Introduction:
Around 1339 in northwestern Europe, the population was very low, growing the food supply and a severe depression began to take place. The winters were very cold and therefore the summers were dry. thanks to this extreme weather, very low crops yielded and those that grew were dying. Inflation became a typical incidence and as famine broke out, people began to stress. The time period of roughly 1339 to 1346 is now called the famine before the plague. These seven dangerous years of weather and famine lead to the greatest plague of all times. Over the time of 3 years, the plague killed one third of the population in Europe with roughly twenty 5 million people dead. The Black Death killed more Europeans than the other endemic or war up to that time, greatly impacting the economy, medicine and hygiene.
Economy:
In Europe within the 1300’s, feudal system was quite common. The king would grant land to bishops and nobles who would then give an estate to a knight in return for service. The knight would generally have peasants or serfs working on their estate who would in turn give the knights something as well.
Since feudalism had a decline, finding skilled people was a challenge. Some of the hardest workers died, and therefore the peasants and artisans that survived demanded higher wages.
Hygiene:
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However, during the Black Death, health and hygiene was not healthy. Diseases were not treated properly in the medieval times, no wonder the average age people died was 40, health was a big part of this, but nowadays the average life span is 80. During this time no one knew that hygiene was the reason for the spread of the plague, peasants lived in rat and flea infested houses, only washing a couple times a year, wealthy people were able to bathe but were still not as hygienic as most people today. Spread was also caused by the waste and garbage thrown onto the
Others were more like slaves. They owned nothing and were pledged to their local lord. They worked long days, 6 days a week, and often barely had enough food to survive”(“Middle Ages History”). Knights were above the peasants and they were given land granted by the barons in exchange for their military services if the king needed it. They were responsible for protecting the baron who granted them land as well as the baron’s family and the manor they lived at. The knights were able to keep any amount of land they were given, and they gave out the rest to the serfs. The lord, or baron, was above the knight in the social class divide. They were given land by the king and in return they showed loyalty to the monarch. They provided the king with fully equipped knights if the king needed some to serve. If the baron “did not have an army, sometimes they would pay the king a tax instead. This tax was called shield money”(“Middle Ages History”). The king was at the top of the feudal system and held the most power and wealth. The king could not maintain control over all the land in England so he divided the land up to the barons which eventually
The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague, or the Bubonic Plague killed one third of the population of Europe during its reign in the 13th and 14th centuries. The arrival of this plague set the scene for years of strife and heroism. Leaving the social and
The Black Death struck Europe in a time of great despair. "Although a `Great Famine' struck northern Europe between 1315 and 1322, nothing prepared Europeans for the horrendous onslaught of the Black Death" (Aberth, 2). The famine had caused a massive hunger shortage from which Europe had yet to recove...
In 1300, multiple out breaks of the Black Plague arised. For example, in the thirteenth century an outbreak in China killed one third of the population. Several dates before this time showed the disease was present years ago in Europe. Dying from the Plague was scary to most people and Jordan Mcmullin, an author stresses, “Whenever the Plague appeared the sadness of death was terrifying” (Mcmullin n.pag.). Death has always been frightening, but when a country plagues with disease, death becomes a terrible fear, the Plague scared the people of 541, and 542, when their outbreak of the Plague spread. Therefore, while other outbreaks of the Black Plague took place, the fourteenth century outbreak in Europe was certainly the worst.
The Black Death is the name later given to the epidemic of plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351. The disaster affected all aspects of life. Depopulation and shortage of labor hastened changes already inherent in the rural economy; the substitution of wages for labor services was accelerated, and social stratification became less rigid. Psychological morbidity affected the arts; in religion, the lack of educated personnel among the clergy gravely reduced the intellectual vigor of the church.
