Pod Insights Short History Of... The European Middle Ages (Part 2 of 2) About this episode Although the Middle Ages were an undeniably turbulent period in the history of Europe, characterised in part by endemic violence, hardship and inequality, the latter half of the era was also a time of great change and discovery. What historians call the High and Late Middle Ages saw a proliferation of philosophical and scientific enquiry, and economic advancement. This was a time of intense literary and artistic production, religious dynamism, and global trade and travel. An age of contradictions and complexities.
So what drove the immense changes of the later medieval period? What dark currents swirled beneath this apparent progress? And how did the latter half of the Middle Ages ultimately lay the foundation for our modern world?
This is a Short History Of The European Middle Ages, Part 2 of 2.
A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Martyn Whittock, author of many books on the medieval period, including A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages.
Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman
Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions
A Short History of Ancient Rome - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit noiser.com/books to learn more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript 0:01 Speaker 00 Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Whether it's hot yoga, over 100-degree weather, or too much sun. Gator Light, with a specialized blend of five electrolytes, was scientifically designed to help move fluids into the body faster for rapid rehydration. Shop now at retailers nationwide. Gator Light: Hydrates Faster Than Water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
0:29 Speaker 01 Now at Kroger, your points add up to more ways to save every trip. Use them your way to take dollars off groceries at checkout or save at the pump. You can even save up to $35 on your next fill-up. Same points, more choices. And with low prices on fresh, quality food, plus digital and personalized offers tailored to how you shop, your dollar goes further. Redeem your points online or in the app. Kroger: Fresh for Everyone. Restrictions apply. See site or store for details.
1:01 Speaker 02 It is the 22nd of July, 12:09. Beneath the walls of the southern French city of Beslier, the first rays of sunlight glint off the swords and chainmail of a vast army drawn up into ragged lines.
1:19 Speaker 02 A young soldier shifts under the weight of the long pole arm he is gripping. The gambisson, or padded jacket he wears, chafes around his neck, and he twists his head to try and relieve the irritation.
1:35 Speaker 02 Now, the assembled soldiers fall quiet as a man in gleaming white robes rides through their ranks.
1:44 Speaker 02 He is their leader, the representative of the Pope himself, the abbot Arno.
1:51 Speaker 02 Because this is not a secular war. The soldier and his comrades are crusaders, here to rid the city of the heretics who infect it.
2:04 Speaker 02 Reaching the front, the abbot turns his horse to face his men. His words, carrying easily in the early morning air, he proclaims that diplomacy has failed. It is now the soldier's Christian duty to cleanse Bezir of the evil that has overtaken it, in the form of the Cathar faith, leading those in this city to scorn baptism and holy communion, and even to believe in two gods.
2:34 Speaker 02 In a rising voice, the abbot implores his forces not to concern themselves with distinguishing between Cathars and Christians once they are within the city walls. They should kill them all, because God will know his own. Salvation will come to the crusaders, so long as they do not falter in this task.
2:59 Speaker 02 At this final exhortation, the crowd roars. The soldier tightens his grip on his weapon, itching for the signal to attack.
3:09 Speaker 02 Before any such order comes, a small gate built into the walls swings open, and dozens of men spill out. Some are armed, but others wear only rough linen tunics, their hands empty as they approach the assembled forces, screaming insults.
3:29 Speaker 02 It is too much for one crusading knight, who now breaks away and rides towards the rabble.
3:37 Speaker 02 It happens in a flash. One moment, the rider is sitting proudly on his high-stepping chestnut horse. The next, he's being dragged inexorably to the ground. A flash of metal is followed by a scream, abruptly terminated. The knight does not rise again.
4:00 Speaker 02 Without waiting for an order from the abbot, a large group of crusaders now tear after him, looking for revenge. Outnumbered, the citizens turn and sprint back to the safety of the city. But they are not quick enough.
4:16 Speaker 02 Before they even reach the gate, the crusaders descend. The soldier watches on as a compatriot up ahead slaughters three in quick succession, before he thrusts his own weapon through the stomach of another, watching as crimson blood bubbles from his mouth before he falls to the dusty ground. Wrenching the blade free, the soldier advances through the open gate, hundreds of armed men thundering behind him. The abbot has given the order to attack. The fury of the crusade has come to Beziers.
4:57 Speaker 02 The term “Middle Ages” often evokes ideas of barbarism, a lack of enlightenment, the antithesis of the supposedly rational, civilized, modern world that succeeded it. But although it was undeniably a turbulent period in the history of Europe, characterized in part by endemic violence, hardship, and inequality, the latter half of the era was also a time of great change and discovery.
5:25 Speaker 02 What historians call the “High and Late Middle Ages” saw a proliferation of philosophical and scientific inquiry and economic advancement. This was a time of intense literary and artistic production, religious dynamism, and global trade and travel. An age of contradictions and complexities.
5:51 Speaker 02 So what drove the immense changes of the later medieval period? What dark currents swirled beneath this apparent progress? And how did the latter half of the Middle Ages ultimately lay the foundation for our modern world? I’m John Hopkins from the Noiser Podcast Network. This is the second in a special two-part “Short History of the European Middle Ages”.
