How Did The Black Death Affect Medieval Society

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

Christians, who believed it was punishment for sins strayed from their religion. In Doc 6 William Dene says “The people for the greater part ever became more depraved, more prone to every vice and more inclined than before to evil and wickedness, not thinking of death nor of the past plague nor of their own salvation .... Priests, little weighing the sacrifice of a contrite spirit, betook themselves to where they could get larger stipends than in their own benefices, on which account many benefices remained unserved. Day by day, the dangers to souls both in clergy and people multiplied.” Dene means that as the plague grew worse and affected people more, they turned away from salvation and resented the church.

Prior to the plague the entire legal system relied on the church, the church made all of the decisions. The general population stopped backing the church because they believed that god would never do that to them so god must not be real. There was always the priests who said it was a punishment for sin but nothing added up for the people surrounded by death and loss. Since this abundance people stopped believing the church lost power, ”...the Church’s reputation never quite recovered, as the new priests who were quickly brought in to fill the void were not as scholarly or thoroughly trained as the old. It became more acceptable to malign the clergy in the years that followed…” (“Priests and the Black Plague”

The plague opened the eyes of the many people that followed the church. Since the followers believed in God, they thought that if they prayed, and made amends they would be spared from the sickness. Bishops and higher members of the church were supposed to be closer with god. But when the Bishops and members fell ill, a lot of the followers disbanded from the church and didn't believe in god because “he didn't help”. They didn’t want anyone else getting the plague so they didn't allow visitors to come in, leave, or enter other places..

During the Bubonic plague there were so many consequences in cultural, politics and religious influence, some were positive and other were negative. Viewpoint of the church was that they couldnt able to help because they didnt know how and where this disease came about and they didnt know how to cure it. Church believed that it is the punishment from God from our sins. Before the plague was struck there was hundreds of war between European countries. The society would be like the people would starved to death because there was no food to provide.

Before the Black Death arose, Churches throughout Europe had nearly absolute power. However, as disease swept across Europe, devastated citizens once reliant on God for survival, began to abandon Canon law. As the citizens looked for answers as to why the plague was affecting Christians, the priests and bishops could not give them the answers they wanted, resulting in the Church losing spiritual authority over its people. As such, people turned to astrological forces, earthquakes and the poisoning of wells by Jews as potential explanations for the plague. In addition, many of the churches finest leaders fled to safer areas and as the Monks, nuns and friars continued to disappear, the standards for their replacements lowered. Monasteries were

This created many problems for the church and though they didn’t immediately see their numbers drop, they eventually did. They especially saw their numbers drop when in the 16th century, a man by the name of Martin Luther protested the church and even when as far as to start his own form of christianity. So with that being said, it is easy to see how the plague gradually led to the downsize in the catholic church, and how all of this lead to how in modern times, there are many forms of catholicism practiced all over the

Many people thought that it was a punishment from God, so this led to people about questioning their faith. This concerns the religious impact of the Black Death, the plague that devastated Europe during the middle of the fourteenth century. It goes into the effect of the Black Death on the Catholic Church and the religious movements that emerged in response to it. The Catholic Churches played a significant role during the Middle Ages because religion was an important aspect of daily life for European Christians. When the Black Death struck Europe somewhere around 1347, the Church struggled to deal with the plague’s “damaging consequences and its reputation suffered as a result.” (History.com, 2010) “ Moreover, a large number of Catholic priests died during the Black Death...this made it even more difficult for the Catholic Church to recover from the shaken faith of its following”. (History.com, 2010). Since many priests had died because of the plague, several uneducated people did not fully understand why this disease was spreading around. They last almost all their faith in God which led to fewer people going to church and practicing their faith. This concludes that the “Black Death contributed to the decline in the confidence and faith of the Christian laity towards the institution of the Church and its leadership”(History.com, 2010). During the middle ages, Catholic Churches held enormous power in Europe and were still very religious and political even after the impact of the Black

The plague was a disease that devastated Europe and the Christian population. Christians handled the plague very differently than the other groups it affected. The mortality rate for European Christians was an estimated 31%. (Robert S. Gottfried, The Black Death, New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1983.) They believed the plague was a cruel and horrible punishment on the men, women, and children of their society brought upon them by God.

The disastrous plague called the Black Death had monumental, long lasting effects that would ultimately change the fate of the entire continent of Europe. The mid-1300s in Europe were part of the Dark Ages. Human populations were near over-crowding, and the land was stretched to produce food. Mother Nature created a drastic solution. The world lifted a bleak shadow of death and chaos over the people of Europe in the form of plague. It originated from fleas, but rats carried the fleas with this plague across seaward trading routes from Asia. Humans were oblivious to the deadly fleas disguised in the familiar sight of the rats aboard their trading ships. The plague was an airborne disease, and it was transmittable to humans. Once one was infected, no escape option was available. The plague was characterized by black cysts on the skin, which influenced humans to later dub the plague “The Black Death”. Europe was previously suffering during the Dark Ages, but what were the Black Death’s effects on Europe? The staggering effects of the Black Death were outlined clearly in the fragility of religion, the floundering population and education, and oddly enough, a recovered and thriving economy.

Many people of the Catholic religion believed that God could stop the spread of the disease, or even heal their loved ones. However, when The Plague continued to wreak havoc across Europe, many people turned against their religion. There was also a large decrease of priests that had died due to The Plague, so the amount of churches in many areas simply ceased. The Plague also caused a decline in the Jewish population, however, the disease itself wasn’t what hurt them. Because Jewish prejudice was already so high, the Jews were looked at as scapegoats. Much of the population accused the Jews of poisoning the water wells, making them responsible for The Plague. Although this reasoning is highly unlikely, much of the Jewish population fled to Poland and Russia to get away from the

The Black Death was the name given to a plague that occurred in the mid 13th century which caused at least a third of the world’s population to perish. During the years in which the plague spread across Europe, many aspects of life for the people that lived were altered forever. This epidemic was like no other in history and had an unprecedented outcome. The effects of the Black Plague on society were substantial resulting in great changes of social classes through role reorganization, changes in belief systems, and ways that society interacted. Before the Black Plague came to Europe, there was a great famine during the early years of the 13th century.

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.

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.

During the Black Plague in Europe many Christians turned to the church for answers and a cure to the deadly disease that was spreading quickly. The church couldn't provide anything for the people, so it lost its influence