World History / Unit 4: The Byzantine Empire, the Islamic World and Medieval Europe
4.7 The Late Middle Ages
Notes
Between about 1000 and 1500, Europe changed as trade revived, kings gained power and crises struck.
- New farming methods increased food, so population, towns and trade grew. Guilds controlled crafts and trade in towns.
- Magna Carta (1215): English nobles forced King John to accept limits on royal power. Clause 39 says no free man may be imprisoned or punished "except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land."
- England's Parliament developed in the 1200s, beginning representative government there.
- Black Death (1347 to 1351): the bubonic plague, spread by fleas on rats along trade routes from Asia, killed about one-third of Europe's people. Labor shortages let surviving peasants demand higher wages, weakening serfdom.
- Hundred Years' War (1337 to 1453): England and France fought; Joan of Arc inspired French forces. Longbows and cannons made knights less important, weakening feudalism.
Practice
Read the excerpt from Magna Carta: no free man shall be imprisoned "except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land." This principle is an early form of:
The king could not punish people without following the law.
How did the Black Death help weaken feudalism?
With fewer workers, labor became more valuable.
Which development made knights less important in warfare during the late Middle Ages?
These weapons could defeat armored knights from a distance.
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