Both the cattle panzootic and the human pandemic had direct and indirect impacts upon foodstuffs and resources among communities. The sudden mortality of cattle meant that there was a loss of capital. Also farmers had to resort to other means in order to keep the farm productive. In some cases cattle were substituted for horses and sheep dung was often used instead of manure. ‘In most cases herds were not rapidly repaired’ (Newfield, P) It could take farmers up to 5 years to replace the animals they lost. The cattle panzootic affected a population already experiencing the Great European famine so resources were hit even harder. Many farmers rushed to sell their animals in ‘panic sales’ and in return this lead to extremely low prices in 1320. In 1320 an ox sold for as little as 4.50 Shillings as opposed to 18.75 in 1318. (Slavin , P) It is recorded that in areas such as Kent and Middlesex that some animals were slaughtered in order to prevent the spread of disease even further. Food prices however were high at this time as food was scarce. During the Black Death there was a major lack of resources as well. In both pandemics food was very scarce. During the cattle panzootic people were limited to what they could eat from fear of catching the plague of contaminated animals. However during the human pandemic although the food was scare the prices remained low because the population was so harshly hit they had no money to buy the food. It is clear that prices behaved differently during the cattle panzootic than during the Black Death. At the peak of the Cattle Panzootic in 1316 the composite grain price was 224 with the value per acre of arable land was 104. Whereas in 1349 both grain prices and land value were below average. The composite grain price was 59 and the value per acre of arable land was 83. During the Black Death many people were forced to give up their land because they could afford to pay the rent so the prices of land dropped.
Both disasters had a detrimental affect of the population of Europe. The advent of the cattle pestilence coincided with a period of ecological and socio-economic crisis. The Great European Famine in itself had taken the lives of many humans and animals alike. The effects of the famine had meant that most animals were malnourished so were more susceptible to plague. Many contemporaries talk about a ‘destruction of cattle in unheard magnitude’ (Anon) It is estimated that in England alone 63% of the bovine population perished. In areas such as Buckinghamshire it is suggested that entire herds died from the plague but on the other hand it is reported that entire herds escaped the plague. The human pandemic was not so discriminative and almost everyone was affected by the pandemic in some way. Wikipedia states that ‘It killed an estimated 75–200 million people in the 14th century’. However figures vary greatly. The cattle panzootic was restricted to animals only and humans could not catch the disease however many people feared that the plague might spread to humans. The human pandemic directly affected humans but it also indirectly affected animals. It is difficult to say weither the cattle panzootic had a direct impact upon fertility rates in Europe. It is more likely that it was the Great European Famine that affected the birth rate at that time. The Black Death had a greater impact on birth rates. Up until the Black Death the European population growth was steady but this wasn’t the case during and immediately after the plague. During the plague the birth rate slowed down however after the plague ‘populations responded with increased fertility’ (Cohn, K, 2002)
Although the Black Death led to mass migration the cattle panzootic did not have the same effect. During the Black Death it is thought that millions of people migrated. There were floods of people into the cities from the countryside. . Peasant tended to flock to nearby towns and towns people to cities. Cities such as Florence were able to recover quickly because of this immigration.
The government response to pandemics in the 14th Century was very limited however the response to the cattle panzootic and the human pandemic was greater than that of the 1846 potato failure. The main response to the cattle panzootic was to ban the moving of cattle between farms in order to stop the spread of disease. However this wasn’t always implemented and plague continued to spread. During the Black Death some ports turned away boat they suspected of carrying the disease and in areas such as Venice boat had to go through a 30 day isolation period before they could enter the port. By the time this was implemented the plague had already spread killing tens of thousands in Venice. Other countries put on imports and exports, travel, market trading and funerals but the death tolls still continued to rise. It was clear that very little could be done to prevent the spread of the plague and some countries decided just to deal with it as it happened.
The long term effects from the cattle panzootic and the human pandemic were widespread and long lasting. It is estimated that it took some farmers up to five year to re stock their herds and in some cases farmers weren’t able to replace them. The impact to society from the Black Death was more devastating. The Black Death changed the social structure of Europe. The Catholic Church was badly affected by the plague and peoples believes and ideas changed. People began to ‘live for the moment’ (Boccaccio 1353) and didn’t rely on their faith as much.
In conclusion the two plagues that ravished 14th Century Europe could be seen to have some similarities but also some differences. Firstly they both originated from Asia and both were devastating in terms of the amount of fatalities. However both plagues spread at different rates. The cattle panzootic was slow to spread whereas the human pandemic spread quickly. Although both plagues dramatically affected society the human pandemics affects were more far reaching than the affects of the cattle panzootic. In terms of population both plagues affected this. Both plagues caused mortality and migration. However the human pandemic had a major impact upon the European population. The cattle panzootic made very little impact upon fertility rates whereas after the human pandemic there was a baby boom with people trying to restock the population. The government responses also differed. The response to the cattle panzootic was too little too late. The government response to the human pandemic was greater but still inadequate. Both pandemic greatly shaped and changed European society.
Aine Clinton
12660043
Tutorial Group: 6
GGY3044 (Hazards, Humans & History)
Bibliography
- The Black Death Transformed, Samuel K. Cohn, Jr, 2002
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Philip Slavin, ‘The Fifth Rider of the Apocalypse: the great cattle plague in England and Wales and its economic consequences, 1319-1350’, in S. Cavaciocchi, ed., Le interazioni fra economia e ambiente biologico nell’Europe preindustriale. Secc. XIII-XVIII (Economic and biological interactions in pre-industrial Europe from the 13th to the 18th centuries), Proceedings of the XLI settimana di studi, Prato, Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini, forthcoming 2010.
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Timothy P. Newfield, ‘A cattle panzootic in early fourteenth-century Europe’, Agricultural History Review, 57 (II), forthcoming 2009.