Black Death Dbq

The Black Death.

A race for survival and they are all playing

In 1339 the Northern Europe population was growing dramatically , and the food supply was coming little to none and a very effectful crisis began to take place. The summer was very hot and dry, and the winter was severely cold, little to no crops were produced and those that grew were dying.. In the crazy time prices were going up and more money was needed to benefit yourself and pay for things like gas and food. Families were traumatized by the shortage in food which was also known as the famine. From the years 1339 to about 1346 are known as the famine before the plague. The greatest plague has arrived , from these 7 years of bad weather and famine. In 1347 the Black death

began spreading rapidly through western europe , thousands were getting sick with no cure. The black death changed the world forever including family life, churches and the economy.
When the plague first broke out in Europe , everyone panicked. To try and stay clean from the plague , many began to abandon their homes and move into small villages and countrysides to try and stay away from the disease. . “Children abandoned the father, husband abandoned the wife, wife the husband, one brother the other, one sister the other…. Some fled to villas, others to villages in order to get a change in air. Where there had been no [plague], there they carried it; if it was already there, they caused it to increase”- Diane Zahler . The citizens of .Europeans were terrified of getting the deadly disease it was sad. Lots of people were know to leave their loved ones to fend for themselves , and keep safe from the disease. Everyone was running from the plague.
As the citizens of Europe ran from the plague, they all were in denial that they didn’t know what caused this sickening disease so they needed something to blame it on .

The christians turned their backs on the jews and blamed them for the bad weather that was occurring and bad luck. As the plague attacked, whispers immediately started about poisonings of wells and of the air by Jews”- Diane Zahler At this rough rough time the christians were very hateful and rude towards the Jews. The Jews were shunned from the town and were not allowed to work for the government. The jews had nowhere else to go so they lived in a place called the ghetto. Since they were so far from the town, they didn’t get the disease immediately , this made the Jews look bad because the were not sick and others were. Everyone thought the Jews poisoned them to get revenge. Once the Jews began to become sick , they began to think otherwise.

As the town was falling apart and everyone was dying, the children were left behind. Since everyone was dying and they didn’t know how to cure the disease, many thought this was the end of the world tis changed the view on children. Many became distant from their loved ones .But there were others they had forgotten…the children. They were by all means frequent receivers of the disease and it killed them almost instantly or within a few hours” - Diane Zahler

Once the children got sick the parents would ditch them on the streets because they didn't want to watch them suffer and

die.

Not only were the children left to suffer but the effects of the plague were noticeable everyday through people. Families might have been affected but so were churches . Before the plague came along the church thought Europe was so powerful . But once the Plague hit and people were dying constantly the people began to follow the canon laws less , and less. The people of the church turned their backs to God and blamed him for the occurrence, and the church was suffering. The church lost thousands of followers when the plague hit, and the churches had no clue why this was happening. Sixty percent of the church's followers abandoned them and left them to suffer. “The monasteries and the clergy suffered the greatest loss”- Diane Zahler . Even leaders of the churches were ditching them and moving away from the problems. Monks, Nuns, and friars kept disappearing and the churches were having to hire less, and less educated people . The church knew the people of the town felt like they let them down. Since they believed God was punishing them they looked for something else to believe in. The church was betrayed daily.

Now that the townspeople had their backs turned on God and the churches they turned towards the lords of their manor hoping they had an explanation for why this why happening. Many lives were taken daily, and the population was becoming very minimum. The people who were still alive were able to demand more. They gained more independence and with this said, they became cocky and more confident. Once the people realized they could not work for themselves and everyone was in the same situation and nobody was more or les important, they fell to feudalism
Feudalism has a strong impact on the people, finding well educated and skilled people was very hard. A lot of hard workers died and the ones that were still alive demanded higher wages, and this was hard knowing what they were going through. The food supply became significantly low from the los of workers and farmers. The few that were living could not provide enough supply to take care of the whole town. The plague wasn't the only reason citizens were dying , lots of them couldn't benefit himself and died from starvation.

The survivors of this sickening disease came to realization in the 1350’s and knowticed this tragedy was becoming to an end. Even though they survived there were many long term , maybe even life term effects . MAny of the educated ones died and this led to a decrease in colleges. Since the plague was so sickening and life affecting there was a decline in tride, citizens were afraid they would become sick from trading goods. During these times the plague was very effectful and destroying. One third of the European population lives were taken, and that is irreplaceable. In only about three years, family life , churches and the economy were all broken and destroyed from this horrible occurrence