In German history, a transitional period from c.13001500 which witnessed the decline of imperial Hohenstaufen influence in favour of that of regional lords, coupled with the rise of the bourgeoisie. The cities gained in importance; the democratization of learning associated with the aspirations of the guilds was hastened by the invention of printing. A time of strife, social upheaval, and physical catastrophe, in which apocalyptic sentiment was rife, it also produced such important mystics as the Dominicans Meister Eckhart, Seuse, and Tauler. The general effect on literature was one of fragmentation: the Minnesang tradition splintered in the direction of folksong (Oswald von Wolkenstein) or Meistersang (Heinrich von Meißen, or Frauenlob). The bourgeois Meistersinger cultivated the legacy of Minnesang, but in a generally formalistic manner. Leading writers of the time include Beheim, Folz, Heinrich von Mügeln, and Rosenplüt (der Schnepperer). The age also saw the emergence of prose as an administrative as well as a literary tool. Alongside religious and didactic elements, the realistic and earthy were prominent, particularly in the works of travelling players, such as Fastnacht and other Spiele - dramatic performances often linked to the Church cycle.
The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th and 15th centuries (1300–1500 A.D.). The Late Middle Ages were preceded by the High Middle Ages, and followed by the Early Modern era (Renaissance).
Around 1300, centuries of European prosperity and growth came to a halt. A series of famines and plagues, such as the Great Famine of 1315-1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population perhaps by half. France and England experienced serious peasant risings (the Jacquerie and the Peasants' Revolt), and the Hundred Years' War. The unity of the Catholic Church was shattered by the Great Schism.
On the other hand, the 14th century was also a time of great progress within the arts and sciences. Meanwhile, the invention of printing was to have great effect on European society. This facilitated dissemination of the printed word and democratized learning, one end result of which for the Catholic Church would eventually be the Protestant Reformation. The growth of the Ottoman Empire, culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (incidentally also the year counted as the end of the Hundred Years' War), cut off trading possibilities with the east. But Columbus’s discovery of America in 1492, and Vasco da Gama’s circumnavigation of Africa in 1498, opened up new trade routes, strengthening the economy and power of European nations.
All these developments taken together make it convenient to talk of an end to the Middle Ages, and the beginning of the modern world. It should be noted that the division will always be a somewhat artificial one, since ancient learning was never entirely absent from European society, and therefore there is a certain continuity between the Classical and the Modern age. Also, some historians, particularly in Italy, prefer not to speak of the Late Middle Ages at all, but rather see the 14th century Renaissance as a direct transition to the Modern Era.
Historical events and politics
Britain
The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 effectively ended English aspirations of subjugating Scotland, and the Scottish were able to develop a strong state under the Stuarts. From 1337, England’s attention was largely directed towards France in the Hundred Years' War. Almost immediately upon the end of the war, in 1453 followed the dynastic struggles of the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). The war ended in the accession of Henry VII, and the strong, centralized Tudor monarchy.
Scandinavia
After the failed union of Sweden and Norway of 1319-1365, the pan-Scandinavian Kalmar Union was instituted in 1397.
The Norwegian colony on Greenland died out under mysterious circumstances in the 15th century.
Western and Central Europe
The French Valois Monarchy, that followed the Capetian Dynasty in 1328, was at its outset virtually marginalized in its own country, partly by the English invading forces of the Hundred Years’ War, partly by the powerful Duchy of Burgundy. The appearance of Joan of Arc on the scene changed the course of war in favour of the French, and under Louis XI Burgundy was also subjugated.
In Germany, the Holy Roman Empire passed to the Habsburgs in 1438, where it remained until its dissolution in 1806.
Southern Europe
The 1469 marriage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon led to the creation of modern-day Spain. Portugal had during the 15th century gradually explored the coast of Africa, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama found the sea route to India. The Spanish monarchs met the Portuguese challenge by financing Columbus’s attempt to find the western sea route to India, leading to the discovery of America in the same year as the capture of Granada.
In Italy, Florence grew to prominence among the city-states through financial business.
Eastern Europe
The Byzantine Empire had for a long time dominated the Eastern Mediterranean in politics and culture.
