1370-1389 Mongols Advance Across Eastern Europe

This twenty year period covers the reign of Edward III of England who died in 1377 and was succeeded by Richard II.

There were only three wars during this period -- the 1380 Muscovite-Mongol War, the 1383-1385 Crisis in Portugal and the 1386-1389 Ottoman-Serbian War -- so there was 10 years of peace before the 1380 Muscovite-Mongol War broke out.

The advance of the Mongols across Eastern Europe was scary because Europeans were already worried about the Muslim Turks invasions.

There were no discoveries or inventions or anything wonderful happening in the world during this period.

Maybe the Black Death of 1347 to 1351 wiped out so many young people that there were just not enough people born in the previous generation to be making a mark for the times.

1350-1369 Hundred Years' War, Turks Invade Gallipoli

This twenty year period covers the reign of Edward III in the fourth year of the Black Death which was to last until 1351.

This period was also blighted by continuing wars -- the Hundred Years' War of 1337-1453 and the 1341-1364 Breton War of Succession -- followed by the 1354 Turk invasion of Europe at Gallipoli,

In 1368 the Ming dynasty came into being in China. 

1330-1349 Black Death Kills 75 Million

This twenty year period covers the reign of Edward III. In this period there was sporadic warfare in the world,  but the most terrible event of this period was the 1348 outbreak of plague -- the Black Death -- which caused 75 million deaths and lasted till 1351.

Then there was the 1332-1333 second War of Scottish Independence, followed by the outbreak of the 1337-1453 Hundred Years' War between England and France, the 1341-1364 Breton War of Succession and the 1346 Serbian conquest of Macedonia and Greece.

The Black Death which swept through Europe during 1348-1351 hit hardest in Avignon, France, killing 3/4 of the population.

Pope Clement VI (who ruled from 1342-1352) personally protected the Jews who were being massacred in Avignon because of rumors that they had started and spread the plague. 

did christianity hold back western civilization?

While western civilization may have had Ireland as its cradle, it nevertheless evolved to become distinctively European - geographically, racially and culturally - and it remained geographically, racially and culturally intact for another 600 years, repelling Jews and Moslems and other non-Christian invaders.

At that time, Christianity was a repressive religion and it was used by the political rulers to make the masses do their bidding. It destroyed the pagan culture upon which the glorious Hellenic civilization and the Roman Empire was based, and definitely held back western civilization for centuries.

What brought western civilization out of a period that historians call the 'Dark Ages' was increasing exposure to the fabulous wealth and inventiveness of other civilizations - notably the Chinese through Marco Polo's travels between 1275-1292, and the Islamic nations through the Crusades of the same era.

The horrors of overpopulation and disease represented by the Black Death of 1348-1349 also had its impact.

The Christian Western civilization was looking decidedly primitive in relation to other civilizations.

An enlightenment was necessary, and the course it took brought out the best but also the worst in the white Christian populations.