Humanities Exam 1 Timeline

Leading up to 1300

Period: 1250 to 1300

• Europe is politically divided (Christendom)
• Feudal World
  • First Estate → The clergy (5% of population)
  • Second Estate → The Nobility (3-5% of population)
  • Third Estate → Peasantry (90% of population)
• Three centuries of population growth (overpopulated)
• Agricultural Crisis (Famine, malnutrition, and disease)
• Partible Inheritance
  • Some families will divide their land equally among their children

Edward I of England

Period: 1272 to 1307

Most ruthless king in England's history
a) Conquest of Wales (1277-1295)

Philip IV of France

Period: 1285 to 1314

Equally Ruthless as Edward I

Clericos Laicos

1297

Issued decree by Boniface VIII that all kings had to acknowledge his authority over their own kingdoms or be excommunicated.
- Primary concern was the Monarchy (both British and French) was taxing the church

Little Ice Age

Period: 1300 to 1798

• Avg. drop of about 2 degrees C° across europe
  • Longer, wetter winters
  • Shorter growing seasons
  • Less food
• Continental agricultural Decline

Francesco Petrarch

Period: 1304 to 1374

Italian Poet
Greatest Scholar of his day
Coined the term “Dark Ages”

- Advocated for study of humanities
- Advocate of classical greatness

Election of Clement V

1305

Elected Pope through the machinations of Philip IV of France
- Papal Capital moved to Avignon, France --> Lasted about 70 years

The Babylonian Captivity of the Church

Period: 1309 to 1378

(1) Conflict with Boniface VIII (Pope)
-Primarily with King Philip IV of France
(2) Election of Clement V
(3) Name refers to the time period where the Papal Capital is in Avignon, France
-Popes were put out of Rome

Giovanni Boccaccio

Period: 1313 to 1375

Italian Writer
One of the first writers to use Italian language in his work
Studied Law in Naples
Decameron (1348)

Edward III of England

Period: 1327 to 1377

• After King Charles IV Died, he believed he would be crowned King of France
• Mother was a French princess so he had a legitimate claim to the French Crown

The Death of Charles IV (1328) then king of France

1328

Edward III vs. Philip VI (Count of Valois)
French did not want Edward (underage and King of England) to be king of France
(1) The Salic Law

Invasion of Flounder

1337

King Edward III Invades Flounder to take the French Crown

Philip VI Annexes Guyenne (Start of 100 Years War)

1337

• Hundred Years' War is said to have started on May 24, 1337, with the confiscation of the English-held duchy of Guyenne by French King Philip VI

The Hundred Years War

Period: 1337 to 1453

• Edward III of England
• Philip Count of Valois
• a series of armed conflicts fought between the kingdoms of
  England and France during the Late Middle Ages
• originated from English claims to the French throne

Poet Laureate

1341

Petrarch Crowned Poet Laureate by king of Naples

Battle of Crecy

Aug 26, 1346

(1) England had well-trained Welsh Bowman (More efficient and effective than their Italian crossbowman counterparts)
(2) Emergence of Firepower (Ranged weapons)
(3) 1346 Edward III landed in Normandy, defeating the French King, Philip VI, at the Battle of Crécy

The Plague (Black Death)

Period: 1347 to 1351

Bubonic Plague originated in Mongolia (Asia)
Burns itself out in Kiev (1351)
Plague Doctors
God's Wrath (Penance)
Good Priests Died
Scapegoating
Heavily ravaged Italy
Europe’s population in total approximately dropped 40%

Decameron

1348

• Written during the outbreak of the black death
• Considered one of the greatest works of fiction
• Vivid and realistic descriptions of life in 14th-century Italy

Labor Revolts by the third estate: Golden Age of European Labor

Period: 1350 to 1450

Manoel Crysoloras

Period: 1353 to 1415

• Greek Scholar and Philosopher
• wrote a textbook on Greek grammar - his Erotemata “Questions”, which circulated widely and was the first Greek grammar to be printed (c. 1471)
• key figure in bringing Greek scholarship to Italy.

