The Plague Dbq

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

People started to abandon cities and run off to the country side where it was believed to be a safer place to live, away from all other people. It is known that some family members would leave their own loved ones who had contracted the plague and venture to clean areas. Doctors would refuse treatment on the sick in hopes that they could somehow be spared for the epidemic. Yet there was one group of people who as a whole looked out for those who were sick: the clergy of the Catholic Church. Priests, nuns, and monks were typically the only glimmer of hope for the sick. With everyone else shunning the sick or abandoning them, those with the plague were happy to receive whatever help they could get.

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”

Beginning in the mid-fourteenth century, a plague swept the world like no other. It struck in a series of waves that continued into the eighteenth century. The first wave was estimated to have killed twenty-five million people, about a third of the Western Europe population at that time. Throughout the different outbreaks, the plague, also known as the Bubonic Plague or the Black Death, caused people to react in several ways. Some people believed the plague was a medical problem that can be treated, some found themselves concerned only with their own greed, still others believed there was nothing they could do and reacted in fear, and most people believed it was a form of divine

Some people even turned to witchcraft in an act of desperation. People believed that an affected person could simply “cough up” the germs that were blamed for the plague. People would feed the patients ashes in order to induce coughing and hopefully remove whatever was infecting the

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..

The Black Plague effected Europe religiously because they lost followers of the church so the numbers decreased which led to empty churches. “Population before the Plague was 75,000,000 and after the plague the numbers decreased rapidly by 1351 the population was 51,160,00” (Doc 2). Some of the town or community lost faith in their God because they thought that God should’ve answered their prayers when they were asking for their family members to get better and to heal or make things and people better around them. During this time period people were big believers in God, the people believed that god was powerful, but then after the plague their opinions were mistaken because the church didn’t help at all to make anyone better many people died because of this

It was in the 14th century that a catastrophic and deadly Plague hit Europe. The Black Plague killed up to a 3rd of Europe’s population. This lead to medieval science changing dramatically as people began to question how much authority the church should be given, and began to turn to science for logical answers. The plague also contributed to the Peasants anger that evolved into the Peasants Revolt, and ultimately, the breakdown of the feudal system.

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.

When the plague began its reign of terror, everyone turned to the church for answers and a cure. When the church couldn’t produce, people became skeptical. Then to add on top of that, “perhaps a third of the Catholic clergy died. ”(source 2; paragraph 3). And with the catholic leadership depleted and their inability to control the plague, many began to question the power and authenticity of the church.

They believed the outbreak to be merited because of the evils that occurred not only because of them but also their forebears. This belief led some to live their lives in piety, trying to atone for their sins. Thus affecting the way they viewed death because of the plague and resulting in a change of the way they lived their lives. An archetype of this opinion was seen in the flagellants, a radical religious group during the plague. They believed that in order to take away the plague they would have to appease God. In the hopes to achieve this atonement this group would conduct sessions of penance in which they would whip themselves to the point of bloodshed. This point illustrates how the sheer quantity of death due to this epidemic was so abnormal that people perceived this to be the end of times and took to extremes to try to stall this impending apocalypse.

In fact, people believed the plague was a divine punishment because of their sins and the only way to end the sickness was asking for God’s forgiveness. Rumors also placed the blame on the Jewish community, and thousands of Jews were massacred. In the end, the plague affected everyone, no matter the social class it was only a matter of time before a person was sentenced to their

The survivors of the plague were more cynical, fearful, and less virtuous than ever. The murder rate during this time tripled what it had been in the past and people became care free. The religious began to question their beliefs and church officials began to indulge. Many wondered why they should obey the old customs when the Black Death could easily resurface

Rather than becoming more religious in thanksgiving to God for survival, people began to harbor doubts. They would turn to the church for an answer to the plague, and the church was unable to help.

The Great Plague killed nearly half of the European population during the fourteenth century. A plague is a widespread illness. The Illness was also known as the “Black Death”. Most of the European people believed the plague was the beginning of the end of the world. They were scarcely equipped and unready for what was to be entailed. It was by far one of the worst epidemics yet to be seen in those times.