Preview

What Is The Bubonic Plague A Turning Point

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
601 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is The Bubonic Plague A Turning Point
Why the Bubonic Plague was a Turning Point English contemporary observer Henry Knighton wrote, “In this year 1348 and in the following one there was a general mortality of people throughout the whole world.” This was the start of his account of the Black Death. Also known as the bubonic plague, this devastating disease quickly spread around Western Europe, killing many. It had several significant effects in the 14th century, most of them for the worse. Europe took a long time to recover from the societal, cultural, and economical turmoil. This destruction is what made it a major turning point for the middle ages.
First, the way people interacted in society changed a lot. Most of the population started “living for the moment.” There was uncontrollable drinking in the taverns and sexual acts everywhere because people knew they could be dead in a matter of days. Many abandoned their families and estates to escape. Others became flagellants, people who publicly flogged themselves because they believed God was punishing them. This movement was destroyed by 1350, but an outbreak of anti-Semitism soon followed. Jews were accused of causing the plague, and were persecuted in Spain and Germany. They fled to Russia and Poland for safety where Jewish communities were formed. Women were oppressed as …show more content…
Resources were extremely cheap due to the small population and lack of demand. A horse previously forty shillings could be bought for six. The serious labor shortage caused a dramatic rise in the price of labor. For instance, a farm worker who received two shillings a week in 1347 would receive eleven by 1350. Therefore, landlords had to pay more for labor while their incomes declined. Even aristocrats suffered, their incomes dropped 20%. The most affected were peasants, who were freed from obligations but still limited on how much they could advance. These restrictions caused many peasant revolts to break out across
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    AP Euro FRQ on Renaissance
    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages

    AP Euro FRQ on Renaissance

    The Bubonic plague, also known as Black Death invaded the bodies of 50% of the English population, flourishing them with welts, 104-degree temperatures, bruising, wretched stench, coughing and death within 24 hours. This awful disease forced an end to the medieval ages, creating a new way of political, economical and cultural thinking, which today we call the Renaissance. Through the inflation on silver, diminishing use of knights and castles and imposing parliaments on the king Europe was brought to a dawn of a new era, the Renaissance.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    How Did The Black Plague Dbq
    • 1406 Words
    • 6 Pages

    How Did The Black Plague Dbq

    From the late medieval era to the enlightenment a series of plagues devastated European society, economy, and social/political structure. In the Middle Ages, the Black Plague (or Death) was a pandemic that killed nearly 2/3 of the population in Europe, and lead to the downfall of the feudal system. The groups that benefited the most from the changes caused by the Black Death were peasants and laborers reaction toward the calamity ranged from rational and proactive to irrational, egoistic, and even criminal. Over all, the human devastation revealed a growth over time in government role and the role of the educated class in serving society, while uncovering a persistent criticism of the upper classes and the common people.…

    • 1406 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay on This Is the End of the World: the Black Death by Barbara Tuchman
    • 1511 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Essay on This Is the End of the World: the Black Death by Barbara Tuchman

    History reveals the mid-14th century as a very unfortunate time for Europe. It was during this period when the continent became afflicted by a terrible plague. The source of the pathogen is known today as bubonic but was colloquially known as “The Black Death” to Europeans of the day. The plague caused a tremendous number of deaths and was a catalyst of change, severely impacting Europe’s cultural, political and religious institutions.…

    • 1511 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good 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

    Did The Black Death Constitute A Historical Turning Point?
    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Did The Black Death Constitute A Historical Turning Point?

