Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Through the years of 1347 and 1350, a terrible plague took over Europe. In those three years, the plague killed approximately 25 million people or one-third of Europe’s population. Not one family did not lose a family member to the plague. About one hundred people died daily, and mostly of them were never buried in a proper manner. Their bodies scattered the street of the city unclaimed. This plague was the Black Death, the most deadly natural disaster in the history of Europe. The loss of life was tremendous, and the damage was immense. Across Europe, the Black Death appeared and disrupted people daily routine. The Black Death shattered the people of the Middle Ages ways of life. It demolished the economy and as well of traditional beliefs. There was no returning to the ways of Middle Age life that has been for the past five hundred years. The Black Death brought an end to the Middle Ages.

In the late Middle Ages the worst evil known to man terrorized Europe. People were dropping dead everywhere and there was no place to put them. This vicious culprit was known as the Black Plague. During the 14th century in Europe millions of people died from the plague and the plague brought about great change. Before the plague there was peace and prosperity in the High Middle Ages and after the plague things were different. Historians consider the outbreak of the Black Plague a watershed moment because of great social, religious and economical changes.

Between 500 to 1500 A.D in Europe, there was a period of time called the Middle Ages (OI). During this time, kings, nobles, knights and serfs lived together in a society called feudalism (Doc. 1). The Church was very important, trade began to grow, and the knights lived by a code called the Code of Chivalry. During this time, the social, political and economic lives were influenced by the feudal system and the Church.

Have you ever wished to be a knight in the Middle Ages fighting off dragons? In the Middle Ages knIghts were warriors who fought on horseback. The Middle Ages were a period between 500-1500 AD (OI) where a system called feudalism was at its best. In Europe feudalism first spread by the Franks (OI) influenced the economic, political, and social lives of many people.

The Bubonic Plague, or better known as the Black Death, was a pandemic disease that swept across Western Europe in the 1300s that ultimately killed one-third of the population. Such a devastating disease called for drastic changes, one being the weakening of manorialism. Partly due to the Black Death, the crucial economic system in the Middle Ages known as manorialism, was weakened. On a fief, there was a piece of land called a manor, which was owned by a lord who was often a noble. The serf was someone who was not able to buy land, so they lived on a manor.

You would think the middle ages were a time where everyone had money and rode dragons. However, the middle ages were a time where you were either part of the rare rich life or down by the pigs. During the Middle Ages, Europeans social, economic and political life was defined by feudalism. Feudalism was the social system in medieval Europe, when knights would fight for nobles, lords, and kings in exchange for land (OI).

But the middle ages was a real time period. Feudalism was a major influence in the middle ages that affected Europeans social, political and economic lives. Feudalism is the relationship between the kings, nobles, knights and serfs. A knight would fight and protect for the Lord, and then the Lord would give them land in return (OI). The same thing would happen with knights and serfs.

The Renaissance was an efflorescence of the arts and changes in many different areas such as political, social, economical, and cultural. It was the rebirth of art, literature, and learning in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from an agricultural to an urban society. The Renaissance ideals emphasized ideas of humanism and human achievement. Artists and writers used realistic techniques, such as perspective, and they believed man should be the subject of study, not God.

Before the Black Death, life in Europe was genuinely stable. People got sick, but doctors were there to treat them. The economy was not perfect, but it was able to provide the people with what was needed. The social aspect of Europe was run by the feudal system, similar to most other civilizations during this time. This all changed when the plague struck. Doctors no longer understood how to treat their patients infected with the plague. The social order was completely disrupted and people began questioning their identity. The economy began to crumble due to the fast spreading disease. This killer disease completely transformed the lives of Europeans. The widespread outbreak of the Bubonic plague impacted fourteenth century Europe in ways such as advancements in medicine, major changes in society and almost destroying the economy.

The bubonic plague and “the little ice age” drastically changed medieval European society . They weakened the economy and affected the role women play in society. The black death sparked religious movements and shaped beliefs. The plague was an outcome of Mongol occupations. As a result, there were many trade roads in the empire, and their rule kept Eurasian trade avenues in check.

The Middle Ages were a time of great human advances in medicine, education, and many very important aspects of society. All of these advances were helping the world advance quicker and quicker, they made many great leaps towards modern medicinal practices. They began to behave as a sophisticated economy that helped each other. This progress was all halted, or at least had a change of direction when the Black Death struck. The Black Death impacted so many different areas of society and how they approached social, economic, and medical issues.

The Middle Ages, also known as Christendom lasted between the 11th and 15th century. The middle ages took place mainly in Europe and was a time of great changes but also a period of continuity for the majority of people living at the time (Pearson, 2013). In the 14th and 15th century the Black Death, a plague that attacks the immune system, took over Europe. It started in the 1500s and was very significant at the time as no one knew what it was and as it wiped at a third of the population. The Black Death had an impressively significant impact on the society at the time of the Middle Ages as it weakened the feudal system, peasant wages increased and the power of the Catholic Church weakened.

The Black Death strangled Europe in a multitude of ways; economically, population wise, and society. The Black death struck Europe killing approximately 50% of the total population within Europe, the death of Europeans also lead to the death of the economy. Europe before the plague was known to be within the high middle ages period, or years leading up to the renaissance and wide acceptance of humanist ideals. “urban life reemerged, long—distance commerce revived, business and manufacturing innovated, manorial agriculture matured, and population burgeoned, doubling or tripling”, life was alive and well before the plague; however, these changes portend the coming of a disease as life and people began to make contact on a larger scale, diseases would use these contacts to spread mass hysteria and destruction like the black death (Routt). Economically the medieval age was solely

In the 1300s, Europe was thriving with new innovations and huge cities that covered the country. Most of Europe was urban and very crowd with a population of 50,000 (“Middle Ages”). The 1300s was a period known as the Middle Ages, which represents the time where the Roman Empire and the Constantinople fell. During this time around 1350, infectious disease was spreading through the streets of Europe. Approximately, 20 million people died in Europe from the plague, which is roughly around one-third of the population (“Black Plague”). The Black Plague affected European civilization and how European society viewed the world. The renaissance is a prime example of how the Black Plague affected Europe. The Black Plague helped influence people

In the Middle Ages, art was centered around the Church. The purpose of art was to glorify the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Altshuler, 2009, p. 127). Art was not made to produce a feeling it was made simply to tell a story. Artists were usually sanctioned by the church to complete specific works. All artists were male with the exception of some women who did embroideries (Altshuler, 2009, p. 127). Many different types of media was used during this time including; paint, embroidery, stain glass, relief statues and more.