Global History

Summary – When Mongol armies besieged the Genoese trading outpost of Caffa on the Black Sea in 1346, they not only damaged trading links between East Asia and the Mediterranean but also unleashed a devastating disease: the bubonic plague. Defeated Genoese merchants and soldiers withdrew, inadvertently taking the germs with them aboard their ships. By the time they arrived in Messina, Sicily, half the passengers were dead. The rest were dying. People waiting on shore for the ships’ trade goods were horrified at the sight and turned the ships away. Desperately, the captains went to the next port, only to face the same fate. Despite these efforts at isolation, Europeans could not keep the plague (called the Black Death) from reaching their shores. As it spread from port to port it eventually contaminated all of Europe, killing about one-third of the population.

The story illustrates the disruptive effects of the Mongol invasions on Afro-Eurasian societies. Although the invasions ushered in an age of intensified cultural and political contact, the channels of exchange – the land trails and sea-lanes of human voyagers – became accidental conduits for deadly microbes. These germs devastated societies far more decisively than did Mongol warfare. They were the real “murderous hordes” of world history, infecting people from every community, class, and culture they encountered. So staggering was the Black Death’s toll that population densities did not recover for 200 years. Most severely affected were regions that Mongols had brought together: settlements and commercial hubs along the old Silk Road and around the Mediterranean Sea and the South China Sea. While segments of the Indian Ocean trading world experienced death and disruption, South Asian societies, which had escaped the Mongol conquest, also escaped the dying and political disruptions associated with the Black Death.

During the 14th and 15th centuries – following population loss, political crises, and social disorders – peoples struggled to remake their societies. This lecture explores the ways in which Afro-Eurasian peoples restored what they thought was valuable from the old while discarding what they felt had failed them, in favor of radically new institutions and ideas. Considering how grievously people suffered and how many had died, it is surprising that so much of the old (particularly religious beliefs and institutions) survived, though in modified forms. What was truly new and would prove enduring was a group of imperial dynasties in Afro-Eurasia: national monarchies in Europe, Ottoman sultans in Anatolia, Safavids in Persia, Mughals in India, and Ming dynasts in China. The aftermath of Mongol rule and of the Black Death witnessed the transformation of the political setting in Afro-Eurasia.

Spread out of inner Asia of Black Death was the most significant development of the period. 1/3-1/2 of populations died. Drying up of central Eurasian borderlands may have forced rodents out of usual dwellings. But trade facilitated spread. Main avenue of transmission across central Asia to Crimea and the Black Sea then on ships to Mediterranean and up Italian peninsula. Secondary routes from China to Red Sea, and another across the Indian Ocean, through Persian Gulf and into Fertile Crescent.

No immunities to disease. China population plunged from 120 million to 80. Europe saw numbers shrink by 1/3. Crowded port cities worst. Refugees fled cities into countryside. Shortage of food and other necessities led to rising prices, work stoppages, and unrest.

Rebuilding states post-Black Death was difficult. Basis for power became dynasty – hereditary ruling family – passing control down through family. Established clear lines of succession, elevated power through conquest and alliance. Centralized authority by bulding administrative structures – bureaucracies to collect taxes and enhance royal power. Ming, for instance, renounced Mongols and emphasized the reestablishment of Han rulership. In Europe new thinkers proposed new forms of government – Machiavelli, et al. – and Islamic world used religious unity to draw legitimacy for new regimes. Many of whom like Ottomans and Saavids were filling vacuum left by Mongols.

The Black Death

Black Death spread out of inner Asia and was 14th c. most significant development – Stemmed from combo of bubonic, pneumonic, and septicaemic plague strains

Staggering death rate – 25-50% depending on density of population

Steppe borderlands dried up where bubonic plague existed for years – rodents out of dwellings and into homes of pastoral peoples – moved closer to agricultural communities

Microbes migrated –

1st outbreak in 1320s in southwestern China – through China and then major trade routes – From across Central Asia to Crimea where boarded sip to Mediterranean and Italy

1st dying men arrived on ships in Italy in 1347 –

Infected died – often overnight – coughing blood and oozing pus and blood from ugly black sores size of eggs

Why? – Astronomy? God?

