The Plague
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.
First, the Black Death had a great effect on the upper class in England. This disease did not discriminate. A rich man when put into contact with the disease was just as likely to acquire the disease as was a poor man. The epidemic changed many common practices in England that no man had ever been able to control before the disease. One effect the Black Death had on England’s upper class was that it reduced the number of members significantly. When the deadly disease struck landowners and their families, their lands would pass to the closest family member. This practice was very common and caused the estates of the surviving landowners to become very large. So, the Black Death shrunk the upper class and made it wealthier at the same time. Though the disease made the upper class wealthier in lands, working the lands became less profitable. Because the population of the people paid to work the land was also reduced by twenty-five to fifty percent, there were fewer people to work the land. This occurrence promoted higher wages from the worker and less total profit for the landowner.
The Black Death also had an impact on the lives of the lower class and the commoners. The effects of the disease were not all negative. In some ways, the disease actually improved the quality of life for the common person in England. One way that the Black Death improved life was by raising the wages paid to the people who worked the land.
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 changed the medieval European society totally in a positive way. In medieval Europe before the plague, European countries had the manorialism, which the society was divided into distinctive sections. Peasants and serfs had to live in a manor and listen to their lords. They needed to work for the lord and got
The Black Death fundamentally changed the way that medieval society operated. Outdated systems like manorialism collapsed and an ideological revolution occurred within the sciences. While these changes did come at a high cost, their benefits to society were immense, and they helped medieval Europe become a more modern society. Had the Black Death not occurred, many scientific advancements would have been stalled and obsolete economic systems would have been sustained. In conclusion, by destroying what had previously been accepted, the Black Death caused a reshuffling of the socioeconomic and scientific practices of medieval Europe.
Because the Black Death killed so many people, peasants saw a rise in job opportunity, higher wages because of their value and free tools and resources. This is significant because it gave peasants much more power and helped them gain money and live more luxurious than before. It also made the population of landowners decrease. This was because some landowners couldn’t attract peasants to work on their land. They were forced to sell their land. Peasants became essential and really valuable. Although the Black Death massacred millions of people, it wasn’t all bad. Some of the surviving people, especially peasants, really benefitted from
The Effects of The Black Death on the Economic and Social Life of Europe 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.
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
Imagine living in a time filled with nothing but fear. The thing you fear cannot be touched or seen but will put you to a slow miserable death. In the 1300s people were struck with a great plague, which has now been named “The Black Death”. The Black Death killed off populations with just one sweep. Historians call this the biggest tragedy of all time. The question is what caused this plague and how does something like this happen? Overtime historians have boiled it down to 2 and some may say 3 explanations, which are religion, science, and humans. With the help of a book The Black Death by Rosemary Horrox I was able to find explanations of them all. Who may know which is the correct reason for such a thing but what your think caused it is for you to decide.
If there is one part of life that humans have trouble overcoming it is natural disasters. They are unexpected, incurable, and often unconquerable. One specific type of natural disaster is that of sickness. Plagues are disastrous evil afflictions of an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality ( Merriam-Webster ). A historically famous plague in the fourteenth and fifteenth century is the Black or Bubonic Plague. The social and economic affects of the plague in Europe were detrimental to the population and economy.
One of the most important results of the Black Death is the end of feudalism. The labor force was so low that workers could refuse to work, demand a wage, and the aristocrats had no choice but to listen. Peasant revolts in France and England also played an important role in the end of feudalism. The French government, in an attempt to pay ransom to England for the return of their king, spiked tax rates on the French residents. The peasants at the time felt that the government was weak, and the increased taxes infuriated them, resulting in a rebellion that came to be known as the Jacquerie. Similar events took place in England a generation later. In 1381, peasants rebelled against high tax rates and frozen wages by marching on London an...
After the Black Death took the cities, shortly after it spread into the villages and farms. Killing the farm workers, the Black Death left crops not gathered which led to a shortage of food supplies and people to starve. Because of the mortality and the labor shortage, prices of goods dropped while the wages rose. Landowners were so desperate that they tried everything to keep the peasants to work for them. This gave the perfect opportunity for the laborers to demand higher wages how much they were valued. During the epidemic, the societies in Europe found their own ways to live through the Black Death. Some people thought that it God that created the plague, so he can punish the people because of their sins. Other people tried to enjoy as much as possible their last moments of their lives because they knew they would eventually die. Day and night people were getting drunk and move from one tavern to another and satisfying every last-minute wish they could. A social long-term consequence of the Black Death was that people lost their faith and were against God because he could not save them from the epidemic. Another consequence covers the economic change of the lower and middle-class people. During the 14th century peasants were at the very bottom but thanks to the Black Death their lives changed dramatically. After the epidemic was over, they were very
...nd quality of life began to improve. Consequently, the Black Death helped to eliminate serfdom in Europe. Which would contribute towards the collapse of the feudal system and change the face of the Europe’s economy.
"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.
The plague of the black death was a panic and disaster in Western Europe because it lead to the death of ⅓ of the population. Also, it greatly impacted trade and European economic success that had been flourishing until then. It quickly spread all over the continent,
During the Black Death, the Jewish mortality rate was significantly lower than others. They were accused of purposely spreading the plague and poisoning the waters from which the people drank. This accusation continued throughout the late Middle Ages, although the Jewish people were as innocent as the other Europeans. They probably were more clean and sanitary than others. The manor system, or feudalism, was very popular before the Black Death. Feudalism was a system of promises that governed the relationships between lords and vassals. A vassal was a knight who protected his lord in exchange for land. Since vassals had to farm their land in order to support himself, he allowed peasants to farm for him in exchange for food or other payment. Thus, a new system developed. Medieval lords or knights owned a manor, and the rest of the land were for the peasants and serfs, workers who were tied to the land they lived and farmed on. When the Black Death struck, the lords and knights who were still alive fled to the country. As a result, the remaining healthy peasants found that they did not have to work for their lord anymore. Also, there was a labor shortage, which meant that the peasants found their skills in high demand. When there is high demand and low supply, the prices rise. Suddenly, they can demand wages. As they grew richer, they left their manors and moved to growing cities in search of a more promising future. (Burstein and Shek, World History: Medieval to Modern Times). This helped in the development of the working class. The Black Death also had a major impact on medieval art and literature. Art in this time was morose and tragic. A widespread image was “the dance of death”, or the Dance Macabre, a depiction of skeletons dancing to randomly choose their next victim. (Wikipedia, Consequences of the Black Death). Another contribution the Black Death made was on
...g land now which boosted the wool and cotton industries. All the peasants on the outskirts of England soon moved into the city after the epidemic had swept. The serfs started to gain power because of all the people ahead of them on the feudal system that had died. This messed up the feudal order and lead to the final blow that destroyed feudalism.( http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/black-death.htm)