Baroque Literature
The Black Death Greatly Improved the European Society Throughout history, many unforgettable events have affected the literature of the time: wars, revolutions, industrialization, and disease. Although many critics very quickly point out the changes in literature that the industrial revolution caused, not many of those critics are willing to dig any deeper into the past. However, the fourteenth century contained changes in literature that were just as dramatic. The repeated outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague in that century led to many significant changes in European society that therefore deeply enhanced the content, quantity, and the moral values of the audience of medieval literature. The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, killed one third of the population of Europe during its reign in the 13th and 14th centuries. The impact of this mass killer caused enormous havoc to the medieval society because of its unknown origin, the unknown causes and preventions, and most significantly its deathly results. Changes in the
Thus, the Bubonic Plagues during the 14th century led to numerous significant changes in European society, which deeply enhanced the content, quantity, and the moral values of the audience of medieval literature. "Also the introduction of paper from the East was a major step in reducing costs, for paper is far cheaper than parchment to produce. Johannes Gutenberg was the first to prove this, and his alloy is still the basis of the printer's art (Chambers et al, 321). The Bubonic Plagues spurred a craving for something more, or better out of life. These new presses allowed for cheaper, faster, and more accurate duplication of books (Herrlihy, 50). This caused a new political power structure to emerge than that of feudalism, one that was based on wealth and accomplishments rather than on land and birth (Horton, 47). Was this nature's way of making up for the great number of children who had dies in the pandemic? The answer is still unknown to man (Oleksy, 58). He said that an unusually large number of twins and even triplets were born to couples following the plague, and that few women were childless. Children were now taught social graces, including dancing and courteous manners, and were also taught riding and fencing to aid in the improvement in the "physical fitness" aspect of education. In a book, The Courtier, Baldassare Castiglione described the proper manners for gentlemen and ladies to live by (Chambers et al, 357). This change in moral codes of society also brought about changes in the curriculums taught in schools. This was significant to the society because the supply of books more than doubled, and the price of books greatly decreased (Tuchman, 476). Education began to include an attempt to improve physical, moral, and social development (Chambers et al, 356).
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