In the north, the main development was the enormous growth of the Lithuanian (later Polish-Lithuanian) kingdom. Ivan III, the Great, laid the foundations for a Russian national state.
Climate and agriculture
Around 1300-1350 the Medieval Warm Period gave way to the Little Ice Age. Most notable are the Great Famine of 1315-1317, the Black Death, and the Hundred Years' War. The result was the virtual end of serfdom over great parts of Western Europe. In Eastern Europe, on the other hand, there were few large cities with a viable bourgeoisie to act as a counterweight to the great landowners, and these were able to force the pesantry into even more repressive bondage.
Military developments
Through battles such as Battle of Courtrai (1302) Bannockburn (1314) and Grandson (1476) it became clear to the great territorial princes of Europe that the great military advantage of the feudal cavalry was lost, and that a well equipped infantry was preferable. The English held a great advantage over the French in the Hundred Years’ War through the deployment of their highly efficient English longbows, originally a Welsh invention.
The introduction of gunpowder changed the conduct of war significantly.
Both these developments taken together contributed to breaking down the feudal system, and paved the way for the strong, centralized nation state.
Religion
The Great Schism
From the early 14th century, the Papacy came more and more under the dominance of the French crown, culminating in its transference to Avignon in 1309. When the Pope decided to return to Rome in 1377, different popes were elected in Avignon and Rome, resulting in the Great Schism (1378-1417).
At the Council of Constance (1414-1418) the Papacy was once more united in Rome. Even though the unity of the Western Church was to last for another hundred years, and though the Papacy was to experience greater material prosperity than ever before, the Great Schism had done irreparable damage.
Reform movements
John Wyclif
Though the Catholic Church had long fought against heretic movements, in the Late Middle Ages it started to experience demands for reform from within.
Jan Hus
The teachings of the Czech priest Jan Hus were based on those of John Wyclif, and had little originality. Hus gained a great following in Bohemia, and when he was burned as a heretic in 1415 it caused a popular uprising. The subsequent Hussite Wars did not result in religious or national independence for the Czechs, but both the Church and the German element within the country were weakened.
Martin Luther
Though technically outside the time-period of the Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther ended the unity of the Western Church - one of the distinguishing characteristics of the medieval period.
Luther, a German monk, started the Reformation by the posting of the 95 theses on the castle church of Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.
To many secular rulers, the Protestant reformation was a welcome opportunity to expand their wealth and influence. Europe was split into a northern Protestant and a southern Catholic part, resulting in the Religious Wars of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Trade and commerce
Several changes took place in the patterns of European trade in this period. As an alternative, new trade routes were opened up – south of Africa to India, and across the Atlantic Ocean to America.
On the financial field, European nations saw the emergence of trading companies – corporations that would finance large-scale trade and manufacture, often receiving special privileges and monopolies from the state. The greatest financiers, a role previously often held by Jews, would finance the wars of the rulers. Families like the Fuggers in Germany, the Medicis in Italy and the de la Poles in England would achieve great political, as well as economic power.
Science and technology
The philosopher William of Occam, and his principle known as Occam's Razor, led to a decline in fruitless scholastic debates, and paved the way for experimental science.
Most European technical innovations of the 14th and 15th centuries were not original, but in more often of Chinese or Arab origin. Though gunpowder had long been known to the Chinese, it was the Europeans who fully realized its military potential, allowing the European expansion and world domination of the Modern Era.
Culture
Art
The visual arts experienced a tremendous development in the Late Middle Ages; In painting one speaks of a northern Renaissance, centred on the Low Countries, and an Italian Renaissance with Florence as its hub.
Architecture
While the gothic cathedral very much remained in vogue in Northern European countries, this style of building never really caught on in Italy.
Literature
The most important development of late medieval literature was the ascendancy of the vernacular languages over Latin.
The writer who more than any other heralds the new age is Dante Alighieri.
Music
In early fourteenth-century France emerged the music known as Ars nova.
The beginning of the Renaissance in music can be traced, unlike most other art forms, to England. John Dunstaple and his use of the interval of the third can be seen as an important step towards the music of the modern period.
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