Western Civilization I / Unit 13 WC1 1202 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Why Italy: Peace, Cities, and a Distracted Europe
Captions available
The idea
Northern Italy had no Hundred Years' War, and the anchor calls the Captivity and Schism a benefit, since popes could not interfere. Twenty-three city-states passed twenty thousand people by thirteen hundred, the anchor's count, and Florence and Milan passed a hundred thousand.
In practice
England and France at war, the Empire fragmented.
Where people slip
The crises centered elsewhere. Italy's luck was location and timing.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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