The Black Death was the largest pandemic in the history of Europe and had an enormous effect on the people living in Europe during the, 14th century. Even though the exact death toll figures don't exist. It is believed that up to 200 million people lost their lives. Some of the changes Europe experienced and still do are economic and social changes.
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. It began in south-western Asia and spread to Europe by the late 1340s, where it received it’s name Black Death. The impact of this disease changed the way Europeans of the time lived their lives and their beliefs.
The Black Death changed every aspect of the Europeans lives. The plague did much more than devastate
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and change their lives; it caused significant change in the economy and society in Europe. The government of Europe had no evident response to the outbreak of the plague because people had little to no knowledge of how it spread or its cause. As a result, the European society and economy were both significantly altered. Europe had been overpopulated before the plague. The plague caused a large decrease in the population as an estimated 60% percent of Europe's entire population died due to the Black Death. However, this change was seen as an advantage to the peasants who were suddenly seen as higher value. The decline in population enabled peasants to demand higher wages, leading to social and political changes. Therefore the plague can be known as a positive transformation in Europe. Although Fernand Brutal, an economic historian, has concluded that the Black Death intensified a recession in the Europeans economy, which already had been in progress since the beginning of the 14th century. However, as the population grew and became stable and people developed an immunity to the plague and procedures for preventing the spread of the disease, survivors have developed a new economy to replace their past feudal system. Overall The Black Death had the effect of altering all aspects of the European society. However, overtime Europeans began to develop an immunity and knowledge on preventing the plague from killing them. Not only were the lives of people affected and changed, along with theses people, the church and beliefs were significantly affected. Before the plague had struck Europe, people were highly influenced by churches. However once the plague had affected many, people became less motivated to follow God's way of life. The people blamed God for the occurrence of the plague and they thought it was a punishment from him. Once the people realized there was no cure for the disease, they turned to their faith in God. However trying to escape the disease and death by searching for shelter through God brought no safety or relief. The religious views were very important as Europeans went to the extent that some people, went to tremendous forms of religious rites to protect themselves from getting the Black Death. In regard to this, flagellants, who were people, who wanted to show their love towards God by going from town to town whipping themselves until they bled, hoping that God would forgive them and that they wanted to be protected from the plague. The decline in priest affected the reputation of the church. Good priest who would stay to direct last rites, perform funerals, and comforts the dying were highly likely to contract the plague, thus they would die. Unlike them bad priest would run and hide in order to protect themselves from the plague. The death of a good priest and others priest running away to hide was decreasing the numbers of priest in the churches. The churches encountered a shortage of priests after the plague, which ruined their reputation and power. “The plague was a prime factor in people turning to new influences in a search for meaning and positive values” (Dahmus, 1995). Since they believed the Black Death was a punishment from God, the people turned in hope of finding something else to believe in. Overall, there were many aspects leading to the decrease of belief in the churches, from the loss of quality priests and the failure to help the suffering from the Black Death. The Black Death had an enormous impact on every aspect of the Europeans lives.
The Black death impacted their health, wealth and lives. When the plague first hit Europe people panicked. Since no one understood how it had spread, the cause and cures for the plague, therefore it had an enormous impact on their health. People did not realize that improving their hygiene to rid themselves of fleas, would help decrease their chance of contracting the Black Death. The European cities went down as well as their authorities, of the city dyed, so there was no one in control of counting the numbers of deaths during the time. People became scared of the unknown. Their relationships with each other were affected. When some was on their ‘death bed’ laying sick in a house, no one would visit or go near them even close friends. In some circumstances, even doctors would turn their back to those in need. Everyone avoided the sick, even parents abandoned their children in need or sick. “One citizen avoided another, hardly any neighbour troubled about others, relatives never or hardly ever visited each other. Moreover, such terror was struck into the hearts of men and women by this calamity, that brother abandoned brother, and the uncle his nephew, and the sister her brother, and very often the wife her husband. What is even worse and nearly incredible is that fathers and mothers refused to see and tend their children, as if they had not been theirs”. These words came from the men Giovanni …show more content…
Boccaccio, in his book Decameron. His book describes his experience living through the Black Death. The Black Death impacted the lives of the Europeans by affecting their relationships and health. Overall the Black Death Impact the Europeans life in many ways that enforced changes for them.
This was a terrible time to live and exist in as the Black Death killed almost all who contracted it until it completely died out. Although a large amount of deaths occurred. The Black Death has some kind of positive influence for the Europeans as it helped shape the Europeans advance in technology and medicine but the worlds. The Black Death also opened the doors for an improved legal system that doesn't rely on the church. Since there was a large amount of deaths, there was an abundance of a new demand of services and jobs. Ultimately we have to ask ourselves if it’s possible that a tragedy this big can alone bring so many changes as to bring an end to the Middle Ages. At the end of the day it’s very important, learning from the
past.
