Did the Black Death contribute to the Renaissance?
The Black Death was known as one of the most devastating pandemics to have struck Europe during the 14th century. The Black Death or Yersinia Pestis is a disease that can be transmitted to the human species by rodents. This pandemic was estimated to have killed 60% of Europe’s population in the 14th century. This affected everything, causing changes to the economic and social structure in Europe. It impacted art in some aspects and it helped with the ascension of the Renaissance. This paper argues that The Black Death did indeed contribute to the start of the Renaissance in Europe.
The Black Death was a tragedy that Europe and perhaps the whole world had never experienced before. The plague may have originated from China and was brought to the
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In the year of 1450, Gutenberg first started printing and publishing his books. However, for art and literature to develop into a mass industry there would need to be a larger consumer target. The growth and the development of publishing were supported by the conditions of The Black Death. Since around 1355, the torment caused by The Black Death had been inspiring individuals to escape Constantinople to Western Europe. Constantinople was one of the largest non-rural communities where the pandemic was the most active. At the time the Byzantium Empire owned the seat of power, and culture of the former Roman Empire. The people who were in refuge were many individuals educated by the teaching of Greek and Roman works. These refugees also took along their teachings in the form of books and manuscripts, which later spread to the whole of Europe. The refugees that had migrated amongst people within their adopted homeland have always had a yearning ambition to learn, as a parallel to the increase of education this involuntarily fulfilled the requirement for consumers within the printing