    To what extent did The Black Death constitute a historical turning point? The death of a significant proportion of Eurasia’s population due to a devastating pandemic is unquestionably a definitive moment in history. However perhaps it could be contended that, whilst this grim disease instigated cataclysmic change within society, the plague was primarily a short-term turning point as it only limitedly delivered some long-term or extensive alterations in history. Indeed in many cases it appears that the Black Death immediately affected the economy, political, cultural and social systems at the time, yet is limited as a long-term turning point because it merely catalysing the timing and speed of any long term changes.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death During The Elizabethan Era
    • 2237 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The Black Death During The Elizabethan Era

    Brian Toh Mr. Smith English 2 Honors 13 October 2014 Shrew Search 1. Black Death Summary: The Black Death, or the Bubonic Plague, surfaced in Europe in the 1300s and persisted into the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries during the Elizabethan era when Shakespeare lived. The plague was the most devastating disease in that era, killing more than 20 million people, or almost one-third of Europe’s population.…

    • 2237 Words
    • 9 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
  • Better Essays

    Black Death Dbq
    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Black Death Dbq

    The Black Death was one of the deadliest and most impactful events that the world has ever witnessed. It is believed that the plague originated in Asia and it began to spread to other parts of the world around 1345 to 1346 when the plague struck water for the first time. Supposedly, this happened when Yanibeg, a khan of the Golden Horde, which was a part of the Mongol Empire, began catapulting the bodies of plague victims over its walls into the Black Sea. Once the plague hit the Black Sea, there was no hope of stopping it from its inevitable onslaught. The Genoese and Mediterranean coastline now laid open to an attack from the disease. The Black Death began to spread all over the world, but it did most of its damage throughout Europe. By the end of the fourteenth century, Europe had lost nearly half of its total population that it contained prior to the plague. However, the plague brought more consequences than just widespread death. The economy and social structure of Europe would…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

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

    How Did The Black Death Affect Europe

    Have you ever heard of the Black Death? A lot people are familiar with the horrible plague that spread across Europe from early 1348 to late 1349. However, most do not know just how big of an effect it had on the nation of Europe. Over time, the disease caused famine, mass death in highly populated areas, and even led to rebellion and uprising from poor people, or “peasants”. The disease ravaged the continent of Europe for around two years, yet it left tens of thousands of casualties in its wake.…

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

    Dbq- the Bubonic Plague
    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Dbq- the Bubonic Plague

    14Th Century Europe was a period of chaos and turmoil. The Great Famine of 1315-1317 produced the worst famine in the Middle Ages that killed millions of people all over Europe. The onset of the Bubonic Plague (“Black Death”) only made things worse. The Black Death swept throughout Europe and killed as much as two fifths of the already diminished European population. The Black Death effected Europe politically, socially, and economically. Europeans responded to the Black Death differently. We got to see what Europeans did, thought, and how the Black Death affected Europe socially through physicians, firsthand accounts, and written reports.…

    • 987 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

    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

    Effects Of The Black Plague On Medieval Europe
    • 1668 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Effects Of The Black Plague On Medieval Europe

    The Middle Ages is often a time that is mislabeled. Some consider it to be a time of darkness and disorder. Others, specifically literary people, make it seem like a beautiful time of chivalry and knights who saved distressed maidens. Author Jeffrey L. Forgeng writes, “We are inclined today to romanticize the Middle Ages.” The Middle Ages was truly a time of great change for Europeans. It can be characterized by advancements in architecture and art, a strong religious following, and advancements in social and economic systems. One of the most discussed events during this period of time was the Black Plague. This pestilence devastated Europe but it can also be argued that it…

    • 1668 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Black Death Plague Analysis
    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Black Death Plague Analysis

    In Northwestern Europe, around 1339, the population began to outgrow the food supply and a horrendous economic crisis began to take shape. Due to there being very cold winters and very dry summers, very low amounts of crops yielded from the harvest and the ones that grew ended up drying very quickly. The people began to worry about their survival, as Inflation became a common occurrence and as a famine broke out. The period of time between 1339 and 1346 approximately is known as the period before the plague. These seven bad years of weather and famine lead to the greatest plague of all time. Starting in 1347, endemic to Asia, The Black Death began spreading through parts of western Europe. This devastating pandemic took Europe…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics