Short-Term Effects Of The Black Death On Medieval Europe

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The Black Death

The Black Death, also known as the pestilence or the plague, arrived in 1347 and spread throughout (name the continents and countries) for 14 years. The most immediate short-term effect of the plague was the decline in population. Between thirty and fifty per cent of the population died in the years between 1347 and 1351. In the long term changes also took place on a social, political and economic level.
The decline in population had immediate effects on Medieval Europe. It reached Europe in the late 1340’s killing an estimated 25 million people. This was 30 – 60% of Europe’s total population. Some historians believe that one third of the population died while others believe it was one fifth. This is because there was no …show more content…

Longer term social effects were changes to medicine, sanitation and public health, religion, social structure, and growth in the middle class. The changes to medicine include increased emphasis on medical knowledge and more dissections of human corpses to further understand the human body and develop other treatments. Libraries with medical texts were introduced and hospitals developed relationships with universities so people could be better educated on medicine. In sanitation and public health authorities became more aware of the need to take responsibility for health of the population and new laws were introduced to prevent littering. This also increased employment as there were jobs open for street sweepers. For religion, the Black Death weakened the influence of the previously all-powerful Catholic Church since most of the people who prayed, died. This lead to people losing faith for the church. Long term political effects were political unrest and weakening of the feudal system. Peasants were able to demand higher wages however these demands were often resisted by those in power. The long term economic effects were new power for the peasants. This meant that many estates had insufficient numbers to work the land. Wealthy land owners started offering increased payment to agricultural labourers to entice them to their estates. Skilled trades opened