The Late Middle Ages of Europe

Chapter 12: Crisis of the Later Middle Ages

What were the causes of the population decline that began in the early 14th century?

The significant population decline that began in the early 14th-century was caused primarily by “Great Famine,” and The Black Death. Beginning in 1315, the Great Famine brought seven years of starvation and vulnerability for Northern Europe. The winter of 1315 was said to be a “little ice age,” which evidently lead to crops dying off. Crops and grain were the main food source, therefore, Europeans struggled to find substitutions for food which physically effected them especially in the cold winter months. The Black Death launched at an ailing time for Europe because of the Great Famine which made the plague even more disastrous. Rats and fleas started the plague by traveling from region to region spreading its deadly disease by cause of ships. The disease was momentous because the pathogen was passed through coughing and sneezing.

What was the source of the bubonic plague and why did it spread so rapidly in Europe?

The source of the bubonic plague was primarily rats and eventually fleas. Venetian and Genoese merchant ships believed that sailing in search of food was beneficial to Europe’s starving times, however it backfired. Rats traveled in cargo on ships that eventually reached a large spectrum of Europe. Fleas would inject the bacterial disease into rats. As the rats died off their next host was humans. The Bubonic plague, also known as Black Death, spread so rapidly throughout Europe mainly because the pathogen was passed through the simple action of coughing, sneezing, talking etc.

What impact did the plague have on wages and the demand for labor? What happened to land valu...

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.... Men enjoyed this atmosphere because it allowed them to bond through their many resentments of the economy.

Describe and explain the increase in ethnic-racial tensions in the frontier areas of Europe in the late Middle Ages.

In the 12th and 13th century migration was popular in Europe which caused colonization of frontier countries, this meant that different ethnicities had families and shared lives together. Many different races liked one another except English and Irish. In the 14th-century the economy crashed creating more hatred throughout ethnicities because of the competition for jobs. The purity of blood was extremely important when looking for a job hence the Statute of Kilkenny stating that the English and Irish couldn’t marry, ensuring more racial purity. With more immigration came a wider variety of vernacular literature throughout Europe.