The “Little Flowers of Saint Francis of Assisi” is a collection of stories about the Saint. The manuscript is divided into 53 short chapters and was completed in the 14th century by an anonymous Italian writer. Some of the stories in the books could possibly be legends, while others might be true. Most of them are about the miracles that took place at the monastery in Italy where St. Francis lived.
St. Francis wanted his life to be as similar as possible to Jesus’s earthly life by living in purposeful poverty, becoming a beggar, and preaching to crowds of people. Similar to Jesus, Francis had followers who travelled with him. In contrast, Francis often faked madness out of humility, which led some to consider him crazy, while others believed he had immense wisdom. Francis even told one of his followers, Brother Leo, that he himself was not a pious man and he was evil.
Teaching that poverty is the most holy thing someone can embrace, Francis also stated that suffering injustice for Christ’s sake was also Godly. Saint Francis preached sermons, had visions, and performed miracles on sick and disabled people. Monks known as Franciscans came to live in poverty with St. Francis and serve God.
During the Fifth Crusade in 1219, the Pope sent Francis to Egypt in an attempt to persuade the Sultan to convert to Christianity, and according to this book, he succeeded. Another story states that St. Francis cured a leper of his disease, but the leper died two weeks later. On his way to heaven, the leper spoke with Saint Franics through his prayers. On another occasion three robbers attempted to plunder the monastery, but Saint Francis converted them through his words. The collection claims that Saint Francis could read people’s minds and so he often prayed to God to help other monks achieve their prayers.
The Fransican monks were holy men who lived in poverty, giving them more grace than any other monastic order at the time. Francis and his followers could work miracles and had divine wisdom. This influential Saint taught that the way to heaven was by faith along with good works, humility, and chastity.
European borders at the start of the 14th Century.
In 1308, Edward II became king of England and proceeded to let the government fall into the hands of dishonorable people while he devoted himself to pleasure. Edward II was deposed for this in 1326, and was murdered the following year. Consequently, his 15 year old son, Edward III was crowned king and it was under his reign that parliament was first used. At this time, the king had the authority to summon or dissolve parliament, but he did not have the right to change a law passed by the assembly.
John Wyclif (1320-1384) was a priest and professor at Oxford University and was one of the first people to promote the idea of predestination, which would later be pushed by reformationists like John Calvin. Wyclif stated that all Christians are priests, someone in a state of sin should lose all their rights, and a church or priest owning property defies the teachings of Christ. A party inside the English parliament adopted Wyclif’s teachings and aimed to forcefully take property from churches, monasteries, and clergy. Wyclif urged that the Church of England separate from the Catholic Church. After the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381, the government abandoned support for Wyclif.
John Wyclif.
In France, King Phillip IV was succeeded by his son Louis X, who died in 1316, leaving his brother Phillip V as monarch. Some rival factions tried to elect Louis X’s four-year-old daughter as Queen, but they were ruled against by Phillip V’s supporters. Phillip V died without a son in 1322, which led to his brother Charles IV being installed as king.
Ever since William the Conquerer invaded England in 1066, English kings had controlled portions of Northern France. During the 13th century, France had taken back much of this territory. Both sides claimed the Duchy of Flanders (modern-day Belgium), while there was also a dispute over Gascony. After French king Charles IV died without an heir in 1328, English king Edward III claimed the French throne for England. Phillip VI of France contested Edward who accepted the loss, but later tried to take France again in 1337. Eventually, Phillip VI and Edward III declared war on each other, starting the Hundred Years War.
English victory at the Battle of Crecy, August 26, 1346.
Although the English were outnumbered two to one (30,000 to 15,000) they defeated the French at the Battle of Crecy in 1346, inflicting heavy casualties. In the early stages of the war, there were many English victories and England made significant gains in Northern France. At the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, the English destroyed half of the French army and captured their king, John the Good.
France’s new king, Charles V, slowly pushed the English back slowly over the next 50 years and reduced them to small holdouts in Northern France. However, Charles V’s successor, Charles VI “The Mad” (r. 1380-1422), reduced France to infighting and civil strife. A second phase of the war started in the early 15th century and English king Henry V won at the Battle of Agincourt, where the English were again heavily outnumbered (8,000-25,000) but managed to kill 8,000 Frenchmen while only taking 600 casualties. After this major victory, the Burgundians allied with the English, who had taken most of Northern France by 1428.
Joan of Arc leading French troops at the Siege of Orleans.
The English army made it all the way to the city of Orleans in central France, which they besieged for 6 months. The French, commanded by Joan of Arc, broke the blockade and destroyed the English army in 1429. In 1453, a peace treaty ended the war, and the English only retained the city of Calais in far Northern France.
