CHAPTER 14 - European Middle Ages (800-1500) - World History: Patterns of Interaction (Atlas by Rand McNally 2009)

CHAPTER 14.1: Church Reform and the Crusades

• Monasteries led the spiritual revival
  • The monastery founded at Cluny in France in 910 was important
  • Reformers there wanted to return to the basic principles of Christian religion
• They established new religious orders that were influenced by the religious devotion and reverence for God shown by new monasteries in order to reform the church
  • They restored/expanded its power/authority
• Some priests were nearly illiterate and could barely read their prayers
• Some popes had questionable morals and many bishops/abbots cared more about their positions as feudal lords than their spiritual duties
• Reformers were most distressed by three main issues:
  • Many village priests married/had families, which were against Church rulings
  • Simony = in which bishops sold positions in the Church
  • Using lay investiture, kings appointed church bishops
  • Church reformers believed only the Church should appoint bishops
• Pope Leo IX/Pope Gregory VII enforced Church laws against simony/marriage of priests
  • Popes who followed after them reorganized the Church to continue the policy of reform 
• 1100s-1200s: the Church was restructured to resemble a kingdom with the pope on top 
• The Pope's group of advisers called the papal Curia
  • Curia also acted as a court, it developed canon law on matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance
  • It decided cases based on these laws
• Pope's established their authority throughout Europe through diplomats that traveled through Europe dealing with bishops/kings
• The Church collected taxes in the form of tithes
  • They consumer 1/10 of the yearly income from every Christian family 
  • The Church used some money to perform social services (caring for sick/poor)
  • The Church operated most of the hospitals in medieval Europe
• Early 1200s: Wandering friars traveled from place to place preaching/spreading the Church's ideas
• Friars took vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience
• Unlike monks, friars didn't live apart from the world in monasteries, they preached to the poor throughout Europe
  • They owned nothing and lived by begging
• Dominic (Spanish priest) founded the Dominicans, one of the earliest orders of friars
  • Dominic emphasized the importance of study and as a result, many Dominicans were scholars
• Francis of Assisi founded the Franciscans
  • Francis treated all creatures (animals included) as if they were his spiritual brothers/sisters
• Women played an important role in the spiritual revival:
  • They joined the Dominicans, Benedictines, and Franciscines
  • 1212: Clare and Francis of Assisi founded the Franciscan order for women (Poor Clares)
• 1147: In Germany (Hildegard of Bingen), a mystic/musician founded a Benedictine convent
• These women also lived in poverty and worked to help the poor/sick, but they were not allowed to travel from place to place as preachers
• Most people worshipped in small churches near their homes
• Larger churches (cathedrals) were built in city areas
  • It was viewed as the representation of the City of God
• Between roughly 800-1100, churches were built in the Romanesque style
• In the 1100s, Gothic, a new style of architecture evolved throughout Europe
  • The word Gothic comes from the Goths (Germanic tribe)
  • Gothic cathedrals were structured more upward
  • Light streamed through glass windows
  • Elements implemented to inspire worshippers with the magnificence of God
• Gothic cathedrals were built in many towns of France
• The Cathedral of Notre Dame eventually rose more than 100 ft. 
• Nearly 500 Gothic churches were built between 1170-1270
• 1093: the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comensus sent an appeal to Robert, Count of Flanders asking for help against the Muslim Turks since they were threatening his capital Constantinople
• Pope Urban II read the letter, issued a call for a Crusade, a "holy war", to gain control of the Holy Land
• A number of Crusades were launched for the next 300 years
• The Crusades had economic, social, political, and religious motives
  • Muslims controlled Palestine (the Holy Land) and threatened Constantinople
  • Byzantine emperor in Constantinople appealed to Christians to stop Muslim attacks
  • The pope also wanted to reclaim Palestine and reunite Christendom, which had split into Eastern/Western branches in 1054
• Kings and the Church saw the Crusades as an opportunity to get rid of contentious knights that fought each other
• Younger sons also participated in the Crusades
  • They were not able to inherit their father's property, so they just looked for land/position in society/adventure
• In the later Crusades, merchants profited by making cash loans to finance the journey
  • Leased their ships for a hefty fee to transport armies over the Mediterranean Sea
• Merchants of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice hoped to win control of key trade routes to India, Southeast Asia, and China from Muslim traders
• According to the pope, those who died on Crusade were assured of a place in heaven
•  Most of the Crusaders were French, but Bohemians, Germans, Englishmen, Scots, Italians, and Spaniards came as well
• Many knew nothing of the geography, climate, or culture of the Holy Land, no grand strategy to capture Jerusalem
• The nobles argued among themselves and couldn’t agree on a leader.
