The 14^th century is famous for being one of the most difficult centuries in European history. Hunger, plague and ongoing wars caused a major decline in European population of the time. The crisis of leadership in the Church unsettled Roman hegemony, fully achieved only in the previous century. The challenges to secular authority were no less vociferous. Alongside this great decline, diverse cultural prosperity is seen and new schemes of social and professional organization. The seminar will be devoted to reading the historical events as they appear in primary sources. We will look at different areas of Western Europe and study the changes in the historiography of ‘crisis’ and ‘prosperity,’ particularly in the 14^th century.