The Way of Perfection in the English Mystics

Extract

The thirteenth century is universally recognized as the peak of the later medieval period; by the middle of the fourteenth Christendom was well on in the decline which led to the Renaissance and the Reformation. There are many causes of the decline and amid the mounting miseries of war, pestilence, and corruption it is often difficult to distinguish cause trom effect. The tale is well known: the Black Death carried off the flower of Europe as no war could have done. The Hundred Years War began towards the middle of the century and brought with it increasing desolation and poverty to the lower classes. In England the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 revealed the unhappy state of the populace, and similar disturbances occurred in France, Germany, and other European countries. The common people, then as now, had to bear the brunt of the wars, and, then as now, it led to a great deal of unrest and impatience both with Church and State.