Climatic Changes and the Black Death: Europe's Turmoil in the 1300s

In the 1300s, Europe was in turmoil. Climate change beginning in about 900 A.D. (Britannica) led to favorable growing conditions and lengthened growing seasons this coupled with an improvement in farming techniques had led to rampant, unchecked population growth for hundreds of years. The greatly increased population of Europe was beginning to outgrow the food supply and a severe economic crisis began to take place in the early 1300s as the realities of severe overpopulation began to set in. Social and economic problems plagued all of Europe, and the malnutrition and poor health caused by these problems set the stage for a major epidemic to occur. Beginning in 1339, seven bad years of weather and famine struck Europe and left the already malnourished majority even more susceptible to disease. In 1347 the Black Death began spreading throughout Western Europe, having arrived from Asia where it was already endemic. Over

The Black Death killed more Europeans than any other pandemic or war up to that time and greatly changed the social, economic, and cultural landscape of Europe.
The Sudden death of nearly one-third of the population in Europe had major immediate and lasting social implications. One of the most apparent effects of this was that on religion. After an initial outburst of renewed piety, the Black Plague ultimately weakened the role of religion and specifically the Catholic church. When people started dying in droves, the masses looked to religion for comfort and salvation. Many, believing the plague to be the wrath of God, took up such extreme practices such as self-flagellation hoping for forgiveness. Another extreme practice, although born out of perceived necessity, included burying oneself alive on holy grounds because no priests were left or willing to perform last rites . Due to the lack of priests, who had either died helping the sick or refused to see the sick, the Pope eventually had to declare a worldwide