What beliefs and concerns caused the various responses to the plague expressed from the 14th - 18th century?
Throughout the 14th - 18th century, plagues ravaged Europe due to the living conditions of the lower classes. The Black Death, being one of the most destructive plagues in history had social, religious, and economic consequences. Many people began to fear for their lives and turned to religion while others would rely on the more modern practice of medicine, and others panicked meanwhile disgracing the lives of the deceased.
Turning to God for help was widely acknowledged during this time. One popular group were the flagellants, who believed they could rid the world of pain if they inflicted it upon themselves (doc 1). This is significant
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because it shows that during a time of crisis they wanted to get rid of their sins in belief that it would save them from a horrible death and ultimately gain the trust of God in order to be pure again. Bertrand, a physician stated that all of these deaths were God's way of seeking revenge on the sinners (doc 8). The audience of this particular text would be the common people, for they are the sinners and this plea urges them to quit their hanis ways so that the death can go away. An Italian housewife deposed that her husband got better after eating holy bread touched by a saint (doc 5). This is significant because it led to many people beginning to follow Christ in hopes of recovering and an overwhelming growth of followers. Another concern about the plagues were the economic, due to peoples reliance on inheritance from the deceased also their disgrace of one's body due to the overwhelming mass of corpses.
A German physician said that people would purposefully give people the plague so that they could “obtain their inheritance more quickly” (doc 2). The point of view of a physician is significant because during this time he doesnt note that them transmitting the sickness, will in return give it to them as well; this shows that doctors weren't aware of all the things we are today. Similarly, Miguel Parets stated that many nurses would make their patients die faster so that they could get paid quicker (doc 7). This was most likely written for people to be aware of murderous nurses in Barcelona. Even French physician said that the only way to cure yourself was death (doc 6). This means that at this time even the doctors had given up hope. Heinrich von Staden noted that people were exiled when exposed to such diseases and were locked in their homes to die (doc 3). This eventually led to the spread of the disease because when they would die, robbers would break into their homes to loot but would end up catching the disease and spread it even more. However, this was corrected in 1576 when they decided to start quarintening the houses and burning the bodies (doc 4). This is important because it greatly reduced the number of deaths although not totally eradicating them.
All of the responses to the plague
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were caused by various economic and religious reasons. However, at a time where even most physicians had given up hope, people still believed God would help them. The 14th - 18th centuries were hard for europe but they eventually overcame these diseases. Discuss the political development of Italy during the Renaissance. What new political practices (statecraft) did the Italians contribute to Europe? How are these new political practices reflected in the work of Machiavelli? Italy was made up of five states and a few city - states. The states were all independent. The Italians brought Ambassadors to Europe that would torture people to get information. Machiavelli spoke about how moral concerns aren’t an issue if you have something to gain. 2. Compare warfare in the Middle Ages with that of the Renaissance. Consider the differences and the continuities, as regards to causes, aims, financing, technology, as well as who fought and for what motives. The cause was pretty much the same during the Renaissance as the Middle Ages. Milan wanted more land so the French decided to help them, but then the Spanish wanted land. Basically Italy had 2 strong nations fighting for more land. 3.
Discuss Italian Renaissance humanism. What does the word humanist mean? Who were humanists? What were their goals? Did they achieve them?
Humanism was a revival of the ancient Greek and Roman thought. It was a way of praising humans rather than divine beings. Some famous humanists include Petrarch and Niccolo Machiavelli. Their goal was to expand the teachings of liberal arts like the Greek and Roman.The humanists did achieve their goal in the Renaissance.
4. What was Luther’s fundamental religious problem? Trace the development of this problem and how Luther solved it. How did Luther’s religious ideas differ from those of Catholicism?
Luther’s religious problem was in salvation. He couldn’t understand how one could become pure again. He started to think this way when the Catholic church would sell indulgences in order to pardon the sins of their people, after this he even began to question the Catholic church in his 95 theses. Luther had a different idea, that the priests of the Catholic church actually had not say in pardoning sins and that the only way they could was through faith.
5. What were contributions of the papacy, Council of Trent, and the Jesuits to the revival of
Catholicism? The papacy contributed to the revival of Catholicism because Pope Paul the 3rd regulated practices and even appointed a reform commision to understand where the church was at. The Council of Trent helped by making a council to resolve differences in religion from the peasant revolts. They also reaffirmed the scripture and created a strong United Church. Lastly, the Jesuits wrote spiritually in order to gain total commitment of their people. They also recruited others to join from other faiths.
