The Late Middle Ages: Periodization And Main Characteristics
What we know as the “Late Middle Ages”, and which traditional historiography places between the 13th and 15th centuries, is a compendium of economic, political and social changes that prefigured the advent of the Modern Era. Thus, although historical statements and nominations are enemies of reality, it is true that we can distinguish a series of characteristics in these late medieval centuries that define a specific period with its own personality.
In this article we will give 8 keys to understand what changes occurred during the centuries of the Late Middle Ages and what was its importance in history.
Indeed, the last medieval centuries are flooded with changes. The old feudal world, which had been the pillar of the Middle Ages, is in crisis. Your own contradictions are the engine of change. On the other hand, the population presents the highest figures in the 13th century, with the consequent overpopulation of the countryside and the cities.
The arrival of the Black Death (1348) marks a before and after, to the point that, without it, the course of history could have been very different. The violent demographic decline, caused by high mortality, drives a series of social changes that entail political, economic and cultural consequences.
We are going to review the Late Middle Ages through 7 capital points, in order to understand what this historical period consisted of.
1. The Black Death, crop failures and the “Little Ice Age”
Every period of prosperity is followed by a period of crisis. Broadly speaking, this is what happened in the 13th century. After a time of crop bonanza and enormous population growth, a period of poor harvests ensued, partly motivated by the so-called medieval “Little Ice Age”, which began at the beginning of the 14th century and was one of the coldest periods. of the history of Europe. Temperatures dropped by up to 3 degrees Celsius, and major floods alternated with little rain All of this caused a very long season of bad harvests that weakened the health of Europeans.
When the Black Death arrived from Asia in 1348, following the Italian trade routes, the population was not prepared to face the disease. The weakness caused by poor nutrition and the cold wreaked havoc. It is estimated that a quarter of the European population succumbed to the plague (according to some authors, there were many more deaths), with the economic and social consequences that this abrupt demographic decline entailed. We will analyze these consequences in the following sections.
2. Crisis and evolution of the feudal system
Although this political, social and economic system will not disappear completely, in the last medieval centuries we witness a gradual evolution of it that will ultimately lead to the mercantilist-type structure of the modern era. Let’s see what causes this significant change.
In 1348, as we have already indicated, the fearsome Black Death arrived in Europe. The demographic consequences of this epidemic were catastrophic, since it is estimated that between 30 and 60% of the European population succumbed to the disease. This abrupt demographic decline causes, of course, the countryside to become practically depopulated. The feudal lords are not capable of supporting the rural crisis, and the territories are gradually absorbed by large landowners
Thus, a land concentration is produced where large exploitation predominates, which gives way to the emergence of new models of agricultural work, such as tenants and day laborers. The former are in charge of some land under a contract; Very often, these lands belong to urban oligarchies that, in this way, become part of the ownership of rural property. On the other hand, day laborers burst into the agricultural landscape with great force and represent strong competition for stable farmers, since they receive their salary for each day worked. These day laborers will be the basis of the future proletarianization of the peasantry.
3. Spiritual and social crisis
The 14th century is the century of the crisis of the papacy. The dichotomy between spiritual and temporal power was not new; Since the 11th century, disputes had been going on between the Pope and the kings and emperors. However, the Late Middle Ages represented a profound crisis in this sense. Intellectuals such as Marsilio de Padua and Juan de Paris promulgate the theory of the ascending path of power; but It is above all William of Ockham who establishes a point and a departure with his famous “Ockham’s razor” where he proposes an absolute separation between papal power, strictly limited to spiritual matters, and temporal power.
Three dates are significant. Una, 1302, the year in which Pope Boniface VIII issues the bull Unam Sanctam, confirming papal superiority over kings and emperors. The second, 1303, when Bonifacio himself was the victim of an attack in Agnani. And the third and most significant, 1305, the year in which Pope Clement V, of French origin, was elected.
This election is clearly sponsored by the French monarch, Philip IV of France, immersed in a long struggle against papal authority (and who was behind the attack on Boniface VIII). The papal court then moved to Avignon, where Philip controlled papal decisions at will. Clement V becomes a puppet in the hands of French whims. The preponderance of France over the pontificate lasted no less than seventy years, during which five French popes were appointed.
The papal see did not return to Rome until 1378, with Gregory XI. However, The authority of the Pontiff had been definitively damaged There were many intellectuals and mystics who criticized the scant religious role that had emanated from the pontiff during the “Babylonian captivity,” as the Avignon era was called. A crisis then began that would last forty years, during which papal prestige would be seriously compromised.
Finally, and already in the 15th century, the “sacerdocium-imperium” struggle or, what is the same, between spiritual and earthly power, seemed to have reached an agreement. The Popes limited themselves to their possessions on the Italian peninsula, and left those of the rest of the territories in the hands of their respective monarchs. However, the fissure was already made; The following century would be the century of the Reformation.
4. The rise of cities
As we have pointed out in the first section, poor harvests and the advent of the Black Death marked a before and after in European demographic evolution. The centuries before the “Little Ice Age” and the great plague epidemic were centuries of economic, and also population, prosperity. In fact, at the dawn of the 14th century, fields and cities were beginning to reach their limits, with obvious signs of overpopulation.
