Social and Economic Shifts in the Late Middle Ages
Major Changes in the Late Middle Ages
Social Classes and European States
As the Roman Empire broke up, a new social structure was brewing in Europe. Hundreds of little fiefdoms ruled by feudal lords and nobles were established, as were cities inhabited by merchants who controlled trade with the Middle East. Within the fiefdoms, a new way of producing goods developed. The artisan class hierarchy established a mechanism whereby a master brought a group of students to train them in a trade. In exchange for this knowledge, the learner offered his labor and loyalty to his master.
Cities around castles, called boroughs, became important to the extent that alliances with the kings were agreed upon to confront the feudal lords. These agreements allowed the monarchs to centralize power and subdue the nobility. Thus, a process of gestation of independent states with common characteristics was consolidated.
In the formation of these states, differences between the Romance languages derived from Latin with their respective regional adaptations became apparent. Universities were founded; incipient unions were strengthened and generated a revolution in cultural life, so that the vision of the medieval world was gradually changing, culminating with the revised humanist perspective of the Renaissance.
The Decline of the Feudal System
The emergence of cities brought with it an economic and social process, the transition from a rural economy to a commercial one, and the centralization of power in the hands of kings.
- Year 1000: This year is considered the approximate time when the barbarian invasions that ended in Europe were determined to have contributed to the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Under feudalism, peasants cultivated land for subsistence and the sustenance of their feudal lord.
- 1096 – 1270: During this period, eight pilgrimages, known as the Crusades, took place with the intention of recovering the holy places, especially Jerusalem, and strengthening the power of the Pope.
- 1315: A severe agricultural crisis and the exhaustion of soils triggered famine in the cities. This greatly weakened the population and brought a series of epidemics such as the plague, blamed for the death of two-thirds of the European inhabitants.
- 1315 – 1453: The Hundred Years War involved most of the countries and brought with it a crisis of intensity and values. Joan of Arc led the French against the English during the Hundred Years War.
Economic Changes
- The Reactivation of Trade: The increase in population and advances in agriculture caused the reactivation of trade, which had been relegated during the Middle Ages to some small contacts between peoples of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. In cities, the handicraft industry was emerging, and transportation by river and sea was improving.
- Emergence of Capitalism: Business growth in cities resulted in farmers leaving the land in search of wealth and welfare. This fact contributed to the transformation from the feudal to the capitalist economic system.