China population from 120 million to 80 millions – food production collapsed, refugees fled cities, famine followed,

Shortage of food led to rising prices, work stoppages, and unrest –

Buonaiuti -

In West

European population declined for another 100 years – individuals turned to pleasure, others to spirituality,

Berghards, Brethren of Free Speech, claimed to be in a state of grace that allowed them to do as they pleased – including adultery, free love, nudity, and murder

Flagellants – were so sure that man had incurred God’s wrath they whipped themselves for atonement – For many rational Christianity of Thomas Aquinas no longer applied – despair at absence of clergy –

Church response – persecution of heretics – Jews, Muslims, homosexuals, prostitutes, and witches – but also expanded charitable and benevolent functions –

Weakened feudal order – massive revolts of peasantry – 1358 – Jacquerie – peasant revolt – killing nobles and clergy – at issue was that they no longer wanted to be tied to land

English Peasant’s revolt of 1381 and Ciompi Revolt of 1378 fueled by post-plague labor shortage – workers calling for higher wages, lower rents

Hapsburg, French, and other national dynasties cemented – enshrined privileges – Church’s landholdings and exemptions from taxes made countries formidable powerhouses-

100 years War – consolidate state power reviving commerce, battling for territory

Reqconquista in Spain – Renaissance –

Ferdinand and Isabella to renew royal authority in Spain and centralize state

Inquisition was investigative political and religious tool to go after conversos and political rivals

Build empire to rival France

On the whole, the lot of minority faith groups was to become worse after Islam was replaced in Spain by Christianity.

Discord among Muslims enabled growth of Christian kingdoms, particularly after 1031

Competing Christian kingdoms slowly advance south

Black Death in Spain – Causes further disruption of Muslim holdings in South and belief that the plague was a curse from God, and heretics were the cause of the disease may have led to an increased persecution of non-Christians by the Spanish Inquisition.

Although the Spanish Inquisition originated before the Black Death struck Europe, the fear that non-Christians were sources of the disease allowed rulers to take the Inquisition to levels that may not have been reached under other circumstances.

Castile, in central "Spain," becomes dominant

Many of the techniques used to govern conquered lands will be repeated in Mexico

inability to manage irrigation systems built by Muslims leads to shift towards ranching

Relatively egalitarian legal system with well-defined rights and procedures

Leads to national self-image of crusaders for Christianity

Gives us the hidalgo personality

1. Religious intolerance and fervor

2. Suspicion of foreigner

3. Respect for soldier rather than farmer

4. Many of the same institutions - conquest as extension of reconquest

Centralizing State –

Reform government to weaken nobles

An expanding bureaucracy

Manned by corregidores -- technocrats with legal training and frequently military experience

Religion

Isabella known for deep piousness

Made alliances with conservative elements of Church

she would back sweeping conservative reforms

in exchange, bishops would give her political support

3. Patronado

deal with the Pope

Isabella would fund building, recruiting, reforms, etc.

in exchange, she got control over nominations for religious offices

this system would eventually be translated to New World

4. All lead to identification of faith with ‘nationality'

to be loyal to the Crown is to be Catholic

profound implications for the Americas

ensures religious conflict in Americas, and at home

Rise of the Inquisition to stamp out heresy, alternate religions (1480)

5. End of multi-religious Spain

Last Muslim stronghold, Grenada, defeated 1492

Jews expelled the same year

Some Jews stay -- forced to convert. These converts become targets of the Inquisition

Muslims eventually face same choice

This leads to problem of "New Christians" - more work for Inquisition

A new nationalism laid on top of regionalism

shared allegiance to a Spanish homeland

Christian universalism

Greater importance given to personal honor

Xenophobia

Racial purity

Renaissance

Lecture – Renaissance to Reformation

Renaissance – “Rebirth” of attitudes drawn from Greco-Roman culture

· Intertwined with economic, political and religious developments

Commercial Revolution

Italian Renaissance – “man as the measure of all things”

· Humanism – 1) historical movement assoc. with Italian Renaissance 2) Education in humanities/classical learning 3) Affirmation of human nature, study and understanding of it 4) a secular ideology that espouses reason, ethics, and justice over religious and supernatural dogma

· Genoa, Pisa, Naples and Venice had expanded with Commercial Rev.

· In republican city-states - Class warfare between wealthy merchants, artisans and poor

· Sought inspiration in formation of states from Greeks, Romans – either republics or city-states

· Machiavelli’s The Prince (1513) combined classical examples of how a prince should hold power with power as the goal, not virtue

· Use force/fear, lying/largesse to be feared (respected), just not hated

· Printing Press – use of movable type allowed for written page to be quickly, efficiently, and cheaply reproduced and digested by increasingly literate public

· Led to new kind of education – primary and secondary education in grammar, writing, arithmetic and letters

· Well-rounded gentleman, fit in mind and body, was ideal – Castiglione

· Women’s positions remained restricted, some access to schools but no right to property

· Some could make living from writing, Christine de Pizan and Sara Copia Sullam

· Dowry Funds – investment schemes to save money to marry off daughters of wealthy elite

· Shows sex division in Florentine society and ideas about sexuality

· Wealthy afford to have children cared for

· Poor often abandoned children to public charities

· Prostitution was tolerated, homosexuality not

· Violence against women not treated seriously and punishment based on social class

· New Princes – despots (local lords, merchants, or mercenaries) dominated and established dynasties

