Essay 9 final

      The black death really affected life in the Middle Ages. It affected the ecenomics, style, religion, and social structure. The black death was estimated to kill almost one third of  of Europe's population. It is important in understanding the culture of the Middle Ages to understand the black death. 
       The black death, or bubonic plague, greatly effected the economics of the Middle Ages  One of the main things this plague did was kill of many necessary workers. "The death of many workers created a labor shortage and a rise in wages. Many landowners commuted labor services to money rents in order to keep their tenants." (Dickerman, E.H.). Since the plague had killed many people they could not do their jobs. Since there were no people to work the jobs would not get done. Since these jobs weren't getting done the countries were loosing money in trade, and the cleanliness of their cities also became very poor. This effected many countries very negatively with their economics.
         The black death also greatly affected religion. Since many holy mad were dying also people lost their faith in god. This left churches understaffed, necessitated hasty recruiting of inferior priests, and accelerated the abuses of pluralism and nonresidence (wikipedia). If a holy man died of a plague that god sent then you might loose faith in your religion. It wouldn't make sense that someone who was so close to god would be punished. They were not aware that the plague was being transmitted by ticks that arrived from trade with infected countries. Many people turned away form Christian Healings and started using the old black magic or family remedies to try and rid themselves of the disease.
       The black death also affected the social structure of every country that became infected.  it is estimated that somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of Europe's population died in the years 1347–1350 (James, Tom). It is impossible to know exactly how many people died during the time of the plague. However, it is known that the plague killed many people and effected almost all of Medieval Europe of its time. Streets were littered with diseased body and people fleeing from the disease ended up carrying it and spreading it even more. If you lived in the time of this plague your chances of surviving were very slim.
         The black death, or bubonic plague, killed about one third of Europe's population. This effected almost all of Europe economically, religiously, and socially. The Bubonic plague completely changed Middle Ages culture of its time. It is important in understanding the effects of the black death if you are trying to understand the culture of the Middle Ages.




Sources:

Dickerman, E. H. (2011). Black Death. Encyclopedia Americana. Retrieved May 4, 2011, from Grolier Online http://ea.grolier.com/article?id=0049040-00 James, Professor Tom. "BBC - History - British History in Depth: Overview: The Middle Ages, 1154 - 1485." BBC - Homepage. BBC History, 2011. Web. 04 May 2011. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/middle_ages/overview_middleages_01.shtml>. "Black Death." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 04 May 2011 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death>.