The Black Death is the name used in reference to the plague which swept across much of Asia, Europe and the Middle East during the 1300s (Morillo et al, 2005, p385). In short, it was a devastating blow to mankind and the estimated number of deaths caused by the Black Death runs into the millions with educated estimates saying that it killed between 30-60% of Europe’s population alone (Alchon, 2003, p21) which meant the world’s population was reduced from around 450 million people to around 350 to 375 million. The Black Death was the second instance of plague – the first is known as the ‘Plague of Justinian’ as it occurred sometime earlier during the reign of the Roman Emperor Justinian (527-565 AD) and led to a number of shifts in European and Asian political powers due to countries being weakened (Martin, 2001, p11). However, the second plague – the Black Death – began in Asia in 1347 and spread across to Europe and the south of England in 1348 and progressed steadily northwards to northern England and Europe up until around 1351 (maps.com). As a result of the Black Death, it was quickly asked why it had spread so wildly and how it could have been avoided leading to an improvement of living circumstances. The Black Death had a number of impacts upon society – the death of a significant number of people for one but also it caused profound changes in terms of social and economic factors including the public relationship with religion and culture – the plague wiped out a lot of people and devastated, the world recovered by devoting time to exploring why and how it happened in the first place.
The causes of the Black Death are widely disputed but one aspect which is generally agreed upon is the appalling squalor that many lived in as being a breeding ground for rats and fleas which carried the plague, passing it from host to host (Martin, 2001, p12). More specifically, it is caused by rats, carrying the plague bacillus (Yersinia Pestis) who are fed on by fleas who, when the rat dies, find another host and carry the bacillus with them to their new home – spreading the plague virus efficiently and easily (Martin, 2001, p12). Today, it is known that the plague attacks the lymphatic system of the body and produces buboes which can range in size from an almond to an orange in the groin, armpits and neck areas (Martin, 2001, p12). These buboes are extremely painful and if there is more than one it will be around the same lymph gland area – if these begin to suppurate within one week then the victim frequently survives but if they don’t (which in the case of the 14th century’s Black Death, they didn’t) then they will die (Martin, 2001, p12). So, it naturally follows that the Black Death was perpetuated by a lack of sanitary conditions in which rats and fleas thrived meaning that the plague bacillus was easily transferred between hosts – spreading the infection in an efficient and wild fashion. Although the connection between the plague and poor sanitation was not established until sometime later, the Black Death did prompt an exploration into how a cleaner community could induce fewer outbreaks of the pandemic.
Many have reviewed why the Black Death caused such a significant number of deaths and have drawn a number of conclusions: many feel that, in practice, the plague is only able to infect a small percentile of the population in terms of its ability to travel and question whether the deaths were more prominently caused by other pandemics such as smallpox or typhus (Benedictow, 1987, p401). Whilst others address the long-term effects of an overpopulation crisis and so this also reduces the blame placed upon the plague individually (Benedictow, 1987, p401). Equally, others discuss whether it was predominantly transmitted through rats and fleas or whether it was spread through human ectoparasites (e.g. fleas or other creatures that live on the outside of their host) and as well, the study of territorial and social aspects of morbidity raise questions of how the plague was so quickly transmitted (Bendictow, 1987, p402) meaning that it has caused a broad range of subjects to be discussed and investigated – leading to the Black Death having a weighty impact upon society throughout the world. It is also claimed that the morbidity rates of the plague are somewhat exaggerated due to the advice being given that if you could, to leave your home and travel far away and stay away until being given the all-clear – something which the rich were able to do with immediate effect which greatly reduced the populous in most areas – one example is given: “During the plague epidemic of 1609-11 in Basle, Dr Felix Platter registered all cases of plague, 6,408 persons. As Basle at the time contained about 13,000 inhabitants, the morbidity rate was about 50 per cent” (Benedictow, 1987, p402). This indicates that whilst the plague did still kill a significant number of people, its numbers could be an unfair representation – leading to the inference that if everyone had been able to leave the infected areas then the plague’s spread would have been greatly reduced indicating that it was the proximity of living conditions which caused the Black Death to prosper so.