· The Peace of Lodi in 1454 ended princely warfare – left Naples, Papacy, Florence, Milan and Venice in charge

· Ended in 1494 when French king Charles VIII invaded Naples

· Medici family took over power in Florence supported by their family’s banking business – surviving assassination plots, invasions, banishment and urban riots

· Cosimo de Medici was founder and very powerful

· Grandson Lorenzo - Aspired to be patrons of the arts – support intellectual and artistic endeavors as Renaissance princes

· After his death, family twice driven from Florence and twice returned, in 1530 city declared a duchy and became its first dukes

Northern European Renaissance

· Christian Humanism – Scholars in northern Europe (England, Lowlands, Germany) did bend humanism to fit Christian worldview

· Emphasized inspiration from classics – use critical mind and faith in human action/ability

· Use of Hebrew and Old Testament in original writing of rabbi commentary

· Erasmus – most famous Christian humanist

· Sought to develop the best, most pure form of Christianity as he understood it from his readings of the New Testament and writings of early Church fathers

· Praise of Folly (1509) mockingly critical attitude – satirized all the problems of his contemporaries, especially the hypocrisies of Church leadership

· Questioned authority

· Witch Hunts – On the rise at same time as Humanism, change in belief that Church accepted possibility of witches, including idea that conspiracy of the devil had sent witches to organize against Christian society

· Witch hunts of 1400-1800 – lasted a long time, sought out, tortured and put to death witches, although witch hunts were sporadic, intermittent and geographically scattered

· Worst in Holy Roman Empire, moderate in France, Scotland and England, rare elsewhere

· 10,000s+ died with others succumbing to accusations, the abuse of loved ones, and general climate of fear

· Took centuries to end, needed improving economies, democratic impulse in government and rational outlook on world to do it

The Reformation (1517-1648) – fractured the medieval unity of the Christian Church in the West, reflects ongoing political, economic, and social change identified during our discussions on the Renaissance

· Calls for reform within Latin Western Church had been long and loud since the Great Schism

· Scandals of the Schism led many to see the Pope as petty prince, armies commanded by Cesare Borgia (father was Pope Alexander VI) and by Julius II led many to doubt their virtue and benevolence

· Church embraced politics and pomp of the Renaissance, rejected conciliarism – final authority of Church matters in hand of council/corporation of Christians, not Pope

· Some find comfort in medieval Church – sacraments, mass, pilgrimages, shrines, saint’s days, hospices, hospitals

· Popular mysticism, too – people could have their own experience with God

· Martin Luther - small town in Wittenberg in Holy Roman Empire, son of peasants had become professor at university in Erfurt, as well he was an Austin Friar – led monastic lifeAs pastor became increasingly disturbed by sale of indulgences

· Indulgences – came out of system of penance, to do good deed, prayer or pilgrimage when sinned – by late Middle Ages, start taking payment in cash – although no matter what the sinner was not forgiven unless was truly contrite

· In province of Saxony (Luther’s home) Prince-archbishop of Magdeburg had authorized sale of indulgences, lots of them and for large amounts, to pay off debts to the Pope for suspending canon law so he could take possession of more than one prince-bishopric. In turn, the Vatican was using the money to build new St. Peter’s Basilica

· Luther objected to “back-door” deals that fell outside the theological prescription

· Did not fit in plan of salvation, any normal means of penance couldn’t erase real sin, only certain and committed belief in death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - “The Just shall live by faith”

· “By faith alone” also meant that no more need for sacraments, priestly/papal arbiters

· Offered his 95 Theses – developed theological points of view – posted on Wittenburg Church door on 31 Oct. 1517 – printed and distributed, too

· Luther became hero and voice for reformers, wrote more and more before Church reacted – so that by June 1520, when Luther was excommunicated, his ideas had spread and gained momentum – didn’t help that Luther burned bull and books of canon law in response

Rise of New Islamic Dynasties

Black Death reached Baghdad by 1347 – carried by Azerbaijani army – By next year plague overtook Egypt, Syria, and Cyprus – Tunis had 1000 dying per day

Left Islamic world in state of near political and economic collapse

Warrior chiefs and religious leaders vied for power in vacuum – Ottomans in Anatolia and Safavids in Persia

Islamic Arab world ceded power and territory to Turkish and Persian speaking peoples – benefited from agrarian resources of Indian Ocean and Mediterranean regions and brisk seaborne and overland trade

Ottomans were Turkish step peoples who began with Mongol-like warrior ethos but later consolidated power based on attracting merchants, bureaucrats, and clerics.

