The Black Death, the plague that ravished Europe has been a topic that has fascinated Historians for centuries. This terrible epidemic wiped out nearly a third of Europe’s entire population in just a matter of three short years. The after effects are astounding as this had affected almost every part of life during this time, from agriculture to the economy, and the opinions of death. In this paper the effect that the plague will be examined and analyzed starting with the impact on the Agriculture, an investigation on the way art had changed and how the dead was handled. In this we will examine the impact and level of destruction the bubonic plague had on as life, such as agriculture, population, and attitudes surrounding death and body disposal.
There are a lot of wonderful sources in regard to the subject matter. Such as David Herlihy’s The Black Death and the Transformation of the West, in this he examines the impact that the bubonic plague had on both the economic and demographic system of Europe during this time period and the thoughts and feelings surrounding death . In this source, Herlihy also analyses primary sources from clergymen of the time and their opinions on the side effects of the Black Death. Another wonderful source is Colin Platt’s King Death the Black Death and its aftermath in late medieval England . This source takes a look at the effects the Black Death had on population, and the effect the loss of population had in England.
Other wonderful sources
How did immediate and long-term effects of the Black Death change medieval society in Europe?
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.
Although some people may argue that the black plague affected the middle ages the most in an economic sense, it affected the middle ages more in a religious sense. Therefore affecting the movement of the middle ages into the modern era. To begin with, the Black Death affected the middle ages in a social and economic aspect. The black death killed 75% of the population. This wiped out much of the population which included the peasants and working class.
Can you imagine all of your family becoming weak and withering right before your eyes, never knowing if you were going to be next? This was a reality for many people in Europe during the 1300’s. The Black Death caused havoc for the Medieval culture, which caused people to trust all sorts of rumors that ended up being bogus. Along with the major adjustments the Black Death had on Medieval culture, the bedevil also ended up slaughtering 75 million people, which had major modifications on economy. Finally, the Black Death had major effects on the social classes and how they fit into feudalism. Feudalism was a social system that met the needs of its people, but because of the Black Death, feudalism came to it’s long awaited end, causing
The Black Death refereed in Philip Ziegler’s book takes place in Western Europe, and we learned the different civilizations during the Classical era in Western Europe such as the Roman Empire and the Greek empire. Moving on the Post Classical era, we learned how different regional authorities were established when invasions from the Magyar, Muslims, and Vikings happened throughout Western Europe; this is how countries like England, Germany, and France were ultimately established. This plague happened during the era after the Post Classical era and killed off more than one third of the population of Europe. Reading this book will allow people to understand the hardships that the population of Europe had to deal with.
The Black Death had the most significant impact on medieval civilization for many reasons. First off, trade started to make it easier for the Black Death to infect people. In the 1300s, trade was conducted between Asia and Europe which was called the Silk Road. It was a combination of roads and sea routed that made it easy to transport goods such as silk and spices from producers in Asia to markets in Europe. When ships were sailing and docking in many places with goods and other treasures on them, there was also rats. Rats have fleas and it was these fleas that helped spread the plague from victim to victim.
The Black Death was one of the largest epidemics the world had ever seen, having wiped out mass amounts of people the plague came to completely shift European medieval society into the modern era. The black death showed no regard as to who it affected, it affected rich and poor, man, women and children all the same. The plague was so widespread among Europe that death was increasingly frequent. Such an epidemic caused people to have a completely new idea of life and death. In this essay I intend to argue that the key components of medieval society’s outlook on life and death are how death affected the living, through the ways people coped the mass amounts of loss. The various interpretations of the cause were a way for society to
There were three major outbreaks of the Black Death pandemic in the world. In the history the Black Plague is also called as the Black Death or Bubonic Plague. This research paper will mainly cover the European outbreak of the 14th century as it is considered to be the era of the worst time of the Black Death period. Many historians would agree that the events of 1300s led to dramatic changes affecting every European country in all the aspects. Creating economic, social, religious, and medical issues, the Black Death caused renovation of the Europe. New circumstances forced Europe to reconsider its political system, improve the medicine and look at the situation from a different perspective, shifting from the medieval to modern society. Paul Slack, in his book The Impact of Plague in Tudor and Stuart England, provides a detailed description of the most affected places and the approximation of the victims, estimating that Europe had lost about one third of its population. Comparing to cholera the number of deaths caused by the Black Plague in England is doubled making The Black Plague the most devastating disease (Slack 174). In the book, The Black Death, Robert Gottfried examines the history of the Black Plague and its political consequences as well as social. He introduces the facts how the European population was affected in both positive and negative ways. From his writing it stood out that the lower class was affected the most as the conditions they lived in were worse
One of the most well-known times throughout the Medieval Era was not only the most well-known, but probably one of the most deadliest that kill one third to one half of the population all throughout Europe and some of its surrounding counties, continents. More commonly all of Europe and counties within the continent of Asia were affected by this plague. Many men, women, children, animals and even livestock were killed did during this infectious disease era. This infectious disease is commonly known to be called the Black Plague or also known as the Black Death. This deadly disease had to be one of the most popular if not the number one event in the Medieval Era that forever changed that era and for the eras to follow.
