<P> In the Later Middle Ages the Black Plague struck Europe, arriving in 1348 . Europe was overwhelmed by the outbreak of bubonic plague, probably brought to Europe by the Mongols . The fleas hosted by rats carried the disease and it devastated Europe . Major cities like Paris, Hamburg, Venice and Florence lost half their population . Around 20 million people--up to a third of Europe's population--died from the plague before it receded . The plague periodically returned over coming centuries . </P> <P> The last centuries of the Middle Ages saw the waging of the Hundred Years' War between England and France . The war began in 1337 when the king of France laid claim to English - ruled Gascony in southern France, and the king of England claimed to be the rightful king of France . At first, the English conquered half of France and seemed likely to win the war, until the French were rallied by a peasant girl, who would later become a saint, Joan of Arc . Although she was captured and executed by the English, the French fought on and won the war in 1453 . After the war, France gained all of Normandy excluding the city of Calais, which it gained in 1558 . </P> <P> Following the Mongols from Central Asia came the Ottoman Turks . By 1400 they had captured most of modern - day Turkey and extended their rule into Europe through the Balkans and as far as the Danube, surrounding even the fabled city of Constantinople . Finally, in 1453, one of Europe's greatest cities fell to the Turks . The Ottomans under the command of Sultan Mehmed II, fought a vastly outnumbered defending army commanded by Emperor Constantine XI--the last "Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire"--and blasted down the ancient walls with the terrifying new weaponry of the canon . The Ottoman conquests sent refugee Greek scholars westward, contributing to the revival of the West's knowledge of the learning of Classical Antiquity . </P> <P> Probably the first clock in Europe was installed in a Milan church in 1335, hinting at the dawning mechanical age . By the 14th century, the middle class in Europe had grown in influence and number as the feudal system declined . This spurred the growth of towns and cities in the West and improved the economy of Europe . This, in turn helped begin a cultural movement in the West known as the Renaissance, which began in Italy . Italy was dominated by city - states, many of which were nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire, and were ruled by wealthy aristocrats like the Medicis, or in some cases, by the pope . </P>

The western world became aware of other traditions at about what time