Black Death Pandemic Effects

The Black Death, considered to be one of the largest pandemics in the world to date, had disastrous effects on most of Europe, the Middle East, and China. In Europe particularly, it caused extensive damage to the Roman Catholic church and the economy. The sources I will be using are: Ordinance on Laborers, 1394, Woodcuts from Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death, power points used in class, and additional secondary sources. Prior to the Black Death pandemic, the Roman Catholic Church was a very powerful entity and a large contributor to education of both sexes (although to have your child accepted into their education programs, you were required to have close ties to the church or contribute a generous donation.) This, however, all changed when

The Church and many members believed the pandemic was a punishment from God, due to the immorality of the population. However, if this had been the case, then the aristocracy in the church shouldn’t have been affected, in that they were expected to be moral and in good standing with God. Ironically, in many instances, the aristocratic groups were much harder hit by the pandemic when compared to the public. One of the contributing factors of this was that the aristocracy, manly priests, had to perform last rites for the dead and dying, which put them in direct contact with the illness. At that time, individuals did not understand the nature of disease, so in their minds, God was also punishing the aristocracy for their sins.

In Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death, he illustrated the sins of the ‘holy’ aristocracy. In his picture of the nun (someone who had taken a vow of celibacy) she is praying while at the same time lusting after her lover, all shown in a moment when her candle was being extinguished by Death. Similarly, in his representation of a monk (an individual that should be exemplifying temperance) the monk is desperately trying to keep his cup of donations away from

Population numbers were at an all-time high, so securing employment was difficult for many. If ones’ parents had money and/or family ties to money, one had several options, such as going into the family business (if one’s father was a blacksmith you could apprentice as a blacksmith beginning at a young age.) On the other hand, if ones’ parents were peasant farmers, they would most likely have little option other than working the farm along with the mass population, which came with poor pay and limited opportunities. However, the Black Death pandemic changed much of this system. With mass death, there were fewer and fewer peasant farmers, which lead to a limited supply of farm workers. These workers became much more in demand, and along with the demand came better pay. Workers had many more options, and if a landowner wouldn’t create better terms, workers had the option to work at a different farm where, for example, the pay was better. This phenomenon was the basis for the Ordinance of Laborers of 1394, wherein it was stated that peasant farmers had to stay with the land they were assigned to and couldn’t be paid more for their