The Black Plague

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What caused the Black Plague?

The Black Plague was caused by direct contact with fleas. These fleas developed a bacteria that made the flea very hungry. The fleas would continue to bite their victim, in an attempt to satisfy their hunger, transferring the bacteria into the victim’s bloodstream. The fleas were carried around by rats during the time of the Black Plague so many came into direct contact with humans because the humans left food laying around which attracted the rats. The Black Plague was also highly contagious, spreading from one human to another by actions such as coughing. No one believed that rat control could help with the plague because they believed the plague was God showing his anger with people.

Cause and Effects on the Worldviews of Europeans

Society

-Because less goods were being produced the societies experienced a massive inflation

-Because of overcrowding causing easier transmission serfs were freed by their lords

-The government had no control over the plague so peasant revolts became more common

-There was an abundance of unoccupied land so people stopped paying rent

Economy

-With so many people dying there were less people to work on manors so freemen demanded higher wages

-Price of food went up because the farmers were leaving their farms

-Europe had been in a recession since the beginning of the 14th century. The plague worsened it.

-Because of depopulation, the price of land went down

-Because of shortage of labour, countries like France and England were not making enough crops to export them so trade slowed down

Time

-The major outbreak of the Black Plague lasted from 1348-1351

Beliefs

-Lots of people were dying so some people thought it was an act of God’s anger

-People were dying even though they were praying for them so some people began to question whether or not there was a God or if that God cared about them

-Many people began living according to the saying ‘Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die

-The Jews were blamed for the plague so they received excessive amounts of discrimination

Values

-People were worried about being around other people so they stopped holding funerals

-Some people who were really worried about the plague so they isolated themselves away from family and friends

-Some of people began to realise that praying didn’t work so they began to think that finding out how the body worked was important

-Praying wasn't working to save people so people didn't find religion as important

Geography

-People moved out of their cities and towns trying to escape the plague

-Towns were overcrowded so the plague spread from one person to another very quickly

-The ‘Medieval Warming Period’ ended around 1300, it had enabled people to grow a lot of crops. Once it ended people began to starve. People who were starving were more likely to die from the plague

-There was a lot of death during the Black Plague so the people of Europe were not very optimistic

Summarizing Paragraph

Three to four days of vomiting uncontrollably, coughing up blood, chills, fevers, swellings growing on the body which then ooze pus and blood, back pain, joint pain, intolerance to light, skin turning black and death all starting with a headache. Doesn’t sound very pleasant. During the 14th century, between ⅓ and ½ of Europeans had to go through that. This plague called ‘The Black Plague’ not only devastated Europe but it also changed the worldview of the people affected by the plague.

During the Black Plague many people saw the disease as a punishment from God so they attempted to fight the plague with prayers. When that failed, people began to think that God didn’t actually care about them so they didn’t value religion as highly. Some people went a step further. Seeing that praying would not be a good defense against diseases they became more curious about how the human body worked. The church had strict rules though about not allowing them to cut open bodies. The Europeans also believed that the Jews and lepers were responsible for causing the Black Plague. Because of that, they killed many Jews and lepers.

To attempt to escape the Black Plague the Europeans did something that they did not commonly do before. They left their towns, cities and farms in an attempt to escape the plague.

With so many people dying, the work of freemen was in high demand. This meant that lords were willing to pay much higher wages to a freeman to come work on his manor.

The Black Plague caused a horrible few years for Europe. Overall though, the plague began to change around things like social structure on the path to make Europe what it is today.

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Cause and effects on different aspects of worldview caused by the Black Plague along with general information.