Pope Urban VI.
Meanwhile, there was a call for the Pope and the cardinals to become Italian or “Roman.” The cardinals agreed to elect an Italian Pope, Urban VI, who was usually known for his even temperament, yet randomly denounced Church officials and even assaulted one. Therefore, the cardinals chose a French Pope, Clement VII to replace him, but Urban refused to abdicate, which started the Western Schism. After more than 30 years, the Catholic Church was reunited after the Council of Constance (1414-1418) and the election of Pope Martin V. The Western Schism damaged the unity and image of the Church, and lessened the Pope’s power.
After a two year interregnum, Pope Celestine V was elected to the head of the Vatican in 1294 but decided to resign after he was dominated by the King of Naples. Pope Boniface VIII (r. 1294-1303) was elected after Celestine V relinquished power and he soon faced numerous problems. Many people in the Church didn’t like the idea of the Pope with some Kings even refusing to obey him. When King of France Phillip the Fair taxed clergy in France, the Pope declared that any bishop who paid would be excommunicated.
In response, King Phillip declared that no resources in France would go to Rome, so Pope Boniface VIII backed down. By 1297, Pope Boniface and King Phillip tried to reconcile, but in 1301, Phillip imprisoned the Bishop of Pamiers without a trial. After a council was held in France in 1302, the Pope issued “Unam Sanctun” which was a document separating the Catholic Church and the power of kings.
King Phillip the Fair of France.
Enraged by this, Phillip claimed that Pope Boniface VIII wasn’t legitimate, so Phillip was excommunicated. After French soldiers confronted Boniface, they were driven off, but Boniface died a month later. Following the brief reign of Pope Benedict XI (r. 1304-1305), Pope Clement V was elected. Clement was eager to please King Phillip and gave into all of his demands, even putting Pope Boniface VIII’s body on trial.
Marsilius of Padua (d. 1342) helped the emperor with the upcoming marriage of his son and stated that the Holy Roman Emperor could dissolve marriages. In 1324, Pope John XXII and Louis of Bavaria proposed an autonomous state that would not be subject to ecclesiastical oversight, since many Catholics wanted to end the practice of the Pope having all power over the Church’s decisions.
During the reign of Pope Clement V, the papacy was moved from Rome to Avignon, France from Rome. All the top Church officials were French and all of the next seven Popes were from France. These Popes imposed extremely high taxation rates among clergy, which caused sees to be left without bishops. Simultaneously, the cardinals also grew in power and in number, increasing from a dozen to 26 and often controlled the Pope’s decisions. Pope Leo X appointed 31 cardinals who were loyal to him, and they lived luxuriously. Because of their bad influence and rich lifestyle, the cardinals were hated by everyone in the Church
The former Papal Palace in Avignon, France.
Pope Benedict XII (r. 1334-1342) was a great reformer, promising to avoid war on behalf of the Church and to cut back on the cardinal’s influence. Pope Clement VI (r. 1342-1352) undid Benedict’s reforms but became a great leader during the Black Death. In 1377, Gregory VII became the first Pope back in Rome after he moved the papacy back to the Vatican.
The 14th century was a time of disaster in Europe. There was widespread harvest failure, the Hundred Years War, the Black Death, and intense corruption in the Church. Moreover, Europe experienced a long period of extremely cold winters, which caused crop failure and rampant starvation from 1315-1317. In England there was a cattle disease from 1319-1321 which caused even more famine.
People burying plague victims in a mass grave in Florence, Italy.
As a consequence of the Black Death (1346-1353), between one-third and one-half of Europe’s population perished, making it one of the worst plagues in human history. The disease was brought by rats on Italian ships coming across the Mediterranean from central Asia. There was a substantial rise in marriage and childbirth after 1350, which shows an attempt to rebuild the population. However more outbreaks of the plague occurred in following centuries, even as late as the 17th century, yet none were as bad as the first wave.
Since there were so few people left to work the land after the plague, people were forcibly taken from cities and made to work as serfs. In 1351, England unsuccessfully attempted to rebuild its economy by putting in fixed prices. After years of corruption, high taxes, and an English defeat in 1369 against the French, they issued the poll tax in 1380, which made everyone pay unfair taxes.
Revolt leader John Ball meeting with English soldiers.
There was an uprising in 1381 known as the Peasant’s Revolt, which resulted in the massacre of royal officials and the storming of the tower of London by rioters. The rebellion was put down after King Richard II executed hundreds of revolutionaries. The peasants’ leader, John Ball, was drawn and quartered and had his head placed on a spike atop London bridge.
