The Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, and the Great Schism

Three crises in the 1300s and 1400s helped end the medieval order in Europe. The Black Death, bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by fleas on rodents and, in some forms, from person to person, reached Europe along trade routes from Central Asia in 1347 and killed roughly one third to one half of Europe's population within a few years. The resulting labor shortages raised wages, weakened serfdom and the manor system, and sparked peasant revolts, while terrified communities also blamed and massacred Jews. The Hundred Years' War between England and France (1337-1453) introduced longbows and gunpowder cannons that made armored knights less decisive, produced figures like Joan of Arc, and strengthened royal power and national identity in both countries. The Great Western Schism (1378-1417), when two and then three rival popes claimed authority at once, badly damaged the Church's prestige. Together these crises weakened the feudal system and the medieval Church, clearing the way for stronger monarchies and, later, the Renaissance and Reformation.

This explanation is AI-generated and can occasionally be wrong. 🚩 Report