What caused the crisis of the late Middle Ages?

During the 14th and 15th centuries, Europe experienced a severe series of disruptions known as the crisis of the late Middle Ages. This era brought massive demographic collapse driven by events like the Great Famine and the Black Death, alongside widespread warfare, peasant revolts, and religious schisms. These calamities ended centuries of relative stability and reshaped regional societies.

What we know

• The crisis of the late Middle Ages involved extensive demographic collapse, political instability, and religious upheaval across Europe. [2]
• The Great Famine of 1315-1317 and the Black Death of 1347-1351 caused very high mortality, reducing the population to around half of what it was before. [2, 3]
• The period coincided with a shift in regional climate from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age. [2]
• Warfare and popular revolts proliferated, featuring conflicts like the Hundred Years' War and uprisings such as the Jacquerie and the Peasants' Revolt. [2, 3]
• The unity of the Catholic Church was temporarily shattered by the Western Schism. [2, 3]

Still open

• Some historians, particularly in Italy, prefer not to use the designation of a late Middle Ages crisis, seeing the high period as directly transitioning to the Renaissance and modern era.

Where to go next

• how it workedHow did the Black Death spread across Europe?
• what caused itWhat triggered the Great Famine of 1315?
• what followedWhat were the consequences of the Western Schism?
• a case in pointHow did the Peasants' Revolt unfold in England?
• the bigger pictureWhat defines the broader medieval period in history?
• an unexpected connectionHow did the fall of Constantinople spark the Age of Discovery?The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks cut off Eastern trade routes, forcing Europeans to seek new maritime paths that led to Columbus and da Gama's voyages.

Sources

• [1]crisis of the late Middle Ages (Wikidata Q2604642) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Crisis of the late Middle Ages · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Late Middle Ages · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Outline of the Middle Ages · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Popular revolts in late medieval Europe · CC BY-SA 4.0