The effects of the black plague on European society

The effect of the black plague on European Society

The Black or Bubonic plague was a terrible pestilence that swept across Europe from the east. Carried by fleas lodged onto black rats the plague spread by boat across no less than the entire European continent. The plague went on to kill some 25 million Europeans, a perfect killing machine the plague changed medieval society as they knew it. Religion, the iron standard by which many set their faith was suddenly looking rusty; people lost their faith in divine protection. No one was safe from the plague. From serf to nobleman, the population cowered from fear of catching it themselves. The social order was changing, laborers realizing that their labor was now more valuable than ever demanded wages and the Jews were now being persecuted across Europe; the plague blamed on them. The black plague changed much of European society during the 1300s.

The people of Europe faith in their church and even their god was weakened by the plague. We can see evidence of this all over according to the Jewish history sourcebook the pope himself confined himself to his rooms and always had a fire burning as some sort of “disinfectant”.  The Church itself was unable to state the reason for such a plague other than it was the will of God and even high ranking clergymen were being taken by the sickness. The Church itself started to seem very artificial to some people.

One reason people could come up with for the plague was the Jews. The Jews were persecuted all across Europe on claims that they had poisoned the water of major cities and towns thereby spreading the plague. In the Jewish history sourcebook we see accounts that Jews were taken and tortured until they confessed to the crimes they were accused of. The Jews were used as a scapegoat for the plague by many and they were burnt and exiled all across Europe due to this injustice.

The sheer number of people who died during the plague caused many laborers to realize that their labor was now in short supply. They began to demand wages and payment for their labor. For many, including the King of England and his court this was punishable by imprisonment. In the ordinance of laborers we see evidence of an attempt by the King to prevent laborers from taking their share of the profits. However, this was in vain. If a worker demanded pay and was denied there were plenty of other men who were happy to pay them in order to get the harvest in. The plague created and idea in the common people’s mind that they could in fact be paid for their work rather than live in poverty for their entire lives under their lord.

                The effects the black plague had on society changed the social order and the people’s faith in their religion. Europe would never be the same after the terrible pestilence.