The Plague And The Black Death

"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

In the year 1348 the world changed forever. The Black Death, which is another name for the Bubonic Plague, laid havoc on the entire world. “The plague chases the screaming without pity and does not accept a treasure for a ransom. Its engine is far-reaching. The plague enters into the house and swears it will not leave except with all of its inhabitants…” (Al-Wardi, #29, 113). The plague did not care if the people were rich, poor, white, black, Muslim or Catholic, it would kill whomever it could. The plague brought out the worst in people because people acted selfishly, people were completely inhumane, and there was no peace.

Pursell The Black Death Reassessed What really happened to Europe during Black Death? For years, the accepted version of the event has been that a plague from the East, carried by rodents who were infected by fleas, traveled by trade routes and subsequently infected Europeans. The name of this plague is infamously known as the Bubonic Plague; it’s said to have claimed the lives of a third of the continent’s population. Not everyone accepts the prominent version of this event though. In this essay, we will read of two scholars who dispute the official narrative of the Bubonic plague; one scholar will apply this revisionism solely to England, whereas the other will look at Europe as a whole. Moreover, death toll estimates will be scrutinized too. In addition, we will read of a third scholar who offers insight into the aftermath of the Black Death in England in terms of its social and economic development. Clearly, something devastating struck Europe in the 14th century. Whatever it was might not ever be exactly known. However, for the sake of understanding its true impact upon European society, it’s worth reassessing this long-held account. In his writing, The Black Death:

The plague, otherwise known as “the Black Death”, brought on much turmoil and suffering for the habitants of Pistoia. Numerous ordinances were put into effect with the primary goal of limiting the spread of the plague as well as to keep the city as healthy as possible. These ordinances typically focused on confinement, i.e. no one goes to Pisa and Luca and no one from Pisa and Luca is allowed to enter Pistoia (ordinance 1), how death and burials are to be processed (ordinances 3-12), and how butchers were to handle their animals and animal carcasses (ordinances 13-19). Essentially, confinement was targeted in hopes of stopping the spread of the infection while keeping the city isolated. Secondly, how the bodies of plague victims and their

From 1347 to 1352 a string of the bubonic plague lay waste to western Europe, killing millions. In Italy, nearly a third of the population died; in England, half. The plague was a looming presence, always in the back of people’s minds. The symptoms of the Black Death caused great strife for westerners. Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian writer and poet, described the symptoms he saw during the first outbreak of the plague: “Not such were they as in the East, where an issue of blood from the nose was a manifest sign of inevitable death; but in men a women alike it first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumors in the groin or the armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg, some more, some less, which the common folk called gavoccioli.” Both Italy and England desperately searched for answers, claiming that the Black Death was the cause of a higher force, but realising that the squalor of their countries also played a part in spreading the illness. Although Italy and England both had a common explanation for the cause of the plague and they both implemented better public health standards, they adopted different public health practices after the plague.

Diseases have always been a threat to humans, all throughout history. One of the most destructive disease outbreaks in history was the plague outbreak which peaked in 1346 to 1353, in Europe, commonly known as the Black Death. This plague outbreak was extremely deadly and killed 30-60% of the European population at the time of the outbreak. The outbreak is commonly believed to have been caused by the bubonic plague, but modern evidence suggests that the Black Death was caused by pneumonic plague, a much more contagious and deadly infection.

One of the many Economic benefits the Black Plague brought, was a new power for peasants. This meant they were granted higher pay, better working conditions and sometimes more land out in the fields. Prior to the initial outbreak of the Black Death, the people of Europe followed a social hierarchy system called the ‘feudal system’. Under its reign, there were only two main social categories; the rich, wealthy nobles and the poor, powerless peasants. Most of these peasants earned very little, if any pay, for their hard work. Following the Black Death, there were two ways these peasants could become prosperous, either by gaining more vacant land, or demanding higher wages. The Black Death is thought to have wiped out around one-third of Europe’s population of the time, and therefore many blocks of land were left unattended. It didn’t take long