• The Crusaders besieged the city for over a month
• July 15, 1099: they captured the city
• 1204: 4th Crusade to capture Jerusalem failed, knights didn't reach Holy Land
  • They ended up looting the city of Constantinople
• 1200s: Four more Crusades to free the holy land were also unsuccessful
• The religious spirit of the First Crusade faded, and the search for personal gain grew
•  In two later Crusades, armies marched not to the Holy Land but to Egypt
• Crusaders intended to weaken Muslim forces there before heading off to the Holy Land, but none of these attempts conquered many areas
• 1212: Children's Crusade took place
  • There were 2 different movements, thousands of children set out to conquer Jerusalem 
  • One group in France was led by 12-year-old Stephen of Cloyes
  • On their march south to the Mediterranean, many died from cold and starvation
  • The rest drowned at sea or were sold into slavery
  • Thousands died in the cold and treacherous crossing of the Alps, those who survived the trip to Italy finally did meet the pope
  • About 2,000 survived the return trip to Germany, a few boarded a ship for the Holy Land and were never heard of again
• In Spain, Muslims (Moors) controlled most of the country until the 1100s
• Reconquista = was a long effort by the Spanish to drive the Muslims 
  • By the late 1400s, Muslims only held a tiny kingdom in Granada
  • 1492: Granada fell to the Christian army of Ferdinand/Isabella (Spanish monarchs)
• Isabella and Ferdinand made use of the Inquisition
  • This was a Court held by the Church to suppress heresy
• Many Jews and Muslims in Spain converted to Christianity during the late 1400s
• Inquisitors continued to suspect Jewish and Muslim converts of heresy
• If a person is suspected, they'd be questioned for weeks/tortured. Once they confessed, they were often burned at stake. 
• 1492: Monarchs expelled all practicing Jews and Muslims from Spain 
• The Crusades encouraged thousands to leave their homes and travel to faraway lands
  • Those who stayed home (women especially) had a chance to manage affairs on the estates or to operate shops and inns
• European merchants who lived/traded in the Crusader states expanded trade between Europe and Southwest Asia
• Goods imported from Southwest Asia included spices, fruits, and cloth
• Trade benefited both Christians and Muslims 
• Failure of later Crusades lessened the power of the pope
• The Crusades weakened feudal nobility and increased the power of kings
• Thousands of knights and other participants lost their lives/fortunes
• The fall of Constantinople weakened the Byzantine empire
• The intolerance and prejudice to Muslims in the Holy Land left behind resentment
• Christians and Jews who remained in Muslim controlled regions after the fall of the Crusader states had a worsening relationship with Muslim leadership
• Crusades for Jews in Europe had increased persecution

CHAPTER 14.2: Changes in Medieval Society

• Expanding civilization required an increased food supply
• A warmer climate, lasting from about 800-1200 brought improved farm production
• Farmers started to cultivate lands in regions that were once too cold to grow crops/develop methods to take advantage of available land
• Peasants used to depend on oxen to pull their plows
  • Oxen lived on poor straw/stubble and were overall easy to keep
• A team of horses could plow three times as much land in a day compared to a team of oxen
• Sometime before 900, European farmers started using a harness that fit across a horse's chest, which let it pull a plow
• Horses gradually replaced oxen
• Great forests were cleared for new fields
• Around 800 AD, some villages started to organize their lands into 3 fields instead of 2 (three-field system)
  • Under this system, farmers could grow crops on 2/3 of their land each year, not just half of it
• This led to increased food production 
• Well-fed people were able to better resist disease and live longer, dramatically changing the European population 
• Guild = An organization of individuals in the same business or occupation working to improve the economic and social conditions of its members
• The first guilds were merchant guilds
  • Merchants banded together to control the number of goods being traded and to keep prices up 
  • They also provided security in trading/reduced losses
• Skilled artisans (wheelwrights, glassmakers, etc.) began craft guilds
  • In most, both husband/wife worked at the family trade
  • Women formed the majority, especially in clothmaking
