How the Black Plague Changed Europe

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In the 1300’s, there was an outbreak of a disease known as the Black Death that engulfed all of Europe. This sickness, also know as the Bubonic Plague, rampaged throughout Europe killing over a third of the population. A bacteria known as Yersinia pestis caused the disease. The bacteria, originating in fleas, spread to rats and then to people. Black Death was spread from trade throughout Europe. The large cities were affected first, and then it spread to the less dense and populated surrounding areas. The mortality rate in large cities was near fifty percent of the population, while in more rural areas the rate was lower. This lasting effects of this disease changed Europe both socially and economically. The bubonic plague triggered a loss of faith and generated negative feelings towards the church, but positively affected the masses by creating opportunities that they didn’t have in the past.
When the plague began, many Christians believed that it was a penalty of their sins from God; others lost faith in the church or blamed it on followers of other religions. Many who thought that god was punishing them became flagellants. These people would go to the main square or church and whip themselves and cry, “God spare us,” asking for forgiveness from their sins (Gottfried 263). During the plague, many people looked for aid through religion. The Christians would pray, but get no response from God. Many began to question the truth behind their beliefs. The people would turn their backs on the church and lose confidence in their faith. A common view of the people who survived the plague was that they were “cynical about religion,” (Watts 3). The people became more egotistical and less pious because they had less need for support from ...

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... but managed to help the lives of the surviving masses.

Works Cited
Arrizabalaga, Jon. "Plague and Epidemics." The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Vol. 3. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. 1314-317. Print.
Gottfried, Robert S. "Black Death." Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1983. 257-67. Print.
Gottfried, Robert S. "Plagues, European." Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Vol. 9. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1987. 672-83. Print.
McEvedy, Colin. The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. New York: Penguin Group, 1992. 90. Print.
Wagner, Stephen. "Black Death." The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Vol. I. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. 267. Print.
Watts, Tim. "Black Death." World Geography: Understanding a Changing World. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
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