OCC CIV NOTES 9/21

Buy Erasmus-Luther

European Rennaisance
Renn-> late 14th century- late 16th century

comments about european social structure mid 15th century are true throughout europe, not just italy
most european societies were kind of poor commercially
early european societies were EXTREMELY hierarchical
-between 2-5% of the people owned ~95% of land
-most of wealth was based on land, not commercial wealth
-the wealthy groups were either exempt from taxes or heavily subsidized
-that means that the poor bore a ridiculous amount of the tax burden
-taxes were taken in kind, not in money, by tax collectors
-everybody hated tax collectors, who took clothes, crops, etc
-collectors would have to be accompanied by soldiers, otherwise they'd be abused and tortured
-the rich lived extremely well during this period
-huge retinues of servants, massive kitchens, etc
-average land of estate for the middle class of gentlemen in england was ~6000 acres
-the poor usually owned 1/4 acre (if they owned anything at all)
-poor made ~6-7 pounds/year on land worth 3 pounds
-rich made tens of thousands
-the poor made less than what they needed simply to pay for food, clothing, rent, firewood, etc
-charity ended up becoming an extremely important source of income for the poor
-european society was a christian corporation of three estates-
-lowest-> poor
-middle-> gentlemen
-highest-> clergy
-sumptuary laws restricted what people could eat, how they could dress, etc by class
-"everyone must wear clothing suitable to their station in order that they could recognize who he or she is"
-if you wore gold clothing or thread (only royal clothes could have this) you were executed for treason
-"virtue of nobility was transmitted through blood"
-if you were born into a noble family, you were physiologically superior to the commoners

There was an increase in wealth in the 16th century
-merchants were getting richer with commercial wealth
-but as soon as merchants got enough wealth, they'd educate their kids to be nobles and gentlemen, rather than merchants
-oldest sons were trained for war, younger sons for the church

Tournaments were revived in europe
-to participate, you had to prove you had at least EIGHT noble ancestors
-the cost of entrance to ONE tournament could build SEVENTEEN ships of war

average life expectancy was in the low 30s IF you discounted infant mortality
-~25-50% of infants died in the 1st year of life
-this basically wasnt correllated to class at all
-old age was dated from ~35
-Erasmus lived until he was 70, but described himself as 'old, dried up' in his 30s
-life was short because of massive amounts of diseases and lack of medicines
-~10% of population might die in an epidemic year, more in cities
-little sanitation, most cities just dumped shit into rivers and streets
-expensive and difficult to heat water, obtained soap
-most people never washed. EVER
-they'd wear herbs in their clothes to attract lice, etc to ONE point, so that they wouldnt itch all over
-basic medicine involved bloodletting. bad idea
-basic plague treatment involved incarcerating victims with their families
-significant starvation and malnutrition
-1 out of every 5 or 6 harvests failed (and not even regularly- sometimes they'd fail one after another)
-city leaders would send soldiers out into the country to steal food from the farmlands
-country people would often fight the soldiers to the death or starve
-if you were rich, you could have meat every day, and vegetables from gardens
-the poor basically ate meat only a few times a year
-vegetarian diets are sustainable, but the peasants didnt really have the right vitamins and nutrients
-because there were no eggs or milk, beer and wine were huge parts of diets
-average child or adult consumed SEVERAL PINTS of beer or wine equivalent EVERY DAY
-wars were fought with increasingly large armies, but ill-paid armies
-this means that armies would have to steal food from the people
-often carnivals or festivals ended in massacre
-there was a huge welcoming of violence and cruelty in society
-criminals were butchered publicly or mutilated, their body parts displayed in cities
-in 1488, the citizens of one city protested when someone's death was too quick, rather than long and torturous

society is mostly rural (outside of italy and the netherlands)
-most people lived in towns of ~100, cities numbered ~10,000
-in 1500, london only had 50,000 people
-paris was ~150,000 people, but was only city in france besides leon with population over 10,000
-in order to stay constant in population, cities had to constantly import people (because mortality was so so high)
-literacy was very very low outside cities, and not too great even inside cities (excluding italy)
-travel was extremely expensive, most people live within 15 miles of where they were born
-travel was also extremely dangerous, because of highwaymen and bandits
-it was much much easier to travel by sea rather than by land
-huge amount of fatalism and conservatism