In the wake of the Black Plague, most of europe was an obsessively morbid culture; almost entirely rejecting life, the late 14th century birthed the start of a growing anticipation of the apocalypse, and the image of death that we are most familiar with today; a skeletal, grim reaper cloaked in black, holding a scythe.
One of the greatest tragedies to hit Europe during the Middle Age was the Black Death or the Great Plague, or the Black Plague. With the introduction of the Black Death in the Mediterranean in 1347 , came the death of many. People knew of no ways to treat this terrible disease. By the middle of 1348, the Black Death had spread to England. While in England, it killed about a fourth of the population. Doctors could not figure out the cure for the Black Death, which just resulted in more and more deaths. One reason that they could not figure out a cure is, again, that medical was limited during this time. People like John of Arderne and Rogerius of Salerno were exceptions in this time period for what doctors and surgeons knew. They had a
The Bubonic Plague, more commonly referred to as the "Black Death," ravaged Europe between the years 1347 and 1350 (Herzog, 2000). During this short period, according to Herzog (2000), 25 million people (which were about one third of Europe's population at the time) were killed. In another article, Herlihy (1997), however, claimed that two thirds of Europe’s population were killed. Nevertheless, it is ascertained that thousands of people died each week and dead bodies littered the streets. Once a family member had contracted the disease, the entire household was doomed to die. Parents abandoned their children, and parent-less children roamed the streets in search for food. Victims, delirious with
“Ring around the rosy, a pocketful of posies, ashes … ashes, we all fall down.” A familiar nursery rhyme that children have recited as a harmless play song for generations. Ironically, it refers to one of Europe 's most devastating diseases. The first recorded case of the plague was in China in 224 B.C.E. But the most significant outbreak was in Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. Over a five-year period from 1347 to 1352. The Black Death had a great impact of change during the late Middle Ages. It changed the way people lived and it affected their lives socially, economically and politically. What caused the Black Death, the plague that may have killed as many as half of all Europeans in the 14th century? Bacteria was carried by fleas that lived on black rats. The rodents spread the plague from China to Europe. The scientific name for it is, Yersinia Pestis. Humans are normally singled out by fleas when there are no rodents left. When a flea bites a rodent, the blood from the rodent goes directly to the flea 's stomach, easing hunger.
The Black Death, according to Joseph P Byrne, was “a deadly epidemic that spread across Asia and Europe beginning in mid 1300’s.” It did not take long for the plague to make a big impact on the world. “By the spring of 1348, the Black Death, also known as Black Plague, spread to france, The Alberium Peninsula, and England, following trade routes and hitting big cities first before spreading to the countryside,” states Gail Cengage. In the 19th century, Europe was devastatingly hit with this epidemic that affected them greatly then and now. The Black Death in Europe affected 19th centuries economics, population, and literature. Its effect on Europe is an interesting topic that shaped history and our lives today. This topic is widely covered as Molly Edmonds writes her findings from other sources. These sources will be used to describe the effect the Black Death had on Europe.
As one of the most severe plagues in human history, the Black Death was unprecedented in two ways: on one hand, it was undoubtedly a terrible nightmare, which swept the entire Europe and killed so many people; however, on the other hand, it was also a unique event that accelerated the process of European agricultural history.