The 14th-Century Crisis

A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

1. Origins and Spread of the Black Death. The Black Death spread from Central Asia along Mongol trade routes, reaching Europe through Caffa in 1347.
2. Yersinia pestis: Clinical Forms and Medieval Medicine. Yersinia pestis caused three clinical forms of plague, which medieval medicine explained through miasmas and humors.
3. Mortality and the Demographic Catastrophe. The Black Death killed an estimated 30 to 60 percent of Europe's population between 1347 and 1353.
4. Religious Reactions and the Persecution of Jewish Communities. The plague triggered flagellant processions and devastating pogroms that scapegoated Jewish communities.
5. Economic Transformation and the Social Revolts of the Fourteenth Century. Labor shortages after the plague raised wages, eroded serfdom in the west, and sparked revolts like the Jacquerie.
6. The Hundred Years' War: Origins and the Edwardian Phase (1337-1360). A disputed French succession and feudal rivalry ignited war in 1337, marked by Crécy and Poitiers.
7. Renewed War: From du Guesclin to Agincourt and Troyes. Amid civil war and a mad king, Henry V's victory at Agincourt led to the Treaty of Troyes disinheriting the Dauphin.
8. Joan of Arc and the End of the War (1429-1453). Joan of Arc's intervention reversed French fortunes, and Charles VII's reforms won the war by 1453.