Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
the social and economic effects of the plague in medieval times
the social and economic effects of the plague in medieval times
the effects the bubonic plague had on europe and the muslim world
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Bubonic Plague, known more commonly as the Black Death, was a fatal disease that ravaged Asia and Europe during the mid-14th century. Although the destruction the Plague brought upon Europe in terms of deaths was enormous, the Islamic world arguably suffered more due to the fact that plague epidemics continually returned to the Islamic world up until the 19th century. The recurrence of the disease caused Muslim populations to never recover from the losses suffered and a resulting demographic shift that arguably helped Europe to surpass the Islamic world's previous superiority in scholarship. 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 ... ... middle of paper ... ...rough Muslim ports. This in turn led only rise of prices at local marketplaces. Finally, the constant migration of unskilled laborers to urban environments during the Plague simply meant that their earnings would continue to be depressed and their standard of living lowered. Simply put, the Black Death economically devastated Islamic societies, some to the point of no return. The Black Death and subsequent medieval plagues devastated Islamic societies. The Muslim world was hit harder more than most European societies due to the recurrence of plague epidemics in the Islamic world up until the 19th century. This continual resurgence of deadly disease triggered a collapse in Muslim societies that was never truly recovered from. The resulting economic and social changes debatably assisted Europe in surpassing the Islamic world's previous superiority in many subjects.
The effects of the Black Death on Medieval Europe were that the economy fell, faith in religion decreased, and the demand for labor was high. The Black Death was a deadly disease that devastated Medieval Europe. This bubonic plague killed 1/3 of the European population, crippling the economy and faith in religion.
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.
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.
Christian and Muslim responses were vastly different on the bubonic plague based on what people thought caused it, prevention methods, and viewpoints. And with common knowledge of the religions’s relationship with each other today, it is easy to see how the responses would be different. The biggest difference has to do with perspective from citizens. These religions saw different things and got different feelings towards all the fatalities and infection that surrounded them.Christians got hit very hard by the effects of the plague emotionally and physically while Muslims seemed to handle the plague fairly well emotionally, however, the mortality rate in either place was still high and around the same percentage. Not saying that Muslims did not suffer from the plague, just about anybody that watches people they love die in any way, mourn and feel pain from it.
The Black Death is considered to be "the most severe epidemic in human history" that decimated Europe from 1347 to 1351 (Witowski). Not only did the Black Death depopulate Europe, but it also had long lasting social and economic effects as well. The social effects consisting of culture, morals, values, and social norms. The economic effects consisting of labor, payment, and the foundation of feudalism. However one would call it, the Bubonic plague, the resulting Pneumonic plague or the Pestilence, the disease scarred the social and pecuniary foundations of specifically the European Middle Ages and some of the impacts even carrying forth into further generations.
In the 1300’s, there was an outbreak of a disease known as the Black Death that engulfed all of Europe. This sickness, also know as the Bubonic Plague, rampaged throughout Europe killing over a third of the population. A bacteria known as Yersinia pestis caused the disease. The bacteria, originating in fleas, spread to rats and then to people. Black Death was spread from trade throughout Europe. The large cities were affected first, and then it spread to the less dense and populated surrounding areas. The mortality rate in large cities was near fifty percent of the population, while in more rural areas the rate was lower. This lasting effects of this disease changed Europe both socially and economically. The bubonic plague triggered a loss of faith and generated negative feelings towards the church, but positively affected the masses by creating opportunities that they didn’t have in the past.
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
The Black Death had several consequences, that included cultural, religious and economic impacts, these impacts were both good and bad. Although the Mongol Invasion had demolished governments through violence wherever they went, they would also reestablish cultural and political systems through a well-established trade network. This network would eclipse the violence demonstrated by the Mongols, it would unleash death and destruction of the Black plague. The disease would use the Mongols armies and trade network as a vehicle to spread throughout Afro-Asia, resulting in horrific devastation. The trading posts would be filled with corpses and those near death would slow or halt the trading. The black plague would eventually kill over 25 million
In 1346, the second and most devastating case of Bubonic plague erupted. (Janis 1) This specific case of plague originated in Kaffa, a cathedral town on the Crimean Coast and spread to China then quickly westward to India. Soon traders from India sailed to Europe and infected almost the entire continent. (Ziegler 121) This case was the most famous because of the large number of deaths affiliated with its outbreak. An estimated twenty five million people, one third of Europe’s population, perished during the plague’s four years of existence. (Janis 1) Government, trade, and commerce in Europe almost came to a halt. The Black Death caused the depopulation of about 1,000 villages in England. (Janis 2) In one case, in Alexandria, Egypt, the first two weeks of the plague 100-200 people died each day. Soon after, as many as 2,000 people died each day and the number increased each week. During this time, the Roman Catholic Church lost some influence on its people.
"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.
In the years 1331 to 1350 all of Europe broke out in an epidemic, called the Black Death. This terrible sickness murdered about one third of all the people in Europe, it spread, and killed quickly. People’s lives were changed drastically; they were scared to go outside in fear of catching the gross disease. The Black Death spread rapidly through Europe having significant impacts on society.
...ble ways to prevent getting the disease. As the seriousness of the Black Death progressed, Europeans became angry, blaming Jews for causing the illness, and acted upon it by burning them. The empires of Islam tried to figure out the causes and ways to prevent the plague from spreading.
One of the most devastating event in human history, the Bubonic Plague or more commonly known as the Black Death is a deadly disease that killed half of the world’s population spreading from China to Europe from 1347 through 1353. “Civilization both in the East and the West was visited by a destructive plague which devastated nations and caused populations to vanish…. The entire inhabited world changed.” Ibn Khaldun, a Muslim historian and how he described the plague. Although infected with the same illness, the East and the West had a different perspective towards the disease, but how different were the East and West response towards the disease?
...nd quality of life began to improve. Consequently, the Black Death helped to eliminate serfdom in Europe. Which would contribute towards the collapse of the feudal system and change the face of the Europe’s economy.
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.