It killed more people, than the World Wars combined.
A third of Europe, gone. A fifth of the world wiped out. The Black death also known as “The Plague”, was the world’s most devastating pandemic, and had many significant influences on life in Europe. This catastrophic disease, that arrived in 1347, drastically influenced socialisation, religion, feudalism, and economy throughout Europe.
Socialisation was immensely influenced by The Plague, because it caused people to abandon each other, shut themselves off from the world, and literally, beat themselves. Giovanni Boccaccio states “such terror was struck into the hearts of men… by this calamity, that brother abandoned brother… uncle his nephew… and very often the wife her husband.” Here is evidence, that exemplifies how devastating the social effects of The Plague were, that even family abandoned family. More evidence is exhibited when John Clyn says “Because of their fear and horror, men could hardly bring themselves to perform the pious… acts of visiting the sick and burying the dead”. It is understood, that, people were so scared of dying, that they did not even visit the needy, or bury the fallen. This accentuates the social problems Europe faced because of The Plague, that people were selfish, only wanted to save themselves, and not even relatives. Some people also went to the extremities of beating themselves. Flagellants were “members… underwent public voluntary whipping in atonement for society’s sins. The numbers of flagellants increased dramatically in the wake of The Black Death, widely believed by the godly, to be a Heaven-sent punishment. (Jon E. Lewis) We see that flagellants tried to solve The Plague problem, by hurting themselves, hoping it would amend the sins of man (because they thought The Plague was sent from God). An artwork depicting flagellation, by Geri Lapi is extremely helpful, because it gives us a visual understanding of how flagellants could have punished themselves. Their brutality is accentuated when Jon E. Lewis states that “Each had in his right hand a scourge with three tails.” “They… whipped themselves with these scourges on their naked and bleeding bodies.” “It is said that every night they performed the same penance.” Jean de Venette says “They flogged their shoulders and arms… so zealously as to draw blood.” It is evident that flagellants were determined to punish themselves, and that they did. These statements exemplify how devastating the social influence of The Plague was, because being a flagellant cut you off from the world because you performed penance daily. People leaving each other, and others beating themselves, are devastating social influences that The Plague had on Europe.
"Please God, if ever we need your help it is now. I have very little faith left, and I know few people still believe. Give us a miracle if you can." (Sarah Himes)
The Plague had an enormous influence on European religion, primarily due to Church failures. Giovanni Boccaccio states “The medieval church grew wealthier from the accumulation of property of those who willed it as a last token of faith before they died.” We understand how much the people believed in God, that they took every opportunity to amend their sins, even just before death. Boccaccio also says “But the church also had difficulty explaining the pestilence and was hard-pressed to defend against the argument that God was taking vengeance for the sins of humanity.” “What the church gained in wealth, it lost in prestige.” It is evident that even though the Church gained financially (Because many people died), it lost the respect of its people. When Giovanni compares the Church's consumption of riches to the loss in prestige, we clearly understand how monumental, the loss of respect for the Church was. These statements highlight that the Church lost respect, because of its inability to deal with The Plague. (As people thought it was divine punishment) In more detail we understand why the Church lost faith when we see “In the aftermath of The Black Death, the Church’s reputation never quite recovered, as the new priests who were quickly brought in to fill the void were not as scholarly or thoroughly trained as the old. (Danièle Cybulskie) We can conclude that the Church lost respect because inexperienced clergy replaced the fallen, and therefore the quality and knowledge of the Church declined. Thus losing respect, and effecting religion. The Plague had a negative influence on religion in Europe, vastly due to the Church’s lack of knowledge, of The Plague, and inexperienced clergy replacing those who perished.
The Black Death, had an horrific influence on feudalism in Europe, because of the troubles it caused landlords and how much effort it took, to employ workers. An anonymous harrowing inscription, from 1349 that says “The plague killed indiscriminately, striking at rich and poor alike.” gives further evidence to say The Plague, claimed many lives and that it didn’t target anyone, but infected on sight. “the government faced the prospect of peasants leaving their villages to find a better ‘deal’ from a lord thus upsetting… Feudal System” (C N Trueman) This exemplifies the dilemmas that The Plague caused. It shows that many peasants left their lord, even wealthy landlords were now in trouble as they struggled to find workers, and ultimately, it ruined feudalism. More evidence is shown when Mark Ormrod says “feudal lords were unable to enforce their traditional rights and had to engage in an open labour market”. This statement enforces, that The Plague caused problems for European feudalism, because lords now had to compete for peasant employment. In more detail, we see the complexities in Feudalism that The Plague created when Agnolo di Tura says “what could their lord do? If they refused to their demands, the peasants would simply walk off the job and find another desperate noble to work for.” because, we understand that Landlords were now desperate for peasant workers, instead of peasants desperate for employment. “Serfs were free to leave the lands of the lords to seek higher wages with the vast labour shortages.” (Christina Nguyen) This emphasises the peasant’s increase in status and power, and this created more problems for European feudalism. This is because it required landlords (Higher class people), and lower class people (peasants), and due to the peasants gaining power, the feudal system was ruined. The amount of power that the peasants had, due to The Plague’s influence on Feudalism in Europe is exemplified when Agnolo di Tura, states “For the first time peasants… had an advantage that they could wield against the nobility. Many began demanding higher wages and better working conditions.” We can conclude that The Plague drastically increased peasants’ power, so much so, they would challenge their lord. The Plague definitely had a strong influence on European feudalism, mainly due to the power the peasants had obtained.
“European feudalism was brought to an end.” (Agnolo di Tura)
Astronomical inflation, decline in trade, and lack of goods. These are some devastating influences that The Black Death had on European economy. The economic debacles in Europe are exemplified when Giovanni Boccaccio says, it “caused a crisis in trade and economic exchange. Production of goods was often curtailed with the death of skilled artisans, and those who replaced them offered work of inferior quality.” This statement accentuates the fact that trade suffered drastically, because of the difficulties in obtaining and selling goods. This was heavily due to inexperienced, unskilled workers, replacing the previous artisans, thus diminishing the quality of goods, and hurting trade. David Routt emphasises the effects of The Plague on trade in Europe when he states “A suddenly and sharply smaller population ensured a glut of manufactured and trade goods, whose prices plummeted for a time.” We see, that due to a steep decline in population, trade and goods were negatively affected and it lead to long lasting inflation. The troubles that Europe faced in trade, lead to the inflation of goods. “The economy underwent abrupt and extreme inflation. Since it was so difficult… to procure goods through trade and to produce them, the prices of both goods produced locally and those imported from afar skyrocketed.” (Courie, Leonard W et al) It is understood that inflation in Europe was due to the difficulties faced around goods. With few goods available, trade was ruined and, economy was hurt too. The severity of inflation in Europe is exemplified when we see “The inflation reduced the purchasing power (real wage) of the wage laborer so significantly that, even with higher cash wages, his earnings either bought him no more or often substantially less than before the magna pestilencia (Munro, 2003; Aberth, 2001). It is evident that inflation in Europe mainly influenced wage labour, but ultimately, negatively impacted European economy. We can conclude that The Plague, had a significant effect on European economy because of the troubles faced in trade and the cost of goods.
The most catastrophic pandemic, definitely had a destructive influence on European life since its arrival in 1347. The Black Death had a disastrous influence on many aspects of life in Europe. But it had the most severe influences on socialisation, feudalism, religion and economy.
“so many died that all believed it was the end of the world”. (Agnolo di Tura)