Black Plague In The Middle Ages

The black plague is remembered as a very horrific and bleak crisis in the Middle Ages, a tragedy. However, the black plague was actually a good thing, and very beneficial to Europe. From population control, to higher living standards, there are many great things that the black death has helped create.

First off, the black death is known to be the cause of death for millions in the Middle Ages. But these deaths were simply natural selection, and very beneficial to Europe, Survivors of the black death made it because of their superior immune system genes. This allowed for a stronger gene pool that would have generations that were capable of withstanding another black plague, unlike the less capable people that perished with it, “survival rate

With the population of Europe lowered, there was an overabundance of goods being produced in Europe. This would cause the prices of items, once considered only obtainable by the rich, to be lowered substantially, thus causing them to be much more common, everyday items. These luxuries were even easier to obtain combined with the fact that the extreme decrease in population led to a large surplus of jobs to open up. The population decrease also made hiring people for jobs become much more important, “a surplus of jobs, and consequently a rise in wages. The standard of living actually increased” (plaza.ulf.edu). With the increase of jobs, wages, and access to many luxuries, the over all living standards of Europeans had dramatically increased. These changes also lead to the end of feudalism, and the beginning of the working class in

With so many luxuries becoming easily obtainable, healthier lifestyles were much more common. For example, “people started to consume more food of higher quality” (Miles). And after the cause of the plague was found to be preventable with something as simple as good hygiene, Europeans realized that cleanliness and hygiene were also important to maintain. The plague also lead to the Church losing a lot of its power. The black death was an extremely terrifying event for European citizens. Many of them believed that this plague could be a punishment from God, and tried figuring out how they could please him again. However, “The Church could not save people from the disease, leading many Europeans to question their beliefs” (Plaza.ulf.edu). With the events of the plague leaving Europe with an end to feudalism, a better understanding of the world, access to better lifestyles, and less dedication to religion, Europeans were able to use this to their advantage and shift their focus into continuing these advancements. These advancements would lead to the creation of the Renaissance, a substantially better era in time for Europeans than the Middle