The Impacts of Black Death in Europe - Research Paper Example

The Impacts of Black Death in Europe Introduction The “Black Death”recognized as the Bubonic plague was the deadliest pandemic plague experienced in Europe by Middle Ages. The plague was spread by wild rodents in which the bacterium bred. The symptoms included swollen lymph glands, which were called buboes, and red spots on the chests. This was a result of damaged blood cells under the victim’s skin. The disease was awfully fatal and the symptoms were terribly painful, with swellings called buboes which appeared in the armpit and groin.The bacteria was very highly contagious and when one contracted the disease, it could kill with a few hour. This deadly plague touched the grounds of Europe during the fall of 1347 and wiped across the continent throughout the whole of the 14th century leaving behind several negatives effects on the land’s politics, economy, population and culture. One of the most vivid illustrations of how deadly the disease was, is a horrifying image of a German chronicler’s ship which floated aimlessly with dead people across the sea. The disease was so horrible such that a third of Europe’s population was dead within four years (Gottfried 5). Culture Impact Capitals, were the toughest hit by the epidemic, suffering great loss of cultural institutions such as churches and schools. Universities and grade schools were closed and at most abandoned. This was because the institutions did not have enough students to go to class or because teachers were not enough to teach the classes. For instance, Cambridge University alone lost sixteen out of forty lecturers to the plague. Churches lost priests and many people worried that there would be not a single soul left to share testimonies or lead sermons. Bishops and their successors were not spared either. People started to question their values. The atmosphere changed from one of cooperation to an individualism idea. Self-indulgence and self-satisfaction became popular as the whole society started to question what to expect the following day, so people started living each day to the fullest (Gottfried 164). The people became hopeless with the Roman Church and its power, as a result the churches’ influence and power declined. They started to question the Roman Catholic beliefs and faith, and God too. The priests had always taught the human race was chosen by God, but at that particular time they wondered why God was not saving them.Education and religion systems had been brought to a standstill. An aspect of the community that was not as significantly affected by the plague as culture was politics Political Impact The plague did not highly affect the course of politics, but it still had its share. The only King who died from the disease was King Alfonso XI from Castile. Quite a number of lesser notables also died: Queen of France, the son of Byzantine emperor and the Queen of Aragon. Most required soldiers also died causing a shortage of soldiers to take part in political fights. Great effect was felt at the local levels since many city councils were emaciated, many families of local nobles being wiped out, and local courts being closed down such that wills were not probated. However, the political systems recovered quite well and faster as compared to the economic sector because many new courts were convened and the illegal mess driven by the plague being sorted out. This act showed that the European political system is one of the strongest for being able to recover within a short period of time. The political system was re-energized, but the population was highly weakened after many people perished (Nohl 175). Population Impact The population of Europe was highly affected by the disease in a more negative way than positive. There was a dramatic drop in population count. The fact that Europe’s one third of the people had perished with a course of two years is a solid proof that it was great blow to the nation. In the city of Florence, Italy it is approximated that 40% to 45% of the population had perished in a single year with one third having died with a period of six months (Gottfried 56). Europe would take a long time to recuperate demographically. Contrary to many bad effects of the disease on the population, there was one positive effect. The people who managed to survive the epidemic, they developed immense natural immunity against the disease. This means that they would not catch the disease again. This was very helpful because the plague recurred after 300 years. This time around there was not as many people lost as a result of the immunity gained by earlier generation. However, population in the rural areas recovered slowly, because peasants left their places for the city hence causing a decline in agriculture. It was even lucky that even after many people died from the plague, population in main cities recovered quite fast. There was intense immigration as a result of increased opportunities in cities, causing a faster rebuild of the population. The sudden decrease and a slow recovery of the population caused an intense effect on the economy (Ziegler 209). Economic Impact The terrible decline in population caused the economy of Europe to lapse down and prosperous later on. Many businesses were highly disrupted because many debtors had died and creditors found themselves losing a high amount of money. There was severe shortage in labour supply which caused a construction projects to be on a temporary stop, and some even permanently. At some point there was no one to repair heavy machinery because the people who were specialized in that had perished. The guilds that lost their highly skilled craftsmen hard a difficult time trying to replace them. Generally, the rate of trade highly declined. It is obvious, that cities were highly hit by the plague. There were more deaths recorded in cities as compared to rural areas. This is because it was easier for the bacillus to spread in highly populated areas. The low population caused the economy to repair itself in a very slow pace than normal. Away from the low supply of labour, sharp decline in trade, peasants, clothes merchants, and small villages prospered economically. The cloth traders prospered because the demand for shroud was high. There was surplus in land that was left by the people who had died, giving peasants a great opportunity for economy prosperity and security. Small villages began to be prosperous because market places, charitable institutions and churches had to be reconstructed. The low population resulted to a change between labourers and manor lords bringing an end to the manorial system. This was as a result of high ask price for wages. The wage paid was high due to low supply of labour and high demand for it, giving specialist in given tasks to make good money out of it. On the other hand, the high mortality rate resulted to a high surplus gap since there were no people to consume the goods. This drove to a decline in prices for the goods. On a positive side of view, the living standards for the people rose for the remaining European population (Benedictow 183). Conclusion The deadly Black Death killed more than 55 millions of people in Europe during middle ages. The catastrophe changed the whole world by resulting to an era called Renaissance. The plague caused many changes in the political, cultural and economic systems. A remarkable change out of the plague was the birth of Renaissance era, which resulted to the rebirth of ancient Greek and Roman art, architecture and literature. Were it not for the catastrophe, there would not be men like Machiavelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. They are considered as the Renaissance men. Even in the modern world, there remain debates about the plague with many historians concluding that it was not an ordinary plague but it was a as many other causes. Even after numbered recurrences of the disease, Europe continued to rebuild itself creating on of the strongest nation. Although, there are numerous negative impacts of the plague in the Medieval Europe as compared to the positives, it is believed that the plague balanced the population of Europe for the future. The Black Death was a great dismay for the continent making Europe able to survive through tougher times. Work Cited Benedictow, Ole J. The Black Death 1346-1353: The Complete History . New York, NY: Boydell Press. 2012. Print. Gottfried, Robert S. Black death. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. 2010. Print. Gottfried, Robert S. The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe. New York: Free Press. 1985. Print. Nohl, Johannes. The Black Death: A Chronicle of the Plague. New York: Westholme Publishing. 2006. Print. Ziegler, Philip. The Black Death. London: Harper Perennial Modern Classics. 2009. Print. Read More