ipl-logo

How Did The Bubonic Plague Affect The Economy Of The Middle Ages

932 Words4 Pages

The Bubonic Plague killed millions of Europeans in its time of reign (DeLeo and Hinnebusch 42). The Plague was a very catastrophic time period, and due to lack of medical knowledge, the mass contagion was blamed on the Jews, and many other stigmas were also created as a result. In light of the massive death, the overall social construct and economy of the Middle Ages was changed as well.
Context
In order to fully understand why the economy and other social aspects were changed during the middle age, it is vital to understand what the plague was life. There are various types of plague, and each one is caused by the yersinia pestis bacteria. This bacteria was spread by the oriental rat flea, which arrived in Europe via ship. The first …show more content…

However, he confessed this while being tortured. Although this confession may not be true, the majority of the population blew this rumor out of proportion, believing that all Jews were spreading the Plague. In many places, trials were not even held. According to Daniel Cohen, two thousand Jewish people were burned alive for being blamed for causing the Plague (59-60).
After a while, the persecution of the Jews began to fade, and this was due to one big realization: the Jews were getting sick too. Now the general population had no explanation for the mass contagion, so they turned to a different superstitious reasoning. They believed that the Plague was the wrath of God, and that it was the whole population’s fault. So many people tried to change their ways, minimizing sin. Eventually, this superstition ended as well when things only got worse (Cohen 64). Social and Economic …show more content…

Specifically, the wage to rent ratio changed. Before the Plague, the the population was relatively high, and therefore had competition for jobs. This competition can be displayed using the simple idea of supply and demand. For instance, since there was an elevated amount of supply and a relatively low amount of demand, they did not need to be paid as much. However, after the Plague reduced the population, the competition decreased. The supply and demand curve began to shift positions. For the time being, people were paid more, and eventually less, as a result of the less competition. Some companies/industry leaders needed work soon, and would pay higher wages as a result, while some didn’t have the money to pay workers anymore. The mass death put the economy of the Middle Ages in a volatile position, and industries had to pay smaller wages as a result

Show More
Related

  • European Plague In The 1348 Versus 1352

    881 Words  | 4 Pages

    The disease was spread by the vector Rattus rattus and transmitted to people by the fleas. This organism was not new to the world in the fourteenth century, as Europe had experienced the Justinian plague in 542 AD . However, the people of Europe did not have any natural immunity or understanding of the disease caused by a bacterium Yersinia pestis. The people became aware of the relationship between rat and fleas only in late nineteenth century .

    Read More

  • How Did The Black Death Contribute To The Positive And Negative Changes In Medieval Society

    386 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Black Death caused many positive and negative changes in medieval society. Since the Black Death caused such a vast amount of humans to die in a short period, there was a large surplus of food however a shortage of peasants to work the land. This labour shortage meant that serfs were no longer tied to the land and could leave to find higher wages, as said in Chronicle of the Black Death 'such a shortage of workers... scarcely be persuaded to serve the eminent unless for triple wages'. Secondly, because of the upwards mobility and lack of structure that came from the Black Death and the fact that serfs could ask for more pay, feudalism became a lot less prominent in many places and was eventually replaced with other systems, such as capitalism.

    Read More

  • DBQ Essay: The Black Death

    459 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tragedy of The Black Death affected the Christian and Muslim cultures equally in the fourteenth century. However, these two groups responded to the situation in very different ways. This difference can be a window of insight into their core religious beliefs. By looking at what the Christians and Muslims thought the causes of the Black Death were, the differences in the Christian and Muslim response to the plague, and the similarities of how the two groups reacted, Muslims and Christians responded in very different ways because of their thoughts and actions to the plague that ended the lives of many.

    Read More

  • The Plague Dbq

    140 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Black Death Dbq Essay

    995 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Black Death Essay

    1198 Words  | 5 Pages

    Morinsola Mustapha Mr. Plunkett Western Civilization November. 24, 2015 The Black Death reached Europe by sea in October of 1347. It came across when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long trip through the Black Sea. Those who gathered to greet the docks were welcomed with a horrific surprise. Most of the sailors who were on the ship had died and those who alive were greatly ill.

