Research Topics
The Calamitous Fourteenth Century
Was it possible for the Church to reform itself? Or had the Church become so entrenched in its own immorality, laxity and indifference, that reform could only come from without?
From the ravages of the Black Death to the Hundred Year's War, Europe showed itself to be most resilient in the face of these calamities. Meanwhile, towns and cities grew in number and size, and the printing press supplied an eager reading public with both escapism and intellectual rigor. Oddly enough, it seemed that medieval men and women were prepared to die at the hands of the Black Death. And while the plague did its dirty work, the Church suffered internal dissension and external challenges to its authority.
- Giovanni Boccaccio on the plague, from the Decameron
Boccaccio's famous description of the plague as it ravaged the city of Florence, from his book, the Decameron
- The Statute of Laborers, 1351
In response to the labor shortage created by the Black Death, Edward III of England issued a statute setting a maximum wage equal to wages paid before the plague hit England.
- English Peasants' Revolt, 1381
A contemporary account of Wat Tyler's meeting with the young King Richard II and the Mayor of London at Smithfield.
- Wycliffe and the Lollards
John Wycliffe argued for a return to the purity of Christianity as embraced by the apostles. The Church deemed his thinking heretical and here outlines his errors.
- Manifesto of the Revolting Cardinals, Aug 5, 1378
A manifesto drawn up in protest of Bartholomew, archbishop of Bari, who took the title Urban VI, and soon announced that he would not remove his court to Avignon.
- Wycliffe's Reply to the Summons of Pope Urban VI (1384)
Wycliffe argues that the Pope and clergy should live like Christ, in poverty and in faith alone.
- Council of Constance: The Decree "Frequens," of October 9, 1417
The decree Frequens, provided for regular meetings of the general council of the church.
- Council of Constance: List of Abuses Demanding Reform, October 30, 1417
The Council of Constance could not remedy Church abuses on its own so it drew up this list of evils the new pope was to be required to abolish.