![[1346-1353_spread_of_the_Black_Death_in_Europe_map.svg.png]] Europe’s medieval period (once inaccurately called the Dark Ages) ended in the 15th century, after the disaster of the Black Death. Even before the bubonic plague arrived, harsh winters and rainy summers beginning around 1310 had caused widespread famine. Feudal lords squeezed their peasants for crops and labor, and states raised taxes. Several million died during the famine, and then about half of Europe’s population disappeared between the plague’s arrival in 1347 and 1353. This depopulation threatened the power of the Church and the nobility, as surviving peasants became less patient with the taxes and labor demands made by their bishops and lords. Peasant revolts in France and England in the second half of the 14th century showed the feudal system of the Middle Ages was coming to an end.  ![[Avignon_Palais_des_Papes_2013.jpg]] *The Papal Palce in Avignon, France* Unlike the new eastern Muslim empires and the continuing Chinese Empire, Europe was unable to reunify under a single secular leader and create its own empire—although Austria’s Hapsburg dynasty did its best to lead an alliance that it optimistically named the Holy Roman Empire for centuries. Too many languages, cultures, and local centers of power competed for dominance, and the Catholic Church (Europe’s largest landowner) was unable to exercise secular as well as spiritual power. Instead the church found itself pulled into regional contests for power, such as in 1309 when a French-born Pope moved his residence to Avignon. Seven popes resided in France and fell increasingly under the control of the French king until 1378, when another French-born Pope decided to move back to Rome. But the French rulers and a growing class of aristocratic French cardinals were unwilling to give up the power that came with having their own Pope. For another sixty years there were two competing Papal Courts, one in Rome and a rival in Avignon. Although the Avignon Popes have been called Anti-Popes, it’s important to understand that they weren't against papacy; the conflict was primarily about political power rather than about theology or religious doctrine. However, theological conflicts were right around the corner. ----- Next: [[3.7 - Print and Rebirth]] Back: [[3.5 - Russian Empire]]