    Read More

  • Pneumonic Plague Dbq

    987 Words  | 4 Pages

    The disease wreaked havoc on the continent for three long years, and it eventually went into Russia (Whipps). Many people believed that the plague was God’s wrath upon man, and they prayed for long hours about this. Due to the danger of trading goods, the economy went through inflation. The prices of goods spiked, and land workers (serfs) were dying very rapidly. This created a huge demand for land workers, and it gave serfs the ability to choose whom they wished to work for (“Social and Economic Effects of the Plague”).

    Read More

  • Bubonic Plague DBQ

    1130 Words  | 5 Pages

    The reason the bubonic plague was so devastating to the European society is because no one was prepared for so many people to die so quickly. This event that reached Italy in the spring of 1348 was one of the most deeply stressing moments of humanity that faced most of Europe. No only did 50% of Europe’s population die it affected every single part of the European society. The culture, education, economy, religion, and the simplicity of life was turned upside down from this epidemic. Not only was were the symptoms of the plague bad, while you had the symptoms you suffered with the misery effects of the plague that there was no cure for.

    Read More

  • The Plague Dbq

    665 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1347, Europe had just been infected by the Black Death. This epidemic killed over 2/3 of Europe’s population and lasted for over five years. The pathogen that caused the Black Death was Yersinia Pestis which causes many forms of plague. The Plague originated in central and south Asia then traveled through trade routes like the Silk Road, all the way to Sicily The Black Death killed most of Europe’s population, thus ending Feudalism by having not enough serfs and workers to run fields and farms. The land owners started to offer more for their work and labor, making the lower class more wealthy, and providing more jobs.

    Read More

  • Bubonic Plague Dbq Essay

    681 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Bubonic Plague, a Turning Point in World History During the 14th century CE, in Medieval Europe, the Bubonic Plague started in Mongolia (China) spreading west through trade routes bringing illness and death. The Bubonic Plague is an epidemic disease that resulted in big swellings in the armpits and couldn’t be cured with medicine. Based on an evaluation of the Bubonic plague, it can be considered a turning point in world history because it was a major factor in the decline of population, economy, and affected religion.

    Read More

  • How Did The Bubonic Plague Affect European Culture

    601 Words  | 3 Pages

    Often as a result of overpopulation, pandemics—like swine flu and ebola, for instance—have affected life on Earth for centuries; one of the most well-known, and possibly the most unforgiving epidemics was the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death . Although the first symptoms of the Plague trace back to the Mongol Empire in 1331, the disease first struck Europe in Venice and Genoa during the winter of 1348. In the following years, the Bubonic Plague spread rapidly throughout Europe, killing roughly a third of its population. It is suggested that the rapid spread and extreme severity of the Black Death was partially due to the weakened immune system of the Europeans, which had been caused by the Great Famine, a period of food scarcity that affected Europe from 1315 to 1322. Additionally, the lack of knowledge about the spread of

    Read More

  • Bubonic Plague Dbq

    1281 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Bubonic Plague The Bubonic Plague was a disease that was spread through fleas found on rodents. It took place during the late middle ages (1340 - 1400) in mainly Europe and Asia and killed approximately 25 million people. The Bubonic plague was a turning point in history because it caused an advancement in medicine and hygiene, destabilized the Roman Catholic church and caused one of the greatest recessions in history. However, there were a few things that stayed the same, such as the manor system, agriculture, and aspects of medicine.

    Read More

  • Bubonic Plague Dbq Essay

    1207 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black death is a disease that ravaged Europe in the 14th century. The disease seemed incurable and spread like wildfire. The effects were devastating as roughly one third of Europe’s population is thought to have been lost along with countless Jewish people as the subject of blame. The origin of the Bubonic Plague was Central Asia but it made its way to Europe through trade ships. Fleas, the source of the disease, were on the rats carried over by these ships.

    Read More

  • Response To The Plague Dbq Essay

    1097 Words  | 5 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Black Death: The Hundred Year's War

    1668 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about How Did The Bubonic Plague Affect The Economy Of The Middle Ages

Open Document