Essay on A Submissive Movement: Fear or Devotion

Another aspect of life that was highly affected was society. During the plague and after the plague society’s values and faith began to change. When the Black Death began taking the lives of the clergy just as well as everyone else, society began to wonder if the clergy were as powerful and as united to God as they had once believed, because no matter their prayer the plague was still raging. The people lost faith in the clergy and by the end of the plague the Church had lost its authority, not only for the reason

Some people turned to extremism. For example, the Flagellants, based in Central and Northern Europe, believed that the plague was sent upon the people due to their moral corruption disobeying of God’s will. The extremists traveled from village to village, and whipped themselves in hopes of repenting for the sins of those around them. The population, noticing how many people were dying, and believing it to be caused by God’s unhappiness, began to believe that the clergy had failed them in showing citizens how to be pious. They also saw the clergy’s deaths as proof of the failure of the clergy, as God was angry with them as well. This anger and distrust of the clergy carried on to the next great crisis of Europe, the Great Schism.

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 Black Death was the worst epidemic in the history of the world to date. The plague killed off more than a third of the total European population during the mid-1300’s. Several people believed that the plague was punishment from God for the sins of man, while others believed it was brought about by natural causes, and there were yet others who did not care where or why the plague came but only how they could better their own lives.

The Counter-Reformation sought to reform four major elements; ecclesiastical reconfiguration, religious orders, spiritual movements, and political dimensions. Seminaries for proper training of priests, returning of orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on ones devotional life and relationship with Christ. Among these reforms was the Inquisition. The Inquisition was responsible for the "purifying" of Christians. They were mostly peaceful but were also known for burning many people at the stake. At times as many as two hundred in one day were burned under accusations of witchcraft. They aimed to retake areas that had previously been converted to

to live and living,they did not like how the christian churches did not fully allow the right of the

Although they are all sinners, they passionately believed in themselves as “God’s chosen people” (Saari, 20).

Doc 5 shows how they thought this disease was from God’s punishment and how even the historian didn’t want to record such tragic events. Doc 5 was specifically written to influence the future to fear such disease. Doc 7 indicates that many people claimed divine intervention in their dreams prior to contracting the disease and that people even isolated themselves in fear that spirits were coming for them when they had the disease. This reflected the extreme revere they held for religion in the Roman Empire. However, due to the severity of the Black Plague any isolation in a village could not stop the spread of it and the results were catastrophic. The certain conviction that disease was a punishment from God will later be seen in Western

The Black Plague effected Europe religiously because they lost followers of the church so the numbers decreased which led to empty churches. “Population before the Plague was 75,000,000 and after the plague the numbers decreased rapidly by 1351 the population was 51,160,00” (Doc 2). Some of the town or community lost faith in their God because they thought that God should’ve answered their prayers when they were asking for their family members to get better and to heal or make things and people better around them. During this time period people were big believers in God, the people believed that god was powerful, but then after the plague their opinions were mistaken because the church didn’t help at all to make anyone better many people died because of this

The Black death was a disease that ravaged through most of Eurasia and killed over a quarter of the world’s population during the Post-Classical Era. The death of those infected was received differently and impacted by the different religions resent and the region where the plague took effect. While most groups felt it was an act of God, the purpose behind the act differed among the regions. Christians in the West felt that God was punishing those who had sinned and not received penance while Muslims in North Africa and Syria felt it was an opportunity to ask for God to bring a better life to those who perished. Although, not all Muslims held that belief as Muslims who lived in the Arabian Peninsula felt that the victims were martyrs of the faith, contrasting most other

Many people were beginning to question the causes of plagues and natural disasters and decided that they needed someone to blame. Witches were simple and uncomplicated targets to blame. They were mostly blamed for mysterious and random disasters. The Black Death was a strange and peculiar event that had no cure and was unchallenging to blame the witches for causing. (9 none)

The church could not save people from this disease, so it led to many people questioning and giving up on their religion. Doctors did not understand the origin of the disease, so most civilians believed the cause of the Black Death was from supernatural powers. They saw the disease as divine punishment, which is god punishing them. Many people thought they could beat themselves to atone for their supposed sins. The church lost power and influence in society because they failed to protect the civilians and the clergy from the horrid diseases. Many civilians lost faith and found a scapegoat to blame for the cause of the plague. The most popular scapegoat in the 14th century plague was the Jews. This religious group was accused of creating and spreading the plague because most Jews were merchants and the diseased rats were carried by the merchants. Persecution of the Jews continued out through the late Middle

In the middle ages people had no idea about how any disease such as the Black Death could spread. The Europeans think “it disseminated by the influence of the celestial bodies, or sent upon them by God in his just wrath” (Boccaccio). In other words, they think the plague came from the sky or sent by God. They think maybe it is God’s way of cleansing the earth or punishing them for their unfair behaviors. Some think that a supernatural origin caused the disease. This disease is a bacterium infection which has a variety of symptoms, such as, nose bleeding, tumors in the groin or armpits and black spots or

The Black Death took place between 1315 and 1317, this Bubonic plague killed 10 percent The Catholic church failed to explain the cause of the Black Death, many church officials refused to treat the sick; leaving dying people behind. Citizens were desperate during the disaster, some had given up on life. They began living without rules and restrictions, they abandoned themselves into sexual and alcoholic indulgences. People lost their faith in Christianity, some extremists began to blame the Jews for causing the plague. An outbreak of anti-Semitism took place during the Black Death which caused the destruction over 60 major Jewish communities by the year of 1531. The plague also gave birth to a group of extreme believers called the flagellants in Germany who whipped themselves for forgiveness from God. The Black Death damaged the reputation of the church and many people lost faith in God.

When disasters start hitting people one after the other, they tend to cling more to their faith or start questioning God's wisdom. At that time Europeans were surrounded by death and they did not know who would die next. No wonder that people started to change their view of life, and whether they were living it right or wrong. They started thinking that God is punishing them for their sins and all the horrible things they have done. Surrounded by plagues, starvation, and death, Europeans back then were convinced that the Four Hoursmen of the Apocalypse have arrived to punish them. Furthermore, people started rushing to gain God's forgiveness and maybe this way he would save them.