Medieval Social System

1807 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How did immediate and long term effects of the black death change medieval society in europe

Medieval Europe was one of the most popular era’s. The medieval period was very unique; they had different ways of fulfilling errands compared to modern day techniques. Their social hierarchy, lifestyle, health, castles and weapons were all very exclusive to Medieval Europe. We also can’t forget one of the most important events in medieval history; The Black Plague.

FEUDAL SYSTEM:
There was a very distinctive social hierarchy during the medieval period. The person who could control what everyone does, including royalty, was the pope. He was in charge of the church, so if anyone wanted to get married or make a critical decision they would have to get permission from him. The royal family were the second most essential in the social class system …show more content…

This plague is known as The Black Death. The first recorded outbreak of the plague was in China, 1334. The disease gradually spread to Europe in 1347 due to infected rats, fleas that had the blood of infected animals in them and close trading with other countries. The disease was extremely contagious, so because of the close living conditions the disease spread even more rapidly. Because the plague was spreading fast, the residents thought they should wear masks that had a hollow nose filled with herbs because they believed if they breathed in herbs the diseases and bacteria wouldn’t affect them. But many people still died as a result to this plague, in fact between 1348 and 1350 almost 2/3 of the population of England died because of the diseases. After experiencing symptoms such as: fever, headaches and vomiting, you were most likely to die in a week. If the victim was lucky or rich, there would be bell to indicate that another person had passed but people who were poor and low in social status wouldn’t even get acknowledged. This plague had eventually died down but arose again from time to time until the 1600’s when a fire broke out in London; this fire is known as The Great Fire of London. The fire had started early morning on September 2, 1666 in the house of King Charles II. The fire had swiftly spread to the streets and other houses. Because most of house in the area were made of wood, the houses had disintegrated very quickly. Although the citizens had to rebuild the city again, the fire had killed all infected rats and fleas, therefore, making The Black Death plague stop spreading once and for

Show More
Related

  • Public Health in 1665

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    A law was made, saying that once someone was ill with the plague they were to stay in their house. Anyone who happened to live in the same house as the unfortunate soul was also locked in, with fear that they could spread the disease. Beggars were not allowed to wonder the streets at anytime, and were executed immediately for doing so without a given reason. All of these, although sensible ideas (apart from the execution..) would not contribute towards public health, as the disease was not contagious in the human community. It was in fact passed on from fleas living on black rats, but this knowledge had not yet been developed.

    Read More

  • 14th Century Outbreak of the Black Plague

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Bubonic Plague Dbq

    1820 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague and Bubonic Plague, was a catastrophic plague that started out in Asia and began to spread into Europe. In the span of three years, the Black Death killed about one third of all the people in Europe. The plague started out in the Gobi Dessert in Mongolia during the 1320’s. From the desert the plague began to spread outwards in all directions. China was among the first to suffer from the plague in the early 1330s before the plague hit Europe.

    Read More

  • The Black Plague In 15th Century England

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin, in the early 15th century England was still healing the problem of the black plague. The plague took an estimated seventy five million lives all around Europe and the Mediterranean ("History.com"). The death rate from the plague was so high because of how fast it could kill and how easily transmitted it

    Read More

  • Social Studies: Medieval Times

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social studies are usually a subject students find boring. The lesson created is meant to get every student excited and wanting to learn more. This lesson plan is about the Middle Ages or the Medieval Times. This was a time where things were different. People dressed and spoke in a different way. There were lords, ladies, and knights; castles, moats, and fighting. What student could be bored learning about this era?

    Read More

  • Medieval Christian Europe

    2215 Words  | 5 Pages

    With the decline of the Western Roman empire Western Europe was a disjointed land that had no true unifying structure till the rise of Christianity. In Roman antiquity people used the State or empire of Rome to define themselves and give them a sense of unity despite having a diverse group of people within the empire. When Western Rome fell this belief based on a Roman cultural identity disappeared and no longer were people able to identify themselves with any particular group as they once have. The Christian religion was able to fill this vacuum by having the people associate themselves to a religion instead of a given state or cultural group. During Medieval Europe Christianity became the unifying force that would define what it meant to be European. Christianity gave political leaders legitimacy by showing that they have been favored by the gods. The clergyman that recorded the histories surrounding the kings of the Medieval Europe also provided a link to the Roman Empire to give the Kings a link to Roman empire of antiquity. Christianity became the center of the cultural life in western Europe and created a new social elite in Europe which would dominate literacy and knowledge within Europe for centuries. Christianity provided Europe with an escape from the disorder of the Medieval ages and give them a spiritual outlet for their fears and desires for a better life, whether in the physical life or in the spiritual world after death.

    Read More

  • Medieval Europe

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Medieval Times for Europe, from the 400 AD till 1400 AD, are often labeled as “The Dark Ages”. This time period has begun after a turning point known as Fall of Rome. It caused Rome to divide into two well-known civilizations: Medieval Europe, Islam, and The Byzantine Empire. Also, Medieval Europe led to a well known utopian period of “rebirth” identified as the Renaissance. The time period between 400 CE and 1400 CE wasn’t a “Dark Age” for Europe because of progress in academic success, blossom in architecture, and religious unity along with government. It wasn’t a cultural decay or decline because of the legendary time period it led to.

