Black Death In Late Medieval Europe Essay Example

of the serfs their freedom. There was the selling of the church simony, through allowing a single person to own several offices, charging of fees for the church services offered and so on. This practices together with the inability of the church to be in the position of coping up with the Black Death resulted to the increase in the public discontent. This greatly disintegrated the harmony of the people hence killing their social development or understanding (Benedictow 39).

In addition to that, the society ended up experiencing an upheaval to the point which was only depicted in some controlled circumstances for instance carnival. After the end of the plague, the faith of the people decreased since they might have felt that there was no need of upholding it since it never helped them during the plague. Moreover, this decrease was also brought about by the deaths of many clergy. The effect of the black death in the late medieval Europe was social mobility, it was easily noticed because of the fleeing of the people throughout the cities and town. Basically, by considering how wide spread the plague was, it is estimated that over twenty million people were noted to have died during this period. All this was renowned as the leading and key outbreak of the Black Death that was experienced during 1347 to 1351 as a major promoter of social turmoil throughout Europe.

The peasant’s horizons were expanded due to influence of popular rebellion which ultimately had been contributed by the Black Death. This broke their social ties amongst the society .Consequently, peasants broke the obligations to hold to their old ways of living hence

they were able to move freely due to the fact that land was now in plenty (Benedictow 39). The depopulation that was brougth by the plague resulted into cheaper prices of land.

The Black Death plague’s phenomenon devastating effects caused the social disintegration of the societal set up in areas that were hard hit by this unusual phenomenon. This led to breaking of the societal norms as some entire generations were wiped out without passing the desired socio cultural traditions and ideas to the next generation. Social ties between the communities were largely affecting as some of those people tasked with this responsibility had succumbed to the effects of the Black Death plague (Byrne 147).

Consequently, whilst to the start of the blurring of the financial distinctions, social distinctions also sharpened in return. For instance, the fashions regarding the nobility in turn became more and more extravagant. The reason behind this was to lay emphasis on the social standing of the person wearing such clothing. Conversely, the peasant later become relatively empowered, and equally revolted when such aristocracy attempted to resist all of the changes which were brought by the plague. This implies that the social structure of the European people was drastically as well as irretrievably changed.

Coupled with many challenges there was also turbulence in the Catholic Church whereby it was almost faced out by the western schism. In general these occurrences are usually referred to as crisis of the late Middle Ages (Byrne 150). In spite of the above turmoil’s the 14th century there was also a good time in the development of arts and sciences. Subsequent to a reestablished interest in ancient Roman and

Greek texts that were adopted in the high Middle Ages, the Italian renaissance commenced.

Despite of the above effect it had on the social development of the people, there is still contentious debate in the historical world conferences about whether the black plague is overrated or not. Considering the facts available, the black plague is among the most disturbing occurrences that ever happened in the history of mankind. Its outcome was the deaths of approximately 75 to 200 million people and it accelerated in Europe in 1346 to 1353. However there exists opposing theories that have been fronted in relation to the origin of the black plague (Thackeray et al 175). Examination of the DNA from the persons who lost their lives in the plague in the southern and northern Europe that was made public in 2010 and 2011 reveals that the cause of the deaths was the Yersinia bacterium which could likely cause different forms of plague.

The Black Deaths plague is not overrated in the sense the magnitude of lives lost in the plague is just too much to be ignored as blowing things out of proportion as seem people seem to think. If it was not contained decisively and with speed it could possibly face out the entire human race out of the surface of the earth. The overrating debate on the Black Deaths plague seems to hold no water due to a number of reasons that disapproves the argument that it was exaggerated. The plague had also resulted to the social disintgration of the population or communities. For example, people abandoned their belongings and families. They even secluded themselves from the world due

to the emerging deaths which translated to a number of funerals that became unthinkable and disturbing.

The spreading of the Black Death plague to Europe seemed to be unexpected and now it seemed together a global perspective as it affected all and sundry. Its origin is traced in the arid plains of central Asia where it is thought to have travelled down the olden system of trade and cultural diffusion routes (Knox 50). These routes were very important to cultural relations through sections of the Asian continent linking the east and the west by pilgrims, traders, soldiers, monks, urban residents, and nomads from India and china to the Mediterranean Sea during different periods in history.

In addition to that, it is true that the Black Death was not overrated. For instance, after reaching Europe, it wiped the European population to the tune of 30 to 60 percent of its population. In totality the plague decreased the world population from an approximate 450 million to 35omillion people in the 14th century hence this not just an overrated proposition since it is supported by numeric facts. The effects of the Black Death plague were enormous and this can be seen through statistics as the world population did not regain its original population numbers up until the 17th century. The plague occurred intermitted in Europe until the 19th century (Knox 90).

The plague had also resulted to the social disintgration of the population or communities. For example, people abandoned their belongings and families. They even secluded themselves from the world due to the emerging deaths which translated to a number of funerals that became unthinkable and disturbing.

