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Christian and Muslim responses to the plague
Social and economic effects of the plague
Social and economic effects of the plague
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Recommended: Christian and Muslim responses to the plague
This document will explain how the Christian and Muslim responses were different. In the background essay it says “the plague killed between twenty-five and forty-five percent of the population it encountered.” The bubonic plague played a big role in the fourteenth century.
In document two it explains that the mortality rate was thirty-one percent in Europe, thirty-three percent in England, twenty-five to thirty-three percent in Egypt, and thirty-three percent in Syria. About one third of the population was killed or affected by the bubonic plague, also people reacted differently to the plague. Even though Europeans and Middle Easterners both had the same beliefs, they reacted differently.
Christianity was the main faith in Europe. Europeans were “more inclined than before to evil and wickedness.” as William Dene says in Document six. People in Europe thought the plague was the end of the world and didn't care what they did. In document six it says that workers began to abandoned their work and people were not thinking of death or of the past plague or of their own people. Europeans
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The people in the Middle-East thought that they should accept the plague as they would God. They were calm. Michael Dols, from Princeton University says in document ten, “ There is no evidence for the appearance of messianic movements in Muslim society at this time that might have associated the Black Death with an apocalypse.” They became even more faithful in accordance to the plague, in document nine it says, “The people fasted for three days...assembled in the Great mosque until it was filled to overflowing...and spent out together...carrying Korans in their hands. All of the people prayed together. There was no segregation, the Jews went out with the Christians. Both the Muslims and Christians have the same beliefs, they both are monotheistic (A belief in one god) and believe in the same
With the start of the plague Europeans looked desperately for help to answer their many questions, on why God would allow such a thing to occur. People throughout Christendom had prayed devoutly for deliverance from the plague and when their prayers weren't answered they began to change their methods of administering the traditions which were attached to the church. They were left alone to live life without the powerful God which left awe and fear in all, during a very difficult era. Religion affected every aspect of everyday life and without it a new period of philosophical questioning lay ahead.
In 1348, religious authorities determined that the immodest behavior of certain groups led to outbreaks of ubiquitous plague. The tendency to regard indecency as the cause of plague is displayed in records of the day. Henry Knighton’s description of a guilty crowd attending the tournaments is a telling example. He laments that, “they spent and wasted their goods, and (according to the common report) abused their bodies in wantonness and scurrilous licentiousness. They neither feared God nor blushed at the criticism of the people, but took the marriage bond lightly and were deaf to the demands of modesty” (130). As one can gather from this passage, the 1348 religi...
The Black Death was God’s blessing from Muslims’ point of view, but from the perspective of Europeans, the plague was said to be a punishment from Him. Empires of Islam saw this deadly illness as a gift from God. Muhammad al-Manbiji, an Islamic scholar, believed praying to extinguish the plague was unnecessary due to the belief it was a gift from God (Document 4). Although Muslims were aware the Black Death was a deadly plague which greatly decreased the population (Documents 2, 3), they responded peacefully. Rather than looking at the plague as life-threatening, Muslims viewed the disease as a blessing sent from God. Europeans viewed the Black Death as a punishment for the sins of all Christians. Gabriele de Mussis, a Christian Piacenzan chronicler, implied that the plague appeared due to the sins of Christians (Document 4). Christians blamed themselves and believed they were deserving of the plague. This made Europeans seem like they were the ones responsible for the entire plague itself. The Empires of Islam and the Europea...
The plague itself was disastrous enough, especially in the appearance of more than one form during the same epidemic. But coming when it did was as catastrophic as its form. The middle 14th century was not a good time for Europe. The European economy was already in difficulties. It was approaching the limits of expansion, both on its frontiers and in reclaiming land from forest and swamp. The arrival of the Mongols and the Ottomans had disrupted trade routes, and certain areas of Europe were edging into depression.
The Black Death did not differentiate one religion from another, so the plague spread throughout Europe and the Middle East like wildfire not stopping until it reached the Pacific ocean. Christians and the Muslims were both terrified by the plague not being able to see it, know where it is coming from, why it is happening, or how to rid yourself of it, this was a scary thought. The death rate of the plague was around thirty two percent as it was stated in document two. Maybe the cause of this was the beliefs about the causes and prevention of it. One similar cause was the winds carrying contaminated air, two prevention that were similar was drinking an Armenian clay tablet and building fires to fumigate. Christians and Muslims at one point in time rebelled against the king. Then all of the religions assembled together for a night of prayer in the Great mosque as talked about in document nine.