    Read More

  • Dark Ages Dbq

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    It spread throughout Europe very quickly and lasted from 1347-1353 A.D. It was thought that the disease had first originated from rats carrying fleas with the plague that came to Europe by ship. Anyone who caught the disease would first form buboes under their armpits or in the groin area, followed by fever, chills, and general muscle aches, and then internal bleeding which formed the black spots or boils under the skin. Other symptoms included a foul odor of all body fluids and the rotting of flesh at the fingers, toes, and nose. It was spread mostly by coughing and sneezing and whoever caught it would die in three to four days. There was more than one type of plagues of the Black death such as the septicemic plague and the pneumonic plague. The pneumonic caused sever chest pain, heavy sweating, coughing up blood, not many buboes formed but the person died in one or two days. On the other hand, the septicemic plague killed people too quickly in less than eight hours. All these plagues ended up killing over 25 million people in just under five

    Read More

  • The Plague - The Black Death

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    The plague was spread by fleas, which were not effected by the disease. Fleas first infected the rats, which lived off garbage and sewage. The rats then spread the infection to the humans. Rats were a common sight in the cities, due to the poor sanitary conditions, so no one suspected them (www.tartans.com). In the winter the plague seemed to disappear, but only because fleas were dormant then. Each spring, the plague attacked again, killing new victims (www.byu.edu). The effects of the plague were devastating. After just five years, twenty-five million people were dead - one third of Europe's population. Once people were infected they infected others very rapidly. As a result, in order to avoid the disease, many fled to the countryside where the lower population density helped to decrease the speed at which the disease spread (www.tartans.com). From a person's time of infection to his or her death was less than one week (www.home.nycap.rr.com). The plague became known as "The Black Death" because of the discoloration of the skin and black enlarged lymph nodes that appeared on the second day of contracting the disease. The term "The Black Death" was not invented until after 1800. Contemporaries called it "the pestilence" (Cantor 7).

    Read More

  • Black Death

    586 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Black Death started in China in 1331; it was then carried across the Asian caravan to southern Russia on merchant ships. In 1347, ships brought it to Italy. It then steadily spread throughout the rest of Europe. The bacteria,Yersinia Pestis, that caused the disease was carried in the stomach of a flea that lived on black rats or other small rodents. The Black Death is formally known as the Bubonic Plague, although there was three more variations of the Black Death, the Bubonic was the most prominent during these times. The living conditions of this time made it perfect breeding grounds for the rats, the streets were narrow, and filled with garbage, mud and human excrement. There was also a shortage in housing, causing six to eight people sleeping in one bed; this was a true fact for aristocratic families too. Personal hygiene was a problem too, water was contaminated so few people bathed, these conditions led to people being sick many having diarrhea which lowered people’s resistance to the disease.

    Read More

  • Medicine in the Middle Ages

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the 14th century most of Europe was struck by a devastating disease called the Black Death, or bubonic plague. This disease was carried by flees which lived on rats. When the rats died, the flees jumped onto humans and spread the disease. Even though the Black Death was controlled in Europe by 1351, it came back regularly over the next 150 years.

    Read More

  • Black Death Dbq

    1781 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Women in the Medieval Society

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    Understanding the way women both were controllers of and controlled by social, political and cultural forces in the medieval period is a complex matter. This is due to a number of factors- the lack of documentation of medieval women, high numbers of illiteracy amongst women, especially lower class, medieval sources being viewed through a contemporary lens and the actual limitations and expectations placed upon women during the period, to name a few. The primary sources: The Treasure of The City of Ladies by Catherine of Siena and Peter of Blois’ letter to Eleanor of Aquitaine concerning her rebellion, highlight the restrictions women were expected to adhere to, and the subsequent reprimanding that occurred when they didn’t. Women were not passive victims to the blatant patriarchal standards that existed within medieval society, even though ultimately they would be vilified for rebelling.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On The Black Death

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was a bubonic plague that came from Asia and spread by black rats infested with fleas. The plague spread like a wildfire because people who lived in high populated areas were living very close to each other and had no idea what was the cause of the disease or how to cure it. The signs of the “inevitable death” where blood from the nose, fever, aching and swellings big as an “apple” in the groin or under the armpits. From there the disease spread through the body in different directions and soon after it changed into black spots that appeared on the arms and thighs. Due to the lack of medical knowledge, no doctors manage to find a remedy. Furthermore a large number of people without any kind of medical experience tried to help the sick but most of them failed “...there was now a multitude both of men and of women who practiced without having received the slightest tincture of medical science - and, being in ignorance of its source, failed to apply the proper remedies…” (Boccaccio). The plague was so deadly that it was enough for a person to get infected by only touching the close of the

    Read More

  • The Medieval Period

    1548 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Medieval Social System

Open Document