The Black Deaths Effect on Europe

In 1348 the plague or “The Black Death” arrived in Europe from traders coming from Asia and was spread by rats that arrived on trader’s ships. The Black Death killed up to seventy-five million people world wide and 20 million people in Europe which meant that almost every family suffered a loss. This was a social, economical and religious disaster for all people from the peasants to the Lords and Kings. So the question is: were there any benefits amongst all this death.

Within five years the Black Death had killed up to one-third of the population in Europe, it was a disaster. Although every one was affected by the plague at sometime, the worst hit were the peasants. This was because they couldn’t afford to lock themselves away and they lived in confined conditions. These conditions were breeding grounds for rats which increased the spread of the disease. Europe suffered terribly because the peasants were the back bone of society doing all the low paying jobs that nobody wanted to do which included things like farming.

Before the plague Lords and Nobles were responsible for things like law and order. When these people died towns were left without these essential elements. It was a time of great fear.

Religion and trade were two things that suffered during the plague. Christianity lost its credibility because people believed that god was punishing them so when they weren’t cured after going to church they joined on of the many cults that seemed to have appeared in the wake of the plague. People also lost trust in one another they regarded one another with suspicion and they blamed anyone they could for it, minority groups such as the Jews were blamed and punished. Trade was effected deeply too because no body trusted each other. “After a protracted siege, during which the Mongol army under Janibeg was suffering the disease, they catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls to infect the inhabitants.” And after events like this it wasn’t hard to see why. So in time the cities lost contact with each other and it took centuries for some to come together again.

Although the plague was in many respects devastating for all involved there were some rewards for the survivors. These included things for both the rich and the poor.

They both inherited land from the dead and were in many cases much wealthier. The greatest asset for poor was that they mostly labors which were in short supply and they were then given more power to demand higher wages and better conditions. Often they were in better positions than they previously. Things such medicine and technology improved to prevent such a tragedy reoccurring..

Given all the evidence above it appears that there were benefits from the plague but these were only slight compensations for a gross mass of human life from a tragic disease.