Revolts in Medieval Europe - Essay Example

143712 Popular revolts in late medieval Europe were mainly by the peasants and bourgeois and it was always against the Kings, Nobles, Church and Abbots. They were also known as Peasant Revolts, though not restricted to only the peasants. They were popular revolts, with unspeakable cruelty towards the noble class. Till then, most of the European revolts were minor in nature and had no large significance. These revolts had mass support and participation, to the extent that ordinary, God fearing common people had the courage and ruthlessness of staging a revolt of that stupendous a nature, even though they were not of the same scale like Russian or French Revolution. "A revolution is something planned and prepared; it has a programme. A revolt is spontaneous reaction, a reflex of anger or self-defence, sometimes of both," Mollat and Wolff (1973, p.91). There were many political, economical and social reasons for these revolts, which happened one chasing the other. Europe had been suffering from the three orders of society, ruling class, clergy and common people, for a long time. In some regions and states, it was the ruling class that harassed the poor and in some other regions, it was the clergy. Actually, the religious superstitions were such, that clergy, abbots, papacy got away with unspeakable crimes. The political size and management of states, economic upheavals were the other newly introduced issues. "Since the early fourteenth century new elements had come into play. The growth in the size of states and the increasing number of wars had raised the financial requirements of governments and made the state of inequality, already observable in the thirteenth century, harder to bear," Mollatt and Wolff (p.107). The reasons and problems had accumulated for decades, and while looking at them from this distance, it is surprising that the church leaders and kings failed to recognise them. Unrest was clearly in the air and unfortunately, no steps were taken by either the ruling class, or the religious leaders and every time, the situation was mishandled and reached the inevitable gory end. "Rumblings of discontent soon made themselves heard; and under the pressure of public opinion the constables of the communities closed their eyes to fiscal evasion." Mollatt and Wolff (p.189). In the beginning of 14th century Europe came to a grinding halt, due to popular revolts. It was the time when a series of revolts combined with unfortunate epidemics like Black Death (1348), Great Famine (1315 - 1317) hit Europe with unbelievable mayhem. According to climatologists, it might have occurred because of Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age, and the overpopulation of around a 100 million in Europe. At least half of the population was wiped out in these catastrophes, while the remaining half was terribly troubled by a series of popular revolts. Those were violent and unfortunate times. There was severe unhappiness in the continent combined with continuous wars and skirmishes, social unrest, class struggle, economic depression, and to top it all, religious bigotry. France and England got involved in the most tortuous Hundred Years' War and the Great Schism ruined the arguable unity existed till them in the Catholic Church. German States with diverse identities cropped up and this undermined the Holy Roman Empire, which lost its importance and authority. Those were unhappy and difficult times, crying in need of social reforms and political insight, without being provided. Popular revolts were by peasants in the countryside and by bourgeois in the towns, but the victims were the same, abbots, nobility and kings and chieftains. "The Middle Ages by themselves harshly tested human perseverance, imagination, and spirit. Living conditions were squalid for almost everyone except the ruling elite; most of the riches of Western culture were preserved at best in monasteries and on other continents. Then came the widespread famines, prolonged wars, and plagues that mark Europe's late medieval period as one of the most harrowing times in recorded history" http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspxcid=863&id=863&pc=SiteIndex Peasants were living difficult lives during these periods. Their patience had run thin after centuries of struggle for a decent livelihood. The late medieval crises had affected the peasants cruelly. Papacy power was almost unbearable at places. The famine had affected the whole of Europe and people were faced with hunger and poverty and as a result there was widespread violence. Food products, hay, even the livestock were becoming rarer. Anthrax kind of an animal disease had wiped out most of the animal population. People had uncertain health with high mortality rate and lifespan was low. The long drawn wars had ruined the social, economic, political and cultural fabrics of Europe beyond recognition. England's wool exports deteriorated due to failure of weaving industry. Unemployment was rampant and many families went without food for days at a time. There were many causes that were similar before every revolt in Europe. Unfortunately the ruling class made the mistake of not recognising them every time, even though there was general