It is believed that the Black Death originated in central China in 1333 as the population succumbed to starvation. The plague spread to the Crimea where Kipchak Mongols or Tartars attacked Genose carrying furs and silks from Cathay, were besieging a Genoese trading centre of Calla, and catapulted their own dead into the city. The Genoese traders escaped by sea carrying the plague to Messina in Italy. In 1348 the plague spread from Cyprus to Florence which was also suffering from famine. The plague spread to Genoa from the Levant on 3 Galleys that went on to Marseilles, and then to the English south coast near Southampton, in 1348. The Black Death ravaged Bristol killing most of its inhabitants. It reached London around 1 November 1348 and by 2 February 1349, 200 people were being buried every day. The daughter of king Edward III, Joanna of died of the plague in Bordeaux on her way to marry Don Pedro, heir to the throne of Castille. The Scots who had not been affected by the black death took advantage by attacking England at this time, but this was simply that the plague had not
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
Although scholars dispute its roots, Feudalism was mostly seen in Frankish lands around the 9th and 10th century. ("Feudalism: History of Feudalism in Europe." Infoplease.) The system was first introduced as a means of protection for the king. However, as time grew the opportunity to use it as means of exchange for services between the king and vassal was found. Instead of just forcing people into the king’s army the idea of giving fiefs to those who would pledge their life to service the king was decided on. Likewise, vassal, or the knights saw the advantages they had that could be used to their advantage.
The black death was a bubonic plague that wiped out a third of Europe’s population from 1347 to 1351. It was originally believed to have been caused by fleas on rats in Black Sea ships that traded with Europe from Central Asia’s steppes. However, recent studies using teeth models suggest this pandemic was primarily caused by human fleas from China and along the trade routes.
"The Black Death" is known as the worst natural disaster in European history. The plague spread throughout Europe from 1346-1352. Those who survived lived in constant fear of the plague's return and it did not disappear until the 1600s. Not only were the effects devastating at the time of infection, but during the aftermath as well. "The Black Death" of the fourteenth century dramatically altered Europe's social and economic structure.
As time progressed the feudal system was created. It was designed to divide the lands and protect from attack. The king first gave a fief or a piece of land to a royal vassal. As proof for this exchange in land a vassal would swear to the lord to be his man all the days of his life and protect him against "all men who may live or die." Next came investiture. Investiture was a symbolic gesture when a King or a lord presented a royal vassal or a vassal a stick, a small rod, or a clod of earth to show that he has given him a fief. Now this royal vassal was in charge of a huge piece of land. In order to defend it he would then divide his land into smaller pieces. He would take these smaller pieces and give them to warriors or who agreed to be his own vassals. Thus, the royal vassal became a lord to other vassals. The vassals now under this lord would now divide their lands and grant fiefs to warriors of their own. Last in the dividing of land was the knight whose parcel of land was too small to be divided.
The Black Death was a dark period of human history, approximately 60% of European died. Black Death also known as the bubonic plague, it happened during 1346-1353. The plague spread during the crusades along the ships, and it was originated from a mice from Asia. It is a irremediable disease. The plague made so many negative influence on society, as well as positive effects on human population, such as social, medical and economical effects.
At this time however, cold weather and rains wiped out many crops creating a shortage of food for humans. Rats also went through this shortage in food. This made them “crowd in cities, providing an optimal environment for disease”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). Before the black death spread through Europe, sanitation wasn’t very good. Living conditions were bad so when the black death came to Europe, it spread more rapidly because people were not clean and healthy. Another reason the plague spread so fast was because the dead “bodies were piled up inside and outside city walls where they lay until mass graves could be dug”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). This made the air very polluted and contributed the spread of the epidemic. In total, the black death killed about thirty million people. This was about one-third the population of Europe. Some towns were completely wiped out. Because of this, medieval people thought everyone would eventually die, although we now know that some populations did survive. Also, because people were not being saved by the church, their beliefs were questioned. Less people dedicated their lives to the church because of this. Both the poor and the rich died but more than one-half the people dead were poor. This was also a result of poor sanitation and living conditions. The Black Death initiated in China in the early 1340’s
In medieval times, the first-born son of a landowner is entitled to his father's estate, while other sons and daughters are not given anything. Knights are usually not the first-born son, and thusly do not receive any grants of land from their father. If a landowner only has a daughter, she becomes an heiress, and inherits her fathers land but has to find a husband to take over this land. A knight's dream is to marry a wealthy heiress, and become a landown...
The Black Death plague had disastrous consequences for Europe in the 14th century. After the initial outbreak in Europe, 1347, it continued for around five years and then mysteriously disappeared. However, it broke out again in the 1360s and every few decades thereafter till around 1700. The European epidemic was an outbreak of the bubonic plague, which began in Asia and spread across trade routes. When it reached Europe, a path of destruction began to emerge.