The Black Death As A Turning Point Essay

A plague is a bacterial infection that can take on more than one form. One of the greatest plagues that have stricken mankind throughout history was the Black Death. The Black Death was the outbreak of the bubonic plague that struck Europe and the Mediterranean area between 1347 and 1351. This plague was the most severe plague that hit the earth because of its origin (the spread), the symptoms, and the effects of the plague.

In the late Middle Ages the worst evil known to man terrorized Europe. People were dropping dead everywhere and there was no place to put them. This vicious culprit was known as the Black Plague. During the 14th century in Europe millions of people died from the plague and the plague brought about great change. Before the plague there was peace and prosperity in the High Middle Ages and after the plague things were different. Historians consider the outbreak of the Black Plague a watershed moment because of great social, religious and economical changes.

The Black Death, a fatal disease that struck Europe in the years 1344-52, is one of the factors that led to the Renaissance. It originated in the region between Black and Caspian seas. Nicephorus Gregorus, a Byzantine Scholar, describes its symptoms as “The prominent signs of this disease, signs indicating early death, were

To gain perspective on the level of economic change in England, it is important to note and understand the population trends, as it had a directly impacted all aspects of change in regards to the economic effects of the Black Plague. In simple terms, the number of people had a direct impact on the most basic categories of the economy: production and consumption. An expanding population is only possible if it has the economic resources to support it. It seems the Black Death’s impact on population levels actually created a silver lining based on the “Malthusian Theory” where English scholar Thomas Malthus claims, “[t]hat the superior power of population is repressed, and the actual population kept equal to the means of subsistence, by misery and vice.” As England was experiencing overpopulation, there was not enough agricultural production to support the masses, but as the force of the Black Death swept in and decimated the population, it left England with abundance of land and less people to support, resulting in a balance between agricultural productivity and consumption. Although the Black Plague created shock, panic and fear for a few years, this alteration in population left survivors with an optimistic outlook

The Black Death was an epidemic disease that was also known as the Bubonic Plague. It was one of the most tragic epidemics that has happened in the world. The Black Death hit England between the years of 1348-1350. This plague annihilated one third of its original population. Trading ships that came to England during this time were blamed for the spread of this disease. People believed that when trading ships left other countries that they would bring in infested rats that carried the disease. When the rats would come in contact with a person or bit a person is believed to be the reason on why the deadly virus spread so quickly. Also many thought that the plague was airborne; when they thought this was the cause of the spreading of the

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 Plague, also known as Black Death, the Great Mortality, and the Pestilence, is the name given to the plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351. It is said to be the greatest catastrophe experienced by the western world up to that time. In Medieval England, the Black Death killed 1.5 million people out of an estimated 4 million people between 1348 and 1350. There was no medical knowledge in England to cope with the disease. After 1350, it stroke England another six times by the end of the century.

During the period of 1348 to 1350 an epidemic disease by the name of the Black Death spread, killing more than half the population in Europe. The Black Death brought the medieval men and women to an apocalypse. People living in this time expected only death. Every graveyard was filled with the corpse of these victims. People believed the last judgment had come to the world and there was no hope of escaping it. People believed they were abandoned by God, and God was punishing them for their sins. From Italy to Ireland, Europe population decreased with the deaths of 20,000,000 people . Medicine or remedies could not aid the sick leaving them with hopelessness . Men started turning on each other forgetting about their morals, it was a breaking point of society. But even though some people did not survive , writers, doctors, priest left a unique description of that time. Their work left us a window to witness the death at that time. Despite of the catastrophe that was happening the continent did not go into a dark age after words. Their upcoming uprising was due to this horrific time of the Black Death.

“The Black Death” is a pretty historically accurate movie. The costumes in the movie, the plot of the movie, the cause of the Black Death, how the Black Death spread, how to cure the Black Death, what the Black Death looked like, some of the sets in the movie, and the origin of the Black Death were all depicted extremely accurately. However, some of the sets in “The Black Death” were not completely accurate. The movie “The Black Death” gives the viewer a great deal of accurate information about the Black Plague; however, there are a few historical inaccuracies as well.

The Black Death was one of the worst pandemics in history. The disease ravaged Europe, Western Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa between 1346 and 1353 (Horrox 1994). It is difficult to understand the reality of such a devastating event, especially given the fact that science during the middle ages was severely underdeveloped. No one knew about bacteria, viruses, or other microbial agents of disease (Benedictow 2004). They had no way of protecting themselves during that time and no one was safe from the effects of the plague. Those who wrote chronicles claimed that only a tenth of the population had survived, while others claimed that half to a third of the population was left alive (Horrox 1994). In 1351, agents for Pope Clement VI predicted the number of deaths in Europe to be 23,840,000 (Gottfried 1983). Obviously, not all regions experienced the same mortality rates, but modern estimates of the death rate in England give the first outbreak a mortality rate of about forty-eight percent (Horrox 1994). That is, England lost half of its population in about a year and a half. Clearly the chroniclers ' who claimed that ninety percent of the population had died were overstating the magnitude of the plague, but this overemphasis demonstrates how terrifying the pandemic was to those who experienced it (Horrox 1994). The Black Death had huge consequences on the lives of those who were impacted directly, as well as major religious and cultural effects that came afterward.

"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 Black Death resulted in the death of over 25 million people and one third of Europe’s people from 1347 to 1352. This disease originated in China in the early 1330’s and started to spread to Western Asia and Europe through trade. The bubonic plague, aka Black Death, affects rodents mostly but fleas can transmit disease to people. Once a one person is infected, it was easily transmitted. The plague caused fever and swelling of the lymph glands. It also caused red spots on the skin, but then turned into black spots. During the winter the plague seemed to vanish, but came back and happened in waves. The aftermath of the Black Death had a major impact on, literature, religion, and the economy.

The pandemic known to history as the Black Death was one of the world’s worst natural disasters in history. It was a critical time for many as the plague hit Europe and “devastated the Western world from 1347 to 1351, killing 25%-50% of Europe’s population and causing or accelerating marked political, economic, social, and cultural changes.” The plague made an unforgettable impact on the history of the West. It is believed to have originated somewhere in the steppes of central Asia in the 1330s and then spread westwards along the caravan routes. It spread over Europe like a wildfire and left a devastating mark wherever it passed. In its first few weeks in Europe, it killed between 100 and 200 people per day. Furthermore, as the weather became colder, the plague worsened, escalating the mortality rate to as high as 750 deaths per day. By the spring of 1348, the death toll may have reached 1000 a day. One of the main reasons the plague spread so quickly and had such a devastating effect on Europe was ultimately due to the lack of medical knowledge during the medieval time period.

The Black Death, the most severe epidemic in human history, ravaged Europe from 1347-1351. This plague killed entire families at a time and destroyed at least 1,000 villages. Greatly contributing to the Crisis of the Fourteenth Century, the Black Death had many effects beyond its immediate symptoms. Not only did the Black Death take a devastating toll on human life, but it also played a major role in shaping European life in the years following.

After a century of decline and stagnation Europe's population began to grow. In the middle of 15 th century the population of Europe as whole was 45-50 million, it's about 2/3 less than it was before the plague. By the middle of 17 th century the population was 100 million, in view of the stagnation and decline that occurred in the first half of the 17 th century. What caused this growth?