unrest everywhere brewing, especially after the outbreak of plague. "The result of the plague was not just a massive decline in population. It irrevocably changed Europe's social structure, was a disastrous blow to Europe's predominant organized religion, the Roman Catholic Church, caused widespread persecutions of minorities like Jews and lepers, and created a general mood of morbidity that influenced people to live for the moment, unsure of their daily survival" http://www.blinkbits.com/blinks/black_plague Most of the gypsies, Jews, minorities were either banished or killed. Lepers and Jews were persecuted throughout Europe. After more than half of the population got wiped out, there was an economic bloom, but the ruling class did not allow the peasants to have better living conditions, clothes and better food, fearing that they might emulate the noble class and this discrimination led into further revolts in 15th century. There was superstition, religious fanaticism and witch craze in its most virulent form in rural areas. "It is, in truth, difficult to distinguish between political and social aspects which were so closely intermingled; but one characteristic feature of the time appeared at the outset. The Parisian people were sensitive to the smallest rumour and ready to follow anyone who would lead them in rioting. Parishes and confraternities had constituted traditional groupings, within each of them, people met, talked and got excited," Mollatt and Wolff (p.230). The Ciompi revolution ranks high and the reasons were almost the same intermingled with Papacy and politics, even though Florence's economic and social structure contributed more to the harsh event. The region had a rigid, social order of groups and people had identities and rights connected to these groups, which slowly had created great hatred amongst the groups. This feature is a bit uncommon in other regions of Europe, but the underlying causes for hatred were identical. Labourers, workers in the cloth industry, peasants, and groups of unemployed and unskilled had similar problems with their counterparts in other parts of Europe. In addition there were many levies which had amounted to approximately 70%, draining away the income of traders and as a result, workers. "Beginning with 1393 there was a further increment in these imposts when they were boosted from approximately 18,000 florins to 28,000 florins," Rubinstein (1968, p.134). The rebellion had a very long history of suffering. Plains, mountains and hinterland had gone through continuous tyranny from papacy and ruling class, before the peasants were goaded into action. It is wrong to say that towns and cities were the major actors in this rebellion. The dominant rebels were from worker and peasant class. "On the other hand, the criminal acts in the mountains describe collective violence, often listing large numbers of perpetrators and victims, while crime in the lowlands tended to be of an individual character," says Cohn (1999, p.29). The Hussite Revolution was yet another frightening historical event with appalling human cruelty, even though it was praised by some historians as a forerunner of reformation. It started as a reform, only to end as a revolt. The clergy, an unfinished ideology, concept of ecclesiology, an unexplained intention of moral reform, a doubtful leader and his preaching, no doubt were all there. But the origin of the revolt was due to other apparent and common reasons, and Hus was only an excuse for its explosion. It was as though people simply needed a reason to go berserk and that was one way of seeking relief from day to day troubled life of economic necessities and political subjugations. It was also the result of earlier century's revolts and religious problems. "Indeed the mood of contradiction had its origins in the religious movement of the preceding century" agrees Kaminsky (1957, p.51). They were the bloodiest revolts where anarchy reigned supreme. The acts directed towards the noble class were unimaginably harsh and inhuman. No doubt there were ample and common reasons, but the revolts and the accompanying inhumanity were not justified. People of all the classes suffered, and to some extent, rebels themselves were horrified by the unleashed horror. As a result, national boundaries were redrawn and individuality rose from these revolts. Bifurcation between religion and politics materialised. Even though some of the revolts were against kings, sovereignty became all important in the years, immediately following the revolts, perhaps because people were horrified by the anarchy unleashed through the popular revolts. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Cohn Jr, Samuel K. (1999), Creating The Florentine State, Cambridge University Press. 2. Kaminsky, Howard (1967), A History of the Hussite Revolution, University of California Press, Berkeley. 3. Mollat, Michel and Wolff, Philippe (1973), The Popular Revolutions of the Late Middle Ages, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London. 4. Rubinstein, Nicolai (1968), ed., Florentine Studies, Faber and Faber, London. ONLINE SOURCES: 1. http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspxcid=863&id=863&pc=SiteIndex 2. http://www.blinkbits.com/blinks/black_plague Read More