Essay On The Black Death

The Black Death discusses the causes and results of the plague that devastated medieval Europe. It focuses on the many effects it had on the culture of medieval Europe and the possibility that it expedited cultural change. I found that Robert S. Gottfried had two main theses in the book. He argued that rodent and insect life cycles, as well as the changing of weather systems affect plague. He claimed that the devastation plague causes is partly due to its perpetual recurrences. Plague ravaged Europe in cycles, devastated the people when they were recuperating. As can be later discovered in the book, the cycles of plague consumed the European population. A second thesis, which he described in greater detail,

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 had a massive impact on the economy as states were unable to collect taxes from the peasants as the population was more scatter after the Black Death. Additionally there was no produce to sell many as ports were closed to trade. The mass death of the labourers and peasants led to a shift in power as there was a depleted labour pool. Labourers and peasants were able demanded higher wages and better living conditions. In contrast the economic impact of the Black death was felt by the Noblemen as they were forced to raise the wages to encourage people to stay on their land. Not only did the Noblemen need their tax; peasant were also a

"The Black Death" alone was not the only factor that was responsible for the social and economic change although it was the most important (Ziegler 234). Even without "The Black Death" continued deterioration in Europe would have been likely. The social and economic change had already set in well before 1346. For at least twenty-five years before "The Black Death," exports, agricultural production, and the area of cultivated land had all been shrinking. "The Black Death" contributed a large part to all of this destruction and led to important changes in the social and economic structure of the country (Ziegler 234-235). The plague touched every aspect of social life (Herlihy 19). There was hardly a generation that was not affected by the plague (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). Families were set against each other - the well rejecting the sick (www.byu.edu). Families left each other in fear. Many people died without anyone looking after them. When the plague appeared in a house, frightened people abandoned the house and fled to another (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). Due to this, the plague spread more rapidly because people were not aware that being in the same house with the infected person had already exposed them to it. Physicians could not be found because they had also died. Physicians who could be found wanted large sums of money before they entered the house (www.jefferson.village.virginia.edu). When the

The Black Death Black Death, epidemic of plague which ravaged Europe in the mid-14th century. Various forms of plague were known in the civilized world since ancient times. Greek and Roman historians described outbreaks of an epidemic disease which were sudden and deadly: at Constantinople in the 6th century AD, for example, as much as half the population may have been killed. The outbreak which reached Europe from China in 1347, and spread rapidly and with disastrous results to most countries, has been given the name the Black Death, though contemporaries did not use this term. Epidemiology of the Black

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.

Summary: The Black Death, by Philip Ziegler, covers the epidemic that spread throughout Eurasia around 1348. The book mostly focuses on England and how the disease affected this area. The book also covers other portions of Europe such as France, Italy, and Germany but not as in depth. Ziegler uses the research of many historians to piece together what occurred during this time of grief. Ziegler starts off the book explaining the origins and nature of the plague. He explains how the tartar attacked the port city of Genoa by catapulting diseased corpses in the city’s compound. The Genoese decided to flee and went further north, which caused the spread of

Imagine the world as it is. There are many people living on the planet at a given time. Now imagine that out of the estimated 7 billion people on earth, about 4,200,000,000 people were suddenly eradicated because of a disease infesting just a part of the world. No, it isnt a scene or plot from a horror movie, this horrible reality is actually fact and has already happened in the distant past. I am talking, of course, of the Black Death of Europe. The Black Death or as its also known as “Bubonic Plague”, was a serious pandemic that infected Europe and nearly wiped out 60% of its population during its 2 year spread all across Europe. A rough estimate of about 60-200 million people were claimed as victims of The Black Death. At the time,

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.

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.

“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.

England in the year 1250-1350 BC was prosperous in the field of agriculture production. This prosperity was brought by good weather and favorable climate. This in turn brought the increase growth and harvesting of cash crops, such as wools. The population in England during this period also increased, which means that workers and peasant also increase. Due to the increase of workers the labor forces become excessive. In order to resolve those excess workers, they would become a seasonal or migrant labor. Another increase seen during this period was the demand for luxury goods such as silk, spices, gold/jewelry, and paper. These goods are transported thru the Silk Road, or by sea route from India to middle east, then to the Mediterranean. Thru this demand in luxury goods the needs to travels increased and more merchants were seen in Europe. This is mark the beginning of the Black Death.

Since the beginning of civilization, humanity has battled with the forces of nature in order to survive. One of the most terrifying of these forces is disease. Diseases can come in many different forms. They are caused by many things, such as viruses, bacteria, and some are even non-infectious and can be transmitted genetically. A select few of these ailments, called pandemics, are highly contagious and can afflict mass amounts of people in a short period of time. One example of a pandemic is the Black Death. It swept through Europe in the 14th century, killing an estimated 75 million people and causing the collapse of the Feudal system. The Black Death is considered one of the deadliest pandemics in history because of the speed of its

The people at the Messina Harbor , a port in Northeast Sicily , stood and watched as a Genoese fleet made its way to dock..(Gottfried 141-144). The people standing ashore could by no means conceive of the horror found on board of these ships. The crew had a disease the like of which no one had seen before in the history of western civilization. The harbor masters looked on in complete awe and terror and tried to quarantine the ship but with no avail. (Gottfried141-144). It was too late. The rector fleas on the rats had already made it on shore, to bring death to millions in Europe for the months and years to come.(Gottfried 141-144). This disease was a

In the mid-14th century, a vicious plague ravaged throughout Europe and the Middle East, killing millions of the Christian and Muslim people that lay in its path. Known as the Black Death, this pandemic turned society upside down as citizens scrambled for solutions, looking to both science and the divine to end their misery. Despite their contrasting religious beliefs, Christians and Muslims were united in their fight against the Black Death, for they used similar means to control and cope with the pandemic.