The cities in particular concentrated the majority of the European population: It is estimated that in Italy (which, along with Flanders, was the most urbanized territory) there were 200 cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants, a true outrage for the time. Not only that; On the Italian peninsula we find the so-called medieval “metropolises”: Milan, Venice and Florence, which at the end of the 13th century already exceeded 100,000 citizens. In the westernmost part of Europe, Paris stands as the great urban center, since it has the not inconsiderable number of 50,000 inhabitants.
This urban population concentrated in the Mediterranean area (with the exception, we have already said, of Flanders), is understood if we take into account the already existing network of Roman cities. Indeed, both the Italian and Iberian peninsulas, as well as part of France, have an excellent network of cities of Roman origin that still maintain their organization. On the other hand, in northern Europe, cities tend to be new; ancient villages that receive population privileges to encourage urban settlement and that, ultimately, are the origin of prosperous Flemish cities.
The Black Death of the 14th century represents, of course, a significant decline in these urban centers. However, the foundations of the new urban reality are already in place and, throughout the 15th century, both Italian and Flemish cities will experience their time of splendor, not only political and economic, but also artistic, thanks to the powerful social group of the bourgeoisie, who from then on acted as very important patrons
5. Changes in social models
The rise of cities implies, obviously, the definitive deployment of the class of merchants, bankers and bourgeois. This social group stands as the most powerful within the social, economic and political reality of the cities; Not only do they act as patrons (they are patrons and protectors of the most famous artists), but they also exercise tight political control within the urban framework. The rich bourgeoisie are present in urban political groups, and they are the ones who set the guidelines. Thus a powerful urban oligarchy is formed with power and opulence similar to that held by the aristocracy in previous centuries.
Of course, this change in social direction implies a change in production models. Now it is the bourgeoisie who control the entire production process; It is not yet a factory model, as we will see later during the Industrial Revolution, but they are present in the organization of the production chain, controlling the artisans and other workers involved in the process. The consequence is a significant loss of freedom on the part of the artisans and a crisis in the medieval community system of guilds.
On the other hand, the demographic decline after the plague causes a significant reduction in the members of the family unit. Thus, we have that, in the 14th century, the family was reduced to about 4 members (the couple and two children), which somewhat breaks the myth that, in the Middle Ages, families were very large. The high mortality and low life expectancy means that we barely find two generations in the family nucleus. On the other hand, there is an increase in the age of marriage among young people, most likely motivated by the need to increase fertility in a world that had become practically depopulated.
During the Late Middle Ages, the city exercised absolute predominance over the immediate rural environment. The demographic collapse after the plague makes specialized urban groups (craftsmen and workers) disappear, which causes, as we have already mentioned, the urban oligarchy to take the reins of all production. This entails, in turn, a greater demand for luxury objects, intended to satisfy this oligarchy thirsty for ostentation and power
The increase in population in cities implies a greater need for hospitals. Thus, we find an evolution from the old hospitals for pilgrims (focused, above all, on asylum and care) towards greater specialization in the treatment and cure of diseases.
In many European cities the services of the various hospitals in the city are centralized in a single building, which is usually the origin of the current hospitals that are still active. As an example, we can cite the Hospital de la Santa Creu in Barcelona, whose magnificent medieval building can still be seen in the Raval neighborhood, and which until the 19th century was the only active hospital in the city.
7. Fascination with the world
In the centuries of the Late Middle Ages, the so-called “travel literature” proliferated, fruit of the need to know new worlds. The population was hungry for stories set in wonderful places; In fact, this literature did not seek to offer a realistic vision of the world, but was simply a narration of epics in remote places described in the most fantastic way possible. Thus appears the literary genre of “wonders”, whose greatest exponent is the Book of Wonders by Marco Polo.
Written when the illustrious traveler was in prison, this travel book describes in an absolutely fantastic way the Asian lands, where Polo traveled, but also the African continent, where the Italian never set foot in his life. This is characteristic of this type of literature: authors often wrote about lands they had never seen, aware that the public was not asking for reality, but to get away for a few hours from their monotonous daily life.
This genre of “wonders” will be the basis of the interest in the world that, little by little, is awakening in Europe During the 14th century and, more specifically, in the 15th century, Genoese and Venetian merchants began to look for new commercial avenues. This growing interest in Asia and the Atlantic Ocean was later joined by Portugal, which would be one of the naval powers of subsequent centuries.
8. The birth of states
At the end of the Middle Ages, the concept of “state” began to take shape, which, despite still being a very diffuse concept, would find its foundations in the social changes of this period. The development of Roman law, strengthened in the middle of the Middle Ages, had a lot to do with this entire process
Thus, in the last medieval centuries, the embryos of what would later become absolute monarchies emerged. The power of the king is extraordinarily strengthened, to the detriment of the aristocracy. In fact, the 15th century is the century of conflicts between monarch and nobility, the latter obsessed with preserving their ancient prerogatives, but also with the cities, which increasingly demand more autonomy. From this struggle, strong monarchies emerge (although not yet absolutist), where the preponderance of the royal role over the aristocracy, the clergy and the cities is very clear. In this way, the monarch and his lineage are identified with the state, understanding this not with the current meaning, but as the heritage of this family of monarchs that takes the reins.