• Guilds set standards for quality of work, wages, and working conditions
• Guilds also created plans for supervised training of new workers
• By the 1000s, artisans/craftspeople were manufacturing goods by hands for local/long-distance trade
• More/better products were available in small towns, bigger cities, and trade fairs
• Guilds were powerful forces in medieval economy
• Wealth accumulated from guilds helped them establish influence over government/economy of towns/cities
• Increased availability of trade goods/new business methods combined created an expansion of trade called the Commercial Revolution
• Most trade took place in towns
• Peasants traveled town to town on fair days
• Great fairs held a few times a year, usually during religious festivals 
• Cloth was the most common trade item
  • Other items included bacon, salt, honey, cheese, wine, leather, dyes, knives, and ropes
• Everything was no longer produced on a self-sufficient manner
• Trade routes spread across Europe from Flanders to Italy
•  Italian merchant ships traveled the Mediterranean to ports in Byzantium such as Constantinople and Muslim ports along the North African coast
• Trade routes were opened to Asia partly through the Crusades
• Increased business at markets/fairs made merchants willing to take chances in buying merchandise that they could sell at a profit, then they reinvested the profits in more goods
• Traders needed large amounts of cash/credit/ways to exchange many types of currencies as they moved
  • Bills of exchange established exchange rates between different coinage systems
  • Letters of credit between merchants eliminated the need to carry large amounts of cash/made trading easier
  • Trading firms/associations formed to offer these services
• Merchants had to buy goods from distant places
  • They needed to borrow money, but the Church forbade Christians from lending money at interest (sin called usury)
  • Over time, the Church relaxed on this rule and Christians entered banking businesses
• Banking became important, especially in Italy
• Changes from the Commercial Revolution were slow, but brought many results
• Increased trade changed society
  • It changed what people did to earn a living/where they lived
• Towns attracted workers and thus the towns grew into cities
• Scholars estimate that between 1000 and 1150, the population of western Europe rose from around 30 million to about 42 million
• European towns were unsophisticated and tiny compared to great cities like Constantinople
  • Paris probably had no more than 60k people by 1200
  • A typical medieval Europe town only had around 1,500-2,500 people
• Trade was the lifeblood of new towns by the later Middle Ages
• As trade grew, European towns increased in population
• However, streets were narrow, filled with animals, and their waste
• There were no sewers, most people dumped household/human waste into the street in front of the house
• Most people didn't bathe and their houses did not have fresh air, light, and clean water
• Most houses were built of wood with thatched roofs, so they were a constant fire hazard
• Despite this, many still chose to move to these towns to pursue economic and social opportunities 
• Many serfs ran away despite being legally bound to their lord's manor
• According to custom, a serf could now become free by living within a town for a year and a day
• Merchants/craftspeople of medieval towns did not fit into the traditional medieval social order of noble, clergy, and peasant
• At first, towns came under the authority of feudal lords who used their authority to levy fees, taxes, and rents.
• As trade expanded, burghers, or merchant-class town dwellers resented the interference in their trade/commerce
  • They organized themselves/demanded privileges, which included freedom from certain kinds of tolls/the right to govern the town
  • Sometimes they fought against their landlords and won these rights by force
• During the Crusades, European contact with Muslims and Byzantines greatly expanded
  • This exchange brought new interest in learning, especially in the works of Greek philosophers
• 1100s: Christian scholars from Europe began visiting Muslim libraries in Spain
  • Few Western scholars knew Greek, but most knew Latin
• Jewish scholars living in Spain translated Arabic versions of works by Aristotle
• Europeans acquired a huge body of knowledge including science, philosophy, law, mathematics, and other fields
• Crusaders brought back to Europe superior Muslim technology in ships, navigation, and weapons.