The Middle Ages was a dark time for the people of Europe. As the Black Death reigned during the mid-14nth century, dead bodies littered the streets, social order was abandoned, and human pretenses were forgotten. This deadly disease resulted in a complete alteration in the foundations of Europe itself. Unique practices, myths, and beliefs manifested themselves in the people?causing them to doubt the very church and government which had once captured their undoubting faith. Despite the scrambling of both doctors and church officials, there seemed no end to the enormous death tolls. The plague, feared and dreaded by all, changed the behavior of an entire continent and resulted, ultimately, in the death of a third of its population.
The Islamic world had suffered at least five major plague epidemics before the Black Death in the 14th century, yet the Black Death was far more deadly than any of the previous epidemics that had hit the Islamic world. Medieval Muslims had no scientific explanation for the disease and thus Islamic societies began to believe that the plague was of divine origin. Religious teachers declared that for the righteous Muslim death by plague was a blessing, a martyrdom like death in defense of Islam, which ensured the victim a heavenly reward. For the infidel death by plague was considered a punishment for sin that condemned one to hell. As with all acts of Allah, the pestilence seen as just, merciful, good, and could not be avoided. Since God specifically chose each victim, there could be no random spreading of the disease by contagion, nor could one escape death by flight or medication. From these views, Muslims formed three basic tenets for coping with the plague: The disease was a mercy and martyrdom from God for the faithful Muslim but a punishment for the infidel, a Muslim should neither enter nor flee a plague-stricken land, and there was ...
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 Plague changed the way European citizens saw the Church and Church power. When people were suffering and wanted to receive Anointing of the Sick, some priest refused to go near the infected. This led to a questioning of the Church and papal power decreased. People no longer went to grand cathedrals for mass, but rather created their own ...
The Middle Ages are known for its abundant amount of deaths from plagues and wars. Let’s first look at what happened particularly in Europe during these Middle Ages. In 1347 the Bubonic Plague, otherwise known as the Black Death, arrived in Italy. The disease caused bulbous growths and sores filled with pus to appear on the body. It made victims of the illness look like “a skeleton, with black and blue splotches” (Friedlander) stained onto the face. Friedlander also stated that within two years, the plague had slaughtered “over 20 percent of the population of Europe.” This disease spread like a forest fire across the country and killed a total of 75 million people, almost 50% of Europe’s overall population. In addition to this, the smallpox epidemic swept through Paris, France and killed 50,000 individuals in 1438, most of whom were children. According to Friedlander this disease was a “virus that spreads from person to person, by touch or through breathing or coughing.” The danger level of the sickness fluctuated between people and their immune systems, some being as deadly as or even deadlier than the bubonic plague, and showed no mercy on smal...
Graveyards were full, medicine failed, parents abandoned ill children and in just six months, millions had died. It was the beginning of the Black Death. It was a deadly plague that spread through Europe and Asia from the mid 1330’s -50’s. The cause of death for twenty million people, the survivors thought it was God’s anger at something they had done and, therefore, the end of the world. In Venice, ninety thousand died and in Florence, half the population. There were three types of the plague. The Bubonic plague was the most common, the Pneumonic Plague was less common and the Septicaemic Plague was the most deadly and rarest of them all.
The Plague, also known as the Black Death, or the Bubonic Plague, which struck in 1346, and again in 1361-62, ravaged all of Europe to the extent of bringing gruesome death to millions people of the Middle Ages. It was a combination of bubonic, septicemia, and pneumonic plague strains that started in the east and worked it’s way west, but never left its native home. One of the things that made the plague one of the worst was that there were outbreaks almost every ten years but still restricted to Europe. It is thought that one third to one half of the population in Europe could have possibly died due to the plague with some towns of a death rate of up to 30 or 40 percent. Very few that were infected with the plague actually survived more than one month after receiving the disease.
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.
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.
The Bubonic plague did not affect the lower classes as much because they consisted of peasants which there was a large quantity of, and when people from the lower class usually died they had enough people to fill their job. Lower classes still had freedoms when the plague was around, and better pay that was driving the revolts (Whipps). When the plague first struck about a quarter and a half of Europe's population had decreased because everybody had died, this caused jobs to open up and for other people to find a job and move there way up the social ranks (Frey 57). Moving up the social ranks was a difficult task, but while the population decreased people's jobs had changed power to go to different people easier than ever at this point. Wendy Frey cited “There was a shift in power from nobles to the common people” (57). This caused people to either move up in the social class or to move down because people do not need them any more because they are not that important anymore. Also a lot of serfs that owned farmland depended on their manors, but because of the plague they could not depend on them anymore so they tried to sell their land or most of the serfs that owned the farmland ran away (Dunn 18). This happened to almost every single farmer, and the effect of this caused not enough food to be grown and people in Europe now did not have enough food to eat. Europeans were affected by the Bubonic Plague negatively in a political way by job, rank, and social