85. The Renaissance

Intellectual horizons slowly widened.
Humans became important with rediscoveries of the old Greek writings.
Information exploded with the printing press.
Books became more available.
Dante wrote his great work.
Shakespeare wrote his plays.
The Globe was founded.
The structure of the universe was changed and challenged.
Copernicus developed the sun-centered solar system.
Galileo agreed
Was sentenced to house arrest.
Artists learned new tricks.
Realistic images with color and brush were made.
Perspective expanded.
No longer were pictures flat and lifeless.
No longer were statues trapped in their dais.
They were free to walk about
They were free to be experienced.
New nobles emerged.
To make their way in the world of trade and banking.
The Medici became rich.
They commissioned paintings.
Lived like royalty.
Italy broke into republics.
Burgundy expanded.
Civil war broke out in England.
Isabella and Ferdinand ended division in Spain.
France was not well after the war of a hundred years
But managed to slowly dress their wounds.
The horizons of the known world started to expand.

83. The Black Death

After the War of a Hundred Years

Things went well for Europe.

They started to emerge from the darkness.

Then the world changed.

Trade with China made people rich

But a problem soon arose.

The merchants with goods and wares

Brought rats with fleas and disease.

A plague swept through Europe from the east.

Not a single place was safe.

No one could escape

Death’s horrible black cloak

Or his sharpened shining scythe.

The bravest act a man saw

Was a woman sewing herself into her own shroud.

Death and destruction ran rampant through the streets.

Peasants rioted and revolted.

“It’s the end of the world!”

An Italian would say.

Nothing could be done.

Passion plays were performed.

Self-abuse inflicted.

People blamed others.

They blamed Jews.

Placing them with heretics and witches.

People went on pilgrimages

As Chaucer’s Tales

Kept them entertained

With stories long ago.

The plague continued to wreak havoc

In the countries

Demolishing old ways.

82. Joan of Arc

All felt lost

In this tragic war.

France needed a hero.

A noble knight to save France from England’s tyranny.

A young lady

Waiting to be married,

In her thirteenth year,

Received a call from God.

“Go,” he said,

“England is not meant to have French land.”

The maiden of Orleans

Was terrified at first

But came around eventually.

She went to the Dolphin court

Presenting her plan to save France.

The Dolphin was impressed

She was dressed

In armor and given a horse.

At the battle of Orleans

She proved her mettle

With the long fought victory.

She persuaded her Dolphin

To march to their enemy Burgandy

Receiving the crown of the seventh Charles.

She promised to capture Paris

But Burgandy’s and England’s forces

Were way too strong.

They captured her

Accused her of witchcraft

Burning her at the stake.

Her passion lived on

As symbol for France

Driving them to win the war

Ridding England from the continent.

81. Agincourt

The fifth Henry came along

To continue the war.

Under failure of relations and peace.

Through his grandfather

He made a claim to France.

He demanded tribute for John

Along with lost continental lands.

France refused

Offering the hand of his daughter and a dowry.

The fifth Henry was insulted

Breaking the second peace.

He spread the word to his people

Promising glory.

Promising victories and plunder.

Messages sent all over the island

Brought people poor and rich alike

Across the English Channel.

Harfleur resisted

But was defeated in the end.

Henry’s army weakened

They bade him go back

As the snows of winter came in.

“We will push on my brethren!”

He said,

“I have a claim here!”

“Its not just on paper!”

“Disease,”

“Cold,”

“Bloody fighting”

“Has killed many of my men”

“But I must push onward.”

He moved eastward to Calais

But found his supplies running low.

At Agincourt he made his stand

With the Dolphin constable.

The French tried to stall

They pleaded with him

The fifth Henry didn’t listen.

“Your words mean nothing to me!”

He said,

“My paper claim to your continent”

“Will be honored.”

Henry and the Dolphin met in the gorge

But for three hours there was no fight.

France thought they’d run away.

They held their ground.

To march would be suicide.

Henry forced himself to step forward

Though weak from hunger.

France’s cavalry charged unsuccessfully

Then the army of five thousand men

Walking through an arrow hail.

Henry was pushed back for a time

But the Dolphin constable

Was no match for Henry’s men.

80. The Hundred Years War

Through politics and marriage,

France came to serve England

As vassal to the king.

France reorganized

Centralized.

They had enough of the English

Lording over them

So they took Aquitaine away.

The third Edward,

Wanting that land back,

Claimed the seat where France sat.

Propaganda

Promising plunder and victories

Flowed through the English countryside.

The people mobilized

Crossing the Channel

To start the War of a Hundred Years.

For a time England triumphed

Gaining ground in the continent.

A victory by England’s king

In the land of Crecy

Then at Poitiers

Where the old king was captured.

They crowned the Dolphin man

To bring control to the continent.

Mad kings of France and England

Held the fighting at bay.

In the short lived first peace,

Small raids were made

While France and others

Fought their Levantine crusades.