• University originally referred to a group of scholars meeting wherever they could
  • People made the university, not buildings
• Universities arose at Paris and at Bologna, Italy, by the end of the 1100s
• Most students were the sons of burghers or well-to-do artisans
• Most students wanted a job in government or the Church
• Earning a bachelor’s degree in theology might take five to seven years in school; becoming a master of theology took at least 12 years of study
• A few remarkable poets started using a lively Earning a bachelor’s degree in theology might take five to seven years in school; becoming a master of theology took at least 12 years of study vernacular, or the everyday language of their homeland
  • Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy (1308-1314) in Italian
  • Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1386-1400) in English
• Since most people couldn't read or understand Latin, these works were written in the vernacular brought literature to many people 
• Christian scholars were excited by the ideas of Greek philosophers
  • They wondered if a Christian scholar could use Aristotle's approach to truth and still keep faith in the bible
• Mid-1200s: Thomas Aquinas argued that the most basic religious truths could be proved by logical argument
  • Between 1267-1273, Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologicae
  • It was influenced by Aristotle and combined ancient Greek thought with Christian thought
• Aquinas/his fellow scholars who met at the great universities were known as schoolmen or scholastics
  • Scholastics used their knowledge of Aristotle to debate many issues of their time
• Their teachings on law and government influenced the thinking of western Europeans, particularly the English and French
  • They began to develop democratic institutions/traditions

CHAPTER 14.3: England and France Develop

• Invaders from various regions in Europe landed on English shores for centuries
  • The Angles and the Saxons stayed and brought their own ways/creating an Anglo-Saxon culture
• 800s: Britain attacked by fierce raids of Danish Vikings
• Only Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon king from 871-899, managed to turn back the Viking invaders
  • He/his successors gradually united the kingdom under one rule, called it England "land of the Angles"
  • The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that had invaded the island of Britain
• 1016: The Danish king Canute conquered England, molding Anglo-Saxons/Vikings into one people
• 1042: King Edward the Confessor took the throne
  • 1066: Edward died in January without an heir 
• A great struggle for the throne erupted, leading to one last invasion 
• The invader was William (Duke of Normandy), who became known as William the Conqueror
  • Normandy is a region in the north of France that had been conquered by the Vikings
• The Normans were descended from the Vikings (North men, Norman)
  • They were French in language/culture
• William's rival was Harold Godwinson, the Anglo-Saxon who claimed the throne
• October 14, 1066: Normans/Anglo-Saxons fought the Battle of Hastings
  • Normans took a decisive victory after Harold was killed
• William declared all England his personal property and kept about 1/5 of England for himself 
• The English lords who supported Harold lost their lands
  • William granted their lands to about 200 Norman lords who swore oaths of loyalty to him personally 
• This led to William being able to unify control of the lands/lay the foundation for centralized government in England 
• Over the centuries, English kings tried to hold/add to their French lands and strengthening their own power over the nobles and the Church 
• William the Conqueror's descendants owned land in Normandy/England
• Henry II (English King) added to the holdings by marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine
• The marriage brought Henry a large territory in France called Aquitaine, he added it to the lands in Normandy he inherited from William 
• Because Henry held lands in France, he was a vassal to the French king, but was also a king in his own right
• Henry ruled England from 1154-1159
  • He strengthened the royal courts of justice by sending royal judges to every part of England at least once a year
    • They collected taxes, settled lawsuits, and punished crimes
  • He also introduced the use of the jury in English courts
    • A jury in medieval England was a group of people (usually 12 neighbors of the accused) who answered a royal judge's questions about facts of the case
  • Jury trials were popular for settling disputes and only the king's courts were allowed to conduct them
• Over the centuries, the rulings of England formed a unified body of law that became known as common law
  • The principles of English common law today are the basis for law in many English speaking countries (USA included)
• Henry was succeeded by his son Richard the Lion-Hearted and after Richard died, his younger brother John took the throne
• John ruled from 1199-1216 and failed as a military leader (John Softsword)
• John lost Normandy/all of his lands in northern France to the French under Philip Augustus 
  • The loss forced a confrontation with his own nobles
• John was cruel to his subjects and tried to squeeze money out of them
• He also alienated the Church and tried to take away town charters guaranteeing self-government
• John raised taxes to an all-time high to finance his wars
• June 15, 1215: John's nobles revolted and forced John to agree to the Magna Carta (Great Charter)
  • The document guaranteed certain basic political rights
  • The nobles wanted to safeguard their own feudal rights and limit the king’s powers
• In later years, English people of all classes argued that certain clauses in the Magna Carta applied to every citizen
• Guaranteed rights included no taxation without representation, a jury trial, and the protection of the law
• The Magna Carta guaranteed what are now considered basic legal rights both in England and in the United States
• Edward I's rule was another important step towards democratic government
• Edward needed to raise taxes for a war against the French, Welsh, and the Scots
• 1295: Edward summoned two burgesses (citizens of wealth and property) from every borough and knights from every country to serve as a parliament, or legislative group 
• November 1295: Knights, burgesses, bishops, and lords met together at Westminister, London
  • It is now called the Model Parliament because its new makeup (commoners and lords) served as a model for later kings
• From 1300-1400, the king called the knights and burgesses whenever a new tax was needed 
  • These two groups gradually formed an assembly of their own called the House of Commons
• Nobles and bishops met separately as the House of Lords
• Parliament under Edward I was partly a royal tool that weakened the great lords. 
