Knowra Crisis of the Late Middle Ages Crisis of the Late Middle Ages A period of demographic, economic, political, and social upheaval in Europe, especially during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Its interacting shocks transformed labor relations, state power, religious life, and European society.
Black Death : The second plague pandemic’s devastating wave in Europe and the Mediterranean, beginning in 1347. Its mass mortality sharply reduced Europe’s population and intensified labor and fiscal disruptions.
Decline of serfdom : The long-term weakening of hereditary labor obligations binding many peasants to estates in parts of Europe. Labor scarcity after plague strengthened bargaining power in some regions, though change varied widely.
Florence : A Tuscan city-state that became a major center of commerce, finance, and Renaissance culture. Its banking wealth and political upheavals expose both urban resilience and vulnerability.
Medieval Warm Period : A period of relatively warm conditions in parts of the North Atlantic region, chiefly from about 950 to 1250. It contrasts with later climatic stress while cautioning against treating climate as uniform.
Great Famine of 1315–1317 : A severe food crisis in northern Europe caused by prolonged wet weather and crop failures. It exposed the vulnerability of an expanding population before plague struck.
Statute of Labourers 1351 : An English law attempting to limit wages and compel labor after the Black Death. It reveals how authorities tried to restrain workers’ gains after population loss.
Peasants' Revolt of 1381 : A 1381 English uprising against taxation, labor restrictions, and social hierarchy. The revolt demonstrates that post-plague tensions persisted decades after the first mortality shock.
Commercial Revolution : The expansion of trade, credit, and commercial institutions in medieval Europe, especially from the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. Earlier economic growth provides a baseline for assessing later contraction and regional recovery.
Little Ice Age : A long period of cooler conditions and climatic variability, especially from the fourteenth century onward. Cooler, wetter spells contributed to harvest failures and food insecurity.
Jacquerie : A 1358 peasant uprising in northern France amid wartime devastation and social tensions. It illustrates the explosive interaction of rural hardship and political disorder.
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