The Black Death and its Influence on the Renaissance

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Everything always gets worse before it gets better. This is how it is in most situations such as a lovers quarrel, in which both lovers scream and yell at each other only to reach the perfect mutual agreement in the end of a very silly fight. Another good example; rain storms, where maybe it takes dangerous flooding to bring out the most beautiful spring flowers. Maybe it takes something so terrible and world shattering to bring out the best of a situation. No matter how treacherous or how awful it may be, it all depends on how you handle the situation. How you handle a disaster shows in what becomes of it. Much like the Black Death leading into the Renaissance. The tragic turn of events that took place during the Black Death gave survivors a chance to start over and when they did, the age of The Renaissance rose from the ashes.
In the 1300’s, in order to transport goods, the people used ships to travel from country to country trading products. The plague originated in Central Asia in 1338/9 after that it spread to China and India in 1346(Black Plague: The Least You Need to Know). In 1347 the Black Death contaminated the Black Sea port of Kaffa.
Fun fact: There was a false legend of how the disease infected Kaffa. The legend says that the Mongolians piled up dead infected bodies into catapults and flung them over the city walls. Although flying dead bodies paints a more interesting picture in your mind, it is in fact much more credible that the disease came from bacteria harboring in the bellies of fleas (Black Plague: The Least You Need to Know.).
These disease-engorged fleas that lived on rats; thus infecting the rats and bringing the disease into town. Before the ships were able to sail away from the port some rats were a...

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...was doing so well in this new found age of the Renaissance.
In the end things did indeed get much better for the people. They hit rock bottom but made the most of the situation and chose not to wallow in their sorrows but to make it mean something. To show that they could rise up from this tragedy and take control back into their own hands. So that is what they did. The Black Death did indeed give Europe a chance to start over and better themselves and this was done through the Renaissance.

Works Cited

"10 Crazy Cures for the Black Death." Listverse. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
"The Black Death & the Renaissance - Renaissance." BellaOnline - The Voice of Women. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
"Black Death — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts." History.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
"Black Plague: The Least You Need to Know." N.p., Web. 5 Dec. 2013.

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