The Famine After The Plague

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

"The Black Death" is known as the worst natural disaster in European history. The plague spread throughout Europe from 1346-1352. Those who survived lived in constant fear of the plague's return and it did not disappear until the 1600s. Not only were the effects devastating at the time of infection, but during the aftermath as well. "The Black Death" of the fourteenth century dramatically altered Europe's social and economic structure.

During the Plague, having death as a constant part of life led to serious social changes in art, religion and relationships. During the time of the plague, art began to incorporate death in almost every form: paintings, music, and literature. Whole communities of scholars were hit by the plague and schools were shut down.

The Black Plague, one of the most devastating out breaks in history, is an historical event brought about with a great depression throughout Europe. This plague brought out the worst in mankind during the time the plague ran its course. How do people behave, when there environment becomes life threatening? (Herlihy, 18). The Black Death accounted for nearly one third of the deaths in Europe. Due to the death of many people there were severe shortages in labors, during these dreadful times. There were riots throughout Europe, and the great mortality brought on by the plague ripped society apart. Individuals were fearful searching for explanation, but in the end the plague gave rise to the survivors such as

Sometimes the missteps of the medical community went so far as to cause inadvertent harm. Jacme D’agramont, physician and professor, writes in his “Regiment de preservacio a epidimia o pestiliencia e mortaldats” of the dangers of bathing because it opens one’s pores and “through these pores corrupt air enters and has a powerful influence upon our body and on our humors.” (Aberth, 1186). The entire period was wrought with novelty cures and hypotheses about overcoming the plague, and so often these approaches failed that eventually the people would find solace wherever they could. Even art had a voice in coping with the Black Death. Much of the art was not only therapeutic for the artists and those who enjoyed them but they serve as an insight into the shared setiments of the time. These pieces understandably emphasize death and its inevitability as a primary theme. While the real victor over the plague turned out to be time, this perspective on conflict serves as a testament to the long-suffering determination of humanity to survive and thrive.

The Black Death, the most severe epidemic in human history, ravaged Europe from 1347-1351. This plague killed entire families at a time and destroyed at least 1,000 villages. Greatly contributing to the Crisis of the Fourteenth Century, the Black Death had many effects beyond its immediate symptoms. Not only did the Black Death take a devastating toll on human life, but it also played a major role in shaping European life in the years following.

Norman F. Cantor, In the Wake of the Plague (New York: Harper Collins First Perennial edition, 2001) examines how the bubonic plague, or Black Death, affected Europe in the fourteenth century. Cantor recounts specific events in the time leading up to the plague, during the plague, and in the aftermath of the plague. He wrote the book to relate the experiences of victims and survivors and to illustrate the impact that the plague had on the government, families, religion, the social structure, and art.

The Plague or ¨Black Death¨ was a virus that spread across Europe killing about 60% of the population. The plague's origin was at the time unknown and this brought about many questions. At this time, people did not have basic necessities such as proper hygiene and medicine. Therefore there was fear, superstitions as well as conspiracy, and there were also some who realized that they could gain from the deaths of those around them.

The 14th Century was characterized by death and destruction in Europe. The Bubonic Plague had a devastating impact on European society because of its unprecedented nature, the immediate effect the disease had on the people of Europe, and the long-term effects on the continent. When the Bubonic Plague erupted, most Europeans had no idea what to think. Nothing like this disease had ever happened to them before, and there was very little knowledge about how to handle the ever-worsening situation. In his book The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio explained that “No human wisdom or foresight had any value” when it came to the quickly-spreading disease (Doc 2.)

The plague caused people to shun their family members, friends, and pretty much anyone who was associated with the disease and “abhor all contact with the sick and all that belonged to them, thinking thereby

Death and disease are common in today’s world. A person dies every day and for disease everyone gets some kind of disease. But today not everyone panics at death and disease but back in the 1700s people weren’t really familiar with death and disease. In Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, the author gives details about the effects of death and disease and how it changes people for better or for worse. In the story, a young girl named Matilda is your typical girl who doesn’t want to work, but when the yellow fever strikes Philadelphia, Matilda changes throughout the story. This story suggests that when death and disease happen people can change for better or for worse.

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.

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 Later Middle Ages, from 1300 to 1450, a plague is seen spreading and killing mass amounts of people in Europe, this plague would later be named the Black Death. Starting in China in 1331 and then spreading to Europe by cargo ships in 1347. During the Later Middle Ages the climate also changed, dropping the temperature, killing crops, and freezing water supplies. During this period there were also multiple crisis that began to pop up, and not many can be attributed to the Black Death. One must take each event and look for causation case-by-case rather they labeling all with the same brush stroke.

According to Robert S. Gottfried, author of the book The Black Plague: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe, the Black Plague had a huge impact on human behavior and psychology, “the mechanics and commonplaces of everyday life simply stopped, at least initially “(77-78). With the devastation of the plague, “peasants no longer ploughed, merchants closed their shops, and some, if not all, churchmen stopped offering last rites” (Gottfried 78). In his book The Decameron, Boccaccio described many of the responses of the people during this time: