Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)

• Happened because of conflicts between England and France over Gascony and the cloth industry of Flanders and because of disputes over the French royal line of succession

Philip VI became king of France (first of the Valois line to be king)

Henry VI became King of France after Philip VI

French defeated English in final battle of Hundred Years’ War

• England’s continental land was limited to Calais in France

Black Death (1347-1450)

• Around half of Europe’s population died due to the Black Death

• Carried by the fleas of infected rats

• Arrived on merchant ship in 1347

• The cause, transmission, and cure wasn’t known until the late 1800s

• Preachers saw it as divine punishment for sins while others blamed Jews

• Eliminated labor surplus

• Upper classes were hurt by the economy after the plague

English peasants revolted against the government as it had tried to collect a new poll tax in 1381

• Peasants marched to London demanding elimination of labor services, serfdom, and poll taxes

The power of Papacy declined in the late Middle Ages

Great Schism (1378-1417)

• Period in which 3 popes fought at once over the rule of Church

• Schism was resolved by the Council of Constance (1414-1418)