The Plague Small pox. Tuberculosis. AIDS. These diseases have been considered epidemics at various points throughout the history of the world. None of them, however, had such an impact on the population and culture of the people than did the Black Death. The Black Death was a disease that invaded England in the middle of the fourteenth century. Reports on the total amount deceased have varied from between twenty-five percent and fifty percent of the European population. However, it is known that many millions of people were eliminated from the English population, and that the Black Death was a catalyst for social change within Europe. The culture and lives of all people rich and poor was changed forever due to the effects of the Black Death. First, the Black Death had a great effect on the upper class in England. This disease did not discriminate. A rich man when put into contact with the disease was just as likely to acquire the disease as was a poor man. The epidemic changed many common practices in England that no man had ever been able to control before the disease. One effect the Black Death had on England’s upper class was that it reduced the number of members significantly. When the deadly disease struck landowners and their families, their lands would pass to the closest family member. This practice was very common and caused the estates of the surviving landowners to become very large. So, the Black Death shrunk the upper class and made it wealthier at the same time. Though the disease made the upper class wealthier in lands, working the lands became less profitable. Because the population of the people paid to work the land was also reduced by twenty-five to fifty percent, there were fewer people to work the land. This occurrence promoted higher wages from the worker and less total profit for the landowner. The Black Death also had an impact on the lives of the lower class and the commoners. The effects of the disease were not all negative. In some ways, the disease actually improved the quality of life for the common person in England. One way that the Black Death improved life was by raising the wages paid to the people who worked the land.
In the midst of the chaos it created, the Black Death weakened the archaic system of manorialism by causing an increase in the incomes of peasants. Manorialism was an economic system where a large class of serfs worked in the fields of the nobles in exchange for a small share of the crops. Due to the outbreak of the plague, however, there were not enough serfs for this approach to remain viable. The death of many serfs due to the Black Death meant that the ones who remained were able to ask for larger shares of the crops since their services were rare and thus more valuable. Further adding to the increase, many peasants whose requests were denied would often s...
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.
1. The contrast between Cottard and the other characters is that while everyone else is in constant fear of catching the plague and doing everything they can to fight the disease, Cottard is cheerful in the fact that the plague has put a stop to the police investigating his mysterious crime . Cottard probably also enjoys the camaraderie of everyone else finally being in the same position as he is.
If there is one part of life that humans have trouble overcoming it is natural disasters. They are unexpected, incurable, and often unconquerable. One specific type of natural disaster is that of sickness. Plagues are disastrous evil afflictions of an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality ( Merriam-Webster ). A historically famous plague in the fourteenth and fifteenth century is the Black or Bubonic Plague. The social and economic affects of the plague in Europe were detrimental to the population and economy.
"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.
The plague of the black death was a panic and disaster in Western Europe because it lead to the death of ⅓ of the population. Also, it greatly impacted trade and European economic success that had been flourishing until then. It quickly spread all over the continent,
The Black Death was a dark period of human history, approximately 60% of European died. Black Death also known as the bubonic plague, it happened during 1346-1353. The plague spread during the crusades along the ships, and it was originated from a mice from Asia. It is a irremediable disease. The plague made so many negative influence on society, as well as positive effects on human population, such as social, medical and economical effects.
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.
Because the Black Death killed so many people, peasants saw a rise in job opportunity, higher wages because of their value and free tools and resources. This is significant because it gave peasants much more power and helped them gain money and live more luxurious than before. It also made the population of landowners decrease. This was because some landowners couldn’t attract peasants to work on their land. They were forced to sell their land. Peasants became essential and really valuable. Although the Black Death massacred millions of people, it wasn’t all bad. Some of the surviving people, especially peasants, really benefitted from
Imagine living in a time filled with nothing but fear. The thing you fear cannot be touched or seen but will put you to a slow miserable death. In the 1300s people were struck with a great plague, which has now been named “The Black Death”. The Black Death killed off populations with just one sweep. Historians call this the biggest tragedy of all time. The question is what caused this plague and how does something like this happen? Overtime historians have boiled it down to 2 and some may say 3 explanations, which are religion, science, and humans. With the help of a book The Black Death by Rosemary Horrox I was able to find explanations of them all. Who may know which is the correct reason for such a thing but what your think caused it is for you to decide.
One of the most important results of the Black Death is the end of feudalism. The labor force was so low that workers could refuse to work, demand a wage, and the aristocrats had no choice but to listen. Peasant revolts in France and England also played an important role in the end of feudalism. The French government, in an attempt to pay ransom to England for the return of their king, spiked tax rates on the French residents. The peasants at the time felt that the government was weak, and the increased taxes infuriated them, resulting in a rebellion that came to be known as the Jacquerie. Similar events took place in England a generation later. In 1381, peasants rebelled against high tax rates and frozen wages by marching on London an...
During the Black Death, the Jewish mortality rate was significantly lower than others. They were accused of purposely spreading the plague and poisoning the waters from which the people drank. This accusation continued throughout the late Middle Ages, although the Jewish people were as innocent as the other Europeans. They probably were more clean and sanitary than others. The manor system, or feudalism, was very popular before the Black Death. Feudalism was a system of promises that governed the relationships between lords and vassals. A vassal was a knight who protected his lord in exchange for land. Since vassals had to farm their land in order to support himself, he allowed peasants to farm for him in exchange for food or other payment. Thus, a new system developed. Medieval lords or knights owned a manor, and the rest of the land were for the peasants and serfs, workers who were tied to the land they lived and farmed on. When the Black Death struck, the lords and knights who were still alive fled to the country. As a result, the remaining healthy peasants found that they did not have to work for their lord anymore. Also, there was a labor shortage, which meant that the peasants found their skills in high demand. When there is high demand and low supply, the prices rise. Suddenly, they can demand wages. As they grew richer, they left their manors and moved to growing cities in search of a more promising future. (Burstein and Shek, World History: Medieval to Modern Times). This helped in the development of the working class. The Black Death also had a major impact on medieval art and literature. Art in this time was morose and tragic. A widespread image was “the dance of death”, or the Dance Macabre, a depiction of skeletons dancing to randomly choose their next victim. (Wikipedia, Consequences of the Black Death). Another contribution the Black Death made was on
In order to learn how societies were impacted by the Black Death, it is significant to note the situation prior to the epidemic. Britain and France had been at war since 1337, by August 1347 France was devastated. Many of the French people were left without homes, food or livestock, they were about to face a harsh winter and were unsure if they had enough seeds to plant crops the following year. The climatic changes that occurred over Europe had drastic consequences for agriculture, resulting in malnutrition which pre-disposed the populaces to disease. Inflation increased and famine soon spread across Europe, resulting in many deaths. Around 1339, Europe’s population began to increase, this growth began to surpass the capacity of the land to feed its populace. Therefore a severe economic...
...g land now which boosted the wool and cotton industries. All the peasants on the outskirts of England soon moved into the city after the epidemic had swept. The serfs started to gain power because of all the people ahead of them on the feudal system that had died. This messed up the feudal order and lead to the final blow that destroyed feudalism.( http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/black-death.htm)