The Black Death and Churches in the Middle Ages

             The Black Death stands as a convenient divider between the central and the late Middle Ages in Europe. It is also known as the bubonic plague was caused by an infectious flea on rats. It was highly contagious, and the victims usually died in around three days after the first symptom. It first erupted in the Gobi Desert in the late 1320s, without any available reason. It traveled fast infecting all Asia, and in China, the plague dropped the population about one hundred million over the 14th century. Arriving in Italy in 1347 it spread quickly through the continent. By the time it was done with Europe it had killed on fourth of the population or around twenty-five million people. Though the population dropped dramatic the Christian church suffered the most in this horrifying period.
             In the early and central Middle Ages, the church was the most powerful group in Europe. It was the European government and the wealthiest group on the continent. When the plague started, the church became even more powerful and popular the ever. The Church dealt with the Plague in some ways. The most distinguished of these was that there were much more processions and vows, hoping of gaining recognition from God. In this quote by an unknown individual "When in 1347 the plague was raging at Luebeck the confession was so great that the citizens as if deprived of their senses, took leave of life and willingly renounced all earthly possessions. They bore their treasures to the monasteries and churches to lay them on the steps of the altars. But for the monks, the money had no attraction, for it brought death. They closed their gates, but the people threw their money over the walls of the monasteries; they would brook no impediment in their last pious work, to which they were urged by mute despair." [Black] it is seen that the church maybe became more popular than it ever was. As seen in the quote above the monks didn't even want the money because, for the most...

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The Black Death and Churches in the Middle Ages. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 15:29, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/5147.html