6:25 Speaker 02 The Middle Ages stretch from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 until around 1500. As we learned in part one, the early medieval period, ending around the turn of the millennium, saw the rebuilding of political systems in the aftermath of the Roman Empire's collapse.
6:46 Speaker 03 The early medieval period, the early Middle Ages, was characterized by fragmentation of political structures, barbarian invasions, decline in urbanization, decline in long-distance trade, collapses of learning as the Western Roman Empire gave way to successor states in chaotic change.
7:07 Speaker 03 But by the end of that period, urbanization was beginning to revive, long-distance trade was picking up, the Christian Church had continued to be the sole surviving transnational institution, monasticism was spreading, learning was beginning to consolidate again, and population was beginning to slowly rise.
7:33 Speaker 02 A number of interrelated trends mark the end of the early medieval period, including the strengthening of political institutions.
7:42 Speaker 02 In particular, kings begin to develop increasingly complex bureaucracies to manage the people and money under their control.
7:50 Speaker 03 From 1100 onwards, Western Europe sees the rise of more centralized states, and these states have increasingly professional administrations. So, for example, monarchs like Henry II of England, ruled 1154 to 1189, developed royal law courts and systems of record-keeping, which give us a great deal of insight into the running of the medieval state.
8:18 Speaker 02 A constant across the Middle Ages is the importance of land as a source of wealth. Medieval society is largely agricultural, with most people farming or supporting such work through professions like blacksmithing and carting. The control of land, labor, and surplus lies at the heart of medieval social and political power.
8:41 Speaker 02 In the 11th and 12th centuries, the class structure of many European societies initiated in the early Middle Ages solidifies. Although the term remains much debated, it is most commonly known as the feudal system.
8:57 Speaker 03 So, we have a roughly pyramidal situation in which we have monarchy and rulers at the top, we have those below them who are directly working with or on a face-to-face basis with kings and rulers, or we might call the baronial class. We have those below them of the knightly class who serve, and each one is granted land and estates in return for this service. And at the bottom of this pyramid, we have a peasant class, some free, some semi-free. Slavery is declining dramatically in Western Europe from the 11th century onwards, but it's replaced in many areas by a servile status or a semi-servile status, sometimes
9:41 Speaker 03 called serfdom or village, by which significant numbers of the people at the bottom of the pile do not hold their land freely and cannot move freely, but have to, with various degrees of control, work unpaid for their lord.
10:01 Speaker 02 Going into the 12th century, village and parish boundaries are more strictly demarcated as land is parcelled off and given to knights in return for their service to local lords. The landowners extract as much as possible from their peasants in the form of rents and agricultural surplus. The workers see few of the benefits of their labor, and many are unable to do so much as marry without their lord's permission and have no freedom of movement. Partly as a result of this intensification of agricultural production, this is a time of significant economic growth.
10:39 Speaker 02 In the first few centuries of the second millennium, the population of Europe more than doubles. Woodland is cleared across the continent to make way for more agricultural land to feed these hungry new mouths. An economy based on barter and exchange declines, replaced by a monetary system using silver currency. But the increase in population coincides with a challenge to the rural focus of medieval society in the form of urbanization.
11:15 Speaker 04 Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body with a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade: Hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
11:44 Speaker 01 Now at Kroger, your points add up to more ways to save every trip. Use them your way to take dollars off groceries at checkout or save at the pump. You can even save up to $35 on your next fill-up. Same points, more choices. And with low prices on fresh, quality food plus digital and personalized offers tailored to how you shop, your dollar goes further. Redeem your points online or in the app. Kroger: Fresh for everyone. Restrictions apply. See site or store for details.
12:15 Speaker 02 At the end of the early Middle Ages, there are only around 100 towns and cities across the whole of Europe. Over the next three centuries, that number swells to 4,000.
12:28 Speaker 03 From 1100 to 1300, Europe's population grew dramatically, leading to an expansion of towns such as Venice, Genoa, Paris, Bruges, and London.
12:40 Speaker 03 And below them, a network of smaller towns facilitated both local and international trade through fairs and markets. And these developments were often driven by the crown and by local lords intent on benefiting from an increasingly monetised economy. At the same time, there's a rise in craft guilds and merchant guilds who regulated production and trade, and this increased the power and influence of an emerging urban entrepreneurial class, whose wealth was not based on ownership of land.
13:15 Speaker 02 Even so, most people still work the land. It is likely that a mere 10% of Europe's population ever live in towns and cities. Medieval Italy, with its network of city-states, is the only exception. Yet, urban opportunities continue to increase into the late Middle Ages. Women cluster in industries like that of silk, or are employed as embroiderers. Guilds, or professional bodies, form for trades from brewing to baking to carpentry. Young people come to towns to find work as servants in the increasing number of wealthy households.
13:54 Speaker 02 The growing number of towns also provides a stage upon which intellectual inquiry can flourish.
