Why was the Plague so devastating to Europe during the 1300’s?
During this time, knowledge of human biology was extremely limited. This is partially due to a papal bull issued by Pope Boniface VIII that forbid the dissection of corpses. 10
Italy was hit particularly hard as it was a major center of trade and many things went in and out it was very susceptible to the plague. 3 Italy was also the thriving, prosperous center of trade and culture, and was hit pretty hard, losing 65,000 citizens due to many people coming in and out of the city for trade. Each cities connections in trade caused the disease to be quickly yet unintentionally spread.
The plague caused a labor shortage because many people died. So, people started demanding higher wages (which was strongly opposed by the guilds and nobles). When higher prices are demanded, revolt was put in their mind. These set the government officials off and they were either killed or left. These actions completely devastated the feudal system. Vassal was no longer subjected to lord because the lords were no longer providing for the vassal, but running for their lives from the plague, or dying. “Kings and dukes now had to bargain with their laborers over working conditions, and the under-classes were able to demand better compensation for their services.” 7
After the plague in the city of Halesowen, “82% of the plague-vacated holdings were taken up by new tenants within the year.” For those young, new people, the plague gave rise to opportunities to fit into the privileged tenant class. “However, the recurring outbreaks of the plague reminded survivors that all earthly delights will inevitably come to an end. Images in churches functioned to remind people of their own perishability.”...
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...ily during the Black Death coexist with populations today which exhibit lower rates of mortality from AIDS.” This means that certain people would be able to resists these small plagues if derived from the larger one, making it possible to be less harmed by the real one itself if it were to occur again. 7
SOURCES/ IN-NOTES:
1. http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/osheim/pistoia.html
2. Daily Life During the Black Plague- Joseph P. Byrne
3.http://historymedren.about.com/od/theblackdeath/ig/Spread-of-the-Black-Death/msItalyBD.htm
4. http://discovermagazine.com/2001/nov/featblack
5. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/lect/med25.html
6. http://www.auburn.edu/chaucer/plaguebackground.htm
7. http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/06PLAGUE.htm
8. http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/teaching-modules/167?section=introduction
9. http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture30b.html
Another piece of evidence to go along with it states,” Due to the shortage of workers all labor became very valuable and in-demand (Document 7).” The effects that the bubonic plague had on 14th Century Europe were that faith in religion had fallen, the demand for labor was high, and the economy had taken a toll. The Black Death devastated Medieval Europe, causing many uncontrollable effects, both good and bad. However, despite these effects, the European people were able to overcome this period of desolation, and move on with life.
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...
Before the Black Plague, living in Britain was interesting and positive but, was not always pleasant. It was too crowded and dirty, Britain was disgusting and unsanitary for the citizens for a long period of time, even before the disease spread to Europe (Ibeji n.pag.). Thus, Britain being so dirty, it was easier for this disease to spread. The citizens of Europe had no clue what was coming to disease them. Many people were not ready for the cultural changes of the disease and were shocked the disease even reached their towns.
" In less than four years the disease carved a path of death through Asia, Italy, France, North Africa, Spain and Normandy, made its way over the Alps into Switzerland, and continued eastward into Hungary" (Microsoft Bookshelf, page 1). After a brief respite, the plague resumed, crossing the channel into England, Scotland, and Ireland, and eventually made its way into the northern countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and even as far north as Greenland. In other words, the plague touched almost the entire known world. So much death could not help but tear economic and social structures apart.
The depopulation that followed after the plague is said to be the most obvious impact from the plague. J.F. Heckler suggests that the absolute minimum amount of European dead would have been 20 million (Wheeler). To put in a more perspective manner, it is stated that "between a third and a half of the population of Europe" alone perished from the disease (Batchelor 290). Heavily populated and crammed places like cities were the perfect breeding grounds for the pestilence. To illustrate how cities were devastated by the plague "the population of Florence, Italy, was reduced from 110,000 to around 50,000" (Batchelor). The loss of life was so immense that church cemeteries were unable to bury all the dead, thus mass burials had to be performed in dug trenches in the ground (Hall 210). The plaque took many families and it was not uncommon for the pestilence to have swallowed it in its entirety. Hall also recorded that extended families in Italy even as large as seventy members all perished from the disease (210). No one was spared from its hold, no matter how highly-affiliated, honorable, or wealthy the person was. For example, fifty of the most noble families in Venice during 1348 were wiped out
(SIP-A) The plague had many ways in spreading its disease making more and more people get sick very rapidly (STEWE-1) .The plague killed roughly half of the population of Europe, In crowded areas people could receive the Plague from fleas that had bitten wild black rats. Once transferred from flea to human it became fatal in days. (S3 27). (STEWE-2) In 1347 many sailors that were dying from the plague were on Italian merchant ships from the Black Sea, which is on the trade route between Europe and China. Within days the sailors on the ship had spread the plague from the port cities to the surrounding countryside, within a year the disease spread as far as England. (S14). (SIP-B) Because of the rapidly spreading disease the mortality rate and decrease of population was very high and greatly affected those who survived. (STEWE-1) Over half of the population had died and extremely quickly, there were so many bodies that there was no more room to bury them, the brutal depopulation is almost unimaginable for those who lived through such a painful time. (S1
An unknown eye witness accounts details of the immediate stress the plague brought to Europe. "Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them, the people quickly drove the Italians from their city. But the disease remained, and soon death was everywhere. Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying.
The Plague (French, La Peste) is a novel written by Albert Camus that is about an epidemic of bubonic plague. The Plague is set in a small Mediterranean town in North Africa called Oran. Dr. Bernard Rieux, one of the main characters, describes it as an ugly town. Oran’s inhabitants are boring people who appear to live, for the most part, habitual lives. The main focus of the town is money. “…everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits. Our citizens work hard, but solely with the object of getting rich. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, 'doing business’” (Camus 4). The citizens’ unawareness of life’s riches and pleasures show their susceptibility to the oncoming plague. They don’t bother themselves with matters not involving money. It is very easy for the reader to realize that they are too naive to combat the forthcoming calamity. The theme of not knowing life is more than work and habits will narrow the people’s chances of survival. Rieux explains that the town had a view of death as something that happens every day. He then explains that the town really doesn’t face towards the Mediterranean Sea. Actually it is almost impossible to see the sea from town. Oran is a town which seems to turn its back on life and freedom. The Plague was first published in 1948 in France. “Early readers were quick to note that it was in part an allegory of the German occupation of France from 1940 to 1944, which cut France off from the outside world; just as in the novel the town of Oran must close its gates to isolate the plague” (“The Plague” 202). When the plague first arrives, the residents are slow to realize the extreme danger they are in. Once they finally become aware of it...
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.
The plague played a large part in changing art, literature, as well as the economic situtation of Europe, changing much of the focus of literature of the time to the mass amounts of death happening constantly. Giving many Europeans a darker outlook of the world around themselves. However, the plague was not without its silver lining, following the plague those who survived benefited greatly as standards of living rose considerably as there were fewer people to take use up the already sparce resources. Due to the plague, more univesities open their doors to help assist with the plague, causing literacy rates to increase as well. While the plague did have a large impact, the great schism played a greater role in the Renaissance. The Great Schism
At this time however, cold weather and rains wiped out many crops creating a shortage of food for humans. Rats also went through this shortage in food. This made them “crowd in cities, providing an optimal environment for disease”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). Before the black death spread through Europe, sanitation wasn’t very good. Living conditions were bad so when the black death came to Europe, it spread more rapidly because people were not clean and healthy. Another reason the plague spread so fast was because the dead “bodies were piled up inside and outside city walls where they lay until mass graves could be dug”(Karin Lehnardt in 41 Catastrophic Facts about the Black Death). This made the air very polluted and contributed the spread of the epidemic. In total, the black death killed about thirty million people. This was about one-third the population of Europe. Some towns were completely wiped out. Because of this, medieval people thought everyone would eventually die, although we now know that some populations did survive. Also, because people were not being saved by the church, their beliefs were questioned. Less people dedicated their lives to the church because of this. Both the poor and the rich died but more than one-half the people dead were poor. This was also a result of poor sanitation and living conditions. The Black Death initiated in China in the early 1340’s
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.
This affected more than just Europe, it really hurt countries in the Middle East and China. The Black Death was spread by the Mongols and passed into Europe through black rats and fleas. Ships were known to arrive in Europe with many dead bodies and only rats living. Symptoms of the Black Death included puss filled abscesses that ended up turning your whole body black. It is believed that after receiving symptoms of the deadly disease people would only survive a few days. It was feared that the entire population would be wiped out by this devastating plague. People of this age believed the plague had meaning and was related to God, there were different perceptions of why the Bubonic plague happened, although some believed God caused it, others strongly believed that it was not possible for God to commit an act that would cause so many issues to the world and its society. The population that survived the Black Death were traumatized by the events and also affected negatively economically. An effect of the plague was a shortage of labor which caused a shortage of supply and increase in demand of workers and laborers. The whole of Europe had changed because of this event and things such as revolts. Protests, and up rise started to occur in cities all over Europe. The Black Death changed the attitudes and thinking of the people of Europe
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.
...lted in the decline of businesses. "The labor shortage was very severe and consequently wages rose. Because of the mortality, there was an oversupply of goods and prices dropped. Between the two trends, the standard of living rose, for those still living. Farms or entire villages died out or were abandoned as the few survivors decided not to stay on" (Knox). "The once positive outlook people had on the life of the thirteenth century had perished along with the many lives the plague took along with it" (Rowling, 188).