The Black Death Plague: Negative Effects On European Society

When the plague struck lots of the population of slaves and peasants died, which meant that there was a huge struggle for landowners to find workers for their fields. This meant that peasants could demand higher wages and had lots of bargaining power. This is because if landowners didn’t have workers than they wouldn’t be making any money, which would lead to their loss in wealth. Another way the feudal system was changed is that usually skilled artisans and craftsmen handed down their family business to their sons. However if these descendants were dead then craftsmen and artisans had to employ new workers, which meant peasants and slaves acquired more important skills. And finally, because of these reasons there was a growth in the middle class. The middle class are not slaves, but not nobles. This meant the population became more equal and many different jobs arose for people. Changes to the feudal system allowed Europe to grow closer to what we know it as

The black plague struck Europe from 1347 to 1351. The infected bacteria traveled through ships from China and Inner Asia to Europe then spread on land. From the devastating impact on the population, to the workings of the society, the impact of the plague was felt on all levels of the social order. The Black Death’s impact on society and the modern world is deep, and although there were many different effects, some had more importance than others. The most significant effects of the Black Death was the church’s shifting place in society, the weakening of feudalism, and the decline of manorialism due to the large effects on society.

The plague had a lot of effects on society. One example is the Nobles, before the plague they were the rulers and they were rich. After the plague they had less power because there was less Nobles. Another example was the Peasants, before the plague they were poor and worked for the Nobles. After the plague they had gained a little bit of power because there weren’t as many Nobles. It also affected the population by 25 million people. The cities were crowded before the plague and after there weren’t many people some cities were even abandon. The food was even a problem before the plague because there wasn’t enough so the prices were high and the only people that could afford it was the Nobles. After words the prices went down because there was plenty of food but not enough people.

The economy also spread the plague considering that the plague would follow trade routes and spread to new places. Prices on goods increased because they became harder to produce. The economic structure changed. This was huge because it inevitably changed the way of life for many people. All of this was caused by a disease that people could do nothing

The Plague or ¨Black Death¨ was a virus that spread across Europe killing about 60% of the population. The plague's origin was at the time unknown and this brought about many questions. At this time, people did not have basic necessities such as proper hygiene and medicine. Therefore there was fear, superstitions as well as conspiracy, and there were also some who realized that they could gain from the deaths of those around them.

A major impact for this period of time was the “Black Plague” or also called Black Death. This Phenomena was a bubonic plague that wiped out 1/3 of Europe’s population. The plague was considered one of the deadliest pandemics in the history of humankind. 75 million people around the world lost their lives to this plague noting the biggest number of people being located in Europe. The “Black Plague” played a major role in the economic history of the Western Civilization due to so many people dying, Europe was declining rapidly. There were shortages of labor providing a fertile ground for economic diversification and innovation in technology. There was famine and pestilence, which would eventually lead to the capital accumulation intensification in the urban areas, stimulating the growth of trade and industry.

Plague and diseases were significant and devastating in history because they don’t have the medical system as the modern society. The Black Plague changed the European Society substantially. The disaster affected all aspects of life— depopulation, government corruption, economy decreased dramatically, etc. “The disease carved a path of death through Asia, Italy, France, North Africa, Spain, and Normandy, and continued eastward into Hungary” (The Plague in Florence). The black plague impacted the amount of labors and the Jews. It also undermined the medieval model of feudalism and the presence of the church.

This also caused a slash in costs of livestock, crops, caused inflation. The amount of people that died due to the plague took away our economic workforce. Some wages increased because the workers can take advantage of the low workforce. It was bad for the economy.

By 1352 it had really loosened its hold Europe’s population had been a massive hit, which had a financial impact. The work had been damaged especially for farms. The Black Death also was one of the worst pandemics in human history. Around about in the 14th century, about 75 million people on 3 countries rotten due to the painful pains, high contagious illness. Also in Europe hundreds died daily and their bodies was usually thrown into mass graves.

Wages rose, there was an oversupply of goods, and prices dropped. As a result of all of these contributing factors, the standard of living rose tremendously. A lot of the land could no longer be cultivated. With the post-Plague labor shortage, many nobles tried to keep their land and still make money. People took advantage of the labor shortage and demanded better terms from their owners and landlords. Governments tried to fix wages, but due to the high-demand, low-supply labor situation, they were unsuccessful and laborers continued to demand better treatment. All around the world, people were benefiting left and right from this plague that was widely (and accurately) considered to be unprecedentedly devastating. However, despite the horrific disease and death, there were some strangely positive effects as a result. (The Effects of the Black Death on the Economic and Social Life of

Food prices, for example, were rising because most of the farmers died as a result of the plague and there was no one left to take care of their crops. As a result, people died of starvation as there was barely anything left to eat in certain countries. People started to realize how valuable life is, and how it can be taken away so

Since there were very few people left to do any work, the wages went up a lot. Lots of people didn’t pay their rent either because they thought it was acceptable since there was so much free land left behind and because of that, tax money became on the decline. Many soldiers and merchants were dead, so the remaining ones started asking for a lot more money. The people who survived the plague and worked for someone had an advantage because most people were gone and workers were needed everywhere. The surviving workers took this to their advantage and demanded things they wanted like higher compensation and being treated better and more fairly.

With an reorganized society, the economy had many innovations. The economy was very inefficient with the original huge population from before the plague. However, with the huge cut down on population, things worked much better, food was cheaper, less workers removed competition and raised wages, and workers could rebel with fear of being replaced. This difference in food price was due to the abundance of food, and as James said in The Black Plague, "with all of the deaths ..., the price of food dropped" (Mulhern, ¶ 21). This shows how the high population was unsustainable, but with a smaller society, things were much better for the majority. This moves on to other parts

The Bubonic Plague or the Black Death has been in the history books since the medieval times. This deadly disease has claimed nearly 1.5 million lives in Europe (Gottfried). The Black Death hit Europe in October of 1347 and quickly spread through most of Europe by the end of 1349 and continued on to Scandinavia and Russia in the 1350s. Not only did the plague effect the European population by killing one-third to two-thirds (Gottfried), it also hurt the social and economic structures of every European society.

The plague of the black death was a panic and disaster in Western Europe because it leads the death of ⅓ of the population. It quickly spread all over the continent, destroying full towns and cities. Moreover, the plague reached its peak of destructions in 1349, which was a “wretched, terrible, destructive year, the remnants of the people alone remain.” Life before the black death arrived for the serfs it was unpleasant and short. Nevertheless, Europe before the black death arrived was successful and the trade at the time was strong. The spread of the plagues was traumatic and unexpected because it spread so quickly.