Black Death Has A Negative Impact On European Society During The Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, there were many events that impacted the development of society, such as the Crusades, the Hundred Years’ War, and the Black Death. Some of these events impacted the society in a negative way and others, in a positive way. The Black Death, specifically, was a contagious disease that traveled through Europe, Eurasia and North Africa through trade routes and on its way, killed 30 to 50% of the European population in a span of five years . This epidemic impacted the European society positively in the long term with women’s rights, even if it led to some negative short-term problems such as a loss of labour and inflation, and a loss of faith in the Church, which later turned into positive long-term changes.

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Many people had passed away due to the Black Death which led to law changes and women gaining more rights. For instance, in some areas in England, women could keep their deceased husband’s lands until they remarried or, in other cases, could even keep these lands even after they remarried with another man . This was also linked to the decrease in the Church’s influence: prior to the Black Death, women were often not given the choice to choose who they wanted to marry and could not have ownership to anything, and their status in the society was often diminished as they were seen as owned by their fathers and later, husbands. However, after the Black Death, things changed. Women were allowed to own lands mostly because so many husbands had died, and they could cultivate those lands and run business. Additionally, women have also slowly started to gain more gender equality. Some scholars argued that women and men did not receive equal pay, but other critics objected against this conclusion. In fact, some have argued that in the piece-rate payments for agricultural tasks, men and women had the same pay. The impression of having an unequal pay came solely because the pay was based on productivity . For example, after the Black Death, men and women were employed to reap and bind corns. Their salary depended on the number of acres they had done by the end of the day. Therefore, there were no gender inequality when it came to salary. These two examples show that women gained more rights and freedom after the epidemic: they could own lands and do business, and even had equal