The impact of the Black Death is most widely considered with regard to its causing the significant depopulation of the world – in China, the population diminished from around 125 million people to 65 million by the late 14th Century and in Europe, it is estimated that around 35 million people died of the plague between 1348 and 1350 (Spengler, 1962, p112). The vast majority of these people were from the lower classes (although all classes were affected in varying degrees) as a large proportion of the richer population were able to travel away from the infected areas. In truth, there was not enough time to consider why it was happening as it spread so quickly that by the time experts of the age were able to consider its causes, a significant proportion of the population had already died and this was the same for the various European governments who, unable to act quickly enough, could not remedy or slow down the tide of the plague as it spread across the continent. However, the plague did eventually have a major effect on the social and economic factors in Europe and due to the decrease in population, it naturally follows that there were more resources (food, land, money) to go around which helped to alleviate a recession which had been in force prior to the plague beginning. The peasant population had already have a weak footing in society before the plague but following it, they began to experience less and less prosperity with regard to their wages as people were so keen to regain financial security that employers began to take advantage of the situation until the government introduced a series of wage control laws which aimed to increase the peasants’ chances of retaining the same rate of wages as they received before the plague (Dyer & Penn, 1990, p356).
Other effects saw a decreased relationship to religion in many European countries: this was understandably due to the failure of the church to uphold promises of being able to cure plague victims and as such, a degree of religious cynicism began to spread across society. Arguably, this was a turning point in history for religion as science and fear began to take precedence over blind faith (Bentley et al, 2008, p267). Equally, the Black Death had an impressive impact upon the culture of Europe which became extremely morbid for quite some time afterwards – a natural reaction, some might say, to an extremely horrific period of history. This was largely perpetuated by the belief that the plague was inescapable and due to a lack of real understanding about it, the public felt as if everything they did made it worse and so a real feeling of pessimism settled over much of Europe and this is presented throughout much of the culture of the time such as the recurrent image of death as a figure (often presented as being skeletal in appearance) such as Albertus Pictor’s mural Man Playing Chess with Death from 1480 (Pictor, 1480) which quite literally presented the idea of life as a game over which death presides. Equally, in literature of the time, the Black Death played a key role – perhaps most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in which the Black Death is discussed. The idea of death as being a figure (often equated to the Devil) is one which became commonplace throughout medieval culture.
The Black Death is a period of history which is often still not fully understood even today, although with the advances we have made in the fields of sanitation and medicine, we are able to make stronger assumptions as to why and how the plague spread as quickly as it did. Conditions in the various societies of the time were extremely poor – frequently, sewage ran freely in the street which attracted rats and therefore fleas – the now known carriers of the plague itself. The Black Death’s impact was felt across the globe but most notably in Europe and Asia where its depopulation effect caused a ripple of social and political shifts due to the vulnerability to nations and the weakening of borders too. Equally, in Europe, the Black Death impacted upon the social status of the church with many beginning to question the real power of the clergymen who, upon failing to uphold promises of curing plague victims, were made to look fraudulent. As well as this, the Black Death impacted heavily upon the mood and culture which resulted in its wake: Europe became fixated upon the idea of death as being an unpredictable, predatory figure that is prevalent in all areas of life. In short, the Black Death removed the innocence of a simpler time and was the catalyst for a stronger, more critical society.
References
Alchon, S.A. (2003). A pest in the land: new world epidemics in a global perspective. New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press.
Benedictow, O.J. (1987). Morbidity in Historical Plague Epidemics. Population Studies, 41(3), 401-431.
Bentley, J. et al. (2008). Traditions and encounters: A brief global history (3rd ed.). New York : McGraw Hill.
Dyer, C. & Penn, S. (1990). Wages and Earnings in Late Medieval England: Evidence from the Enforcement of the Labour Laws. The Economic History Review, New Series, 43(3), 356-357.
Martin, S. (2001). Black Death. Harpenden: Pocket Essentials.
Morillo, S. et al. (2006). Encounters in world history: Sources and themes from the global post volume one: to 1500 (1st ed.) New York : McGraw Hill.
Spengler, J.J. (1962). Review: Studies on the Population of China. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 5(1), 112-114.
Spread of the Black Death, 1347-1354 [map]. Scale not given. “maps.com”. Ebrary. <http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ashford/docDetail.action?docID=10002674&p00=the+black+death> (24 August 2011).
