The Positive and Negative Effects of the Great Famine and Black Death Regarding the Peasantry.
Life in Europe during the timeframe of ca. 1300 to ca. 1500 consisted of famine, plagues, and economic abundance. These trials and tribulation directly affected the individuals in the lower class of society, otherwise known as peasants. Peasants were directly affected by the Great Famine of the 1300’s, the Black Death of the mid 1300’s, and the positive and negative effects of the economic variances due to these maladies. In this essay, I will exhibit how the positive and negative effects of the Great Famine and Black Death affected the peasants during the time of ca. 1300 to ca. 1500. This demonstration will be displayed by presenting how the Great Famine attributed to the loss of 5-10% of Europe’s population, how the Black Death caused the death of up to 33% of Europe’s population, and finally demonstrate how the Black Death led to more freedom and economic prosperity for many of the surviving peasants.
By the thirteenth century, Europe’s populace had extended to its
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From 1347-1352 a new disease ravaged Europe with a vicious vengeance “Historians later named this calamitous disease the Black Death.” The Black Death may have originated in the east and traveled through the black sea towards Western Europe. “A Byzantine scholar Nicephorus Gregoras called the Black Death a “pestilential disease.” The symptoms of the Black Death included bleeding ulcerations, tumorous growths at the thighs and arm, acute fever, and eventually a horrible death. The disease originated in Manchuria (Asia) and traveled through the Silk Road carried by fleas living on the back of rats. Once the disease made its way through the black sea it spread through the “Middle East, North Africa, and finally through Europe.” The Black Death reappeared each ten to twelve years during the fourteenth
The Black Death struck Europe in a time of great despair. "Although a `Great Famine' struck northern Europe between 1315 and 1322, nothing prepared Europeans for the horrendous onslaught of the Black Death" (Aberth, 2). The famine had caused a massive hunger shortage from which Europe had yet to recove...
"From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages." Medievalists.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.
In 1347, Europe began to perceive what the Plague had in store. Terrible outcomes arose when the citizens caught the Plague from fleas. The transfer of fleas to humans caused the outbreak of the Black Death. Infections that rodents caught were passed on to fleas, which would find a host to bite, spreading the terrible disease (“Plague the Black Death” n.pag.). When Genoese ships arrived back to Europe from China, with dead sailors and...
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, 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.
No other epidemic reaches the level of the Black Death which took place from 1348 to 1350. The epidemic, better regarded as a pandemic, shook Europe, Asia, and North Africa; therefore it deems as the one of the most devastating events in world history. In The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350, John Aberth, compiles primary sources in order to examine the origins and outcomes of this deadly disease. The author, a history professor and associate academic dean at Vermont’s Castleton State College, specializes in medieval history and the Black Death. He wrote the book in order to provide multiple perspectives of the plague’s impact. Primarily, pathogens started the whole phenomenon; however, geological, economic, and social conditions
Between 1339 and 1351a.d, a pandemic of plague called the Black Death, traveled from China to Europe affecting the importance of cities, creating economic and demographic crises, as well as political dislocation and realignment, and bringing about powerful new currents in culture and religion.
Without a doubt, a peasant's life during the Medieval period was challenging and devastating. Every moment of their lives consisted of non-stop work. Although assiduous, peasant's were never fully appreciated for their hard work and still had trouble supporting their families due to the high taxes. Consequently, they situated in flimsy and dirty homes. All in all, the lives of these peasants were not only harsh, but also
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.
It was around the 1339 CE when the pandemic broke out. Death’s scythe swept across Europe, only missing a few servants and nobles. The foundations of middle aged life collapsed, it was time when Europe changed. This would be well known as the Black Death or the Bubonic Plague.
Sweeping through Western Europe during the fourteenth century, the Bubonic Plague wiped out nearly one third of the population and did not regard: status, age or even gender. All of this occurred as a result of a single fleabite. Bubonic Plague also known as Black Death started in Asia and traveled to Europe by ships. The Plague was thought to be spread by the dominating empire during this time, the Mongolian Empire, along the Silk Road. The Bubonic Plague was an infectious disease spread by fleas living on rats, which can be easily, be attached to traveler to be later spread to a city or region. Many factors like depopulation, decreasing trade, and huge shifts in migrations occurred during the Bubonic Plague. During Bubonic Plague there were also many different beliefs and concerns, which include fear, exploitation, religious and supernatural superstition, and a change of response from the fifteenth to eighteen century.
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.
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.
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