague-ridden city for the country.

Both Decameron and his romantic poetry influenced other writers including Chaucer and Shakespeare.

Origins of DraculaDracula originated in the Late Middle Ages.

Vlad III Dracula was a 15th century prince of Walachia, a region in present-day Romania.

Famous for his brutal treatment of his enemies, Vlad earned himself the nickname Vlad the Impaler because he liked to impale his foes.

Irish author Bram Stoker immortalized Vlad in his 1897 novel, Dracula, as a blood sucking monster who had brutally murdered thousands of his subjects, while still human.