According to History.com the Bubonic plague killed 20 million people in Europe, which was 30% of the population! Many people in the middle ages were peasants, which were of the lowest class in feudalism. In the middle ages peasants had a tough life, and there were also many kinds like the fletcher, but they also had many activities and games that they could do for fun. In the medieval ages most people were peasants. They were of the lowest class in feudalism. They were very poor and had to give some of their money away for taxes as well. Peasants back then would wear very different clothes from today. Men would wear tunics and stockings, while women would wear long gowns, sleeveless tunics, and wimples to cover their hair. They didn’t have …show more content…
For example the Fletcher, or Bowyer. The fletcher did a very important job. He made crossbows, longbows, and arrows, as well as fletching the arrows (applying the feathers). This was very important because it provided a good way for the military to defend or attack from a distance. It could also be used for hunting to get food. Sometimes he also taught people how to use the bow, and what not to do. He might have also told them information like, firing distance, accuracy, and rate. His bows, and arrows were very big, and had good range. They were very hard to make because of their length and he had to get the string just right to have good firing distance. A medieval longbow was 6 feet long, and could shoot up to 700 feet. A crossbow had a span of 2 to 3 feet, and could shoot 1,300 feet. In wars, and battles crossbows were the most accurate, most powerful, and best for a long distance. When hitting armor it barely made a dent, but they would put fire, or venom on them to make them easier to kill with. Although if a man was unprotected he would easily die to an arrow …show more content…
One of the worst diseases in history struck England in 1348. It killed 1.5 million out of the 4 million estimated people in the area in a time period of two years. Sometimes smallpox also struck and killed up to thousands. Although, in happier times they also did fun things and played games. They would play chess together in their free time, and whenever there was one, they would go to fairs for entertainment. Peasants also had many children. Peasants usually had 5 to 10 children. Sadly not all of their children made it though. Usually unless you were a knight your children would do what you did for work. For example, peasants that worked on fields that had children also worked the fields. The children had to start work at a young age. At first they won’t be able to do much, so they will walk around the field picking up stones that can harm or break farming
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.
Change has always been a part of life. Certain periods of time have more changes than others, but change has always been a constant in history. Civilizations and leaders rise and fall, and when large civilizations, like Rome, fall, they usually take a large part of the world with it. After Rome fell, the western world as it was back then collapsed and entered into what is known now as the Middle Ages.
peasants were serfs. Serfs were seen as property. When the land they worked on was sold, they
The high middle ages from the eleventh to the fourteenth century saw the reemergence of urban life, the revival of long distance commerce, innovation, maturation of manorial agriculture, and a burgeoning population. Consequently, the fourteenth century spawned war, famine, disease and economic decay, leading to what many historians believe to be the end of the Middle Ages. Although there were many contributing factors such as famine, collapsing institutions and war. Many historians believe the arrival of the Black Death to England in 1348 was the final straw, and the most impactful agent of change in that area. In a letter to his brother, Petrarch wrote, “When has any such thing been even heard or seen; in what annals has it ever been read that houses were left vacant, cities deserted, the country neglected, the fields too small for the dead and a fearful and universal solitude over the whole earth?” The crowded, bustling city of London had poor sanitation and filthy living conditions, which led to a rapid spread of the disease to the rest of England. The plague did not discriminate, as it knocked down anyone in its path, but it affected the oldest, the youngest and the poorest most dramatically as it wiped out an estimated thirty to forty percent of England. Many will argue that due to a lack of key pieces of information and being surrounded by other factors such as the Great Famine and the Hundred Years War, it is hard to be certain on the level of impact the plague had as a standalone catastrophe, but there is enough evidence to realize it played a significant role in shaping the landscape of England’s economy. The depopulation of England is a factor around every economic effect either directly or indirectly. The two la...
Life in medieval Europe can be characterized by sameness. That is, relative to the life expectancy of a human being, little changed from year to year. Granted, there were periods of war and civil unrest, but the society as a whole remained unchanged. If a person was born into a poor family, then he or she would remain poor with virtually no exceptions. Society was regimented from top to bottom with predetermined social status, and no room for the ambitious.
In order to discuss and understand peasant revolts, the peasant’s lives and their dwellings must first be understood to show how life was from their perspective. As mentioned earlier, the daily lives of these peasants were filled with physical labour on the farm. Life on the farm meant that life revolved around the seasons. A bad summer crop meant that there would be food shortages in the winter. Houses were very simple, with minimal amounts of furniture. The houses themselves were usually made out of stone, and had straw roofs. Mattresses for beds was made from straw, if at all, as some houses were recorded having beds with no mattresses. It has also been noted that out of all furniture found in a sixteenth and seventeenth century French farmer dwelling, chairs were seldom found .