14:01 Speaker 03 We sometimes talk about a 12th-century renaissance, a remarkable intellectual and cultural revival that historians call this early renaissance. That after centuries of relative fragmentation, new prosperity, population growth, and increased stability under more unified monarchies and the Church, set the stage for a renewal of learning.
14:25 Speaker 02 This often begins in smaller or more informal schools, with inspiring teachers at the helms.
14:34 Speaker 02 Un tel homme est Peter Abelard, un philosophe qui enseigne à Paris au début du 12e siècle. Il est célèbre pour ses « lectures iconoclastiques » dans lesquelles il propose l'application de principes logiques au sujet de l'étude de Dieu et de l'univers. Les élèves entrent à entendre lui parler, mais c'est peut-être son affaire avec son collègue adolescent Eloise et sa suite de castrations par ses relatives enragés qui lui donnent la plus grande notoriété.
15:06 Speaker 02 Dans certaines villes, une fois une masse critique d'enseignants et d'élèves, les éducateurs se sont rassemblés en universités formelles. Bien que la Chambre médiévale soit populaire comme étant opposée à l'investigation scientifique, beaucoup des scholars les plus importants de cette ère sont des éditaires.
15:25 Speaker 03 Des universités importantes ont été formées : Brigné en 1088, Paris en 1150, Oxford en 1167, Cambridge en 1209. Les arts libéraux, la loi, la médecine et la théologie ont été systémisés et développés dans ces institutions importantes. Et ils ont commencé à refléter une Europe qui était de plus en plus confiante en raison comme un chemin d'exploration du divin et du monde naturel. Et c'est un rappel à nous que le genre de monde de recherche en science n'est pas seulement un produit de l'Enlightenment du 18e siècle, mais qui se réunit dans la recherche médiévale
16:04 Speaker 03 qui a pris en considération le concept que l'ordre créé est créé par les lois, créé par les limites, créé par les principes établis par Dieu. Donc la tête humaine, un être humain fait dans l'image de Dieu, peut étudier ces choses, les comprendre et les expliquer. Et il y a une évolution du scholasticisme, exemplifié par Thomas Aquinas par exemple, qui essaie de mélanger la foi avec la raison et ne les voit pas comme étant antagonistes les uns contre les autres.
16:39 Speaker 02 These inquiries are aided by contact with Muslim scholars. Much Greek and Roman learning is lost in the West after the fall of the Roman Empire, but is preserved and translated into Arabic under the Abbasid Caliphate, an empire ruled from Baghdad. Places like Al-Andalus, the region of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule, have libraries filled with these classical texts alongside new works by Islamic intellectuals. Especially from the 12th century, Al-Andalus along with Sicily are places of contact between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholars, and texts begin to be translated into Latin. As such, the works of classical thinkers such as Aristotle
17:24 Speaker 02 make their way back into the schools and universities of Europe.
17:30 Speaker 02 It is not only men who contribute to the revitalization of learning. Hildegard of Bingen, a German abbess, is one of the shining figures of the 12th-century Renaissance. A Christian visionary and mystic, Hildegard apparently has the ability to perform miraculous cures by touch alone. She is also a prolific playwright, composer, and author, writing on theology, music, botany, and medicine.
18:04 Speaker 02 It is a frigid winter's day in 1160.
18:09 Speaker 02 Outside the western German convent of Rupertsberg, the wind howls and rain falls in endless sheets from an iron sky.
18:20 Speaker 02 Inside the buildings, in a snug, low-ceilinged room, a woman sits studying a well-thumbed book.
18:28 Speaker 02 Absorbed in her task, every now and then she stops and scribbles a note on a loose leaf of parchment. The abbess of the convent, Hildegard, is responsible for the well-being of the nuns under her care. Today it is to their medical needs that she must attend. With an abrupt snap, she shuts the book before standing and marching crisply from the room, her black woolen robe swishing around her ankles.
18:56 Speaker 02 The door opens onto the infirmary. At this time of year, many of the beds that line the walls are full.
19:04 Speaker 02 Coughing reverberates around the room. But the sound of water from one corner draws her attention. An infirmary assistant is helping an older nun into the bath, knowing that the warm water soothes the woman's rheumatic pains.
19:21 Speaker 02 Hildegard closes her eyes for a moment, praying that her suffering might be eased. She then heads to a sturdy wooden table set against a wall. A jumble of jars, stone dishes and tools are piled to one side, while common herbs hang from a drying rack above. A locked cupboard at head height holds a selection of rarer medical ingredients.
19:46 Speaker 02 Hildegard unlocks the cupboard and brings out a dried root of licorice and a costly fragment of imported ginger.
19:55 Speaker 02 Pounding them carefully in a pestle and mortar, she adds in sugar until she has a thick, crumbly paste. Into this, she sprinkles just a hazelnut shell full of flour before retrieving a dish of milky, white plant sap from the cupboard and adding just a drop to the mortar.
20:13 Speaker 02 Satisfied with the consistency, she scrapes up some of the mixture and stirs it into a wooden cup of water. With the resulting murky drink in hand, she makes her way over to a bed where a woman lies, white-faced, clutching her stomach.