Consequently the Black Death plague

was not a mere exaggeration since it spread through the natural ways from Asia to Europe and to other parts of the world without any foreign human action that led to its spreading (Loewen 89) It later spread to other parts of the world but the most crucial damage took place in Asia and Europe. The outcome of the plague led to a sequence of social, economic, and religious turmoil which had devastating effects on the path of European history.

Contemporary researchers oppose the view that the plague became widespread in Europe or its rat population. The plague repetitively killed the rodent carriers resulting to the fleas dying out up until the plague stroke once again from central Asia in a repetitive process. Statistics seem to indicate that the plague occurred approximately 15 years subsequent to a warmer and wetter period in areas where the plague is widespread in other species for instance the gerbilis. The major symptoms of the Black Death plague disease are usually wide-ranging and to some extent distorted. The major noted characteristics of this disease were the emergence of swellings in the armpits, the groin and the neck which discharged pus and bled when they were opened. It manifested itself in both men and women by the appearance of some tumors which developed to the size of an apple or an egg. It soon began to circulate and disperse itself in every directions separately after which the appearance of the problem started to change.

The outcome of the above was black spots or discolored markings in parts such as the thighs, arms or other areas of the body. Sometimes they emerged as few

and large and sometimes minimal and plenty markings on the body. This was said to cause unbearable amounts of pain to the victims of the black plague disease. By the time the marking started to emerge in different parts of the body the victim was said to be approaching death as at that time there was no decisive cure to diagnose this condition and its spread to other people who had not been yet affected by the Black Death plague (Bailey 130). The above symptoms of the Black Death have been documented and there also credible evidence of the pain went through by the victims of this disease hence the idea of it being an exaggeration of facts is null and void. This is to show that the plague was real and cannot be wished on any other human being (Owings 109) .The debate of the plague being an overrated idea can be brought to rest by concluding that the devastating effects of the Black Death plague were real and supported by documented facts and statistics and also a bad phenomenon to remember altogether.

After the experience of the Black Death which in the aftermath was known to be the plague, it created a series of religious and even economic disorder that caused the history of Europe at learge.As a result of region turmoil some communities of minority such as the Jews, beggars and also the lepers were affected with the persecution that was widely spread (Garci?a 304). Also religious fervor and fanaticism bloomed were renewed in the tenure of the Black Death. This is because during the 14th-century healers were at a loss to expound

the cause of the Black Death since people did not have knowledge to understand the plague and only perceived this as only the punishment from God.

Cultural was among the factors that were affected during the Black Death; this was because of the travel and the migration that was affected in most parts of Middle East across Europe and even Russia which led to the nomadic way of living as people were forced to leave there old ways of their cultural lifestyle. Also after the epidemic the population stopped raising which let to food costs to be very high leading to famines, this was only facilitated by the cultural practises that changed eventually as people abandoned their way of living as a result of movement to urban cities while cultivation appeared to spread to the limit of workable land.

The period of the Black Death was a period of creative destruction in a number of ways. The destruction manifested itself in the social settings of the European regions affected by the plague .The economic set up of the region and the cultural relations of the people were also extensively destroyed by the devastating effects caused by the outcome of the plague (Acemoglu et al 134). It was similar to new revolution in the way people could now be conducting their daily affairs after the results of the plague. Politically the Black death plague led to strengthening of laws and coming up with new laws to govern the relations especially the business transactions and procedures being allowed entry into another country through a proper vetting and documentation process in order to curb the spread of diseases similar to

the black death plague.

To start with the Black Death was the biggest population disaster to have ever occurred in the history of Europe .It’s shocking symptoms and outcomes have made the Black Death to be perceived as creative destructive mechanism that can wipe human kind out of the surface of the earth within a very short time. The disease’s economic social and cultural results effects have been major areas of study over the years by a number of scholars. The Black Death plague total number of victims who lost their lives led to a destruction of the socio –economic status of the people at that time. Its timing made a simplistic classification of the occurrence as a breaking point in the history of the European economy unavoidable. It happened near the end of a cheerful high middle ages which were between 1000 to 1300 years (Dimmock 67). In the successful previous periods in time the urban lifestyle developed, long distance trade was booming, the manufacturing and its allied departments were coming up with new innovations. The agricultural sector had come of age and more importantly the population was healthily increasing in tandem to the resources available.

After the experience of the black death which in the aftermath was known to be the plague, it created a series of religious and even economic disorder that caused the history of Europe at learge.As a result of region turmoil some communities of minority such as the Jews, beggars and also the lepers were affected with the persecution that was widely spread(Bailey 140). Also religious fervor and fanaticism bloomed were renewed in the tenure of the Black Death. This is

because during the 14th-century healers were at loss to expound the cause of the Black Death since people did not have knowledge to understand the plague and only perceived this as only the punishment from God.

Cultural was among the factors that were affected during the Black Death; this was because of the travel and the migration that was affected in most parts of Middle East across Europe and even Russia which led to the nomadic way of living as people were forced to leave there old ways of their cultural lifestyle.