Essay Sample on Black Death: a Catastrophe for Late Medieval European Society

The Late Middle Ages, precisely between 1340 and 1400, European societies experienced one of the most deadly pandemic outbreaks in history. The bubonic plague was caused by rat fleas, which traveled in black rats from central Asia on merchant ships (Boroda, 2008). The epidemic, which was later named “Black Death,” hit Europe in 1347 and peaked in 1348-1350. The plague devastated Europe and lead to approximately 75- 200 million deaths. The Black Death negatively affected the medieval European societies.

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The Black Death pandemic lead to a series of religious upheavals in European society. The symptom that characterized the pandemic was lymph glands infection. The medieval doctors thought was caused by air pollution from the unburied bodies, humid weather, and fumes from poor sanitation. Since there was no scientific explanation of the pandemic, Europeans turned to religion, believing that the pandemic was due to God’s anger; this resulted in the Flagellantism movement in Central and Nothern Europe. The groups moved closer to towns and performed rituals twice a day. The practices involved people kneeling, scourging themselves, and repenting their sins until blood flowed. People noted that the flagellants were bringing the plague to the towns and denied their entry, which resulted in more physical penance.

Additionally, the infection had killed a few Jewish people due to hygienic practices; however, Christians started persecuting them, claiming that they had poisoned the wells with intentions of killing Christians. Christians exterminated about 150 small and 60 major Jewish societies and communities. There were 350 separate massacres.

The Black Death pandemic led to rise of renaissance and the death of feudalism. The plague led to a great loss of life. It is estimated that the plague led to the death of between 25-40 million people, meaning a third of Europe’s workforce was significantly declined. The crops could not be harvested, and there were fewer people to attend to the farms. Many houses and villages fell during this era, and some of them never got re-founded. The pandemic’s economic impacts were sudden as people continued to die, and others moved to less-infested areas, especially away from the town. However, historians argue that in the long run, the pandemic led to the revolution of labor and the decline of the feudalism society. This was due to the high demand and low supply of workers, which lead to a wage-based economy. Nevertheless, the urban entrepreneurs grew richer as they concentrated on investing in new technologies to compensate for laborers’ loss. At the same time, aristocrats and independent weavers struggled due to a lack of liquid capital.

Although the plague led to laborers’ high wages, the lack of enough workers to attend to the farms led to hunger due to low agricultural production. The farms were left uncultivated, the harvests rot, and the governments limited imports in an attempt to control the infection.People who were not employed or did not have enough money to buy overpriced food were devastated.

In conclusion, the Black Death pandemic had catastrophic impacts on medieval European societies, primarily due to the significant loss of lives and the communities’ religious response. Radical Christian movements emerged, and many Jews were prosecuted. Nevertheless, the pandemic also led to a renaissance and shift in economic development in medieval societies. Although this enhanced capitalism in society, it also led to high wages and women’s acceptance as effective laborers.

Bibliography

Krzysztof Boroda, “Plague and Changes in Mediaval European Society and Economy In the 14th and 15th Centuries,” 2008.

Sharon N. DeWitte, “Mortality Risk and Survival in the Aftermath of the Medieval Black Death,” ed. Andrew Noymer, PLoS ONE 9, no. 5 (May 7, 2014): e96513, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096513.