What Problems Did European States Face In The Fourteenth Century

People wonder why the world can’t be a peaceful place and have no difficulties. The dilemma with the world is that an action always has its consequences. This is the reason why in the fourteenth century, Europe faced problems after problems. Even though Europe encountered many different economic or social issues such as peasant revolts and upheaval from the nobles, I still believe those weren’t some of the major troubles at the time. In the fourteenth century, although they were experiencing many more problems, I think the European states’ major problems were relating to the people’s health, political instability, and the decline of papacy.
“You don’t know what you have until it’s gone” is a saying that is nothing but the truth. Good weather
is something that is taken as granted, and people don’t realize how important it is to your health until it’s gone. The beginning of the fourteenth century is known as a “little ice age”, when there were dropping changes to the weather. Though the name doesn’t sound very intimidating, this time period resulted in serious famine that killed 10 percent of the European population in just half of the century. The weather changes’ outcomes included shortened growing season that limited food. During the mid-fourteenth century, another disaster happened in Europe. This time period was called the Black Death, an era when plagues were taking over the continent. The most widespread plague was the bubonic plague that alone killed up to 60 percent of the people who got infected. This epidemic disease caused other non-health related problems, such as the cultural commotion that Jews were the ones who poisoned town wells to get everyone else contaminated. Also, as people believed that their health was not savable, they started acting more recklessly. They thought that this plague was inevitable; thus, people started taking risks and living carelessly. Historians approximate that the European population declined 25 to 50 percent during this time. Besides the Black Death having immediate effects on the lives of people, this slowly resulted into social class problems; consequently, it led to peasants’ wanting more respect. Some people actually do still cherish their health, for the fourteenth century’s little ice age and the Black Death are perfect examples on why health issues were some of the major problems during the late Middle Ages in Europe and why it should still be cherished.
The current nation is still struggling with political problems, but the political instability during the fourteenth century was a major problem in Europe.
Between countries, England and France fought over political power, and this led to the Hundred Years’ War, which is known as one of the most violent wars. In each separate country, government bureaucracies were growing, and the question that who should rule the government was unresolved. As a result of the war, in England, Parliament started to gain more power, for King Edward III constantly went to Parliament for financial help during the war. After King Edward III’s death, England faced problems with the peasants who wanted to live a better life and nobles who just wanted to be above other people. These small revolts would actually lead to a larger war later on in history. France’s problem was that each small territory didn’t have a strong enough bond to form one big connected country. The French parliament that was supposed to look out for the whole country only represented the north. Similar to France, the Holy Roman Empire had political instability because it was divided up into small city-states that had its own government; some city states were governed by knights and kings while others were ruled
ecclesiastically.
The decline of the church was an immense problem, and it affected the people of Europe greatly. Just like the government, the papacy of the Roman Catholic church was flourishing in the thirteenth century; however, in the fourteenth century, the church did have its problems. The declining of the church led to many disputes and confusion to the people of Europe. One of the causes was the debate on whether monarchy or papacy ruled Europe. Because of Pope Clement’s fear of anything happening to papacy, he fled to Avignon. This actually led to the Great Schism when there were multiple popes. With multiple popes, people may have thought that the church would be doing better than ever; however, after the Great Schism was resolved, people had less respect for the church.
Life in the late Middle Ages was harsh in Europe, for they dealt with many problems that people nowadays can’t even imagine. Looking back at history really does show how important a person’s health is or how strong the government is. “Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement,” is a quote by Henry Ford. Problems in the past just make it easier to avoid them in the future.