and We all fall down – Dead.
The disease hit communities very hard; people were beginning to hate each other. Members of the clergy, lawyers and notaries were refusing to enter the homes of those families with dead inside; this was due to the fear they themselves would contract this awful disease. Corpses would lie in their homes totally forsaken by all. No relation dared to enter and the nobility paid their servants very high wages to carry and bury anyone who died in their homes.
People everywhere were terrified and totally bewildered about the cause of this awful and fatal disease. They all felt that eventually they would more than likely be struck with the disease and that there was nothing they could do to prevent the inevitable happening. However, many of the people in Europe tried to take comfort and refuge within the church community and their Godly practices, whether or not they were religious themselves. Some tried to release their burdened conscious by doing exaggerated penance’s, while others simply doubled their daily devotionals. With their family and friends contracting the disease and dying all around them, some thought if they totally repented their sins they would live and survive the Black Death. Some gave into religious hysteria thinking they were extremely wicked and evil in some way. People began to think they must have sinned the most terrible of sins and this was a punishment sent from God to rid the wicked in the world. To their amazement, many of the church clergy believed this was not the vengeance of God, and said so, but in fact just what it was, a disease. The Black Death, with many of the educated clergy dying from the epidemic that was sweeping Europe hit the church hard. Now people everywhere were questioning God, what he stood for and what they believed in. Anything that happened to the church had a direct effect on the morale and beliefs of the people.
With people dying at an enormous rate, there was a decrease in available labour. This resulted in half as many peasants to do the work but still with the same amount of fields to work. This amounted in too much work for the few peasants working the land to do. Produce was being ruined; fields were overgrown and neglected because of the sudden shortage in workers. But the peasants saw and knew what was happening and knew they could gain out of this. Their labour was in high demand by the aristocracy and therefore they demanded higher wages.
As a result of the Black Death a large percentage of those affected by the disease died. Because of the impact to available labour caused by the Black Death the feudal system that had dominated Europe by the nobles began to collapse. With large numbers of the peasants dying, rent was not being paid and there was a huge shortage of labour. Also where peasants had previously worked for the same family for generations they were saw what was happening and began to take advantage of the labour shortages and moved from lord or noble in order to gain better wages, better incentives and better working conditions. As a direct result of the labour shortages caused by the Black Death, the aristocracy began to lose much of their power and their status in society.
Surprisingly though, the Black Death did not have a huge effect on diminishing the waging of war between competing populations. Kings and nobles still continued to wage war in order to gain new lands for themselves, as evidenced in the Hundred Years’ War. But, now, instead of drafting serfs to act as the foot soldiers, they had to pay for mercenaries to join their armies and conduct their battles for them.
This shift to using mercenaries was the final blow that led to the destruction of the power of the feudal aristocracy. The aristocracy was no longer able to dominate society, now they were forced to raise funds to pay for their mercenaries and the higher money incentives they offered the peasants to farm their and due to the labour shortages.
…The landlord was thus in a weak position. Finding himself forced to pay higher wages and obtaining lower prices for his produce…Ziegler p241
Many wealthy and ancient families were completely obliterated by the disease and with higher wages many peasants became landed gentry. As the peasants moved into a more comfortable life they found it easier to maintain better lifestyles. Living conditions dramatically improved as a result of surviving the Black Death. The peasants began to have more money than ever before due to produce reducing in price as a result of depopulation. The peasants were no longer enslaved to the lord or noble and were now free to roam looking for the best wages and conditions. The combination of the aristocracies loss of power and prestige, the demand for funds to pay for mercenaries and peasants, and the destruction of the peasant labour base caused the feudal system to collapse and created the beginnings of a new market economy.
Although there was no permanent effect in European politics due to the Black Death, it did take its’ toll. When the disease struck, parliaments were shut down and adjourned, although they later reconvened. In 1348, the Hundred Years’ War was suspended as the soldiers were being infected and dying, but it did resume again soon enough.
It was on a more local level that the effects were more severe. Towns and cities were hid hard. City councils were ravaged and financial businesses were disrupted and in some cases destroyed due to debtors dying and creditors finding themselves without recourse. Also the construction projects that were underway were put on hold indefinitely or abandoned altogether as craftsmen died and could not be replaced. Governments had to adjust too as land was becoming desolate as whole families died leaving property empty, rents uncollected and paid and as a result tax revenue declined.
The Black Death in itself was disastrous enough in the fourteenth century, but arriving when it did it was catastrophic. The mid fourteenth century was indeed not a good time for Europe. The European economy was already having difficulties and the church was also in extremely poor shape too, with the Hundred Years’ War adding to the plaque and the loss of life. The effects of the Black Death were indeed made worse due to these other problems and the problems themselves were doubled due to the Black Death.
In answering this question I have looked at the effects the Black Death had on society, the church, the feudal system and politics. The effects of the Black Death had radically altered every aspect of European society.
Word count: 1450
Bibliography
Bolton, J Historian, No 39 Autumn 1993 pp3-8
The Black Death
Keen, M Medieval Europe 1991 pp223
McKisack, M The Fourteenth Century 1987 pp219-20, 224-5
1307-1399 331-36, 347-8
Trevor-Roper, H The Rise of Christian Europe 1989 pp163-8
Ziegler, P The Black Death 1982 pp240-288