20:30 Speaker 02 Hildegard holds out the drink. "It is a purgative," she tells the woman soothingly, "and should clear up her digestive issues." An ancient recipe, with some of her own adjustments.
20:44 Speaker 02 As the woman cautiously takes a sip, grimacing at the bitter flavor, Hildegard gets to her knees, offering a prayer for her recovery.
20:53 Speaker 02 "God made these plants to heal, and hopefully she has combined them in the necessary quantities." Then she stands, squill in hand, ready to record the outcome of the treatment.
21:12 Speaker 02 Despite the intense intellectual activity of the 12th century Renaissance, much of it driven by churchmen and women like Hildegard, religious devotion remains central to medieval life. Crusading activity continues in the Middle East. In the middle of the 12th century, one of the crusader states, Edessa, in modern-day Turkey, is captured by the Muslim ruler, Zengi. Armies from Europe are dispatched to retake it. Then, in 1187, a catastrophe. Jerusalem is taken by the Kurdish commander, Saladin.
21:48 Speaker 02 Christendom responds with the Third Crusade, led by Richard the Lionheart of England and Philip II of France. But the campaign fails, and the city remains in Muslim hands.
22:04 Speaker 04 Low energy, unfocused, foggy? You might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically-proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors, great-tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade: Hydrates Better Than Water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
22:33 Speaker 01 Now at Kroger, your points add up to more ways to save every trip. Use them your way to take dollars off groceries at checkout or save at the pump. You can even save up to $35 on your next fill-up. Same points, more choices. And with low prices on fresh, quality food plus digital and personalized offers tailored to how you shop, your dollar goes further. Redeem your points online or in the app. Kroger: Fresh for Everyone. Restrictions apply. See site or store for details.
23:04 Speaker 02 Back in Europe, a religious revolution is brewing. Against a backdrop of increased urbanism and the new monetary economy, charismatic individuals begin to preach a return to the poverty and simplicity of early Christianity as the only route to salvation. It's a doctrine that soon gains traction among ordinary people.
23:26 Speaker 03 We see significant efforts to revitalize spiritually Western Christendom. Mendecan orders approved by the Catholic Church include the Franciscans, founded in 1209, the Dominicans, an order of preachers, founded in 1216, to combat heresy and to be active in universities and finally in the Inquisition. And their common features were preaching, taking the word out into communities, into towns and villages, community engagement with everyday life. At the same time as this was happening, unofficial groups were also seeking to have greater purity of lifestyle, poverty, communal living, separate to the much more powerful monastic communities which were well-developed by this time.
24:14 Speaker 02 Women are early and enthusiastic participants in this spiritual movement. From the start of the 13th century, female religious communities are founded, especially in northern France and the Low Countries. Taking personal vows of chastity, these women, known as "beguines", often live communally and pursue lives that mix contemplative prayer and charitable service in the world. The wider church establishment, however, is often ambivalent about the freedoms apparently enjoyed by these devout sisters, who operate without the stewardship of a male religious figure.
24:51 Speaker 03 Beguines, for example, sometimes regarded with suspicion by church authorities because they were not, it was felt, fully under the monastic rule way of doing things, but themselves were really sincerely attempting to create a model of Christian community in their own lives, although not under direct monastic control.
25:12 Speaker 02 Other groups form that face more explicit opposition from the church.
25:19 Speaker 02 In the 1170s, a merchant from the French city of Lyon, Peter Valdez, renounces his personal wealth and begins to preach about the holiness of poverty and the evils of greed. He quickly gains a significant following, but soon comes to the attention of church authorities.
25:37 Speaker 02 In 1184, Valdez and his adherents, the Voldensians, are excommunicated from the Christian community after disobeying an injunction not to preach. Formal, public sermonizing at this time is reserved for approved male clerics with a firm grasp of Catholic orthodoxy. The Voldensians are later declared heretics and systematically persecuted. In 1211 alone, eighty are burned to death in Strasbourg.
26:07 Speaker 02 But the greatest threat to the religious establishment in the High Middle Ages are the Cathars, or Albigensians, though they call themselves "good Christians".
26:19 Speaker 02 Much of their belief system is debated to this day, since our only sources are the hostile records of church inquisitors sent to suppress them. But they likely believe in two gods: the god of heaven, associated with the spirit, and the god of evil, associated with the physical world. Many are strict vegetarians and all reject the sacraments of the Church, including baptism and holy communion. By the early 13th century, Catharism is widespread throughout southern France.
26:55 Speaker 02 The Church does not stand idly by as these groups grow in popularity. In response to the perceived threat posed by what is called the Cathar heresy, Pope Innocent III sends preachers to the south of France in 1208. He hopes to convert the population back to proper Catholic beliefs. But when the papal legate leading this mission is murdered, Innocent employs bloodier methods.
27:24 Speaker 02 Drawing on the ideologies used to justify the holy wars in the Middle East, he declares a crusade against the heretics. Soon, an army of knights, mercenaries, and zealous volunteers has been assembled, under the command of Abbot Arnaud.
