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The Black Death Essay
The Black Death or the plague is an extreme disease that killed one third of Europe’s population. The Black Death had started in Asia to Europe in 1347-1352. The Black Death did have short term and long term effects that spread all around the nation of Europe. Short term is scapegoating, flagellants, changes to medicine and long term being the fall of the feudal system and art. The plague did develop progress in the Medieval times. Ultimately the short term and long term effects show that the Black Death had a good and bad side to the plague, therefore it wasn’t a total disaster.
The Black Death is a disease that killed one third of Europe’s population. The plague happened in 1347-1352. The Black Death had travelled on fleas to rats and rats on to boats. Not only that but it carried from Asia to Europe by the silk road in boat which contained clothing, food and jewellery. In this essay it will contain information about the reactions to the Black Death, art, scapegoating and changes to medicine.
People reacted differently to the mysterious disease. While some people turned to contrition and prayed for salvation, others turned to debauchery and increased sinful behaviour; they argued that nothing mattered anymore if everyone was to die anyway. Superstition, scapegoats, religious fervour and fanaticism were only some of the things that were considered a possible solution to the problem of the Black Death. Some believed that ringing the church bells (which was done in all kinds of crises) would drive the disease away. Others expressed their feelings and thoughts about death and the afterlife in art (like poetry, sculpture or painting).Yet another way to cope with the Black Death was shown up by the flagellants. ‘Flagellants went from one town to another, parading through the streets and whipping themselves to demonstrate their penitence.’ (The Black Death - The Plague of the 14th Century. 2014. The Black Death - The Plague of the 14th Century. [ONLINE] Available at: http://historymedren.about.com/od/theblackdeath/p/blackdeath.htm But even with different reactions, everyone felt the wave of fear, hysteria and panic that swept over Europe and that even the almighty Church was unable to stop. Overall due to the people’s reactions to the Black Death, in this paragraph it states the reactions had been a short term effect, therefore the reactions was a disaster.
For some groups in society the plague was even more tragic due to the scapegoating to the Jews. Some people sought to blame the Jews so that people of Europe so that the people of Europe could have revenge as to killing them. There had blamed the Jews so they could get revenge because the people of Europe thought that the Black Death had been caused by the Jews. So generally the people of Europe were punishing and torturing the Jews for no reason. Due to the fact that the Jews were to be blamed for the Black Death it was a tragic disaster.
The Black Death of 1347 changed every aspect of life in Europe, including the production of art. The second pandemic of plague during the mid-14th century significantly affected European culture, the idea of death, and religion. During this time, many artistic representations captured moments of terrible misfortune, sarcasm, and sometimes hope. This period often was characterized by death and it’s many, constantly evolving representations. The plague showed the people of Europe that they were alike in at least one respect; death could strike any person at any time regardless of social standing. This realization was often depicted in art, in art form of “dance of death”, an artistic style that featured personifications of death most often in form of grinning skeletons, ushering new victims to the grave. Sometime in the middle of the 14th century, Europeans became fascinated with the concept of death. Losing over a third of your population to the plague in just a few years will do that. And naturally, this fascination was mirrored in their art. Sometimes death was depicted beautifully; sometimes every gory, disgusting aspect was portrayed. (The Black Death in European Art | Father Theo's Blog. 2014. The Black Death in European Art | Father Theo's Blog. [ONLINE] Available at: http://fathertheo.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/the-black-death-in-european-art/.) In conclusion to this paragraph, art during the Black Death was a bad thing, however the art was a help to those who were not able to read or write. The artworks of the Black Death made them more aware of the plague. So that would mean that the art during the plague was not a total disaster.
The plagued killed off many of the peasants who worked the land, leaving a shortage of labour for the Barons who ruled their fiefs. As there were now fewer of them, the peasants, carpenters and masons could demand higher wages for the hire and lower rents. Prices fell and in the new economic climate, the rising survivors found a profit. This included increasing their land holdings that people had once owned and building stone cottages to replace the wood and mud dwellings they had known as children. In 1351, while the plague was still present in England, the King introduced a new law, the Statue of Labourers In an attempt to fix rates and wages, but market forces pushed them up regardless. Peasantry found a new economic muscle, encouraging the protests that lead to the peasant’s revolt of 1381. Thus the plague played a part in a hastening a gradual change from feudalism to capitalism. The fall of the Feudal System was a great help to those who were struggling from the Black Death, at the end of this paragraph this states that the fall of the feudal system was not a disaster.
In summary, the vast majority of the population at the time of the Black Death was rural peasants who suffered the highest mortality and in so doing, became much more expensive and choosy about where they worked, and how they related to lords. Weakened communities provided the opportunity in the century and a half after the plague for landlords to clear lands and enclose them for sheep, so that Sir Thomas More, writing soon after 1500, saw the countryside as overrun and consumed by sheep. People certainly expected and obtained higher wages even in the church, whose authority was challenged by many, including Chaucer in his mocking Canterbury Tales. Recruitment to the parish clergy fell and monastic houses never recovered. In a sense the Black Death was the prehistory both of enclosure and of the Reformation. ’In a sense the Black Death was the prehistory both of enclosure and of the Reformation. ‘Perhaps Cardinal Gasquet was right when he noted long ago that the plague led to the emergence for the first time of a middle class (who chatter and challenge authority) funded by storing the wealth of those who had died. Though in the old medieval times, the third society in the medieval who fought (the nobility and knights), those who prayed (the churchmen) and those who laboured (the peasants) was never the same again. However the long term effects
Reference: 1300 – 1500AD - Weddington Castle. 2014. 1300 – 1500AD - Weddington Castle. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.weddingtoncastle.co.uk/1300-ndash-1500ad.html.