Under leader Osman in early 1300s became disciplined warrior class – won favor of Islamic clerics – expanded into Balkans -

Took Constantinople for capital in 1453, which had been on Ottoman radar for centuries. Most Christians had fled and fall was non-event, but went down as major coup for Islamic world and bruised ego of Christian Europe which had suffered several bruisings since era of Crusades. – bought off elites – Mehmed I became Mehmed the Conqueror

Convinced his own army that they would be rewarded with riches and that Constantinople was holy war –

Actually benefited the west because Christian refugees fled to ports in west – brought classical and Arabic manuscripts – renewed Euro interest in classical antiquity –

Also sacked Athens in 1458, Bosnia in 1463, did not succeed in attempts at conquering Italy

Made Constantinople Istanbul and built and expanded – attention to civil bureaucratic efficiency and justice for people – made sultan caliphate and defender of Muslims –

Istanbul rebuilt – crumbling walls, redesigned homes and public buildings, baths, inns and marketplaces – ordered construction o f new mosques – Suleymaniye Mosque opposite Hagia Sophia –

Topkapi Palace reflected Ottoman governance and sultan’s emphasis on religion – command post of empire – where sultan lived also where bureaucrats trained – subjects petitioned sultan –

Ottomans – politics showed tolerance – provincial rule – Christian janissaries owed to sultan – converted to Islam – learn Turkish – led other careers after service –

Dhimmi -

acknowledged Islamic superiority

accepted Islamic power

paid a tax called Jizya to the Muslim rulers and sometimes paid higher rates of other taxes

avoided blasphemy

did not try to convert Muslims

complied with the rules laid down by the authorities. These included:

restrictions on clothing and the need to wear a special badge

restrictions on building synagogues and churches

not allowed to carry weapons

could not receive an inheritance from a Muslim

could not bequeath anything to a Muslim

could not own a Muslim slave

a dhimmi man could not marry a Muslim woman (but the reverse was acceptable)

a dhimmi could not give evidence in an Islamic court

dhimmis would get lower compensation than Muslims for the same injury

At times there were restrictions on practicing one's faith too obviously. Bell-ringing or chanting too loudly were frowned on and public processions were restricted.

The Muslim rulers didn't give their non-Muslim subjects equal status; Society was sharply divided along ethnic and religious lines, with Turkish and Arab tribes at the top of the hierarchy, followed by people like the Berbers in North Africa who were never recognized as equals, despite their Islamization; lower in the scale came other converts and, at the very bottom, the dhimmi Christians and Jews.

Safavid – Shi’ism – came to power in 1200s and declared Islamic state – dominated in 1500s promising post black death that they would restore order – sacred tradition of Shi’ism spread throughout state – fostered activist clergy – didn’t tolerate diversity

Counter to small-scale republics established on Italian peninsula where recast look to pre-plague, medieval past in antiquity.

After 1352, epidemic died down having killed all those with no natural immunities and most original carriers of disease

In China

Ming Chinese rebuilt Han bureaucracy in wake of plague and Mongol destruction. Zhu Yuanzhang as head of military group called Red Turban put order to world of bandits and religious zealots in wake of plague. Founded Ming dynasty in 1368. Imperial grandeur – walled enclosures of Forbidden City capital to Beijing. Palace complex bolstered by marriage and kinship. Religion sanctioned rulers by suggesting hierarchical rituals which invested power in hands of leaders from people. One aspect of centralism challenged as local people started own cults for Buddhist religious practice.

Bureaucracy at core. Stipends to governors, command of garrisons, autonomy at local level – Beholden to him, ultimately. Bureaucrats oversaw manufacturing of porcelain, cotton, and silk. Confucian school for training civil servants. Built maritime expedition fleet. Vast area, rural farmers controlled own prices in turn for tax farming system.

Overseas trade was now connected to reemerging Afro-Eurasian trade system. But some push further e.g. Zheng He

Main Themes –

· The Black Death spreading out of inner Asia brought a staggering loss of life, claiming one-third of the population.

· Afro-Eurasians remade their societies in the wake of the plague’s devastation.

· Something old remains: religious beliefs and institutions. And something new appears: radically different imperial dynasties in Europe, Anatolia, Persia (Iran), India, and China.

Western Christendom –

· Devastation from the Black Death provokes revolt and extremist religious movements.

· New national monarchies appear in Portugal, Spain, France, and England.

· A rebirth of classical learning (the Renaissance) originates in Italian city-states and spreads throughout western Europe.

Islamic Dynasties –

· Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal, and Songhay empires replace the Mongols.

· Ottomans overrun Constantinople and become the primary Sunni regime in the Islamic world.

· Safavids come to power in Iran as a Shiite state less tolerant of diversity than the Ottomans.

· Mughals replace the Delhi Sultanate in South Asia and continue to accommodate diverse religious beliefs.

China –

· The Ming dynasty replaces the Mongol Yuan dynasty and rebuilds a strong state from the ground up.

· An elaborate, centralized bureaucracy oversees the revival of infrastructure and long-distance trade.