The Fourteenth Century: Great Changes In The Middle Ages

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The fourteenth century was a time of grief and havoc. In this time period, Europe was turned upside down when disaster struck. Not a single person (serfs, lords, vassals, physicians, and even the clergy) was safe from the horror that was consuming them. The Hundred Years’ War kicked off the disastrous time, followed by the decline of the church through the Great Schism and Avignon Papacy, and the outburst of the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) finished off the disastrous time period. These three events brought about a great change to the Middle Ages, and contributed to this time period being categorized as calamitous. These events can be compared to events taking place in the twenty-first century that will further prove that this period follows the legacy of the fourteenth century and thus has earned the name of a “calamitous” century. One of the three events that justifies the term “calamitous” and contributed to change in European civilization is the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453 C.E.). This long war was a result of the English claiming the throne of France due to the death of Charles IV. It is called the Hundred Years’ War simply because it lasted more than 100 years. This 100 plus years was filled with multiple battles in which the English were …show more content…

The people of the European society (except clergy) began to think that the Church no longer could save them from the terrible illness and other disasters of their time period. They began to lose hope and stopped praying for things to be fixed, and started using science to figure out how to overcome the illness of the Black Death (Fiero 360-61). Also, due to the end of hand to hand combat and the code of chivalry, feudalism was destroyed. Therefore, the lords and vassals no longer held complete power over the serfs (Fiero