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Gender Inequality In The Black Death

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The Black Death, the most severe epidemic in human history, ravaged Europe from 1347-1351. This plague killed entire families at a time and destroyed at least 1,000 villages. Greatly contributing to the Crisis of the Fourteenth Century, the Black Death had many effects beyond its immediate symptoms. Not only did the Black Death take a devastating toll on human life, but it also played a major role in shaping European life in the years following. In this essay it finds that the Black Death epidemic lead to the collapse of the family structure in Italy particularly with children succumbing to the disease, gender inequality with women, and a misunderstanding of the biology of the disease.
Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores …show more content…

In the beginning of the testament Carinus declares his will to his family. The beneficiaries in the will include a Chaplin for the church of San Biagio, his two nieces, his wife, and his daughter. An important area in the will to look at is the gender inequality language used. Carinus “grants his wife the right to use but not own all of his goods as long as she lives in the home with their children, and remains a widow.” () This excerpt from the will gives us a good idea on the issues women faced in the 14th century. Looking at source 7, the will-making among the general populous of Bologna during 1348. The graph tells us that “in general, women’s wills made up about 40% of all wills, but in Bologna men had the option to make a secret will which they could deposit in the Mendicant friaries and keep out of the public record of the Libri Memoriali. It appears that men chose this option more frequently during the first part of the year, before the epidemic took hold.” (Source 7) This source also goes on to state that at the time the majority of the notaries working in July (125 out of 185) were writing up only one or two wills. (Source 7) Examining this document finds that gender inequality was indeed an obstacle that women faced not only with the plague but with

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