Long distance weapons were essential to European combat. The main long distance weapons used by Europeans during that time were the longbow and the crossbow. Each form of weaponry had its unique advantages and their pejorative. The long bow (shown in figure 1) was the original form of distance weapons. The term ‘bow’ means to be made from wood, iron or steel. The Welsh, who inhabited England, were the first people to use longbows. Longbows were 6-7 feet long and had a range of 250 yards, and still had the ability to pierce a knight’s armor (Byam 12). A well trained archer could shot 10- 12 arrows in a single minute. Despite these pro’s the longbow had a lot of disadvantages as well. One draw back was only skilled archers, who were costly to train, could use a longbow. Another disadvantage was it didn’t have a ready loaded arrow (Edge 34). The crossbow (shown in figure 2) on the other had been emphatically different. The crossbow had a span of 2-3 feet and could kill a knight on horseback with one shot, because of good aim (Byam 30). Crossbows had ready loaded projectiles, while the longbow didn’t and the crossbow could be used by anyone since it didn’t require any skill. The crossbow did have a down side though, it had slow reloaded because of a crank and it was expensive. Crossbows were also used for other thi...
Europe’s social structure in the Middle Ages consisted of feudalism. A hierarchical society of Kings granting land to nobles, who would then give a fief to a knight in return for service. The knight would then have peasants or serfs working on their fief. However, as the plague spread, many peasants died and their labour could not be replaced. This loss of workforce had a significant impact upon the economy as grain was not being harvested and livestock roamed free. The agrarian economy had been severely damaged, the land became uncultivated and returned back to its natural state. This rural collapse eventually led to food shortages in towns and cities.
Many things effected society in Medieval Europe, some having a more profound effect than others. Europe in the Middles ages was a time of learning and of cultural growth, but it was also a time of more serious things such as the Black Death. The way Europe coped with these unforeseen challenges, helped shape their society and culture, and we still learn about them today.
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
The plough was used to dig farther into the field so the serfs could plant seeds deeper into the ground. This was helpful because ploughs also turned over new soil that made it more fertile. The heavy plough is used to kill weeds by the processes of smothering them (Havlidis). Most of the tools used in the Middle Ages usually serve more than one purpose, and this is helpful towards the serfs because they don’t have to use multiple tools to do one job. The scythe was used to cut large amounts of grain in a simple motion. According to Havlidis, this tool, the scythe, made a serf’s life easier when it showed up in Europe (Havlidis). The scythe made the lives of serfs more productive because the motion that they used to harvest the grain was natural for the human body. They could harvest more in one day since they didn’t tire as quickly, and serfs could harvest the next day without being sore. The winnowing basket is another tool used in the Middle Ages. This tool was used to separate the husks of the grain from the seeds of the grain (Havlidis). Previously this separating process was
Living in England in the late sixteenth century, people were dependent on status and occupation; the rich lived luxuriously while the poor were subjected to low wages, scare resources, diseases, and famine. “The gap between the rich and the poor seems to have widened in the 1570s and 1580s; wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of the few, and many people can’t even find a job” (Papp and Kirkland 4). Agriculture was the most important industry in the Elizabethan economy. The majority of people in the 16th century lived in the country, and were dependent on harvest and farming. Men were farmers and women were subjected to household duties such as domestic work and spinning wool to make clothing. As a farmer men were responsible for the fieldwork, plowing, weeding, mowing, herding animals, and harvesting agricultural products. People were financially deprived despite their occupation in farming and spinning; income was at its lowest:
The feudal society was structured by a hierarchy. They were usually differentiated between four different groups. There was the kings, lords, knights, then lastly peasants and serfs. Once you were born into that class, you generally stayed there your entire life. It did not matter if you worked hard, followed all of the rules, or had great manners, you stayed into the class you were born in. You did not have many choices, pretty much everything was decided for you. For example, your clothing, food, marriage, homes, etc.
at that time, were considered a lower class so they did not live the luxury life. They ate a lot of things that were made out of rye grain. A popular food at that time that people ate was pottage made of peas, beans, onions and other food from their gardens. The only sweet food that they would eat was nuts, honey and fruit. Some of the lower class people owned a pig but they did not have enough money to kill it. Others would hunt a rabbit or hare but they could get in trouble by their king or lord. Homes in the medieval ages were typically cold, damp and dark. At times the house could be even colder inside than it was outside. The windows were very small so that the person could see out of it but nobody could see in. They had a thatched roof and could easily be destroyed. Only the very wealthy lived for a while because there houses were made out of stone opposed to the lower classed people whose houses were made out of straw, sticks and mud. Clothing in the middle ages was similar to the food and houses, the higher the person is on the social pyramid the better food, houses and clothing you get. The lower class artist who were men would wear stockings and tunics. Women would wear sleeveless tunics and wimples to cover their hair. In the winter they would wear sheepskin cloaks, woolen hats and woolen mittens. Outer clothes were never really washed but the underwear was washed quite frequently. All of the clothing was homemade and the women spun wool in order to make the thread for the
Pestilence was a massive factor during these times,mostly because people had no idea what would make them sick and what wouldn't. The black death alone was so devastating, it was the main factor when between the years 1340-1450 the population decreased by over twenty million people. Thanks to the wars, diseases caused from all the dead killed more people because they didn't know how to safely dispose of them. Disease also caused advancements in the medical field to try to stop so many people from dying. Because all of the peasants were completely poor, they couldn't even afford the little medical treatment there was, and that spread sickness even more.