The 14th century crisis It is the name given by historians to the set of negative circumstances that characterized that time. The effects of this crisis affected all areas, from demographic to economic, marking the beginning of the end of the Middle Ages..
The reasons why Europe suffered this crisis are multiple and interrelated. To begin with, many authors blame a change in the continent's climate for poor harvests, which led to episodes of famine and rebellions by the peasants, who had to pay high tributes to the feudal lords..
Another cause of the crisis was the Black Death epidemic that hit a large part of the continent. It is estimated that about a third of the European population died from this disease and other epidemics.
It was not until the second half of the 15th century that Europe began to recover. By then, however, society had changed. The bourgeoisie began to become an economically strong class, the feudal nobility lost part of their power in the hands of the monarchs and the economic system was changing towards capitalism..
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The previous centuries had been characterized by the improvement of the economy throughout Europe. This had caused a significant increase in the population.
However, the 14th century developed in a totally different way. For this to happen there was no single cause, but rather a set of events that ended up causing a devastating crisis.
Many historians point out that in the 14th century there was a great change in the continent's climatology.
Whereas, during the previous centuries, Europe had lived under the so-called medieval optimum, which allowed crops to grow considerably, in the 14th century the continent began to suffer a climate that had the opposite effect..
This meteorological change notably impoverished agricultural and livestock activity, the two pillars of the economy of the time. In addition, the same population growth above exacerbated the problems of lower food production.
Starting in the second half of the 14th century, Europe was ravaged by an epidemic of the Black Death. The severity of this outbreak caused nearly a third of the continent's population to die from the disease.
In addition to the loss of human life, the epidemic caused the number of workers to decrease. This, on the one hand, exacerbated the decline in production and, on the other, reduced consumption, which affected all commercial activities.
Another reason why the crisis broke out in this century was the continuous wars that ravaged the continent. The most important was the Hundred Years War, which pitted France and England against each other and lasted well into the 15th century..
In addition, this conflict was accompanied by numerous clashes within many countries. Finally, the Ottomans also made an appearance within Europe, increasing a power that would be confirmed in 1453, when they took Constantinople.
All of the above meant that the political and economic system that had characterized the Middle Ages began to crumble. Feudalism entered a great crisis, with the feudal lords rapidly losing power in favor of the kings of each state..
The economic problems suffered by many feudal lords caused the taxes to their peasants to rise. These, in response, began to carry out violent rebellions, before which the nobles had to resort to the monarchs to be able to suffocate them, losing political independence in the process..
In general terms, the crisis of the fourteenth century was characterized by demographic decline, reduced harvests, and political and social change..
From the beginning of the fourteenth century, the European political organization began to transform. The old feudal system, with nobles who controlled the manors, began to be replaced by another system in which the king concentrated most of the power.
As noted above, it was the peasants who suffered the most from all the negative events that marked the century. From the lower yield of the crops to the scourge of the plague, through the increase in the payments demanded by the feudal lords and the Church, everything caused a worsening of their quality of life.
The famines and the increase of the poverty ended up causing that the peasants carried out several violent rebellions in many European countries.
The most powerful institution during the Middle Ages, more even than the different monarchies, was the Catholic Church. However, it could not avoid being deeply affected by the crisis that broke out that century..
Among the events that caused the loss of influence of the Church is its confrontation with France, whose monarch tried to take control of the institution.
The French king, Felipe IV, set out to reduce the income received by the Church. The pope, from Rome, reacted by excommunicating him. The situation was getting worse to the point that the French arrested the Supreme Pontiff. Although he managed to get out of jail, he passed away shortly after.
Faced with the power vacuum created by the death of the Pope, Philip IV appointed a new French Pontiff, Clement V. In addition, he created a new papal see in Avignon.
The Church, for its part, tried to maintain its traditional seat in Rome. This ended up causing that, between 1377 and 1417, there were two different Popes.
Already in 1418, through the Council of Constance, the schism was closed with the election of a new and only Pope.
The schism experienced in the West, plus the consequences of poor harvests and the plague epidemic, caused Christian believers to live a period of great pessimism. Death became an authentic obsession, with attitudes and beliefs not very different from those that appeared during millennialism.
This was accompanied by the appearance of numerous heresies, many in opposition to the Catholic Church..
The economy during the fourteenth century was affected both by external factors, such as the climate, and by internal factors, such as the collapse of the feudal system..
Similarly, the decline in the population caused by the epidemic had negative effects, although paradoxically, the demographic increase of the previous centuries also weighed, which caused resources to be quickly depleted.
Many experts consider that the economic crisis of the 14th century ended up transforming the system from feudalism to capitalism..
