ABSTRACT
T he opinion of scholars about society in the last century of the medieval period is sharply divided. On the one hand there are those who talk of recession and decline, on the other those who emphasize progress towards the early modern age. The truth would seem to be that the period was one of conflicting tendencies. The consequences of the Black Death, the recurrence of the Hundred Years War, and catastrophes on the frontiers of Europe, combined to produce signs of economic recession. Reaction from the extremes of the fourteenth century produced conservatism and mediocrity in scholarship and politics. Failure in high quarters led to civil war. On the other hand there was steady progress in other aspects of society, notably in the expansion of the middle class and in the changing outlook of the whole community.