Battle of Poitiers

Sep 19, 1356

(1) Edward (the Black Prince) repeated his success at Poitiers (1356).
(2) By 1360 Edward controlled over a quarter of France.
Captured the French King
(3) French had to pay “King’s Ransom”

The Jacquierie Labor Revolt

1358

Treaty of Brétigny

1360

French had to concede territory to get the king back

Charles V of France "The Wise"

Period: 1364 to 1380

1. Character and Ability:
   • Patient & good planner
   • Not very “strong”
2. The Problem of the Free Companies → Du Guescelin
   • After the war, leftover Mercenary companies began to rampage through the country
   • Hired Du Guescelin to get rid of the other companies
   • Over several years controls the problem

The Great Castilian Civil War

Period: 1366 to 1369

Pedro el Cruel vs. Henry of Trastmára - Spain was an Ally of England against France - King Alfonso XI dies - His son Pedro El Cruel takes over - Pedro’s Brother, Henry, Recruits France to help him overthrow Pedro (in return Spain will become an Ally of France) - Henry of Trastmára kills Pedro personally in 1369 Castille → French Ally

King Richard II of England

Period: 1377 to 1399

• Weak
• Grandson of King Edward III
  • Unstable → Persecuted lots of people
• Overthrown by Henry IV (the Lancastrian Dynasty)

The Revolt of the Ciompi

1378

Ciompi → unskilled labor workers
(1) Briefly took over the government in Florence

Charles VI of France (Mad King)

Period: 1380 to 1422

• The “Well-Beloved”
• Madness (1392) →
• Power slips to Uncle (Duke of Burgundy) and Brother (Duke of Orleans)
  • Civil War Between Burgundians and Armagnacs (Supporters of the King and of Orleans) from 1399 - Open Fighting in France

The English Peasants’ War

1381

100k Peasants were fed up with taxes
(1) All march on England (Richard III)
(2) “When Adam delved and Eve Span, Who then was the gentleman?”

Lorenzo Valla

Period: 1405 to 1477

• Greatest Humanist Scholar before Erasmus
• Disproving the authenticity of The Donation of Constantine (1440)
• Harsh Critic of Scholasticism
• Annotations on the New Testament → Criticism of Jerome’s Vulgate

King Henry V (Hal) of England (r. 1413 -1422)

Period: 1413 to 1422

1. Character and Goal
   • Great military strategist
   • Truly believed he was the king of France by birthright
2. Burgundy Allies with England (1419)
   • Northern France Falls to Henry
   • Treaty of Troyes (1420)
3. Death (Aug. 31, 1422)
   • Dies by dysentery (sickness) just 2 years after Treaty
   • The Rule of John of Bedford (1422-1435) – Success and Strain

Battle of Agincourt

Oct 25, 1415

• Welsh Longbow demonstrates its power
• Weather also played a part
• 315 English casualties vs 10,000 French Casualties (exaggeration)
• Major casualties for France
• Many were political leaders

Treaty of Troyes

1420

A deal with Charles VI
Marriage Alliance
Henry V Marries Charles VI’s Daughter
Their Child would be recognized as the King of France by All

John Bedford

Period: 1422 to 1435

• Competent Commander
• Because Northern France became a position of England French nobles were not willing to go defend that territory
• Things were very Dire for France at this point

The Danse Macabre (earliest signs)

1424

New theme in literature and poetry
(1) Death becomes more immediate in Europe’s psyche
(2) Death Could not be ignored
(4) More anxiety about death and the next life

Joan of Arc

Period: 1429 to 1431

1. Claimed to hear visions from God
   • Needed to go and speak to the King of France so that France could be saved
2. Appearance before the Dauphin, Charles VII (Feb. 1429)
   • Tries to convince him to fight back
3. March to Orleans (May 1429)
   • England retreaded from Orleans
4. Rheims captured (July 1429)
5. Captured (1430), Trial and Execution (1431)
   • Captured by the Burgundians &Burned as a witch (Age 19)
   • English never regained their footing in the war

Marsilio Ficino

Period: 1433 to 1499

• Head of the Platonic Academy in Florence from 1462
• Wrote Platonic Theology
• Principal figure in Renaissance revival of Plato Renaissance Neoplatonism

Treaty of Arras

1435

• Established peace between Burgundy and Charles VII of France

End of Hundred Years War

Period: 1435 to 1453

• Treaty of Arras (1435)
• Charles VII re-takes Paris (1437)
• Surrender of Bordeaux (1453)

Charles VII re-takes Paris

1437

Surrender of Bordeaux

1453

1. Gunpowder & artillery overpowers English that were defending Bordeaux
2. End of the war

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

Period: 1463 to 1484

• Humanist/Neoplatonist author
• Wrote “The Apologia” (1486)
• Wrote “Oration on the Dignity of Man” (1486)
• Interest in the Kaballah -an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism
• The Unity of Knowledge

“Oration on the Dignity of Man”

1486

• a public discourse composed in 1486
• one of the great manifestos of humanism
• primary idea importance and primacy of human beings.
• Mirandola argues that humans, unlike animals, have the ability to transcend creation and become cherubim.