The Factors that led to the Decline of the Middle Ages

The late middle ages were historic period fil conduct with turmoil. Famine, plague, turmoil in religion, and a contend subsisting all over one hundred years all happened within the same deuce centuries. Mevery feared that these ages were the apocalypse, as these signs were those of the four horseman predicted in religious scripture. around(prenominal) people ran from urban surroundings in order to escape the cuckoos nest and disease bed coveringing in the cities. The late middle ages were the ending of something of age(predicate) and the beginning of something that most hoped was better.The pin of the middle ages was the result of paucity and plague, regrets of the papacy, and the hundred years war. The middle ages turn downd in part be try of famine and plague. The famine started in the early 14th snow when the climate in Europe changed to a colder and moister climate. These stiller temperatures and wetter seasons resulted in a hardship of crops in large parts of Euro pe, causing the prices to skyrocket. Prices of particle rose from a shilling to twenty shillings in 1315. Those who could not afford the high prices of grain were doomed to starve.Those who starved not only lacked food but had a weakened immune system because of a lack of nutrients. Almost terce decades later temporary hookup people were still starving, a disease process up on the shores of Messina known as the bubonic plague. The symptoms of this sickness were expound by Georges Chastellain as, The pulse trembles and he pants. The bones are detached on all sides at that place is not a tendon which does not stretch as to burst. Giovanni Boccaccio describes in the Decameron that bodies were piled outside houses and taken to large trenches, to where they were bury by the hundreds.This plague spread throughout Europe and only hoidenish unvisited communities were able to stay away from the plague. None could clearly identify the cause of this plague and as a result they turned to their own single explanations. Mevery thought that the plague was sent from God as a form of punishment for sins that the people had committed. Some of these people went from township to town whipping themselves hoping that God would forgive them and the people around them. Others turned to a more worldly answer and punished the Jews for causing the plague.Many Jews were tortured to squeal that they had poisoned the water supply, and they were killed because of their supposed crime. Through the combination of the plague and famine medieval hunting lodge started to collapse and the deterioration of the Middle Ages. During the middle ages the church was the centerfield of the average persons life. However in the 14th century the papacy started to decline and individuals lost respect for the church because of the conciliar movement, and attacks from intellectuals.Intellectuals felt that the pontiff was too worldly and did not care close Christianity as ofttimes as he cared about having the finest things. Ramn de Cornet criticized the pope in Avignon saying, I see the pope his sacred trust betray, for while the rich his grace can gain always He strives to gathering wealth as best he may, forcing Christs people blindly to obey, fanny Wycliffe proposed several ideas about how to make the church less worldly. Two of these were about keeping the sacred practices of the church in the church instead of allow them be abused outside of the church.All those who promoted these ideas were both(prenominal) condemned and executed for heresy or they were smart enough to stay away from the church officials. This caused a break away in the church as some agreed with the intellectuals and others did not, causing a weak and divided papist Catholic Church. Finally the conciliar movement is the last reason that caused the decline of the papacy. The conciliar movement was an attempt to answer the question of if there should be a council that shares the authority of th e pope or if there should be a singular pope that exercises power.In Defensor Pacis Marsilius of Padua states that, We now wish . . . to adduce the truths of the divine Scripture . . . which explicitly command or counsel that incomplete the Roman bishop called pope, nor any other bishop or priest, or deacon, has or ought to have any rulership or coercive judgment or jurisdiction over any priest or non-priest, ruler, community, group, or individual of whatever condition . . . . This disagreement caused many people to lose faith in the pope. The Conciliar movement, along with the attacks from intellectuals caused the decline of the church and the papacy.The final event that contributed to the downfall of medieval society was the century Years War. Starting in the mid-14th century, the degree centigrade Years War was fought amid Britain and France and ended in the mid-15th century. The war started when the ability of France died with no heirs. When selecting a female monarch, so me French nobles wanted an English king that did not want to digest the government, while other French nobles wanted a French king to maintain national pride.This sparked conflict over English controlled lands in France. The war lasted for many years and was mostly fought on French lands. Jean Froissarts account of a sacking during the war give tongue to, for upwards of three thousand men, women and children were put to death that day. God have mercy on their souls for they were authoritative martyrs, The English seemed to be winning in the war until Joan of Arc led the French army. The French started winning, and eventually led to the removal from the English in the French territory.This led to a growth of nationalism in both countries as well as it started to cause the peasants to revolt. As Jean Froissart stated about the English Peasant Revolt, they were too severely oppressed that at the beginning of the world there were no slaves, and that no one ought to be hardened as s uch, unless he had committed treason against his lord, as deuce had done against God but they had done no such thing, for they were neither angels nor spirits, but men formed after the same likeness with their lords, who treated them as beasts.This they would not longer bear, but had determined to be free, and if they leaden or did any other works for their lords, they would be paid for it. These revolts caused feudal society to collapse slowly, adding to the decline of the medieval society caused by the nose candy Years War. Overall the Hundred Years War, the decline of the papacy, and famine and plague, mainly contributed to the wane of medieval society.Famine and plague was caused by cool and wet climate change as well as the spread disease throughout Europe. The decline of the papacy was the result of the attacks from intellectuals and the conciliar movement. And finally the Hundred Years War was the result of the selection of the French king and the argument over English la nds in French territory. Medieval society declined for a number of reasons, but it never stopped suddenly. It was a moderate decline into another era filled with many facets and features.