27:42 Speaker 02 The first major action in this war occurs in 1209 in the city of Bezir, where thousands are massacred. For the next two decades, crusade armies fight to exterminate Catharism in the south of France. Especially in later years, this action is enthusiastically supported by the French king, who uses it as an opportunity to extend royal power over the largely independent lords of the south.
28:08 Speaker 02 As the crusade continues, the Church's stance on heretics and unbelievers is formalized.
28:15 Speaker 03 The Fourth Lateran Council, Lateran IV, one of the most important church councils in medieval history, convened by Pope Innocent III in 1215 in Rome at the Lateran Palace, played a key role in taking forward the system and the structure and the content of church life. Some seventy canons or laws, a very large and comprehensive set for its time, began to regulate heresy, condemning groups considered heretical: Cathars, Waldensians, and also strengthened inquisitorial processes to try to enforce uniformity of ideology.
28:52 Speaker 02 In particular, Pope Innocent attempts to redirect crusading energies elsewhere within Europe.
28:58 Speaker 03 By the end of the 13th century, the Crusader states had collapsed. But the Crusader movement had not ended, and in many ways it was refocused on conflicts closer to home. Campaigns in the Baltic by, for example, the Teutonic Knights and the Sword Brethren targeted still pagan communities in the eastern Baltic, in states that we now call Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. So this saw a refocusing of the crusading movement against people closer to home who were regarded as not being part of the overall community of Christendom.
29:46 Speaker 02 The Fourth Lateran Council is also Innocent the Third's response to the spiritual currents embodied by groups such as the Waldensians and Franciscans. Steps are taken to reform the Church, tackling clerical misconduct and the buying and selling of church offices, a perennial problem, never fully eradicated despite the best efforts of the 11th-century Gregorian reformers. Yearly confession of sins is mandated for all, and improvements are sought in the education of priests. The Council is still viewed today as a watershed moment in the history of Western Christianity. But in addition to these positive reforms, the Fourth Lateran Council also represents a key moment
30:29 Speaker 02 in what one historian termed "the formation of a persecuting society." Violence against those considered "different" in the Christian European imagination had always existed in some form. Jews in Eastern Europe, for example, had been massacred by crusaders on their way to the Middle East in 1096. But from the year 1200, the persecution of a variety of groups, including Jewish people, sex workers, homosexual men, and heretics, becomes systematized across many European countries.
31:04 Speaker 03 There were processes of othering and control of marginalized groups. Jews were expelled from England in 1290, from France in 1306, and Spain in 1492 in what we could only describe as institutionalized religious intolerance that saw Jews increasingly marginalized from the economy, removed from their role within finance, and often forced to wear badges and other uniforms in order to identify them within the Christian community. Lepers also were often accused of being behind outbreaks of disease and were subject to significant control.
31:46 Speaker 03 And it does remind us that the drive for medieval Europe's unity and cohesion, which we see increasing in this time, often also depended on exclusion as well. And this is the dark underside of the late medieval period.
32:06 Speaker 02 Yet, despite this move by many towards persecution, not all European Christians in the Middle Ages are opposed to contact with those of different creeds and cultures.
32:17 Speaker 03 The High and Late Middle Ages are marked by increased connections across Eurasia. This is not the beginning of this. This has been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years, but what we see is an acceleration of connectivity in which things like the so-called Silk Roads see increased trade between Central Asia and further east with Western Europe, and accompanied voyages of discovery that also saw European activities more in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean.
32:58 Speaker 02 Italian city-states dominate this ever-expanding trade with Asia and the Middle East, and none more so than Venice.
33:07 Speaker 02 After the success of the First Crusade in 1099, Venice expands its trade outposts far beyond its borders, for example, in the Middle Eastern port city of Arca. From there, further connections are made. In 1173, the Muslim leader Saladin grants the Venetians a trading complex in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. And after the Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople in 1204, its new rulers grant Venice unprecedented access to the Black Sea trade. Exporting grain and wine overseas, they bring silk and spices into Western Europe, much of it exchanged for silver from European mines.
33:51 Speaker 02 By the mid-13th century, the Venetians and others find new trading partners in the Mongols. Under their famous leader Genghis Khan and his descendants, the Mongols consolidate a vast territory between the Caspian and China Seas. They even threaten Europe, attacking modern-day Poland and Hungary. The relatively stable and safe land empire of the Mongols encourages merchants from Europe to set out in search of new trading opportunities. But trade is not the only motivation for journeying east.
34:24 Speaker 02 In 1253, French Franciscan friar William of Rubruck embarks on a mission to convert non-Christians in the Mongol domains. On his return, Rubruck writes an account of his voyage, detailing everyday Mongol life, including their hairstyles, dresses, and food. He also recounts his meeting with the great Khan at his court at Karakoram in modern-day Mongolia. In his ornate "Golden Throne Room", the leader hears Rubruck's intention to spread God's word. Draped in furs, the Khan instructs him to publicly debate Muslims, Eastern Christians, and Buddhists on the merits of his beliefs.
