Black Death Dbq

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The mid-fourteenth century witnessed one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of mankind - the Black Death. This paper will describe the Black Death that killed one third of the European population. This great plague caused the economic crisis, social and political upheavals, and also peasant revolts. It took next two hundred years to the European population to return to the level before the Black Death.
Into the thirteenth century Europe had experienced a very good time in the history. Good harvests and expanding of the population. Everything changed by the end of the century. “Symptoms of bubonic plague, known as Black Death included high fever, aching joints, swelling of the lymph, and dark blotches caused be bleeding …show more content…

It had reached England by the end of the year. In 1349 the plague had reached the Scandinavia. Easter Europe and Russia were affected by 1351. “It has been estimated that European population declined by 25 to 50 percent between 1347 and 1351, this means 19 to 38 million people died in four years“.
Reactions to the Black Death were extreme at times. “Because fourteenth century healers were at a loss to explain the cause, Europeans turned to astrological forces, earthquakes, and the poisoning of wells by Jews as possible reasons for the plague's emergence.” The worst organized pogroms against Jews were in Germany. More than 60 Jewish communities had been exterminated by 1351. Many Jew escaped to Russia and especially to Poland, where the Polish king offered them …show more content…

Both peasants and noble landlords were affected. Many people had died and that caused serious labor shortages all over Europe. This led workers to demand higher wages, but landlords rejected those claims. “For example, a farm laborer who had received 2 shillings a week in 1347 was paid 7 in 1349and almost 11 by 1350“. Also the decline in population depressed the need for agricultural produce. By the end of the 1300s peasant revolts broke out in England, France, Belgium and Italy. In 1358, Jacquerie – a peasant revolt broke out in France. The Black Death and economic dislocation was very important causes of the revolt, but also the Hundred Years War that affected French peasantry. Class tensions were also important factors that brought peasant anger. The French aristocrat said, “Should peasants eat meat? Rather should they chew grass on the health with the horned cattle and go naked on all fours”. Castles were burned and nobles were murdered. The most noticeable peasants’ revolt had place in England in 1381. After the Black Death, the peasants’ situation in England had improved. They had more freedom, higher wages or lower rents. Due to that the aristocratic landlords wanted to bring back old feudal dues. However, the immediate reason of the revolt, was the attempt to raise the revenues by imposing a poll tax. Peasants in England refused to pay the tax and they expelled the collectors from their villages. The revolt was

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