The Black Death
It's Effect on European CivilizationIt's Effect on European Civilization"The Black Death" known as the Bubonic Plague was one of the world's worst natural disasters in history and as a fatal epidemic disease it radically altered all aspects of European Civilization in the Middle Ages (Twigg, 1985). In this paper we will discuss brief knowledge of the Bubonic Plague, European life before the plague, and European life during its influx, in contrast to the economic, religious, and cultural effects that the plague positioned on European Civilization. The Bubonic PlagueThe Bubonic Plague is a contagious, fatal epidemic disease that is caused by Pasturella Petis (Cartwright, 1991). Pasturella Petis is a bacterium that lives as a parasite within the bodies of rats and is then transmitted by the fleas that live upon the rats (Cartwright, 1991). The Bubonic Plague originated in Central Asia, where it killed nearly 25 million people. The first recorded case of the "Black Death" was in China in B.C. 224 (Cartwright, 1991). China was one of the busiest of the world's trading nations and it was only a matter of ti
During the middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the only church in Europe and a very prominent church all over the world. From then the infection went on to become transmitted easily from person to person by normal contact and if someone in a household contracted the disease the whole household had to prepare to die (Tuchman, 1978). The oriental rat flea normally lives only on rats, but the plague takes the same toll on rats as it does humans so they too die off. The horrific nature of "The Black Death" was reflected in the realistic depictions of human suffering and carnage as well as the symbolic use of the skeleton (Bagley, 1960). Christianity represented life and faith for the European people. The somber changes in European culture within art and music strongly demonstrated harsh reality of the world to the people of Europe. People throughout Christendom had prayed devoutly for deliverance from the Plague but their prayers were never answered. The use of mercenaries and paid peasants labor had the effect of substituting a shortage of money for a shortage of manpower. Surviving peasants now had a wide variety of work available to them in which they could take advantage of. The peasants, also called serfs, were under strict supervision of their lords and could not do anything without their lords' permission and permission was never granted without demanding a tax. And even though not recognized at the time, the arrival and ravage of "the Black Death" marked the end of the Middle Ages and activated the beginning of the Renaissance. Culture The vigorous culture of European Civilization was dependent on art and music. Christianity brought a totally new look on everyday situations. The church played a major role in modeling feudalism. As being the rich they did have more food and better health to start with, which made them somewhat resistant to the plague, but in the end they could not escape death either (Dahmus, 1968).
Common topics in this essay:
Black Death,
Bubonic Plague,
Economy European,
Plague Life,
Christian Church,
Peasants' Revolt,
Ever-Present Death,
European Civilization,
Bubonic Plague's,
Catholic Church,
black death,
bubonic plague,
european civilization,
bagley 1960,
middle ages,
effect european civilization,
church church,
ziegler 1969,
art music,
feudal system,
cartwright 1991,
european civilization bubonic,
black death china,
european life plague,
wages paid laborers,
|
Acceptance Essays
