Black Death

HOW DID THE BLACK DEATH AFFECT EUROPEAN SOCIETIES OF THE MID-FOURTEENTH CENTURY?

How did the Black Death affect European societies of the mid-fourteenth century? The Black Death is the most significant natural phenomenon in human history and continues to be the subject of medical, historical and sociological analysis . The ‘first epidemic of the second plague pandemic’ devastated Europe between 1347 and 1351, killing 25 to 45% of Europe’s population (over 75 million people across the three continents affected) and created dramatic cultural, economic, political and social upheavals to mid-fourteenth century European society. The disease was caused by three different plague types, consisting of bubonic (60% fatal), pneumonic (100% fatal) and septicaemic (100% fatal); bacterial infections caused by Yersinia Pestis . The first records of Black Death in Europe, was October 1347 when a Genoese fleet of ships landed in a Sicilian port in Messina. Within six months the Black Death was rampant in all of Italy which was the most economically sophisticated and urbanized hub of all Europe at this time. From Italy, the disease had struck France, Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, Scandinavia, and by 1351 it had spread to north-western Russia . Italian scholar and poet, Francesco Petrarch best describes the epidemic and aftermath as, “O happy posterity who will not experience such abysmal woe, and will look on our testimony as fable” . The following essay will examine how the Black Death affected the cultural, economic, political and social parameters of Europe throughout the mid-fourteenth century. A myriad of scholar writing’s was written throughout the plague addressing the social and medical impacts, yet more recent writings have assisted in understanding the psychological state of humankind, thus it’s cultural effect on European society. The plague had manifested a new era of art and literature, thereafter the Renaissance; possibly the most prolific era of art. The devastation of the plague had become somewhat of a new theme for the middle and upper classes to delve into the world of art and literature with a new morality. This was bought on by the new way in which death was depicted. No longer was death an airy heavenly portrait, instead an old woman “black cloaked, with wild, snakelike hair, bulging eyes and clawed feet and talons with a scythe to collect her victims” . Art historian Millard Meiss, describes how the artwork of this period drifted into a ‘dark’ period, a result of the trauma the Black Death had had . Not only was death depicted in a new way, but art historians had also noted changes in the way ‘resurrection’ and ‘Christ’ was illustrated. Christ was now endowed in a more hierarchal superiority, and his supernatural characteristics were more significant. Similarly to art, literature also took a step in a different direction following the grief of the Black Death. Italian author and poet Giovanni Boccaccio, works’ demonstrate the extent to how literature had changed through the psychological transition of pre to post plague. His early works are a guilt free vocation of poetry, far different from its gloomy, pessimistic and ascetic post plague works. Art and literature reflect the cultural in which it is surrounded, hence as grief and death so drastically transformed Europe inevitably the cultural works did too. Alike culture, the economic foundations of Europe throughout the mid fourteenth also saw radical transformation. In demographic terms, the Black Death ended Europe’s several decade long Malthusian crisis; an agricultures production struggle to keep up with the increasing population growth that had diminished living standards. Throughout the Black Death the European economy experienced an abrupt and extreme inflation, with wage and living prices increasing by several hundred percent. This was the result of trade uncertainty both locally and internationally, along with the difficulty to cultivate during this time. The overall result economically was a marked rise of living standards for all classes of society, particularly peasants. This economic improvement can be seen via William Langland, an English writer, whom noted in his works’ Piers Plowman, that “hunger was no longer the peasants’ master, that many beggars now refused an old standby, bread made of beans, and insisted on alms in white bread and milk” . Previously, the aristocratic populations depended on cheap labour and high food prices, although this was irreversibly altered throughout the Black Death. Peasants were granted freedom, and lords were obligated to adhere. Aristocrat attempts to overthrow the newfound freedom of the lower class and revert to the ‘old way’ resulted in peasant revolts. As traditional roles were significantly improved, Europe’s social structure raised the living standards upwards in which it would remain for more than a century. Following economic reforms, governing classes also altered their social positioning’s, thus social effects were prevalent and widespread throughout this time. The uncertainty of what had caused the plague had changed people’s beliefs; thus behaviour. In order to represent social standings, fashion become more extravagant and colourful, in order to emphasize the class in which people associated. Men wore tight, tailored pantaloons with long, pointed shoes, while women wore hairpieces and dresses with plunging necklines, exposing their breast lines . The aftermath of the Black Death sparked deep-rooted moral, philosophical and religious convictions . The loss of explanation, for what had caused the plague, had left religious beliefs ambivalent. Church numbers dropped significantly, and the repercussion of post-plague society was the limited number of literate priest recruits. Henry Knighton, an English religious historian, wrote of the new clerks “for even if they could read, they did not understand” . The most notably social effect was the surprisingly low fertility rates following the plague. With such dramatic population drops, people seemed reluctant to raise children in what was predicted to be the ‘end of the world’; despite the optimum conditions and opportunity for parenthood . Europe’s population recovered some 150 years later, and the inherent trauma produced by the plague changed the social foundations of Europe forever, and thus accelerated the transition from medieval to modern Europe.
Following the devastation and widespread effect of The Black Death, Europe essentially needed to reconstruct its society. The plague accelerated the demise of the feudal system of government, and therefore there became a growing demand for new people to undertake new positioning’s . The feudalism system, which was showing signs of weakness prior to the Black Death, had perpetuated the masses of lower class populations to have little cultural progress. Many of the lower class populations, whom survived the plague, although illiterate with neither current technologies nor social advancements, were forced into higher working positions, thus higher social hierarchy. Similarly to the lower class, women were also pushed into working class positions, which also advanced their social positioning. Succeeding the significant population loss throughout Europe, the mid fourteenth century saw the advancement of technological innovations, decline in industrial productivity and a massive general urban crisis. Faced with the potential loss of knowledge, universities increased their effort to maintain assumed information loss, and the previous academic momentum of pre-plague society . Yet, university populations had depleted significantly, and many of the great 14th century scholars had perished in the plague.
The Black Death and its subsequent impacts are associated to that of the 20th century world wars. It affected mid-fourteenth century European society, in every single possible aspect. Previous social and political positioning’s were transformed, or in many instances simply failed, due to the significant populations losses, altered class levels and disrupted behaviours. Deep-rooted beliefs were transformed through the uncertainty of cause and effects of the plague and for some turned the once traditional images of religion into a somewhat new belief of natural power. The daily presence of death, turned cultural reflections into pessimistic, gloomy captions of pain, and left people questioning the existence of Christ. Economically, the effects would change Europe forever, both within the class domain, and monetary system. Its effect transformed Europe from medieval to modern, and paved the way for depopulation for the later period of the Middle Ages. The Black Death remains one of the most significant natural phenomenon’s’ of human history, and was one of the major turning points of development in Europe .

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