• Parliament provided a check on royal power like the Magna Carta
• The kings of France also looked for ways to increase power
• French counts and dukes ruled their lands independently under the feudal system
• By 1000, France was divided into roughly 47 feudal territories
• 987: last member of the Carolingian family (Louis the Sluggard) died
• Hugh Capet succeeded him
  • The Capet family ruled only a small territory, but had Paris at its heart
  • Hugh capet began the Capetian dynasty that ruled France from 987-1328
• Hugh Capet, his son, and his grandson were weak rulers
• However, their territory sat astride important trade routes in northern France
• Capetian kings tightened their hold on this area for 300 years
• The power of the king gradually spread outward from Paris and eventually the growth of royal power would unite France
• Philip II (Philip Augustus) was one of the most powerful Capetians who ruled from 1180-1223
  • He set out to weaken the power of the English kings in France
  • He had little success against Henry II or Richard the Lion-Hearted
  • Philip earned the name "Augustus" probably because he greatly increased France's territory
  • 1204: He seized Normandy from King John and within two years, gained another territory
  • By the end of his reign, he tripled the lands under his direct control
• For the first time, a French king became more powerful than any of his vassals
• Philip II also wanted more land along with a stronger central government 
• He established bailiffs (royal offices), which were sent from Paris to every district in the kingdom to preside over the king's courts/to collect taxes
• France's central government became stronger during reign of Louis IX (Philip's grandson), who ruled from 1226-1270
• Louis was known as the ideal king and after death, was made into a saint by the Catholic Church
• He created a French appeals court, which could overturn the decisions of local courts 
  • The royal courts of France strengthened the monarchy while weakening feudal ties
• 1302: Philip IV (r. 1285-1314) quarreled with the pope
  • The pope refused to allow priests to pay taxes to the king
  • Philip disputed the right of the pope to control Church affairs in his kingdom
  • Like England, the French king usually called a meeting of his lords and bishops when he needed support for his policies 
  • Philip IV decided to include commoners in the meeting to win wider support
• Church leaders were known as the First Estate
• Great lords were known as the Second Estate
• Commoners, wealthy landholders, or merchants that Philip invited to participate in the council became known as the Third Estate
  • The whole meeting was called the Estates-General
• The Estates-General helped to increase royal power against the nobility
• However, it never became an independent force that limited the king's power
• England and France were just beginning to establish a democratic tradition
  • This tradition rested on setting up a centralized government that would be able to govern widespread lands
• Common law/court systems was a step toward increased central government power
• Including commoners with decision making in governmental processes was an important step towards democratic rule

CHAPTER 14.4: The Hundred Years' War and the Plague 

• In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII attempted to enforce papal authority on kings as previous popes had
• When King Philip IV of France asserted authority of French bishops, Boniface responded with an official document that stated that kings must always obey popes
• Philip did not agree with this statement and instead of obeying the pope, Philip held him prisoner in September 1303
  • The king planned to bring him for a trial in France
  • The pope was rescued, but Boniface died a month later
• A pope would no longer be able to force monarchs to obey him because of this 
• 1305: Philip IV persuaded the College of Cardinals to choose a French archbishop as the new pope
• When reformers finally tried to move the papacy back to Rome the result was worse
• 1378: Pope Gregory XI died while visiting Rome
• The College of Cardinals met in Rome to choose a successor, but were met with a mob that demanded they wanted a Roman or Italian pope
• They elected Pope Urban VI, but regretted it almost immediately because of his passion for reform and hubris
• They elected a second pope a few months later with Robert of Geneva (taking the name Clement VII)
• There were two popes
  • Each declared the other to be a false pope, excommunicating his rival
  • The French Pope lived in Avignon while the Italian one lived in Rome
• This began the split in the Church known as the Great Schism or division
• 1414: The Council of Constance attempted to end the Great Schism by choosing a single pope
  • There were now a total of 3 popes: the Avignon pope, Roman pope, and a third pope elected by an earlier council at Pisa
• The council forced all three popes to resign with the assistance of the Holy Roman Emperor
• 1417: the Council elected Martin V as pope, ending the Great Schism with the papacy greatly weakened
• The papacy was further challenged by John Wycliffe, who preached that Jesus Christ, not the pope, was the true head of the Church
  • He was offended by the worldliness and wealth many clergy displayed
  • He believed that the clergy should have no land or wealth and taught that the Bible alone was the final authority for Christian life
• Wycliffe spread this idea by inspiring an English translation of the New Testament of the Bible
• Jan Hus, a professor in Bohemia was influenced by Wycliffe and taught that the authority of the Bible was higher than the pope
  • He was excommunicated in 1412 and in 1414, was seized by the Church and burned at stake a year later.
