HISTORIA ORIGINAL

During the Late Middle Ages, due to factors such as the end of the invasions and looting from abroad, there was a time of economic expansion that produced an increase in agricultural production, the growth of trade and crafts, etc.

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AGRICULTURE AND LIVESTOCK FARMING

The technological advances that had been initiated in previous centuries and a larger amount of land under cultivation resulted in an increase in agricultural production.

Livestock farming also grew due to the demand for meat and its associated products, such as wool.

The increase in agricultural production had various consequences:

• The population grew.
• There was an increase in trade.
• The number of city inhabitants and the wealth of the cities.

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TRADE AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

Craftsmanship developed along with the growth of the cities. There were many types of crafts activities (also known as professions), although the most important industry during this period was the textile industry.

Each city had various guilds, which were associations of particular professions who joined together to protect their interests, establish prices and salaries and regulate production and the number of workers in each profession.

The products produced by these craftsmen also increased due.

Communications improved due to improvements to the trade routes and greater security along them.

The circulation money increased.

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THE ECONOMY IN CASTILLA AND IN ARAGÓN

• Castilla exported raw materials and imported products. The cultivation of cereals, grapevines, olive trees and vegetables developed greatly. The sheep farmers in Castilla created associations called mestas to defend their rights. King Alfonso X established the Honourable Council of Mesta.
• The Crown of Aragón took advantage of the territorial expansion to establish new trade routes. Numerous maritime consulates were opened overseas to protect the interests of the traders. They bought cereals and spices and sold oil and manufactured products.

During the Late Middle Ages, changes in the economy and production resulted in a larger number of cities or burghs and an increase in their inhabitants, who were known as the bourgeoisie. However, society continued to be predominantly rural and consisted of peasants and lords.

SOCIAL GROUPS

URBAN

CLERGY

JEWS

LOWER NOBILITY

UPPER

NOBILITY

PETITE

BOURGEOISIE

WEALTHY

BOURGEOISIE

SERVANTS, SLAVES, BEGGARS, WOMEN'S...

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SOCIETY ON THE PENINSULA

• NOBILITY AND HIGH CLERGY: Land owners. They had a lot of power in Castile and Leon.
• LOW NOBILITY: Impoverished nobles
• URBAN BOURGEOISIE: Merchants, merchants, artisans, and jewish bankers. They had no privileges.
• THE REST OF THE POPULATION: Peasants, servants, Jews, Mudejars...

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REPOPULATION ON THE PENINSULA

The growth of the Christian population made it possible to repopulate the conquered territories.

Two models were used in the repopulation:

• The dealings. It consisted in distributing large estates to the nobles and to the mlitary orders that had participated in the conquest.
• The people letters. They were fueros to attract settlers to a territory or city.

The inhabitants of the territories weren´t expelled and there was a coexistence of the three religions.

This occurred, for example, in Toledo.

The political changes of this time advocated what would later become the Modern State.

• The monarchs increased their power. The cities faced the feudal lords, but they had the support of the kings, interested in reducing the great power of the lords. The monarchs benefited the cities by granting them privileges. The monarchs had more power by recovering part of their authority and they obtained greater income. Thanks to this, they subdued the rebel feudal lords.

• Courts arose. The courts were representative assemblies of the social strata that advised the king on government tasks and voted to grant new taxes. They were summoned by the monarch.
• The first Magna Carta was created. It was a forum for the entire territory of the kingdom, with which a series of rights were guaranteed for the nobility and for the bourgeoisie. The king had to submit to the law.

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THE CHURCH AND POLITICAL POWER

The influence of France in the Church, resulted in the transfer of the papal see from Rome to the French city of Avignon in the early fourteenth century.

The Church came to have up to three popes simultaneously. Finally the followers of the Avignon pope and the followers of the Pope of Rome named a single pope by consensus in 1417.

The Schism of the West favored the appearance of reformist movements.

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POLITICAL SITUATION AND TERRITORIAL EXPANSION OF THE PENINSULAR KINGDOMS

During the Late Middle Ages, the Christian kingdoms continued to expand at the expense of the Muslim kingdoms. The ideas of the crusade and Reconquest legitimized the advance.

The peninsular kingdoms

• The kingdom of Granada. After the defeat of the Almohads in the Navas de Tolosa (1212), the Muslim kingdoms were conquered, leaving only Granada. It covered the current provinces of Granada, Almería and Malaga and was ruled by the Nazar dynasty.
• The crown of Castile. The kingdoms of Castilla and León were definitively united from 1230 with King Fernando III, the Saint.
• The Crown of Aragon. The marriage between Ramón Berenguer IV (count of Barcelona) and Petronila, led to the union of both territories.
• The kingdom of Portugal. It spread to the Algarve (in the south-west of the peninsula). Then he looked for new ways of expansion through Africa, conquering Ceuta.
• The kingdom of Navarra. It was limiting between the conquests of the kingdom of Castile and that of Aragon.

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Institutions and political organization

Monarchs increased control over their possessions, the number of officials grew, and institutions were reformed:

• The Royal Chancellery. It was the body in charge of drafting royal documents and guarding his seal.
• The old court became the Royal Council, an institution with people who advised the monarch.
• The estates courts. They were meetings of the representatives of the nobility, the clergy and the bourgeoisie. The king summoned them.
• The estates courts. They were meetings of the representatives of the nobility, the clergy and the bourgeoisie. The king summoned them.

The Cortes de Castilla and the Cortes de León were united into one.