As noted, the European population increased considerably during the 12th and 13th centuries. At one point, population growth was greater than the increase in food production caused by good weather and improved agricultural techniques, leading to significant imbalances..
The plague epidemic and the consequent population decline did not remedy these imbalances. The effect was actually the opposite. On the one hand, there was a shortage of workers and, on the other, the demand for all types of products decreased, negatively affecting trade.
The lack of workers was noted both in the countryside and in the cities. In rural areas, many farmland was abandoned. In addition, as there is less demand due to population decline, many crops are no longer profitable..
On the other hand, in the city, the textile industry also suffered from a lack of workers. This caused wages to rise, which, in turn, prompted some employers to move factories to rural areas in search of workers who would agree to charge less..
In this way, for the first time, city unions had to compete with businessmen who had moved to the countryside and who did not belong to union organizations..
The problems created by the decrease in production and demand affected the economy of the feudal lords. The solution they tried to establish was to increase the tributes to the peasants, who, normally, could not meet these payments..
On the one hand, this sparked numerous rebellions against the nobles. On the other, many peasants chose to escape and take refuge in the cities, where they tried to survive as best they could..
The feudal lords had no choice but to change the work system that had existed until now. Their loss of influence, political and economic, weakened them considerably and they had to seek new income..
Among the new organizational systems that appeared at the time are the rental of land to peasants in exchange for a sum of money and sharecropping, in which the noble put the land and the peasant the work, then dividing the obtained.
As it happened in the rest of the fields, the crisis of the fourteenth century also affected politics. The most important thing was that the monarchy imposed itself on the nobles and the Church, monopolizing almost all power.
In most of Europe, the monarchy tried to deprive the feudal lords of power, centralizing territories and authority in the figure of the king.
In England, for example, this centralization had already begun in the 13th century, although there the nobility was strong enough to force the monarch to sign a Magna Carta, in 1215. Likewise, the king had to agree to the creation of Parliament , where both aristocrats and bourgeoisie were represented.
France, for its part, also began to unify, although it was not until the early 13th century that the kings managed to gain power against the nobility. Already in the fourteenth century, Felipe IV established a kind of council with the participation of nobles, ecclesiastics and bourgeoisie.
In general, all of this led to the feudal system beginning to crumble. Although the nobility retained part of their influence, their role as feudal lords gradually disappeared..
Everything that happened in the 14th century, despite the negative consequences it had for the population, led to the arrival of the Modern Age.
Trade was the activity that drove the economic improvement of the European states. Both Italian ports and cities such as Flanders became the main points of new trade routes.
Before the crisis, the European economy was centered on the rural world. Both agriculture and land ownership were the basis of all economic activity.
However, the crisis of the fourteenth century changed that whole situation. From that moment on, the countryside is no longer the central point to be replaced by the cities. There, a new social class positioned itself as a new economic power: the bourgeoisie..
The thrust of these bourgeoisie was no longer limited to the fields formerly occupied by the guilds, but they also began to control trade. In a short time, they became an economic power, to the point that the kings had to turn to them to obtain loans on many occasions.
Another of the great consequences of the crisis of the fourteenth century was the increase in the importance of cities compared to the countryside. Many peasants, due to tribute issues or the lack of land productivity, decided to emigrate to the cities. Many villages were totally abandoned.
Every sector of society was affected by the crisis of this century. The nobility, for example, was possibly the class that lost the most influence and power. Similarly, it also suffered considerable impoverishment.
Faced with this, the bourgeoisie consolidated as the emerging social class. Despite the fact that, like the rest of the population, it suffered the effects of the plague, at the end of the crisis its power had increased notably.
Historians point out that the crisis experienced by the Catholic Church had an important weight in the changes that took place from the 15th century..
Thus, the old order promoted by the Church was being transformed, appearing new ideas that fit better with the strength that the bourgeoisie had acquired..
Very little by little, the old theocentrism was disappearing, until, in the 15th century, a new philosophy based on humanism was imposed..
Europe had to wait until the 15th century to start recovering from the crisis. In addition, she came out of it very transformed, both in the political and social spheres. Ultimately, this meant that the old feudal society evolved into a capitalist one..
The new century brought with it the disappearance of the causes that had caused the crisis and, therefore, the recovery of its effects.
Thus, demography experienced, once again, a remarkable growth. The end of many armed conflicts and the disappearance of epidemics allowed Europe to recover part of the lost population.
This increase in population allowed the demand for products to increase, as did the number of available workers.
Together with the previously detailed, the appearance of new technical advances to work in the field caused the increase in production.
Similarly, manufacturing and trade also grew during the 15th century, which had a very positive effect on the economic situation of the population..
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