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l"onradin, the
last of
the Hohenataufens,
hears
hls death
V
warrant read
to
hlm In Naplee In
1268.
Twelve yeara
eart1er his family
had
loet the imperial throne. The character
of
the
empire
had
already changed radically. Germany waa
becomlng a loose confederatlon of separate
states.
The
emplre Chartemagne
dealgned
and
Otto
the Great
reeatab–
liehed
lay
in
ruine.
The
people called
the
years
that
followed
"the
evil time
when
there was no emperor."
France and England are devel–
oping into powerful, centralized na–
tions. Meanwhile, the German
empire is becoming progressively
weaker in its political organization.
In the 1270's, the population
growth and inflationary boom
wanes. North of the Alps, Europe
fatls into a long depression which
lasts unti l the middle of the fifteenth
century. Historian Norman F. Can–
tor, writing 700 years later, will
note: "These events distinguish the
1270's as the last great dividing line
in medieval history. They ·in–
augurated a catastrophic period of
breakdown and violence which en–
dured for half a century and did not
fully run its course until the later
fifteenth century."
By 1325, the intellectual, moral
and religious order of medieval civ-
26
ilization will disintegrate. The great–
est work of thirteenth-century
French literature, the second part of
The Romance of the Rose,
demon–
strates the disenchantment with
what has gone before and what
is
then occurring. "So degenerate is all
the world," says its author, Jean de
Meung, "that it has put up !ove for
sale ...." Across Europe, he notes
"bad divines ... overrun the earth,
preaching to gain favor, honor,
wealth .. . ."
Under Boniface VTII (1294-1303),
papal power is disemboweled by the
French monarchy. That the claims
to the Pope's supremacy are not
being accepted
is
evident in the ex–
travagant pretensions Boniface is
forced to make. Before milling pil–
grims in 1300, he sits on the throne
of Constantine, arrayed with sword,
crown and scepter. Boniface shouts,
"1 aro Caesar; I aro emperor."
But the nations of Europe are no
longer listening. The purely secular
and nationalistic states such as
France and England are, for the
time being, replacing the old reli–
gious unity of Europe. Politically,
Germany is a demoralized pygmy
and does not really represent Eu–
rope as a whole.
Meanwhile, the Black Death rav–
ages Europe (1348-1349). lt is Eu–
rope's most devastating epidemic.
Sorne historians attribute epochal
significance to the plague.
lt
is esti–
mated that twenty-five mi!Jion Eu–
ropeans died.
In Bohemia, the trial and the
buming of religious zealot John
Huss ( 1369-1415) result in the Sobe–
mían revolt and the Hussite Wars
PLAIN TRUTH March 1974