For long, the late Middle Ages were the poor relation of the central, or ‘high’, Middle Ages, a period which received far less attention from historians than its predecessor, and was certainly viewed less favourably. It was the central Middle Ages which were seen as witnessing the peak of medieval achievement. The late medieval period, by contrast, was dismissed as a time of decadence and decay, a low point between the twin peaks of the 12th century Renaissance and its 14th- and 15th-century successor.
No longer, today, are the late Middle Ages brushed off quite so lightly. Viewed more sympathetically, and on their own terms, they are regarded as a period which witnessed vital social and economic change, and in which in many ways the foundations were laid for the modern world. The aim of the course is to show how this historiographical revolution has come about and to examine some of the evidence on which it is based.
Attention will be paid, first, to the late medieval economy, taking in not only the demographic collapse brought about by plague and the contraction which accompanied it but also the rise in per capita living standards, the expansion in consumption and the reorganisation of the countryside. After this, the spotlight will be shone on the political developments of the period, in particular on the widening of political society and the periodic eruptions of the lower orders. This political analysis will lead naturally onto a consideration of the warfare of the period, most notably the Hundred Years War between England and France, a conflict which brought havoc to France but also contributed to the formation of French nationhood and the strengthening of the French monarchy. The course will end with a look, first, at the rich cultural achievements of the period, in particular the so-called Northern Renaissance in Burgundy, and then at the late medieval Church, which, as the evidence of wills and churchwardens’ accounts shows, had roots in a strongly felt popular piety.
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