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The Black Plague And Its Impact On Society In Medieval Europe

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The Black Plague and its Impact on Society in Medieval Europe

The Black Plague, also known as the Black Death, was a global epidemic that struck Europe in the 1300s. It killed millions of citizens and had an extremely negative effect on the growing and developing populous. However, death wasn’t the only major change that the people of Europe experienced. The most significant impact of the Black Plague rather than death was the lasting effects it had on society as job and gender roles broke the norm, and new religious tactics and beliefs were developed and implemented to control and protect the European people.
Before the plague in the early 1300s, Europe was a massively hierarchical society. There was a feudal system that divided the population …show more content…

(History.com Editors, 2010). These various deaths were extremely detrimental as they decreased the overall population of Europe, however, the Black Plague caused several other setbacks in Europe's economy and society that were actually in part caused by this mass number of deaths. One of the major factors in the Black Plague’s impact on society was the change that job and gender roles experienced as new expectations were set for the citizens of Europe. After the death of so many, the once very strict social hierarchy became more flexible as the higher class was seen doing what was once considered lower-class work. The following quote belongs to a first-hand account of the Black Death written at the cathedral of Rochester. “… destroyed more than a third of the men, women, and children. As a result, there was such a shortage of servants, craftsmen, and workmen, and of agricultural workers and labourers, that a great many lords and people, although well-endowed with goods and possessions, were yet without service and attendance.” (Cotton & Faustina (ca. 1314-1350). This account details how the Black Death killed off many of the serfs, or peasants, who worked under the lords and upperclassmen. Because of this, there was no one left to do …show more content…

In the article previously mentioned discussing the plague’s impact on human behavior, there is also discussion of the Church and its increasing take to power. “Many Friars, and other clergy, particularly in Italy, assisted the authorities in the care of the sick and the enforcement of confinement during outbreaks of the plague. … It was through the higher power of the Catholic Church that many measures were taken to contain the plague.” (Staiano, 2008). This quote speaks for itself in saying that the Church took another step toward amplifying their power. Because of the plague, they were able to act as a sort of “saving grace” for European society as they implemented quarantine and medical procedures into daily life. Because of the plague, they were able to gain further control over the population in ordering them to comply with health guidelines while also reassuring them that their plan would be beneficial to them. In another journal article that focuses on responses to the Black Plague, the opinions of the Church are also mentioned. “It is not surprising, in Christian Europe, that so severe and unpredictable a disease should be accorded a supernatural origin. Plague was a divine

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