Changes in Europe from High Middle Ages to French Revolution

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Prior to French Revolution life in Europe remained essentially static from the High Middle Ages and very little of any real consequence changed in the way Europeans lived. Defend or refute this statement. The statement, ‘prior to French Revolution life in Europe remained essentially static from the High Middle Ages and very little of any real consequence changed in the way Europeans lived’ is false. A lot of significant events took place during this time and therefore life had to have changed on many occasions. When the world changes, so does its inhabitants. The Great Famine lasted for a period of 7 years in a lot of regions across Europe from 1315-1322. The famine was caused because there were many bad harvests in the years leading up to it and torrential floods in the summer of 1315. The hunger that resulted from this famine became so bad in a lot of places that people resorted to cannibalism, even killing their own children and family for food or raiding cemeteries for freshly buried bodies. They even took newly executed criminals bodies from the gallows. In this instance people clearly resorted to things they would not ordinarily have done and the death toll was in the millions. The hundred years war ran from 1300-1450 and started because the King of England and the King of France began to have a feud over who should in fact be the rightful King of France. War changes many things. It makes for a nervous population, but it can also affect things such as social organisation and the country’s economy. The taxes in Europe changed a lot during the hundred years war in order to attempt to fund the war. In 1347 a Genoese fleet docked in Sicily where the crew was found to be dead or dying. An attempt was made to quarantine this ship but the rats on board managed to escape. These rats carried fleas which were infected with the Black Death. The
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