Preview

How The Bubonic Plague Affected Medieval European Society

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
469 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How The Bubonic Plague Affected Medieval European Society
The bubonic plague and “the little ice age” drastically changed medieval European society . It also affected family life and the role women played in society. The plague was an outcome of Mongol occupations. They had an empire that extended from Russia to China. There were many trade roads in the Mongol Empire, and their rule kept Eurasian trade avenues in check. Society flourished due to the increased amount of trade, but rats with fleas reached Europe along the trade routes. These rats lead to the Black Death, one of the greatest epidemics in European history. Another catastrophe in fourteenth century Europe was “the little ice age”. The weather started changing in the end of the thirteenth century and little temperature decreases lead to rain and storms. It also cut the growing season, and from 1315 through 1317 , rain wrecked harvests and resulted in …show more content…
With a decrease in population, aristocrats were looking for laborers. The prices dropped and the lord’s incomes fell. Peasants faced similar economic limitations as the aristocrats. The aristocrats tried to restrict wages and created new taxes. Peasants started to complain across Europe about these problems and revolts started occurring. These were known as the peasant revolts, which was the destruction of societal order after the Black Death. They were sparked by social class tension and the peasants were angered about how to upper class treated them. Clashes happened between the rich and the poor, which led to the destruction of castles and murder of nobles. The revolts eventually failed as the upper classes, ruthlessly killed the rebels and arrested them. After the revolts , poll taxes was cut , and a lot of the rebels were pardoned. They had gains for those who participated, they were also crushed quickly and the benefits got lost. The revolts signified an era of societal conflict that distinguished future European
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Black Death: The Bubonic Plague
    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Black Death: The Bubonic Plague

    If you think Ebola is bad, you obviously haven’t heard about The Black Death. The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague, was a fatal disease that spread from China in 1348 to the rest of Europe. During those years of the pestilence, between 25-50% of Europe’s population was killed. The Black Death was a very deadly disease that infected everybody it came in contact with and caused farmers to flee. Due to many failed attempts to cure the disease, the people of Europe shifted their focus from religion to medicine.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How The Bubonic Plague Affected Europe In The 1300s
    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page

    How The Bubonic Plague Affected Europe In The 1300s

    The bubonic pale affected Europe and the European economy during the 1300s. There is a bacteria called Yersinia pest's that scientists believe caused the bubonic plague. Though the version that still exists today is different then the version that caused the black death in 1347 - 1351. The plague also affected the economy. The time period had feudalism and serfs had to pay rent of crops to the lord. With the plague though, the numbers of serfs and workers went down. This forced some lords to lower dues or give the serfs an incentive to continue working. This is how the bubonic plague effected the people of Europe in the 1300s.…

    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did The Black Plague Affect Western Civilization
    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Did The Black Plague Affect Western Civilization

    One of the greatest disasters of the Western Civilization is without a doubt the Black Plague, but the Black Plague isn’t like any of your other diseases, it was a plague that was determined to reduce more than half of the western population, this disease was destined to end all humankind, given it’s way. With the Europeans trading with the East, a rumor was being spread that an infectious disease was forming in Asia. In Jordan McMullin’s book, “The Black Death”, he discusses, “By September of 1345, the Yersinia pestis bacillus, probably carried by rats, reached the Crimea, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, where Italian merchants had a good number of trading colonies.” Everyone talks about how the spread of the Black Plague happened or how horrible the symptoms to the Black Plague were and but not a lot is discussed about the aftereffects of the Black Plague. By analyzing religion, social and economic artifacts during this time, we’ll see how the Black Plague impacted Western Civilization.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death: Toppling Europe's Social Structure
    • 1720 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Black Death: Toppling Europe's Social Structure

    Around 1339 in northwestern Europe, the population was beginning to outgrow the food supply and a severe economic crisis began to take place. The winters were extremely cold and the summers were dry. Due to this extreme weather, very low crops yielded and those that grew were dying. Inflation became a common occurrence and as famine broke out, people began to worry. The time period of approximately 1339 to 1346 is now known as the famine before the plague (history). These seven bad years of weather and famine lead to the greatest plague of all times. In 1347, endemic to Asia, The Black Death began spreading throughout Western Europe. Over the time of three years, the plague killed one third of the population in Europe with roughly twenty five million people dead (bbc.co). The Black Death killed more Europeans than any other endemic or war up to that time, greatly impacting the Church, family life, and the economy. These three social pillars were changed forever.…

    • 1720 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of The Bubonic Plague: The Black Death
    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Analysis Of The Bubonic Plague: The Black Death

    The Black Death or the bubonic plague was one of the most deadly disease of our time. The Black Death took place between 1348 and 1351. It killed about one third to one half of the population in Europe. It only liked warm weather; therefore it would die out in the winter, but come back strong in the summer. When it would infect a victim it would only take a matter of days to kill him or her. The Black Death would kill so many people so fast that they would dig big pits and put all the dead in a hole in the ground, cover them with some dirt, and then bless them. (Ole J. Benedictow) They would put a little thin layer of dirt in between the layers of people. The Black Death would not have been as destructive if people didn’t try to flee from the…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did The Black Death Affect Society
    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Did The Black Death Affect Society

    Additionally lifestyle of everyday peasants was changed as worker’s wages were also affected due to the disease as there were less workers and more job opportunities for the surviving Serfs to take advantage of. The Black Death shook Europe and impacted it in both social and economic ways - art, faith and peasant lifestyle being no exception. First off, art and literature during the spread of the Black Death was largely impacted. Instead of its usual positive religious meanings, the arts turned toward expressing themes of death and suffering. For example, many pieces of art depicted smiling devils attacking helpless victims of the plague as God watches from above them.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pneumonic Plague: The Black Death In England
    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Pneumonic Plague: The Black Death In England