We can see this as we compare the writings of Weyer, (document 4) from the fifteenth century, who feared the Plague, to the writings of Bertrand, (document 16) from the eighteenth as he declared the Plague was cause because of religious superstition. This shift in belief may be caused by the "Age of Enlightenment" that caused people to think more irrationality, and to heavily believe in
The population decline as a result of the Plague was like nothing the world had ever experienced before. It really demonstrated the importance of valid medical knowledge in treating diseases. However, I think the content of Document 3 may not be accurate because the author, Giovanni Sercambi, was born in 1348, the same year that the Plague reached his birthplace of Florence. For this reason, I feel like his depiction of the Black Death may not be true to the actual beliefs of people at the time. The only way he could have known about the Plague would be through word of mouth and other stories from the time, which isn’t the same as experiencing it firsthand. In addition, Document 4 may contain inaccurate information as well. For one thing, it was written 22 years after the Black Death occurred, which is enough time for many of the details to be forgotten or confused. Also, it was adapted, edited, and translated several times, creating a disparity between it and the original document. An additional source would be useful in order to provide a more well-rounded and wider perspective. An additional document would help by allowing for additional cross-examination of texts to look for reliability, thus eliminating inaccurate
During the fourteenth century, bacteria and viruses were mostly unknown to doctors, which meant they were most certainly unheard of for the majority of the population. Now, it is widely believed that it was caused by bacterial strains. Back then, however, people had to produce their own reasons for the Plague. In Europe, the causes of the Black Death were said to be miasma (impure air) carried by the warm southern winds. The event of March 20, 1345, the conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, and excessively atrocious clothing were thought to add to the ubiquitous disease. In contrast, the people near the East believed that the said disease was supposedly caused by miasma as well, but due to wind carrying the vile odor of Mongol bodies...
A law was made, saying that once someone was ill with the plague they were to stay in their house. Anyone who happened to live in the same house as the unfortunate soul was also locked in, with fear that they could spread the disease. Beggars were not allowed to wonder the streets at anytime, and were executed immediately for doing so without a given reason. All of these, although sensible ideas (apart from the execution..) would not contribute towards public health, as the disease was not contagious in the human community. It was in fact passed on from fleas living on black rats, but this knowledge had not yet been developed.
He made a massive impact on the Catholic Church because he changed so many things during his time so that everyone would be treated fairly and evenly. One of Luther's main roles was that he was the leader of the Lutheran's. The Lutherans were the type of people who supported Luther and his ideas and followed him with what his teachings were about. A lot of these people were protestants because once Luther spoke up to the Catholic Church they all saw that they were being taken advantage of. Luther's beliefs were based on 'Faith + Good works = Heaven'. This was one of the many things that protestants believed would be the reason why they would be sent to Heaven. Luther felt that the Catholic Church weren't interpreting the bible correctly which is why Martin made the 95 Theses. The 95 Theses contained offence on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by the church in 1517. When Luther refused to take back his offence, Pope Leo X outlined a statement about the Church's doctrine on indulgences and wanted Luther's ideas to be condemned of. By the time that Luther brought more and more attention to himself he had the support of many German society's. Pope Leo X gave Luther 60 days to recant or he would face excommunication. As many of Luther's books were being burned Luther published an open letter to Pope Leo X announcing that he will still be continuing about his opinion on false doctrine and corruption in the
The Black Death could most likely be considered the most severe epidemic in human history. The Black Death arrived in Europe in 1347 and was ravaging from 1347-1351. This plague killed entire families at a time and destroyed at least 1,000 villages. Greatly contributing to the Crisis of the Fourteenth Century, the Black Death had many effects beyond its immediate symptoms. Not only did the Black Death have a devastating toll on human life, but it also played a key role in shaping the Catholic Church’s life in the following years.
The Black Death is the name later given to the epidemic of plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351. The disaster affected all aspects of life. Depopulation and shortage of labor hastened changes already inherent in the rural economy; the substitution of wages for labor services was accelerated, and social stratification became less rigid. Psychological morbidity affected the arts; in religion, the lack of educated personnel among the clergy gravely reduced the intellectual vigor of the church.
