Did the Black Death break the Malthusian Deadlock that was hanging over England in the 14th century? Did the people really create a better country after this horrendous plague? These exemplify some of the intriguing questions asked about the Black Death.
The essay examined a variety of factors from population to the economic factors regarding the Black Death. What role the Malthusian deadlock played and how it affected the course of history after the plague. The Malthusian Deadlock was a serious threat to the people of England and their economic growth. The Black Death changed it immensely; people could start fresh after the plague because of a new way of living. The population growth aspect was in good shape because of later marriage and religion that helped them to be more structured and ethical in a sense. The overall income per capita was higher because of less people and a state of crisis was starting to fade as people started to rebuild their lives. Europe was definitely far from a perfect continent but they stood up out of nothing and chose to begin again.
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The exact date differs from source to source and will vary with about a year. The end of the plague is particularly difficult to determine just as difficult as the exact number of deaths was.
The essay will discuss the Malthusian deadlock and what role it had in this era. The Malthusian deadlock is a state where surplus population would stop growing due to shortage of food supply which ultimately led to starvation .It will show how the Black Death was the key to the lock of the extreme growth of people in Europe, and how that all changed with the Black Death. Examples of England will be discussed on the Malthusian-like state of crisis because of harvest failure in Europe, the lowering of economic inequality and the income per capita that could be higher after the Black
Entrapped under thickening layers of smog, the streets of 1800s England was the first time the world has seen such devastating effects of environmental pollution. Enveloping the city was the morbidly dark sky—ought it to be day or night had never been such an oblivion to the common passerby. The cause dates back to 18th century England; separated by a sea, England was able to avoid intervention in the conflicts plaguing continental Europe during this time. Revised quarantined measures to prevent the Black Death from further spreading along with the revolutionary agricultural innovations that emerged during the Agriculture Revolution, England was among the first countries to experience a major population increase. Such population increase consequently
Change in European Understanding of Plague in the 1348 versus 1352 Known as the “Black Death,” one of the most devastating plague pandemic wiped out approximately 30 to 60 percent of the European population, peaking in between 1348 and 1350 . It caused massive religious, social, and economic, upheaval in the European society causing great changes in the European culture and lifestyle1. Finally, when after three and a half years the first wave passed in 1351, it spared few regions causing devastation in towns, rural communities, families, and religious institutions . The plague was reportedly first introduced to Europe via the ports of Caffa and Sicily in 1347, when several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea, one of the key links in trade with China .
The Black Death has been marked as one of the worst plagues to have ever struck humans in history, since it killed twenty five million Europeans in the course of the plague, and twenty million in Asia. (“The Black Death, JewishHistory.com) The Black Death took place in England in the fourteen century and killed millions between the years 1347-1350.(“Black Death”, n.p.) This came after an already terrible period in European history known as the Great Famine which left many people dead; the source starvation. The Great Famine occurred because of terrible climate changes that led to a disastrous farming season, that resulted in England loosing “…about 15 percent of its population during the famine years, between 1317 and 1348…”
The Black Death was an outbreak of bubonic plague, which is a highly contagious bacterial infection and disease. The Bubonic Plague spread across Europe in the years 1346-53. 25% of the European population was wiped out by the disease. People knew when they had the black plague, when the symptoms started to show. The black plague came to Europe from Asia, and had social and economic effects on Medieval Europe.
It is no wonder that the Europeans felt that their economic environment was vulnerable and uneasy, “European economy slowly improved, and agriculture and manufacturing production eventually reached pre-famine levels” (Nelson, Insert Year). The economy impact of the Black Death must start with the historical context that the economy was not as sturdy as other time periods or European history. For this reason, the set back, economically speaking, was an enormous strain on European life. With population decreasing drastically, and the economy barely trying to recover from the famine, the Europeans suffered in terms of having workers to produce into the economy--especially to create food for what was left of the population. For these reasons, the Black Death took a major toll on the economy of Europe and created relentless heart ache, “Many people touched by the plague moved away from medieval cities and towns to unaffected areas.
The plague then started to infect thousands and thousands until 35% of Europe’s population was deceased. This reduced the world population in total to seventy-five to one hundred million people. Massive loss of life was caused. For a short time war stopped and trade declined. Many of the serfs died, so the remaining ones demanded higher wages.
Moreover, the Black Death caused a gastric drop in the economy. Workers died, prices rose, and lords pushed laws so peasants couldn't demand higher wages leading to many revolts and rebellions. Due to the death of so many people, there weren't enough people buying products so the prices rose tremendously. Since the plague started killing millions of workers, lords would try force the survivors to work. But, the surviving workers began to demand higher wages since there were higher prices in the sales market.
All plagues strike by uprooting individual lives and society as a whole. Nevertheless, the particular circumstances regarding the government, and religious and cultural beliefs in the affected lands influence the specific results of the tragedy, as witnessed through the Black Death and smallpox. Although both diseases led to drastic economic changes, they caused different overturns of religious beliefs, and only the Black Death resulted in the creation of public health services and the marginalization of groups of people. A lack of labor precipitated alterations to the economy--the end of feudalism in the case of the Black Death and the creation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the case of smallpox.
Europe in the fifteen hundreds was a dangerous, local, hierarchic, tradition-bound, slow moving, and poor filled with the tasks of providence, salvation and community. Europe during the fifteen hundreds were a dangerous place; disease, famine, and violence all prevented the population of the era to live a long life. One of the major killers during the time was disease. Disease and plagues killed major parts of the population, the bubonic plague, for example, claimed the lives of perhaps a third of Europe’s population in five years.
The Black Death impacted the economic and social balance of several monarchies. First, the people of Europe flogged themselves to renounce their sins and to achieve holiness. Secondly, the people disregarded the social balance, spiritual and secular laws. The Black Death not only broke up families, as the Romans
The Black Death brought a period of growth to an end, and killed roughly a third of Europe’s population in just a few years. While the plague was present, a series of destructive wars were tearing apart trade and economy. Europe was repeatedly experiencing hard times and the Plague was when they just couldn't handle anything else (concourse). As more and more people died, it became much harder to find people to work fields, harvest crops, and produce other goods and services. Peasants began to demand higher wages.
During the late 1340s the standards of living for the peasants began to increase. According to Routt, many peasants were able to afford things that they were not able to before due to the surplus and the plummet of the prices of goods. Since many of the workers died because of the Black Death, many employers were left without workers. These employers grudgingly employed the peasants since they were the only people left who were not infected and who did not have jobs. The Black Death had a profound effect agriculture.
Once the plague passed, there was already not enough people to work the fields, so there was a labor shortage as well as riots if their demands of higher wage wasn’t met. Another reason for riots could be due to high prices on food, since there was not much trade going on and there were only a few people
During the mid-fourteenth century, a plague hit Europe. Initially spreading through rats and subsequently fleas, it killed at least one-third of the population of Europe and continued intermittently until the 18th century. There was no known cure at the time, and the bacteria spread very quickly and would kill an infected person within two days, which led to structural public policies, religious, and medical changes in Europe. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. As a response to the plague that took place
It was the Spring of 1348, and the citizens of Europe were malnourished due to limited food supplies for such a large population. This made them more susceptible to the outbreak of the Black Death. The Black Death originated in Asia, then moved westward into Sicily. From Sicily, the plague crept its way up through Europe infecting millions of people, in total killing more than one third of Europe’s population. In fact, over fifty percent of the population of Siena died, along with fifty percent of Paris, eighty percent of Florence, and over two thirds of Venice.