Ktir-K: Studying Civ ...

According to Wide:

The Hundred Years’ War contributed to the decline of feudalism by helping to shift power from feudal lords to monarchs and to common people.

During the struggle, monarchs on both sides had collected taxes and raised large professional armies. As a result, kings no longer relied as much on nobles to supply knights for the army.

In addition, changes in military technology made the nobles’ knights and castles less useful. The longbow proved to be an effective weapon against mounted knights. Castles also became less important as armies learned to use gunpowder to shoot iron balls from cannons and blast holes in castle walls.

The new feeling of nationalism also shifted power away from lords. Previously, many English and French peasants felt more loyalty to their local lords than to their monarch. The war created a new sense of national unity and patriotism on both sides

In both France and England, commoners and peasants bore the heaviest burden of the war. They were forced to fight and to pay higher and more frequent taxes. Those who survived the war, however, were needed as soldiers and workers. For this reason, the common people emerged from the conflict with greater influence and power.

In this lesson you learned about the decline of feudalism in Europe in the 12th to 15th centuries. The major

causes of this decline included political changes in England, disease, and wars.

Cultural Interaction: The culture of feudalism, which centered on noble knights and castles, declined in this period. The spread of new military technologies such as the longbow and cannon made the armored knight and fortified castle less important.

The disaster of the plague influenced culture, causing some to celebrate life in the face of mass death. Others had the opposite reaction and fixated on death and the afterlife, which was reflected in art.

Political Structures: In England the signing of Magna Carta and other political reforms laid the foundations for more democratic forms of government.

 The Hundred Years’ War between France and England shifted power away from feudal lords to both the monarchy and the common people. It also increased feelings of nationalism, as people began to identify more with the king than with their local lord.

Economic Structures: The feudal system of agriculture and land ownership declined in this period. The plague caused trade and commerce to slow. Due to the death of one third of the population of Europe from the plague, labor shortages occurred. This created greater economic opportunities for peasants, and they demanded increased wages.

Social Structures: The hierarchical social structure of feudalism was destabilized as a result of the plague, which affected all social classes equally. When the plague passed and feudal lords attempted to reestablish their authority, peasant rebellions occurred as commoners refused to accept the old social order. The common people also gained greater power as a result of the Hundred Years’ War.

Human-Environment Interaction: The bubonic plague spread over trade routes from Asia to western Europe and killed one third of the population of Europe. Its spread was aided by the fact that most people lived in unhygienic conditions at this time, especially in the cities. In the wake of the plague many peasants left their manors for greater opportunities in the cities