The effects of the Black Death on Medieval Europe were that the economy fell, faith in religion decreased, and the demand for labor was high. The Black Death was a deadly disease that devastated Medieval Europe. This bubonic plague killed 1/3 of the European population, crippling the economy and faith in religion. One effect that the Black Death had on Medieval Europe was that the economy had fallen. (FELL)The economy had taken a blow because of the fact that most of the workers had either died, or ran away from their lords and manors.
The Black Death was a dark period of human history, approximately 60% of European died. Black Death also known as the bubonic plague, it happened during 1346-1353. The plague spread during the crusades along the ships, and it was originated from a mice from Asia. It is a irremediable disease. The plague made so many negative influence on society, as well as positive effects on human population, such as social, medical and economical effects.
Some things are not as they seem. “Ring Around the Rosie” seems like a pleasant children’s nursery rhyme, but many believe it is actually a grisly song about the Black Death in Europe. The Black Death was a serial outbreak of the plague during the 1300s. During the Black Death, more than 20 million Europeans died. One-third of the population of the British Isles died from the plague. Moreover, one-third of the population of France died in the first year alone, and 50% of the people in France’s major cities died. Catastrophic death rates like these were common across all of Europe. However, just like the poem “Ring Around the Rosie”, the true effects of the Black Death differed from what many people believed. Though tragic, the Black Death caused several positive societal changes. Specifically, the Black Death helped society by contributing to the economic empowerment of peasants and disempowerment of nobility that led to the decline of manorialism, as well as by encouraging the development of new medical and scientific techniques by proving old methods and beliefs false.
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 Death, also known as the Black Plague and Bubonic Plague, was a catastrophic plague that started out in Asia and began to spread into Europe. In the span of three years, the Black Death killed about one third of all the people in Europe. The plague started out in the Gobi Dessert in Mongolia during the 1320’s. From the desert the plague began to spread outwards in all directions. China was among the first to suffer from the plague in the early 1330s before the plague hit Europe.
The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe written by Robert Steven Gottfried is a narrative style book that goes over the environmental and human effects the Black Death had in 12th Century Europe. Gottfried’s thesis is that the Black Death is the greatest biological and environmental event in European history. When the Black Death came to pass, the amount of mortality surrounding the European people pushed them to think harder, and to think deeper about the sanctity of life, and that new mindset triggered some of the major changes in Europe that followed after that, which would eventually lead Europe out of the Medieval Age. Gottfried successfully conveys the historical significance of the Black Death the way he uses the
This affected more than just Europe, it really hurt countries in the Middle East and China. The Black Death was spread by the Mongols and passed into Europe through black rats and fleas. Ships were known to arrive in Europe with many dead bodies and only rats living. Symptoms of the Black Death included puss filled abscesses that ended up turning your whole body black. It is believed that after receiving symptoms of the deadly disease people would only survive a few days. It was feared that the entire population would be wiped out by this devastating plague. People of this age believed the plague had meaning and was related to God, there were different perceptions of why the Bubonic plague happened, although some believed God caused it, others strongly believed that it was not possible for God to commit an act that would cause so many issues to the world and its society. The population that survived the Black Death were traumatized by the events and also affected negatively economically. An effect of the plague was a shortage of labor which caused a shortage of supply and increase in demand of workers and laborers. The whole of Europe had changed because of this event and things such as revolts. Protests, and up rise started to occur in cities all over Europe. The Black Death changed the attitudes and thinking of the people of Europe
The Black Plague came to Europe at a time referred to as the late middle ages. At this time, the quality of living was looking better than in the past
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.
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemic that hit Europe in history. The Black Death first emerged in the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 (Gottfried,1). The plague came from several Italian merchant ships which were returning to Messina. Several sailors on board were dying of an unknown disease and a few days after arriving in Messina, several residents within and outside of Messina were dying as well (Poland 1). The Black Death was as deadly as it was because it was not limited by gender, age, or species. The Black Death was also very deadly because it could attack in three different forms: the bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plague.
The Black Death had profound effects on Medieval Europe. Although most people did not realize it at the time, the Black Death had not only marked the end of one age but it also denoted the beginning of a new one, namely the Renaissance.
The Black Death plague 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.
"The Black Death" is known as the worst natural disaster in European history. The plague spread throughout Europe from 1346-1352. Those who survived lived in constant fear of the plague's return and it did not disappear until the 1600s. Not only were the effects devastating at the time of infection, but during the aftermath as well. "The Black Death" of the fourteenth century dramatically altered Europe's social and economic structure.
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.