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The first believed cause of the plague was that God was punishing the people for sins they had committed. Due to this, many people were told the only way to get better would be through penance. Some took this advice to extreme levels and beat themselves severely to the point the church outlawed such showings. People also started taking herbal medications, and they would fumigate rooms and aerate city spaces with smoke and herbs. These methods helped kill some of the diseased fleas that carried the plague. Another theory was earthquakes had released poisonous gases that contained the plague. This theory was met with individuals obtaining aromatic amulets (amulets made with herbs) to protect themselves. Others who were infected decided the best …show more content…
Some long term effects that arose included higher pay to living workers, the switch by many to learning more skilled crafts, a drop in agricultural products, and a rise in manufactured goods. The rise came from people being more willing to splurge on the luxuries after experiencing near death. If a disease like the Black Death hit the United States I believe that people would initially panic, but eventually, they would calm down as DNA and biological studies are far more advanced now than anything from the Middle Ages. Today, we have technology and medicine that would seem impossible to somebody from the middle ages. Due to these advanced scientific measures we have now, I think that the U.S. would handle a disease threat well. Not to say there would be no separation among people. In fact, it’s quite likely people would find something about a serious disease to disagree and fight with others about. Personally, back in the Middle Ages if I had been around I likely would have aligned myself with the group that believed it was something in the environment causing the plague, and I would have taken the advice to seclude myself til the spread had
Another piece of evidence to go along with it states,” Due to the shortage of workers all labor became very valuable and in-demand (Document 7).” The effects that the bubonic plague had on 14th Century Europe were that faith in religion had fallen, the demand for labor was high, and the economy had taken a toll. The Black Death devastated Medieval Europe, causing many uncontrollable effects, both good and bad. However, despite these effects, the European people were able to overcome this period of desolation, and move on with life.
An important fact to remember is that in those times, opinions and actions were either based on or blamed on religion and superstition. For example, people started marching across the country, punishing themselves on the basis that the plague was the result of all of man’s sin, whilst trying to persuade people of their cause. Also, charms were used by some cultures, such as the “Abra Kadabra” charm, which was either carved, or worn as protective jewellery to ward off the evil spirits causing the plague. It looked similar to the image below.
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.
Many people of this time thought the Plague arrived due to their sins as accounted by Gabriele de’ Mussis. “I pronounce these judgment: may your joys be turned to mourning, your prosperity be shaken by adversity, the course of your life be passed in never ending terror…no one will be given rest, poisoned arrows will strike everyone, fevers will throw down the proud, and incurable disease will strike like lightning” This quote reveals that God imposed the plague onto the people and they had to suffer due to their sins. In another section of this book, there is an excerpt from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. In it he describes the symptoms the people in the city of Florence suffered due to this disease. “It’s earliest symptom, in men and women alike, was the appearance of certain swellings in the groin or the armpit, some of which were egg shaped while some where the size of a common apple…Later on…people began to find dark botches and bruises on their arms, thighs, and other parts of the body” This source is one of many found in Horrox’s book that all list the same symptoms for this mysterious disease throughout all of
(SIP-A) The plague had many ways in spreading its disease making more and more people get sick very rapidly (STEWE-1) .The plague killed roughly half of the population of Europe, In crowded areas people could receive the Plague from fleas that had bitten wild black rats. Once transferred from flea to human it became fatal in days. (S3 27). (STEWE-2) In 1347 many sailors that were dying from the plague were on Italian merchant ships from the Black Sea, which is on the trade route between Europe and China. Within days the sailors on the ship had spread the plague from the port cities to the surrounding countryside, within a year the disease spread as far as England. (S14). (SIP-B) Because of the rapidly spreading disease the mortality rate and decrease of population was very high and greatly affected those who survived. (STEWE-1) Over half of the population had died and extremely quickly, there were so many bodies that there was no more room to bury them, the brutal depopulation is almost unimaginable for those who lived through such a painful time. (S1
Multiple circumstances within the cities, families, and organizations of societies contributed to the rapid spread of the plague. Rats, ticks and other rodents or insects where one of the reason the plague spread throughout the world and most of Europe. The ticks and fleas where infected with the disease and they bit the rats and other rodents, which infected them with the disease. The ticks and fleas also bit other rodents, livestock and even the attached themselves to humans and transferred the disease to them. The rats or other rodents ran throughout the place they where bit by the tick. Some of the rodents began to go into ship yards and trains. They bread with other rats and begin to produce offspring which created an even bigger problem. The rodents got onto the ships and where transported around the world, along with the now infected materials on board. The rats would drop their feces around the ship and even on the drinking water and food. When the ships docked at ship yards around the world the rats got off and ran around the new country they now belonged to. Some of the supplies that where taken off of the ship included but was not limited to, liquids, foods and livestock. These supplies where shipped around the world and contributed greatly to the spread of the disease.
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...
"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
During the course of the Plague common beliefs and/or concerns underwent a dramatic change. During the early years of the Plague outbreak the prevalent belief was of fear of the Plague and its uncertainty of the cause. Most people during this time were concerned that the Plague would affect their economy and their own work/business. People were also concerned of their lives and their family's well being. Then as time went on beliefs changed from this to fear to a religious superstition.
During the fourteenth century, bacteria and viruses were mostly unknown to doctors, which meant they were most certainly unheard of for the majority of the population. Now, it is widely believed that it was caused by bacterial strains. Back then, however, people had to produce their own reasons for the Plague. In Europe, the causes of the Black Death were said to be miasma (impure air) carried by the warm southern winds. The event of March 20, 1345, the conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, and excessively atrocious clothing were thought to add to the ubiquitous disease. In contrast, the people near the East believed that the said disease was supposedly caused by miasma as well, but due to wind carrying the vile odor of Mongol bodies...
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.
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
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. In order to learn how societies were impacted by the Black Death, it is important to note the situation prior to the epidemic. Britain and France had been at war since 1337, by August 1347 France was devastated.
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