Severe Trials of the Late Middle Ages Essay Example

a remedy that lowered the number of fleas. Other measures were washing and cleansing scented waters. Populator speculation was that corruptions in the atmosphere cause the plague, some blamed poisonous fumes released by earthquakes which cause some to buy amulets for protection.

Some of those afflicted with the plague sought escape with a moderation and a temperate life while others gave in to their passions with many sexual promiscuity people in stricken areas. “The best remedy, perhaps,” wrote Boccaccio,”was flight and seclusion, migration to non-infested lands, and keeping faith.”

An extreme reaction was the procession of flagellants, which were religious fanatics who beat themselves in a ritual penance in the belief that  would bring divine help, but more likely their diary, bleeding bodies both increased the terror and spread the disease. It came to the point that they were so disruptive that the church had too bad all activities of the sort. Many used Jews as a scapegoat which resulted in centuries of Christian Propaganda that caused hatred toward them. Many Programs (ethnic massacres) occurred sometimes inspired by flagellants.

Social and Economic Consequences

The plague caused entire villages to disappear, labor was a decline and the value of nobles estates declined. The plague caused many farms to decline as farm laborers decreased, wages increased and those of skilled artisans soared. Many serfs chose to commute their labor services into my payments and pursue more interesting and rewarding jobs in skilled craft industries in the cities. Agricultural prices fell due to the waning demand and the price of luxury and manufactured goods--the work of skilled artisans--rose. The nobles experienced a great loss in power with needing to pay more for

finished products and labor for a lower agricultural produce. Everywhere rents declined after the plague.

Peasants Revolt

The rich who wanted to recover losses in revenue with abandoning sheep pasturing with intense labor grains. But many just abandoned the farms selling them to the highest bidder. Those who owned farms tried to pass legislation that would keep the farm workers on the farm (serfs) and keep their pay frozen at a low level, which caused a peasant revolt in 1351 in England and a similar one in France after they passed a tax on the peasantry known as the Taille.

Cities began to create legislation to include the surrounding areas. The second half of the 14th century saw a great demand for luxury goods. People came from rural areas to be trained as artisans as they saw a great rise in wages for artisans. There was also a gain as well as a loss for the church. It lost a great amount of land, and political power, but received new revenues from the large demand for church service through the funeral.

The plague caused a demand for skilled artisans which grew power of local artisans and trade guilds with a demand for those services. Tradition merchant classes found it difficult to maintain the status. After local artisans gained enough political power to fight against the old masters who wished to keep their numbers low denying man possible.

The Plague caused the landed nobles and church to be on the defensive against kings who used their state and the general national sentiment to centralize their governments and economies. The hundred years war would later show how professional armies would prove to

be better than the old noble cavalry. The church having been reduced by about a third and the pope having to move from room to Avignon saw the great Schism.