• 1300s: the bubonic plague struck parts of Asia, North Africa, and Europe
  • Approximately 1/3 of the population of Europe died of the disease
  • The epidemic was so terrifying that it ripped apart the fabric of society
• The plague began in Asia
  • It traveled trade routes and infected parts of Asia, the Muslim world, and Europe
• 1347: a fleet of Genoese merchant ships arrived in Sicily carrying bubonic plague, also referred to as the Black Death
  • The name was given because of the purplish/black-ish spots it produced on the skin
• The disease swept through Italy and followed routes to Spain, France, Germany, England, and other parts of Europe and Asia
• It took about four years to reach almost every corner of Europe
• Approximately 2/3-3/4 of those who caught the disease died
• Before the plague ran its course, it killed nearly 25 million Europeans and many more millions in Asia/North Africa
• It returned every few years, though it did not strike as severely as in the first outbreak
• Periodic attacks reduced the population 
• The plague had huge economic and social effects
  • The old manorial system began to crumble 
• Some changes included:
  • Town populations fell
  • Trade declined with prices rising
  • Serfs left their manors in search of better wages
  • Nobles fiercely resisted peasant demands for higher wages, causing peasant revolts in England, France, Italy, and Belgium
  • Jews were blamed for bringing the plague and all over Europe, they were driven from their homes or massacred 
  • The Church suffered a loss of prestige when its prayers failed to stop the onslaught of the bubonic plague and priests abandoned their duties
• The society of the Middle Ages was collapsing
• England and France battled with each other on French soil for just over a century
• This war between England and France marked the end of medieval Europe's society
• England's Edward III took the French throne after the last Capetian king died w/o  a successor 
• Edward III's war for the throne continued from 1337-1453, known as the Hundred Years' War
• Between 1421-1453 the French rallied and drove the English out of France entirely except for the port city of Calais
• The war changed the style of warfare in Europe
  • At this time some combatants were still operating under medieval ideals of chivalry
  • They looked down upon common foot soldiers/archers who fought alongside them
    • The contempt would change since the longbow changed warfare
• The English introduced the longbow and demonstrated its power in three significant battles: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt 
  • Battle of Crécy (August 26, 1346) 
    • The English army, including longbowmen, was outnumbered by a French army three times its size
    • In the end, more than a third of the French force lay dead
• 1420: the French and English signed a treaty stating that Henry V would inherit the French crown upon the death of the French king Charles VI 
• 1429: Joan of Arc, a teenage French peasant girl felt moved by God to rescue France from its English conquerors
  • When Joan was 13, she started to have visions/hear voices from what she believed were saints, urging her to drive the English from France/give the French crown to Charles VII
• May 7, 1429: Joan led the French army into battle at a fort city near Orléans
  • The French finally retreated
  • Joan and a few soldiers charged back toward the fort
  • The entire French army stormed after her, breaking the siege of Orléans 
  • She guided the French to victory
• After the victory, Joan persuaded Charles to go with her to Reims, where he was crowned on July 17, 1429
• 1430: the Burgundians (England's allies) captured Joan in battle, turned her over to the English, who then handed her to the Church authorities to stand trial
• Charles VII owed his crown to Joan, but did nothing to rescue her
• Joan was condemned as a witch and a heretic because of her claim to hear voices and burned at stake on May 30, 1431
• The war ended in 1453, with each side experiencing major changes
  • Feelings of nationalism emerged in England and France
    • People thought of the king as a national leader fighting for glory of the country and not simply a feudal lord
    • The power and prestige of the French monarch increased
    • The English suffered a period of internal turmoil (War of the Roses), in which 2 nobles fought for the throne
• It is speculated that the end of the 100 Years War in 1453 marks the end of the Middle Ages
• The Age of Faith slowly died out because of the Great Schism