The Black Plague still to this day remains one of the worst epidemics in known history. When the plague first hit most people weren’t too concerned, thinking that it would be cured and it wasn’t anything to spectacular. That thought quickly changed as the epidemic spread like wildfire and killed most of the people who caught it very quickly. It wiped out over a quarter of Europe and surrounding countries and no one knew where it came from. Many people thought that because it was incurable and killed so efficiently that this was the apocalypse starting. At this point in history, many theories revolved around religious beliefs and the fact that everyone thought God had a role in almost everything, natural and unnatural. Two of the main religions
The Black Plague, perhaps one of the worst epidemics in history, swept its evil across Europe in the middle of the 14th century, killing an estimated 20 million people. This major population shift, along with other disasters occurring at the time, such as famine and an already existing economic recession, plunged Europe into a dark period of complete turmoil. Anarchy, psychological breakdowns, and the dissipation of church power were some of the results. As time passed, however, society managed to find new ground and began its long path of recovery. The plague, as catastrophic as it was to medieval Europe, had just as many positive effects that came with this recovery as it did negative effects prior. An end to feudalism, increased wages and innovation, the idea of separation of church and state, and an attention to hygiene and medicine are only some of the positive things that came after the plague. It could also be argued that the plague had a significant impact on the start of the Renaissance.
Slack, P. (1988). Responses to plague in early modern Europe: The implications of public health. Social Research, 55(3), 433-453. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
The Bubonic Plague, or more commonly known as ‘The Black Death’ or ‘The Black Plague,’ was one of the most devastating and deadliest pandemics that humans have ever witnessed in the history of mankind. The disease spanned two continents in just a few years, marking every country between Western Europe all the way to China. During the reign of the plague, which is estimated to be the years between 1347-1352, it is estimated that “20 million people in Europe–almost one-third of the continent’s population” was killed off due to the plague. The Black Plague would change the course of European history since the plague knew no boundaries and inflicted its wrath upon the rich and the poor alike. As a result, not only did the plague have a devastating demographic impact which encountered a massive social disruption, but also, an economic and religious impact as well.
Humanism is a literary and linguistic movement cultivated during the Renaissance that was founded on revising classical Latin and Greek texts, styles, and values. Humanists encouraged looking to the past to discover what is good and how people should act including leaders. Many humanist wrote about how they believe a prince should act and what he should do to be successful in his rule. Most humanists believed that princes should be virtuous in order to be successful rulers as many ancient leaders were. However, Machiavelli in his work The Prince uses history as a part of his argument to undermine some humanist ideals such as being purely virtuous and morality being the key to good government but also uses it to promote humanist ideals such as looking to the past to discover how a leader should behave.
The Black Death plagues had disastrous consequences for Europe in the 14th century. After the initial outbreak in Europe, 1347, it continued for around five years and then mysteriously disappeared. However it broke out again in the 1360s and every few decades thereafter till around 1700. The European epidemic was an outbreak of the bubonic plague, which began in Asia and spread across trade routes. When it reached Europe, a path of destruction began to emerge. Medieval society was tossed into disarray, economies were fractured, the face of culture and religion changed forever. However the plagues devastation was not all chaotic, there were benefits too, such as modern labour movements, improvements in medicine and a new outlook on life. Therefore in order to analyse the impact the Black Death had on societies in the 14th century, this essay will consider the social, economic, cultural and religious factors in order to reach an overall conclusion.
In 1339 in Northwestern Europe, the population was beginning to outgrow the food supply and a severe economic disaster began to take place. The winters were extremely cold and the summers were dry. Due to this extreme weather, very low crops grew and those that grew were dying. Inflation became a common and as famine broke out, people began to worry. The time period between 1339 to 1346 is now known as the famine before the plague. These seven bad years of weather and famine lead to the greatest plague of all times. In 1347, endemic to Asia, The Black Death began spreading throughout Western Europe. The plague lead to one third of Europe dead. The Black Death killed more Europeans than any other endemic or war up to that time. All resulting from a tiny insect (“Black Death”).
People were doing their own part to take care of their lives. Rumors of the Black Death began to spread, and some even hurt the markets. Back in 1665, an English naval bureaucrat Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary, "For nobody will dare to buy any wig, for fear of infection, that the hair had been cut off the heads of dead people of the plague." (DOC. 13) Doctors, in addition, contributed to other superstition acts which obviously did not work. In 1647, A French physician H. de Rochas said “Plague-stricken patients hang around their necks toads, either dead or alive, whose venom should within a few days draw out the poison of the disease.” Those who were part of the church also help those who were sick and couldn’t help themselves. Lisabetta Centenni, an Italian housewife documented in a legal deposition, “My husband Ottavio had a malignant fever. We were sure he would die. Sister Angelica de Macchia, prioress at Crocetta, sent me a little piece of bread that had touch the body of St. Domenica, I fed it to my husband and suddenly the fever broke.” (DOC. 7) Those who were around the middle, believe that if they took care of themselves to the fittest and wouldn’t think about the plague, they wouldn’t catch it. Giovanni Boccaccio wrote down while the Black Death was occurring. “Taking refuge and shutting themselves up in those houses where none were sick and