35:07 Speaker 02 This greater connectivity between East and West enriches the city of Venice, facilitates Christian missionary activity, and brings exotic goods into the markets of Europe.
35:18 Speaker 02 But dark clouds are gathering on the horizon. And in the 1340s, these trade routes bring terror and death to the West.
35:39 Speaker 02 It is autumn, 1346, and the fortified Genoese outpost of Kaffa on the Crimean Black Sea coast is under fire.
35:50 Speaker 02 A Genoese captain races up a set of stone steps to the walkway that runs along the top of the town's defensive wall. They have been besieged by the Mongol army camped below for weeks. But in recent days, the enemy has been silent. And though he can't be certain of the cause, the captain has noticed bodies piling up on the outskirts of their camp.
36:13 Speaker 02 But as the captain reaches the top of the wall, it is immediately clear that Mongols have once again set up their catapults. They are preparing to fire.
36:23 Speaker 02 A guard stationed further down the wall shouts a warning, and the captain instinctively ducks, shielding his head with his arms. He hears the sound of a heavy object sailing high overhead. But as the missile lands somewhere below him inside the town, it does so with an unusually soft thump.
36:43 Speaker 02 Peering over the edge of the walkway, the captain sees a body lying splayed on the rocky ground. It is dressed in a Mongol-style tunic.
36:55 Speaker 02 A shiver runs down his spine as he realizes their enemies are using corpses as projectiles.
37:02 Speaker 02 Calling two men to him, he hastens back down the steps. They hear the catapults release another volley and flatten themselves against the wall to avoid being struck.
37:13 Speaker 02 Two more bodies hit the ground and lie there motionless.
37:18 Speaker 02 Reaching the site of impact, the captain instructs his men to turn one of the corpses over. As they do, he claps a hand over his face of the stench. A foul odor of rot coupled with the iron tang of dried blood.
37:36 Speaker 02 Taking a deep breath of fresh air, he kneels down to better inspect the body. From his hair and beard, this is clearly a Mongol soldier, dead for at least a day.
37:47 Speaker 02 Holding his coat sleeve over his nose, the captain leans in for a closer look. The skin is covered in purple blotches. Frowning, he notes the dark stains on the silk clothing, concentrated under the arms.
38:04 Speaker 02 Gesturing for someone to pass him a knife, the captain slices through the fabric. But when the body beneath is revealed, he immediately recoils.
38:13 Speaker 02 One of his men turns and retches, bile splattering the ground.
38:18 Speaker 02 An enormous swelling, the size of a fist, is nestled in the dead man's armpit. It is deep, blackish-blue, and the skin has started to split like an overripe plum.
38:32 Speaker 02 The captain gasps, knowing what this means. It seems the Mongols are trying to break the siege by spreading the very plague that has devastated their own number.
38:43 Speaker 02 Shouts of warning echo from overhead before more bodies strike the ground.
38:49 Speaker 02 The captain makes a decision. Standing, he orders guards to gather as many men as possible and cart the bodies away to throw them into the sea. They need to keep the unknown pestilence out of the city.
39:03 Speaker 02 As they hurry off to do as he says, he notices a flea crawling up his arm. Absentmindedly, he smacks it away before heading back to his post.
39:24 Speaker 04 Low energy, unfocused, foggy, you might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body with a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade: Hydrates Better Than Water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
39:53 Speaker 01 Now at Kroger, your points add up to more ways to save every trip. Use them your way to take dollars off groceries at checkout or save at the pump. You can even save up to $35 on your next fill-up. Same points, more choices. And with low prices on fresh, quality food, plus digital and personalized offers tailored to how you shop, your dollar goes further. Redeem your points online or in the app. Kroger: Fresh for Everyone. Restrictions apply. See site or store for details.
40:24 Speaker 02 When Genoese sailors flee the besieged trading post at Catha, they carry with them one of history's most feared diseases, the bubonic plague.
40:35 Speaker 02 The devastating pandemic in the mid-14th century is at the time given various names, including the pestilence and the great mortality. It will later be known better as the Black Death.
40:50 Speaker 03 Trade products were not the only items that traveled these trade routes. Diseases traveled them as well, and the most famous of these, of course, was the infamous Black Death, which began, we're now pretty sure, in Central Asia, probably somewhere around like Baikal or into Mongolia, and yet moved through the trade systems into China, into South Asia, and eventually across the whole of Eurasia until it reached Europe in the 1340s. Caused by the bacterium eucinia pestis, it had reached Western Europe by 1347. We think initially arriving via Genoese ships,
41:35 Speaker 03 who were trading into the Black Sea.
41:40 Speaker 02 Though the Mongols' early foray into biological warfare is certainly noteworthy, it is likely flea-infested rats who spread the plague from the Mongol camp to Kaffa, weeks before the first cases in humans are discovered. And while bubonic plague is primarily spread by flea bites, the most lethal and contagious form spreads via infected droplets in the air. Sailors escaping Kaffa take the disease westwards, first to Constantinople. It's then carried to Italy, hitting Genoa, Venice, and Pisa in 1347. From there, it spreads into Spain, Portugal, and France, with the first cases in England reported the next year. Within five years,
42:23 Speaker 02 Germany, Scotland, Scandinavia, and Russia are all affected.
