After studying this chapter, students should understand and be able to discuss the following:
The calamities that occurred in the fourteenth century and the impact they had on society and culture
Visual recognition of late Gothic art and architecture, and identification of their leading characteristics
The foundations of the modern world that were laid in this period
The decline of the papacy from its pinnacle of power and prestige in 1200 to its nadir during the Great Schism, ended in 1417
The lay movements and heresies that arose at the same time as the decline in the prestige and power of the papacy
The theological struggle between the via antiqua and the via moderna and its outcome
The significant developments in late medieval science
The highlights of late medieval literature, especially the writings of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Christine de Pizan
Giotto's achievements and their significance for later painters
The contributions of the Flemish painters
Historic "firsts" of the Late Middle Ages that became part of the Western tradition: the growth of the middle class as a dominant force in society, the emergence of secular rulers ready to curb church power, the birth of the tradition of common people challenging aristocratic control of culture and society, the release of a powerful secular spirit, and the invention of the technique of oil painting
The role of the Late Middle Ages in transmitting the heritage of earlier civilizations: continuing development of vernacular literature, separating Greco-Roman philosophy from Christian theology, freeing the practice of painting from its bondage to architecture, making painting the leading artistic medium, and reviving the realistic tradition in painting that stretched back to ancient Greece