In Aragon the Cortes were more influential and powerful. They represented the different territories: the kingdom of Aragon, the principality of Catalonia and the kingdom of Valencia.

At the local level, the municipalities enjoyed autonomy with institutions such as:

• The advices. Its origin was a meeting of all the residents of a municipality.
• The magistrates were in charge of specific municipal tasks. They received different names.

HUNGER, PLAGUE AND WARS

During the 14th century and part of the 15th, medieval Europe suffered a deep political, economic and social crisis, caused by several reasons:

• Agricultural crisis. Years of poor harvests occurred due to unfavorable weather conditions.
• Epidemics. Since 1348, there have been several waves of the epidemic known as the black plague, which devastated a third of the population.
• Wars. The nobility attempted to make up for their losses by fighting against other nobles, in order to seize land and wealth from them.
• Tax increase to the most disadvantaged social groups.

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SOCIAL UNREST

The economic situation of the peasants and of the lower bourgeoisie became desperate, major violent revolts broke out in France, Italy, England, Flanders, etc.

• Peasant revolts against feudal lords. The impoverished peasants rebelled against the abuse or misuse by the feudal lords.
• Urban revolts. Impoverished urban groups clashed with city leaders, who monopolized political power and concentrated wealth.

The nobility, with the support of the monarchs, strongly repressed these revolts and made their leaders justify.

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RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

Frequently social discontent was oriented towards the persecution of minorities of different religion. He was accused of being responsible for hunger or spreading the plague epidemic.

• Against the Jews. There were assaults on their neighborhoods, the Jewish quarters, accompanied by looting and killings.
• Against converts. The converts were Jews who had converted to Christianity. They were accused of continuing to practice their ancient religion in secret.

Religious courts were created to play and persecute heretics, witches, and false converts.

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THE CRISIS OF THE LATE MIDDLE AGES ON THE IBERIAN PENINSULA

In the peninsula, a few years of poor harvests brought malnutrition problems, which together with the black plague caused great mortality. This situation favored the outbreak of numerous social revolts, wars and religious persecutions.

Social revolts

Throughout the late Middle Ages there were notable revolts by peasants against the abuses of feudal lords in times of famine. Two stand out:

• The irmandiña war (1467-1469)
• Romensas war (1460)

There were also revolts of the lower bourgeoisie against the upper bourgeoisie.

Religious persecutions

In the peninsular kingdoms throughout the Late Middle Ages, there were pogroms against the Jews. Some of the Jews became converts to avoid persecution, but they still continued to be discriminated against. Hostility and forced attempts at conversion to the Mudejars also originated in rural areas.

Coexistence became increasingly difficult, and many royal advisers recommended the expulsion of all Jews and all Mudejars.

THE CULTURE

Universities emerged in cities between the 17th and 13th centuries, and became the focus of dissemination of culture and thought.

Science advanced slowly because they considered it a correct idea when it was defended by the great thinkers.

This made it very difficult to contradict their mistakes, holding false beliefs:

• Many sages were obsessed with finding the formula to turn metals into gold.
• There was a long delay in medicine, often trying to heal the sick with bleeding.

In the peninsula, Latin remained the most widely used language in written texts, but the first texts appeared in Romance languages.

For a time, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish sages coexisted in the Christian kingdoms. In Toledo, thanks to the impulse of King Alfonso X, the activity of the Toledo School of Translators was intense, where works by classical authors were transcribed from Arabic and Hebrew.

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GOTHIC ART

Between the 12th and 15th centuries, a new artistic style prevailed, the Gothic. It was born in France, from where it spread to the rest of Europe, adapting specific variants in each country. It is an urban art that reflects the new bourgeois society.

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GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

• The buildings are taller and slimmer, where verticality predominates.
• To support the weight of the roofs, buttresses are used, external pillars separated from the walls, which were attached to the building with flying buttress rings.
• Large windows were opened in the walls, since these no longer had a function of supporting the weight.
• The rib vault was developed.
• Gothic art used pointed arches with which the verticality is reinforced.

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GOTHIC SCULPTURE AND PAINTING

The style was naturalistic, that is, they tried to reflect what they observed in nature. Another feature was the high level of detail.

• Sculpture: The reliefs protrude a lot from the walls. Important sculptures were attached to facades. Altarpieces were created because there was no longer too much space on the walls to place sculptures. The exempt sculpture represented themes such as the Virgin with the child, the crucified Christ, etc.
• Painting: In the 15th century a new technique was developed, oil, which was obtained by mixing colors with oil. Between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, religious themes and portraiture stood out with backgrounds of landscapes and highly detailed buildings.

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Romanesque art was the characteristic artistic style of Christian Europe from the 11th to the 13th century. It emerged in France, and spread throughout Western Europe.

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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Romanesque came to Spain through the Pyrenees and spread through the north, since the south was under Islamic power.

It´s main characteristics are:

• It´s the first medieval art style that spread throughout Europe.
• It´s a predominantly rural art.
• It´s main buildings are religious.

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ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE

• Thick stone walls.
• Few windows.
• Use of reused elements in Roman art (semicircular arch, barrel vaults, artist vaults).
• The plant is usually basilican or shaped like a Latin cross.

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ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE AND PAINTING

• The images were used so that the population (illiterate) could learn the biblical stories and the main religious teachings.
• In many cases the images had a symbolic character, that is, ideas were represented through drawings.
• The style is schematic.
• Sculptures were sculpted in stone or carved in wood.
• The paintings were made on walls, in the apses and vaults and on boards.