42:28 Speaker 02 It is a spectacularly cruel disease. Symptoms include a dangerously high fever, headaches, painful joints, and nausea. As the illness progresses, large, painful growths, known as buboes, appear in the groin and armpits. In severe cases, victims suffer internal bleeding, sometimes coughing up blood, and the skin may darken as tissue begins to die. No one is safe. Those in towns fare worse than those in the countryside, but otherwise, the plague kills indiscriminately, from the poorest in society to royalty. The death toll is staggering.
43:09 Speaker 03 Within four years, it had killed perhaps one-third to perhaps one-half of Europe's population, and it continued to reoccur for the next 200 years in explosions of lethality. It came in various forms, making it very, very hard to identify it as one disease. And anyway, in the absence of germ theory, Europeans, as others, had no real systematic way of both avoiding it or of treating it, which is why the death toll was so high.
43:53 Speaker 02 Few sources offer an insight into what life is like during these years. Flashes of religious zealotry are visible in the historical record as people attempt to understand why this calamity has befallen them.
44:05 Speaker 03 Social trauma, the trauma of mass deaths, encourage religious movements. Flagellants, hoping to take upon themselves the punishment they believe was being visited by God on the world. Apocalyptic visionaries, who believed they were in the end times. And the scapegoating, especially of Jews accused of well poisoning, thousands being murdered in the Rhineland and elsewhere, and clearly would have been killed in England too, had they not been expelled from England in the 13th century.
44:40 Speaker 02 The worst of this wave peters out within a few years. But given the devastation it wreaks, the Black Death astonishingly has little long-lasting effect on Europe's economy. For many of those who survive, the years after the pandemic bring an upswing in living standards. There is more land for the peasants that remain. A shortage of labour means that workers can demand higher wages. And with greater material wealth comes an improvement in diet. And though in Eastern Europe, systems of unfree labour persist or even intensify, towards the West, this shift in the balance of power contributes to the gradual decline of serfdom. By the early 15th century, many peasants are no longer legally unfree,
45:26 Speaker 02 though poverty and dependence on landlords remain common.
45:32 Speaker 02 These changes are naturally resisted by those at the top of the social pyramid.
45:38 Speaker 03 Elites try to push back. Sumptuary laws try to restrict what clothing can be worn. The Statute of Labourers in England, for example, tries to turn wages back to pre-pandemic levels. These are impossible to enforce. And the explosion of violence of the so-called peasants revolt in this country is... Also accompanied by explosions of extreme violence, often against landed gentry, aristocracy, which you see across France as well in the same period. Those people who have found their economic status has improved as an unexpected consequence
46:21 Speaker 03 of the population collapse are not about to see their rights rolled back, not without a fight anyway.
46:30 Speaker 02 Women are a key part of the social changes in the decades after the Black Death, although not without significant backlash.
46:38 Speaker 03 There's evidence that the later 14th century saw women more active than before in trade, crafts, and property management, especially after the population decline of the Black Death. But by the 15th century, patriarchal authorities, both secular and ecclesiastical, pushed back against this increased prominence of women within the economy. Gills restricted women's participation, sermons and laws emphasized female subordination, and attempted to push women out of roles where they'd come to dominate, for example, in brewing and in alehousekeeping, to try to return these to masculine control again.
47:18 Speaker 02 By now, another period of artistic reinvigoration has begun across Europe.
47:24 Speaker 02 The realistic paintings of Giotto, for example, and the Tuscan poetry of Dante Alighieri help lay the groundwork for the cultural flourishing of the later Renaissance.
47:36 Speaker 02 In England, though Latin has long dominated literature and academia, Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the first to write poetry in Middle English in the 1370s, popularizing it as an appropriate language in which to compose great works. His Canterbury Tales, about a group of pilgrims sharing stories on the road, is still widely read to this day. Middle English also flourishes, thanks to the first bibles written to appear in the vernacular tongue. Around the same time that Chaucer is writing, Oxford University theologian John Wycliffe and colleagues produce handwritten translations in Middle English. His work, however, is seen by many in the church as heretical, and after his death,
48:20 Speaker 02 it is decreed that his bones are exhumed, burned, and thrown into a river.
48:27 Speaker 02 After the biological devastation of the 14th century, the late Middle Ages play host to a series of man-made conflicts. The most famous of these is a series of wars between England and France.
48:41 Speaker 02 The French king has never had complete control over the entirety of his kingdom. Much of it is controlled by powerful lords, who swear loyalty to him but are largely independent. When Charles IV of France dies in 1328 with no sons or brothers, one of those claiming the right to the crown is none other than England's Edward III, Charles's nephew. But the French nobility throw their support behind Charles's cousin Philip instead. The ensuing fight over succession, beginning around a decade later, becomes known as the Hundred Years' War, though it in fact lasts for 116 years, albeit with significant periods of truce.
