Routledge Medieval Portal

Introduction

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.

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.

Studying Late Medieval History: A Thematic Approach

Introduction

Further reading