1348-1453

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 * 1348 (The Plague) - 1453 (The Fall of Constantinople)**

The Crises of the 14th Century

 * ======**The Great Schism**======
 * ======**Famine**======
 * ======**The Black Death**======
 * ======**Hundred Years' War**======
 * ======**Vernacular**======

[[image:6698-004-ED43A4B8.gif width="254" height="177" align="left" caption="The Spread of the Plague"]]
At the end of the Middle Ages, a number of crises occurred throughout Europe that would significantly shape life in the Renaissance.

First, the Catholic Church was weakened by events such as **The Great Schism**, which was essentially a crisis of sovereignty among many competing Pope's that claimed to be legitimate. Church followers no longer saw the Papacy as an infallible institution.

Second, there were a number of **famines** that occurred at regular cycles during the 14th century. The result was a cycle of famine and epidemics, the most notable being **The Black Death/Bubonic Plague**. However, the long-term impact of the Plague would increase the standard of living across Europe by making labor more valuable.

Finally, war and revolt made the lives of Europeans unstable in the 14th century. As a result of famine, peasant revolts were frequent, but were met with little government response. Governments, as a whole, were unable to respond since political institutions were weak and unstable. The **Hundred Years' W****ar** is the best example of political unrest between emergent nations (namely England and France).

While the creation of ehtnic identity did bring many consequences, a positive outcome was an increase of the use of national languages. The **vernacular,** the national language, came into more popular use in verbal and written communication.

Commercial Revolution and the Medicis
The Italian Renaissance began among the disunified **city-states** in the Italian peninsula. There, commercial wealth from Mediterranean trade was consolidated in the hands of **merchant oligarchies** - families that formed as wealthy merchant families married into medieval nobility. Competing city-states maintained a political balance of power, but ultimately declined in the face of military conflicts that required Italian unity.
 * ======**Italian City-States**======
 * ======**Merchant Oligarchies**======
 * ======**Banking & Commercial Revolution**======
 * ======**Medicis & Fuggers**======
 * ======**Patronage**======

The influx of wealth caused a **Commercial Revolution** - one of the first movements from a purely agrarian to a market economy in Europe. This supported the growth of a wealthy middle class merchant elite. A few prominent **banking** families, like the **Medicis** and the **Fuggers**, dominated European money lending. The Medicis became the personal banking family of the Papacy, often become papal elites, while the Fuggers were the banking family of the Habsburgs. With their wealth, the families also became known for their **patronage** of the arts, which supported Italian Renaissance style paintings, architecture, and sculpture.

Causes of the European Age of Exploration
While the Italian Renaissance was sparked in the Italian peninsula due to Mediterranean trade, the **Fall of Constantinople** (1453) to the Ottoman Turks isolated Europe from eastern wealth. Suddenly, Europeans had to seek access to access to India and China through alternative routes.
 * ======**Fall of Constantinople**======
 * ======**New Monarchs**======
 * ======**Renaissance Technology**======
 * ======**Renaissance "Spirit"**======

This motive, combined with the capability **New Monarchs** had in generating wealth and sponsoring exploration, shifted the European balance of power to the north and west - to new states like Portugal and Spain, and eventually England, The Netherlands, and France.

Of course, the Age of Exploration could not have occurred without Renaissance **technological** progress. Better ships, navigation tools, and cartography (much of which was borrowed from Arab culture) was necessary for European fleets to sail the Atlantic. Overall, the **Renaissance spirit** - its emphasis on progress, spirituality, and humanism - also contributed to the success of Exploration.