The Plague: The Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most disturbing plagues in history. In the 1300’s, a sickness spread throughout Europe, and once it was contracted, death was evident almost immediately after. After the disease was contracted, infection in the lungs occurred, boils erupted in the armpits, and vomiting of blood was a reoccurring symptom. It resulted in many deaths and the population quickly started to deteriorate. The aftermath of the plague generated hostility towards God, and many people thought of the Black Death as a punishment for their sins. Believing that the Black Death was an act of revenge and distraught by the failings of the clergy, many people experienced a loss of faith and turned to immoral acts such as gambling and consuming alcohol.

People believed that the Black Death was an act of revenge, and for that reason, they lost all religious inclination. After God’s warning, he says “The time for mercy has passed. I, God, am called to vengeance. It is my pleasure to take revenge on sin and wickedness.”1 Instead of praying to God and asking for forgiveness, many people decided to rebel and retaliate against him. This led to gambling, excessive drinking and violence. People wanted to live life to the fullest and disregarded prayer and asking God for help.
Gambling and drinking became a way of life for the people who endured the Black Death. They wanted to live life to the fullest and rebel against God, since he did the same to them. Many men began to work less hours and on their spare time, wasted their money on
1Gabriele de’ Mussis, “The arrival of the plague,” reprinted in Rosemary Horrox, ed. And trans. The Black

Mankind was worsened by the plague because it was viewed as God’s intervention to draw people away from sin. It was viewed as an act of destruction by the people who were witnessing the plague. The plague contributed to the decay of moral standards and that was seen through individuals robbing each other and creating violence. God wanted them to veer away from sin, but the behaviour of many people after the plague was a sign that they were plummeting into greater sin. Although a few people did become increasingly religious, “others took the opposite view and maintained that an infallible way of warding off this appalling evil was to drink heavily, enjoy life to the full, go round singing and merrymaking, gratify all of one’s cravings whenever the opportunity offered, and shrug the whole thing off as one enormous joke.”2 Many people became lazy and gluttonous and wanted to achieve an inappropriately comfortable lifestyle which was not seen as being natural. Women became sexually active, the clergy developed an urge to gamble, and men turned to alcoholism. The plague did contribute to the deterioration of moral standards. As Boccaccio states, “In the face of much affliction and misery, all respect for the laws of God and man had virtually broken down and been extinguished in our city. For like everyone else, those ministers and executors of the laws who were not either dead or ill were left with so few subordinates that they were unable to discharge any