HIST 204
SYLLABUS
LECTURE OUTLINES

PAPAL POLITICS OF THE FOURTEENTH AND EARLY FIFTEENTH CENTURIES: THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY, THE GREAT SCHISM, AND THE CONCILIAR MOVEMENT

Tuesday:

Music:

“Due ancoliti“: music from 14th-century Italy (4:57 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQtpphLG3KA

Josquin des Pres (fl. 1459-d. 1521), “Mirabilia testimonia” (9:47 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBwfZQ_bfXw

Videos:

Janina Ramirez, The Search for the Lost Manuscript of Julian of Norwich [Revelations of Divine Love, 1373] (BBC, 59:09 min.; for Julian’s life and visions, see 14:00-27:00 min.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KJkQk1L8F0

 

1300: Medieval population at its peak

Philip IV of France vs. Pope Boniface VIII (click here for information on the papal tiara and its triple crown):

1294-1303	Pope Boniface VIII, a canon lawyer, challenges Philip IV “the Fair” of France and Edward I “Longshanks” of England over clerical taxation and papal supremacy:
1296	Papal bull Clericis laicos forbids kings to tax clergy
1300	Boniface declares the first Papal Jubilee Year in Rome (illustration from Cronica di G. Sercambi); offers penitent pilgrims visiting Rome a remission of their sins through indulgences that remitted time in Purgatory (by pope’s drawing on the Treasure House of Merit, first proposed c. 1230 by the Dominican Hugh of St-Cher)
1302	Papal bull Unam sanctam claims that papal supremacy is necessary for every human’s salvation
1303	Philip IV’s Estates-General convicts Boniface VIII of numerous crimes, and a French force briefly captures the pope at Anagni; he is rescued but dies soon after
1305	French-affiliate pope elected, and papacy moves headquarters from Rome to Avignon

14th century crises include:

Great Famine (1315-22)

Great Plague or “Black Death” (1347-49).

Conflict over ecclesiastical wealth and papal power epitomized by:

1323 Spiritual Franciscans declared heretics
1324 Marsiglio (Marsilius) of Padua’s Defensor Pacis

Outbreak of 100 Years’ War between France and England (1337-1453) (see map and 15th-cent. illustration of the Battle of Crécy, 1346)

“Babylonian Captivity” of papacy in Avignon, 1309-76 (click for murals by Matteo Giovanetti, 1340s, in the chapel of St-Jean and papal suite) ended by Gregory XI’s return to Rome at the urging of the lay ascetic and mystic St. Catherine of Siena (1347-80). (Click here for a photo of St. Catherine’s mummified head in the church of St. Dominic in Siena.)

Beginning of Papal Schism (1378-1417) with uncanonical election of Urban VI (sketch of Lateran Palace); ends at Council of Constance (1414-18) with deposition of 3 rival popes and election of  Martin V(1417-31) as sole pope.

Peasant revolts and urban riots

Rise of Lollardy (Council of Constance, 1414-18, condemned and burned John Wycliffe‘s follower, Jan Hus)

Thursday:

“Doctorum principem” (2:54 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXgMoJYQt1A&feature=relmfu

“O Petre antistes inclite” (2:48 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olO6xgGTXs0&feature=relmfu

Online readings:

St. Catherine of Siena beseeches Gregory IX to return to Rome

The origins of the Great Schism: Manifesto of the revolting cardinals, 1378 (click here for a map showing the Schism’s religious divisions)

Jean Petit, “The Complaint of Lady Church,” 1393: Satire on the multiple popes of the Great Schism (see image of Rome as a “widow” mourning the Avignonese Papacy, from BnF, MS It. 81)

Powers of the Council of Pisa, 1409 (click here for a map)

Jan Hus: Reply to the synod of Prague, 1413; and last words at the stake at the Council of Constance (convened by Sigismund, King of Germany and of the Romans, who had given Hus a safe-conduct), 1415