There were three major outbreaks of the Black Death pandemic in the world. In the history the Black Plague is also called as the Black Death or Bubonic Plague. This research paper will mainly cover the European outbreak of the 14th century as it is considered to be the era of the worst time of the Black Death period. Many historians would agree that the events of 1300s led to dramatic changes affecting every European country in all the aspects. Creating economic, social, religious, and medical issues, the Black Death caused renovation of the Europe. New circumstances forced Europe to reconsider its political system, improve the medicine and look at the situation from a different perspective, shifting from the medieval to modern society. Paul Slack, in his book The Impact of Plague in Tudor and Stuart England, provides a detailed description of the most affected places and the approximation of the victims, estimating that Europe had lost about one third of its population. Comparing to cholera the number of deaths caused by the Black Plague in England is doubled making The Black Plague the most devastating disease (Slack 174). In the book, The Black Death, Robert Gottfried examines the history of the Black Plague and its political consequences as well as social. He introduces the facts how the European population was affected in both positive and negative ways. From his writing it stood out that the lower class was affected the most as the conditions they lived in were worse

How important to England was the C14th plague The Black Death, its cause and when it reached England The 14th century plague, also commonly known as the Black Death, was a disease that affected many parts of Europe. The disease reached England in 1348, believed to have originated from China and spread west along the trade routes across Europe.

From the reading “The Black Death”, the descriptions that stood out the most were the effects that the plague had on the animals. As described by the author, the plague effected both humans and animals. In paragraph seven, this point was emphasized in very grave details. The author stated that “One day, for instance, the rags of a pauper who had died from the disease were thrown into the street, where they attracted the attention of two pigs. In their wonted fashion, the pigs first of all gave the rags a thorough mauling with their snouts, after which they took them between their teeth and shook them against their cheeks. And within a short time they began to writhe as though they had been poisoned, then they both dropped dead to the ground”

The black death was a silent, but deadly disease that was killing off people, with no cure. Research shows that the horrific black plague was caught and spread by rats. The plague doctors thought is was spread by smell, which was why they wore haunting masks. Instead, it was spread by rats because when the people drove out the rats from the sewers the disease spread rapidly. In other words, when there were more rats closer to people the plague was caught and spread faster. The plague was stronger than ever and nobody knew how it spread Additionally, when they killed of the rats the spread of the plague began to die off. This proves that once there were less rats to spread the horrible disease, it died off. Therefore, the plague was spread

The Black Death had a significant negative effect on both the economy of Europe and the Catholic Church during and after it 's prime, proving to ruin the lives of many both directly and indirectly subject to the plague. However, it can be argued that the Black Death prompted a restructure in feudalism, increasing equality in society. The Bubonic Plague became prominent in 1347 AD, tearing through the lives of many throughout Europe. A major financial shift in the fourteenth century saw millions living in poverty. The Catholic Church was shunned because it had no power over the plague, and therefore lost much of its influence on society. However, lower class citizens were able to stand

Today I woke up on May 13th, 1350, I awoke up extra early to go pray for my best friend Percival to be ridden of the plague. Percival has had the plague for four days now and is in terrible condition. Since Percival was infected with the plague, I had to step up and do his share of work as well as mine. I really hope that Percival gets well soon. Right as I was leaving the church I heard my vassal calling my name and I started heading over to where he was at. When I saw my vassal, I saw my other fellow serfs being called out to go line up to be told our task for the day. After the other serfs were told their task I finally was told what my task of the day were. Angry, how I felt after being told my task for the day, I must harvest the

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

Throughout history, diseases have greatly changed the ways that people live, from individual to mass amounts of the country’s citizens. More specifically, pestilences-fatal epidemic diseases-produce the most amount of damage, usually destroying the economy. The economy gets affected by the massive delay in production and revenue, causing depression within the atmosphere. During the Renaissance Period, one of the most recognizable plagues occurred: the Black Death. The Black Death affected the everyday Elizabethan England, an economic and religious crisis that would be remembered as one of the most unforgiving dilemmas to exist.