What becomes of the people who survive a major epidemic? The people who live through a large-scale plague are changed forever. The Black Death was an epidemic that caused mass devastation in the Middle Ages. The lower class saw a larger number of fatalities which greatly affected the way they lived their lives. The lower class also saw their whole lifestyle change because of the Black Death. With all of the evidence provided, the Black Death impacted the lives of the lower class more than the upper class.
No one would have ever guessed the devastation that a few ships could have brought. The Black Death was a horrible illness that killed many people throughout Europe. According to History.com, the plague arrived in Europe in 1347 on ships.
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The higher number of fatalities could have made families lose their source of income because the person in the family that worked may have died. This would lead the family into a financial crisis because they no longer had money coming into the household. This instance could hold true for any member of the household. If the mother died, there would not be a person to care for the children and cook meals for the children. If the father died, there would be no one in the family to work and take care of the home. This problem greatly affected the peasant class and led to more changes in their life. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, after the Black Death, the jobs that the lower class usually worked were in high demand. This was because so many people died from the plague and employers lost many farm hands. To try to get the help they needed, some landowners started to offer higher wages for peasants (The Finer Times). The peasants knew that employers needed their help, so they were able to make different demands like higher wages. The lower class workers started to travel around to find the best offers for their services. It was the first time in their life that peasants had some power of their own. This power came from the aftermath of the Black Death. The aftermath of the plague affected the lower class by allowing them to start a better life for themselves. Their
The Black Plague was a dreadful event that caused suffering in Europe, however it was also a wake up call for humanity. Many people believed that the pandemic was because the gods were angry at humanity for… some reason? After the bodies piled up on the street and pits were made to put them in instead of graves people wondered if the gods really cared about them. Another thing the black plague caused is a new class which was the middle class. Serfs and peasants were dying and the demand for them increased to a colossal extent. There was literally a law that had to be made saying basically you had to be part of a landlord's
The triggered movement of the black death spread from Asia to Europe and then the Middle East not only affecting the peasants and other lower class people but the middle and higher class, soon later destroying parts of the feudal system and leading into future generations of advanced inventions, science, and medical practices.
Reactions differed. Some escaped into alcohol, sex, and crime. Others, believing the Black Death to be a punishment from God, attempted to atone for their sins through self-inflicted pain. The Jews became scapegoats. People fled, carrying the plague with them. The resulting labor shortage could benefit peasants, although the demand for products was also reduced. When the ruling classes reduced wage rates there were peasant revolts. The ruling classes quelled the revolts, but social upheaval continued to plague the post-plague world.
i. After the Black Death had wiped out much of the population in Europe, the working class was left smaller. Too much surprise, the Black Death left Europe in the poor/peasant/ working class’ favor. Before the plague, working conditions were poor, and wages were low. With the working class expanding in Europe, it was easy for land owners to find servants and pay them very little. After the plague however, it became increasingly hard to find laborers.
After the Black Death, many farmers were killed off leaving the few left as a large pillar of the economy who thrived due to the supply and demand of their crops (Notes). Also the few peasants and people who were homeless before the plague were able to come back to their city, welcomed with many vacant houses that still had valuables and goods from the previous owner (Doc 1). Because of the better economy the manorial system was left behind as many of the serfs and laborers either demanded better pay or left for the many open jobs in towns
Significant events cause society to change in many ways and the Black Death was no exception. The Black Death raged through Europe from 1347 to 1351 killing over 25 million people, almost 50% of the population at the time . The Black Death influenced European society in numerous ways, which have changed the future we currently live in. The Black Death led to medical advancements, weakening in the power of the church and the refining of the feudal system. The Black Death was a time of death and destruction however changes happening at the time benefitted society and led to an age of happiness and prosperity.
In the mid 1300’s the Black Plague (Black Death) made its way into Europe. The plague had social impacts, economic impacts, and political impacts. The plague affected everybody's life regardless where you were on the social ladder. Everybody who got the disease was dead in three to five days. The few years the plague was in Europe it was affecting them 150 years later.
The Black Plague, also known as the Black Death was a deadly epidemic in human history. The Black Plague wiped out between one third and one half of the european population (Keating 30). Coming from a trade ship in Europe in 1347, the Black Plague was a horrible contagious disease that spread like wildfire through egypt. The Black plague not only caused great death, but it also changed the way people looked at health and medicine. Not only did the Black Plague change health and medicine, but it also changed how people thought how religion was related to their lives.
However, on the other hand, the effects of the Plague are not simply just good and many scholars have criticized the focus of research on the benefits while ignoring the negative effects and disproportionality of the economic gains. For example, while it has been shown that real wages rose after the plague, wage jobs were still very irregular and often part-time. Studies from France have shown that many peasants did not hold more land than they did before the Plague and the redistribution of wealth after the plague was very uneven. Additionally, partially the economic growth that was seen after the plague was also caused because of the huge population decay. The mortality rate of the Plague was much higher for lower classes than elites.
The Black Death was a disease that wiped out nearly one-third of Europe’s population and threw the world into chaos. The disease was highly contagious and affected the way people lived for a very long time. When the Black Death struck Europe daily life was forever changed because the disease led to the killing of millions of Jews, peasant revolts, wars and chaos, the economy and its systems were severely damaged, and many people changed their views and opinions about many religions.
The many lawmakers died leaving lawbreakers to go unpunished. Society needed many services to be preformed. “At this moment of crisis, if you survived the Black Plague and you were able body, you might have been put to work. Work opportunities were made available to anyone who was alive and could work. Despite any attempt to keep the economy in order supply and demand took over. Wages in the towns soared to two even three times the level they had held in the crowded thirteenth century,” (Herlihy, 48). The poor people started to go from town to town looking to make the most money. “The people who could work changed there tone and wanted money instead of food and shelter. The poor liked the fact that they were getting more money but the enjoyed the great gain on being able to buy more land. How numerous were the famous families, the vast estates, the notable fortunes, that were seen to be left without a rightful successor!”(Boccaccio, 13). Two things were needed to be more economically efficient and that was consumption reduction and production increase. In order to raise production, people would have to get and cultivate more affordable land. With population reduction and higher wages, new agricultural technique needed to be put in place. The new agricultural allowed those that could afford to rent the land a new investment in livestock. In spite of the many new accomplishments the people still want to be more efficient because of the better
The Black Death was devastating and was one of the most significant events in Medieval Britain. The Black Death was also known the plague and bubonic plague it describes the spread of disease that caused mass deaths throughout Britain. The disease itself was carried by fleas and spread across Europe between 1346-1353 leaving towns and city such as Siena Italy with 85% of the population wiped out. This was seen all over Europe including Britain and it can be argued economic factors was the most significant consequences of the Black Death. However there are many factors such as political, social factors and Mortality rates that were also results of the Black Death and perhaps social factors may be more significant.
The Black Death affected the European economy in a positive way. The biggest change, good for peasants, was the end of Feudalism. Feudalism is a social triangle that decided who obeyed who and many other unfair standards for all Serfs, the base of the pyramid. Due to the huge population deficit, Serfs were scarce and “Barons were now willing to pay higher wages and offer extra benefits. All their life they had lived off the serfs’ hard work, and were willing to pay them to stay on the manor to continue slaving for them” (Vunguyen). This gave the Serfs more power to ask for higher wages and the freedom to find more work if they do not get what they want. Serfs, or peasants, “began
"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.
As previously mentioned, financial distinctions faded as a consequence of the plague. The peasant class benefited the most from the economy's sudden inflation, after the Black Death. Peasants found a new rise in wages due to the higher demand for workers. Serfs gained more freedom as they weren't "tied to