    An important topic is being discussed and it concerns the Black Death in England. “The Black Death is the name given to a deadly plague (often called bubonic plague, but is more likely to be pneumonic plague) which was rampant during the Fourteenth Century. It was believed to have arrived from Asia in late 1348 and caused more than one epidemic in that century – though its impact on English society from 1348 to 1350 was terrible. No amount of medical knowledge could help England when the plague struck. It also had a major impact on England’s social structure which lead to the Peasants Revolt of 1381.” (History Learning). “The first outbreak of the plague swept across England in 1348 to 1349. It seems to have travelled across the south in bubonic…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death: The Plague In The XIV Century
    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Black Death: The Plague In The XIV Century

    It’s well known how devastating the Black Death was for Europe in the XIV century and that reached the maximum point between 1346 and 1361, killing one third of the continental population. From the big terror that provoked this unknown disease, people inclined to think that this was a supernatural occurrence. The Black Death was considered a divine punishment because of mortals sins. In plain desperation, guilty people were searched to calm this divine rage. It was told that Jews and lepers poisoned the wells and this unchained a wave of violence among them. Moreover, this fear to “others” (Jews, lepers) spread, this fear was as dangerous as the Black Death because it cause repercussions and unjust death that difficult the resistance of weakened…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did The Black Death Affect Europe
    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How Did The Black Death Affect Europe

    The article “Black Death and Sin” states, “In Western Europe, common folks were more inclined to rebellion. With labor in short supply they were aware of their added value as producers and eager to improve their situation. In response to rising wages, authorities started to fix wages at a low level – the opposite of a minimum wage. Hostility toward employers and authorities increased. Peasants and other workers tried to dodge these impositions. Peasants called for a reduction in service obligations. In cities, workers rose against the wealthy merchants who had been running city hall. Peasants and workers revolted in Spain, the Netherlands, southern Germany, Italy, and England.” This is saying that because of the disease, people were not happy. People such as laborers were in much higher demand, so many started to say that they needed to be payed much more to support there families. In response, the authorities in many European countries set something similar to a maximum wage; a pay limit that no workers of any calibur can be payed more than. As you can imagine, this led to many revolts by workers saying that this was unfair treatment. They started to say that if they were getting payed less, then they were going to work less, too. This meant that things were not getting done, which made people even more upset. Then the people who were not doing anything were saying, “if they payed us more, we would do it!” This lead to many people attacking the authorities and business owners, blaming them for things not hetting done. This issue went on for years after the Death, and caused many of the nations such as the Netherland’s economies to plumit. This was a very bad thing for the continent of Europe, which suffered for decades after the horrid…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death: The Bubonic Plague
    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Black Death: The Bubonic Plague

    The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague, or the Bubonic Plague killed one third of the population of Europe during its reign in the 13th and 14th centuries. The arrival of this plague set the scene for years of strife and heroism. Leaving the social and…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death: A Huge Effect On Medieval Europe
    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Black Death: A Huge Effect On Medieval Europe

    The plague changed Medieval Europe and infected a lot of people and most of them were peasants. The farmers lost a lot of peasants, however it did not mean that the work the wealthy farmers had to do was less.. They still had a huge amount of work to do with less workers. A lot of people rebelled and none of them…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Justinian Plague Analysis
    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Justinian Plague Analysis

    It was a significant contributor to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, the largest revolt Medieval England had ever seen or was to see again. There was a severe population drop, and manual labor was much more difficult to find. The law said that peasants could not leave their home village unless their lord allowed it, but it was ignored by desperate lords in other villages, who openly supported and encouraged peasants to leave their home villages and come work for them. When peasants left their home villages, their original lords refused to let them return. Peasants demanded higher wages, since they knew that lords were desperate for work. A statute was passed, making it so peasants could not be paid more than they had been paid in 1346 (before the Black Death), and could not leave their village under any circumstances. This riled up the peasants and they grew very wrathful, leading to the revolt in…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Black Death: The Bubonic Plague In Europe
    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Black Death: The Bubonic Plague In Europe

    The Black Death is one of the most deadly epidemics in human history, and is taught in schools throughout the world. Though it is most known to have killed 50 million people in Europe it also ravaged Asia killing 25 million people. The Black Death is a type of plague called the Bubonic plague. Encyclopedia Britannica defines the Bubonic plague as, “an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Bubonic plague is the most commonly occurring type of plague and is characterized by the appearance of buboes—swollen, tender lymph nodes, typically found in the armpits and groin.” The Bubonic plague has surfaced nine times in human history: the Plague of Justinian (541-542), the Black Death (1346-1353), the Great Plague of Milan (1629-1631),…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death: The Plague Breakout In Europe
    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Black Death: The Plague Breakout In Europe

    During, the medieval times, there was a destructive disease sweeping across the globe. So destructive it is believed to have taken twice as many lives as the amount of people murdered by Joseph Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union (Benedictow). In this essay, I will explain to you “The Black Death”, the name given to the plague breakout in Europe. In order for you to understand the plague in Europe, I must first inform you on plagues, in general.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of 'The Material And Trading Worlds, Circa 1400'
    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of 'The Material And Trading Worlds, Circa 1400'

    The plague could spread rapidly and hugely due to the trading route across the large, treeless steppe as Mongol Empire spanned almost the entire Eurasian continent. The "steppe ecosystem was susceptible to the plague bacillus (Marks, 37)" as Mongol riders heading west spread the plague to the rodents on the steppe, resulting transmitting it across the whole Eurasia at the end. It is true that the consequence of Black Death was lifeless and awful enough to largely reduce the population of people in 1400; however, there became "more and better land, more fuel, and more resources of all kinds," (Marks, 37) consequently even leading to larger population in later…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics