Review Question Response MEHAP book ch. 13

1) Because medicine in the Middle Ages was highly underdeveloped, no cure, or relieving treatment for the plague had been discovered. The people were at a loss for the possible scientific cause of this disease, and the only reasonable explanation left was that it was the work of God. This created two groups of people – those that started to punish themselves to look better in the eyes of God, and those that started to lose their faith because they couldn’t understand why God was doing this. Both of these groups’ solutions to the problem were very negative, thus the mood of the Middle Ages also became very gloomy and hopeless. Poets wrote pieces centered on death and despair, painters made visions of skeletons leading people to Hell, and sermons were centered on death being close and unforgiving. Even today, when we look back upon the Middle Ages, we see a dark and sinister world.

2) The Hundred Years War was a very long and exhausting event for Europe. The English King claimed the French throne, and, supported by barons, initiated the event. The war engulfed mountains of money, hordes of people, and destroyed cities, but the only military change that happened at the end was the capture on one small city in France, and an increase in the hatred between France and England. The money lost had to be repaid by governments, making them in very deep debt, which made them unable to support its citizens. The citizens, outraged, revolted, and created even more problems for the governments. Eventually, the governments spiraled downward, were overthrown, and replaced by just as incompetent ones. Thus, the War was pointless, and useless, and was not worth all the time and energy France and England put into it.

3) Since the Pope was in France, he could not have direct contact with his people in Italy, and with the other high clergy members. Therefore, he was isolated from the church, but still had a lot of power. This corrupted the Pope, and he was only concerned with money, and how to manipulate the government. His lack of attention towards Italy left the country poverty-stricken, and his people did not appreciate that very much. Even more to inhibit his power was the conciliar movement, which wanted the papal authority to be given to a council, and the church to be subordinate to the state. This movement inevitably attracted followers, and opposition towards the Pope grew until a new Pope was elected creating an even bigger schism.

4) After the Hundred Year’s War, governments were unable to support its citizens, and instead, pelted them with taxes, tried to freeze wages, ignored food shortages, and did nothing about the multitudes of fur-collar crimes being committed. Added to all this, a slightly better lifestyle gave citizens false hope that it would keep increasing, so the people blamed the government for not meeting their rising expectations. All this put so much anger against the government into the citizens’ minds, that they began revolts to try to institute new ones. Citizens protested against bad taxes in front of their Lords’ manors, and they sometimes even had armed uprisings. Finally, King Richard II and his nobles tricked the peasants into ending the revolt.