49:21 Speaker 03 From the English point of view, but also from the French of course as well, it is famous for battles such as Crasy, 1346, Poitiers, 1356, Agincourt, 1415. But although these are very often lauded and focused on as chivalric victories from the English point of view, the simple reality is: the English lost the Hundred Years' War. But what this war did was: it solidified both English and French national identity, and it helped centralize monarchy and the professionalization of armies.
49:59 Speaker 02 On the Iberian Peninsula, Christian kings in the north had been attempting to conquer the Muslim kingdom of Al-Andalus for centuries. Portuguese territory is largely under Christian control as early as the 1240s. In Spain, what becomes known as the Reconquista, or reconquest, also comes to a climax at the very end of the Middle Ages.
50:22 Speaker 03 It advanced rapidly in the 13th century with the capture of Cordoba in 1236, Seville in 1248, and was completed when Ferdinand and Isabella took Granada in 1492. The same year, they sponsored Columbus's voyage, marking Europe's expansion overseas.
50:44 Speaker 02 These wars helped to create the modern map of Europe, and many of the institutions of the modern nation-state.
50:51 Speaker 03 We see an increasingly united France, we see an increasingly united, under Christian rule, Spain and Portugal, a precociously united since the 10th century, England. We see a Germany that has some degrees of unification under the imperial control, but is largely a patchwork of different states, principalities, bishops, etc., and is more of a geographical expression. Italy too is more of a geographical expression. So what's interesting is that these periods of significant extended warfare fostered, alongside terrible suffering for many people,
51:36 Speaker 03 particularly in the rural classes, who are often forgotten, who suffered terribly in the depredations of knights and armies sweeping backwards and forwards over them. But alongside these terrible suffering, these wars also fostered administrative centralisation, standing armies, and patriotic sentiments.
51:57 Speaker 02 Historians still disagree about the exact end point for the Middle Ages. As a defined period in European history, it is an invention of later centuries. Renaissance intellectuals, immersed in Greek and Roman texts, identify the period they are living through as a revival and continuation of classical times. The millennium from 500 to 1500 is seen as just an inconvenient middle period. Yet this does not mean that what we now call the medieval age lacks coherence or a distinct identity. The European world changed forever with the fall of Rome, and was on the brink of yet more seismic changes 1,000 years later.
52:40 Speaker 03 There's no one bookend to a period of time as long and complex as the Middle Ages. If one had to identify some key contenders, one might cite the 15th century invention of printing, accelerating the distribution of knowledge and challenging contemporary society; the 16th century reformation fracturing Christendom and initiating two centuries of violent turbulence; the European voyages of discovery which began in the 15th century but themselves had deep roots, opening up a new era of colonialism. Either way, while we may not find a bookend that sums it up completely, something very significant is happening
53:21 Speaker 03 that will be the basis of the modern world at the end of the Middle Ages.
53:30 Speaker 02 By 1500, a new age is dawning across the continent. Though the writers of this new age might see the medieval period as no more than the span of time between themselves and the Greeks and Romans they idolized, it is the epoch that created the world in which they lived. And there is no doubt that the Middle Ages laid the foundations for the way we live today.
53:54 Speaker 03 I would say that in several significant ways, the Middle Ages are the foundation for what we now are and our self-understanding in a way that we need to recognize. The concept of European-ness, of Christendom, of something that is bigger than the nation-state, that's a product of the Middle Ages. The concept of the emerging nation-states themselves, the idea of the challenge of how communities should live together and work together, both religiously and ethnically,
54:37 Speaker 03 and our contested and complex global world also has its roots in the voyages of discovery, with their positive and terribly negative effects too, which are also products of the late medieval period. The Middle Ages are still very much with us, whether we like it or not.
55:08 Speaker 02 Next time on Short History, we'll bring you a short history of Ernest Hemingway.
55:14 Speaker 05 I'm accused of sometimes standing up too much for Hemingway. I'm proud to say I'm guilty of that. I think he was on a strange quest for his sainthood, and he destroyed it at every turn. But you can't deeply read Hemingway without seeing the decency and the goodness in him. And it's covered up so much by his boorishness, his macho demand that he is the alpha male in every situation, in every moment. You scrape all that away, there's a bookish man in glasses trying to get his work done?
55:53 Speaker 02 That's next time.
55:58 Speaker 02 If you can't wait a week until the next episode, you can listen to it right away by subscribing to Noiser Plus. Head to www-noiser.com/subscriptions for more information.
56:09 Speaker 04 Low energy, unfocused, foggy, you might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body. With a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors, great tasting hydration no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade: Hydrates Better Than Water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted or signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
56:38 Speaker 01 Now at Kroger, your points add up to more ways to save every trip. Use them your way to take dollars off groceries at checkout or save at the pump. You can even save up to $35 on your next fill-up. Same points, more choices. And with low prices on fresh, quality food, plus digital and personalized offers tailored to how you shop, your dollar goes further. Redeem your points online or in the app. Kroger: Fresh for Everyone. Restrictions apply. See site or store for details.
Previous The European Middle Ages (Part 1 of 2) Next Ernest Hemingway Page updated October 31, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated