The Plague

The Plague

Small pox. Tuberculosis. AIDS. These diseases have been considered epidemics at various points throughout the history of the world. None of them, however, had such an impact on the population and culture of the people than did the Black Death. The Black Death was a disease that invaded England in the middle of the fourteenth century. Reports on the total amount deceased have varied from between twenty-five percent and fifty percent of the European population. However, it is known that many millions of people were eliminated from the English population, and that the Black Death was a catalyst for social change within Europe. The culture and lives of all people rich and poor was changed forever due to the effects of the Black Death.

First, the Black Death had a great effect on the upper class in England. This disease did not discriminate. A rich man when put into contact with the disease was just as likely to acquire the disease as was a poor man. The epidemic changed many common practices in England that no man had ever been able to control before the disease. One effect the Black Death had on England’s upper class was that it reduced the number of members significantly. When the deadly disease struck landowners and their families, their lands would pass to the closest family member. This practice was very common and caused the estates of the surviving landowners to become very large. So, the Black Death shrunk the upper class and made it wealthier at the same time. Though the disease made the upper class wealthier in lands, working the lands became less profitable. Because the population of the people paid to work the land was also reduced by twenty-five to fifty percent, there were fewer people to work the land. This occurrence promoted higher wages from the worker and less total profit for the landowner.

The Black Death also had an impact on the lives of the lower class and the commoners. The effects of the disease were not all negative. In some ways, the disease actually improved the quality of life for the common person in England. One way that the Black Death improved life was by raising the wages paid to the people who worked the land.