The Black Death DBQ During the outbreaks of the black death people did whatever they could to survive. The plague rendered people unable to gain access to information. People were too stricken with fear to go to places like school, because being in groups of people that may have been exposed to the plague could lead them to become infected. Europe had lost one third of their population due to the plague. People did not want to risk leaving the safety of their homes. Houses were being nailed up, roads were being closed, and highways were being guarded, which left people without access to schools, markets, and doctors. People relied on greed to survive. Elites would use the plague to their advantage and use it to kill their heirs to get inheritances. …show more content…
They did malicious acts in reaction to the plague. They used the black death to their advantage and kill people in their way of something they so selfishlessly desired. Johann Weyer, a German physician in 1583 wrote, “Their heirs of the dead and diseased had actually paid people at the casale to smear the gates to obtain their inheritances more quickly” (Doc 2). Essentially Weyer meant that the heirs wanted to collect their successors wealth and position as soon as possible. The author’s reasoning or purpose for writing this was to portray how the plague brought out an evil and corrupt side to people. They used the plague as leverage to move up in their class. In reaction to the plague, nurses would ensure their patients death, to obtain their payment sooner. Miguel Parets, a Barcelona Tanner in 1651 wrote in his diary, “Many times all they did was to make their patients die more quickly, because the sooner they died, the sooner the nurses collected the fees they had agreed on” (Doc 7). While Parets was only a tanner, he was from Barcelona and saw the need of Barcelona nurses. Also he wrote during 1651, which was the start of the scientific revolution, so the nurses may have had more access to knowledge and ways to help their patients. Yet in response to the plague, they decided to use the plague to their benefit and ignore the new incoming knowledge, and collect …show more content…
The black death hindered all social activity. It made children stay home, afraid their school mates would give them the horrifying disease. Parents and just ordinary people couldn’t get food for their children or themselves due to the lack of crops being grown and sold. The population of Europe went from eighty million people to sixty million people. People watched their family, friends, and neighbors die at their feet, and didn’t want to risk ending up like them. Houses, highways, and roads were all closed off, leaving access to society essentially non existent. Not only were people dying of the plague, but also starvation, since they weren’t able to get basic necessities from villages. Doctors, nurses, and heirs used the plague to their advantage. They would use the plague to kill others in order to collect their inheritances or decided upon payments. People who could afford it, would buy any medication that had claims of working just to keep their loved ones alive as long as they could. Others relied on religion to practically carry them through these pressing times. The plague allowed people to see each other’s true character, since it was became obvious what type of person they were depending on their reaction to the plague. The black death brought out an evil side to Europeans, seeing what they would do just to survive in such
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 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.
Before the Black Plague, living in Britain was interesting and positive but, was not always pleasant. It was too crowded and dirty, Britain was disgusting and unsanitary for the citizens for a long period of time, even before the disease spread to Europe (Ibeji n.pag.). Thus, Britain being so dirty, it was easier for this disease to spread. The citizens of Europe had no clue what was coming to disease them. Many people were not ready for the cultural changes of the disease and were shocked the disease even reached their towns.
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.
The Black Death started with a bacterium called Yersinia Pestis. “Yersinia Pestis, or known as pasteurella pestis, causes severe illness but more commonly death upon infection unless implanted with antibiotics,” (Sutyak). This bacteria spread quickly. ‘On average, bacteria can double every 4-20 minutes,” (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory). That means that when one person was infected, during the day 72 others could be infected if the rate was one person every 20 minutes. If the rate was one person every 4 minutes, there could be 360 people infected in a day. That rate is extremely horrendous rate of infection. Imagine if one person in your town got a terrible disease. Then the disease spread during one day. Three hundred sixty people infected in one day. That is exceedingly disgusting from my point of view. Now, lets take it broader. “Pandemics can affect 20% to 40% of the entire world's population”, (U.S Department of Health & Human Services). The Black Death caused 75 to 200 million people to die. That was a huge chunk of the population at the time. When all the people died, many places had little t...
The Black Death changed European history in many ways. Its fatal symptoms took many human lives, and its influenced carried over into many areas of society. People suffered religiously because the disease brought out the darker side of life and made them question God. Europe would not be the same today without these changes brought on through the devastation of the Black Death.
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.
"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 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 Dark ages is the time between the 500’s and 1400’s. The Dark ages was a time of civil wars, Death, diseases, invasions and thief. There was a lot of invasions and to protect them self from that communities made a code call The code of Chivalry as (Doc 5) states “Europe in the Middle Ages was a dangerous place. Invasions from Muslims, Mongols, Vikings, and other tribal groups were common. War between lords was also common. The value of protection and warriors created a social code called Chivalry. Knights fought for lords and ladies, and lived by a gentleman- warrior code of Chivalry.” And other big thing in The Dark Ages was Diseases. Diseases in the dark ages was deadly because there was not antidote and even Doctors were scared of
At this time however, cold weather and rains wiped out many crops creating a shortage of food for humans. Rats also went through this shortage in food. This made them “crowd in cities, providing an optimal environment for disease”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). Before the black death spread through Europe, sanitation wasn’t very good. Living conditions were bad so when the black death came to Europe, it spread more rapidly because people were not clean and healthy. Another reason the plague spread so fast was because the dead “bodies were piled up inside and outside city walls where they lay until mass graves could be dug”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). This made the air very polluted and contributed the spread of the epidemic. In total, the black death killed about thirty million people. This was about one-third the population of Europe. Some towns were completely wiped out. Because of this, medieval people thought everyone would eventually die, although we now know that some populations did survive. Also, because people were not being saved by the church, their beliefs were questioned. Less people dedicated their lives to the church because of this. Both the poor and the rich died but more than one-half the people dead were poor. This was also a result of poor sanitation and living conditions. The Black Death initiated in China in the early 1340’s
Unfortunately, most of the documentation that has survived the black death focuses on the lives of the nobility and clergy leaving historians to analyze and fill in the gaps of what the peasants must have faced. It is fair to assume that with a majority of the population belonging to a lower social class the plague would have had a greater impact on the poor. With over half of the population eradicated Many modern-day historians see this event as a cultural, technological, and economical turning point in human history worldwide. By examining records and testimonies of people living during each different outbreak of the plague we can see a clear change in mentality and understanding of human
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 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.
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