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Black death impact on western civilization
The cause and the effect of feudalism
The rise of feudalism
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All throughout history and even in modern day countries have been structured by a social class system, however sometimes terrible disasters can set off this social balance. The Black Death was an appalling pandemic that swept through Europe killing thousands of medieval Europeans. Feudalism was a social system based on each level giving and getting products and services to keep the medieval society and it’s people alive. All classes during the Black Plague were affected, noble or serf, this caused a monumental power shift and the social classes never to be the same again. With feudalism’s tight social structure, the Black Death in the late 1300s demolished the population and feudal ties in medieval Europe.
So the peasants were extremely poor at that time. After the Black Death, population decreased, serfs and peasants were able to move around and they had much more freedom than before. They were no longer belong to the lord, and had choices of who they would work for. Most peasants chose to work for high paid jobs. The landowners, in order to attract people to work for them, provided the workers tools, housing and land. “The worker farmed all he could and paid only the rent.” The better treatment of serfs weakened the manorialism, as well as the decline of nobles.The plague killed so many people, and even nobles could not escape. The wealthy families were incapable of continuing growing, because their descendants died. So their position could not be passed on. Many families extinct. To fix this problem, the government setted up a new inheritance law which allowed both sons and daughter inherited property.
In the 1340’s, an epidemic named the Black Death, erupted through Europe, killing nearly ⅓ of its population. The Black Death originated in China, rapidly spreading to western Asia and Europe. It killed about 30 million people in Europe plummeting its population. A lot of these people were peasants. This was because they had the least money, therefore putting them in the worst living conditions. There were so many of them that no individual could make a substantial amount of money. When the plague hit, the peasants were strongly affected. A huge population of them were killed. After the epidemic, the population of peasants was far less than before. This provided them with a chance to really improve their lives. The Black Death caused a change
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.
One of the major effects of the Bubonic Plague was the immense death that occurred, especially of the lower classes. This complete resetting of society is what would lead to social mobility of the poorer classes. For instance, one could think of the situation in terms of supply and demand. Before the Plague,
(BS-7) If not for the Black Plague the feudal system would have worked and been able to last longer, but the depopulation of the society was so brutal that it was a key factor in its end. (BS-6) The many oaths and agreements between the social classes were part of the glue that held the feudalistic system together. (BS-5) Religion was a very important oral in the feudal system, especially the great chain of being. (BS-4) Knights and vassals were an important class in the feudal system and helped protect the others. (BS-3) There were many separated classes of the feudal system that each had specific duties and a place. (BS-2) The plague spread very fast for many different reasons and caused it to become a much larger disease that it was before. (BS-1) The Black Death was a horrible disease that took a strenuous toll on its people with its many symptoms. (R)To conclude, the Black Death was a horrible epidemic that caused many deaths and was also a vital factor in the feudal systems
It cannot be argued that the Black Plague was detrimental to every aspect of Europe’s communities. It was a powerful epidemic that wiped out a third of the continent’s population. Out of the midst of all its terror, however, positive after effects presented themselves. Some of these effects included revolutions in the church and society, eventually leading to the separation of church and state. Feudalism was also challenged as peasants demanded wages and revolted. Along with social changes came technological innovations, new inventions, and an attention to hygiene and the beginning of modern medicine. The plague may have devastated Europe, but it also gave way to a new era.
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
Europe’s social structure in the Middle Ages consisted of feudalism. A hierarchical society of Kings granting land to nobles, who would then give a fief to a knight in return for service. The knight would then have peasants or serfs working on their fief. However, as the plague spread, many peasants died and their labour could not be replaced. This loss of workforce had a significant impact upon the economy as grain was not being harvested and livestock roamed free. The agrarian economy had been severely damaged, the land became uncultivated and returned back to its natural state. This rural collapse eventually led to food shortages in towns and cities.
The 14th century saw the emergence of an extremely contagious and deadly disease, bubonic plague, which was also known as the “Black Death”. This savage disease affected people from all classes of the society, regardless of their wealth, religion, gender or age (as seen in the Document 6). In that day and age, there was almost no one who didn’t lose a relative, a friend, or a loved one to the illness. During this dark age, people reacted to the disease with mass fear, endless grief, and quandary.
The feudal system was a political, military, and economic system based on the holding of land. The system was developed since the whole entire basis of rule from all the civilizations before the Middle Ages was lost. Early Europe was in desperate need of such a system since they were constantly being raided by the Vikings and other outsiders.
According to History.com the Bubonic plague killed 20 million people in Europe, which was 30% of the population! Many people in the middle ages were peasants, which were of the lowest class in feudalism. In the middle ages peasants had a tough life, and there were also many kinds like the fletcher, but they also had many activities and games that they could do for fun.
The medieval period in European history begins after the fall of the Roman Empire around 500 C.E., and continued until the early modern period beginning around 1500. The medieval period is split into the sub-categories of early medieval (500-1000), central middle ages (1000-1300), late medieval (1300-1500), and followed by the early modern period (1500-1800). At each of these periods of time important political, economic, social, cultural, religious and scientific changes were being made in Western Europe.
Economic processes are those involving the production and distribution of goods and services. However, they do not alone determine this production and distribution. There is an interrelationship of economic, cultural, environmental, and political processes that all help to shape each other. Nothing that we do can be defined as a single process, for it is the interaction itself that helps to produce the final results that we observe. To understand this more fully the following basic definitions may be of use:
Feudalism started in Germany in 410 A.D. after the fall of Rome. As feudalism grew, it spread from France to Spain, Italy, and later to Germany and Eastern Europe. In England the Frankish form was imposed by William 1 after 1066, although most of the elements of feudalism were already present. It was extended eastward into Slavic lands to the marches, which were continually battered by new invasions, and it was adopted partially in Scandinavian countries. The important features of feudalism were similar throughout, but there existed definite national differences. The church also had great influence in shaping feudalism; although the organization of the church was not feudal in character, its hierarchy somewhat parceled the feudal hierarchy.
Feudalism is a social arrangement of rights and obligations in light of area, residency and individual connections in which land is held in fief by the king to the feudal lords. Feudal lords in return have to display their fielty and perform some administrative services.