The Great Mortality is a strange impressive explanation of the worst natural catastrophe that occurred in Europe. It is a drama of bravery, misery, weakness, and sacrifice that illustrates mankind’s worst days which led to the ending of an old world and the formation of a new world. The Great mortality had three different types plaques that caused massive deaths of human beings, cats, dogs and cattle (John, pp183). This plague moved from one nation to another and was simply termed as the Black Death. By the time the great mortality reached Italy, Europe was in the transition from the medieval period to the renaissance (John, pp 29). This shows that the plague also had positive aspects to the areas where it passed. This paper will explain the positive aspects of the plague in The Great Mortality, by John Kelly.
One of the positive aspects of the plague was the end of serfdom. The lower class workers in Europe had suffered greatly before the plague as a result of the feudal system. These lower class workers were basically slaves but the start of the plague led to massive deaths thus the remaining workers were able to demand greater wages and good working conditions. To some extent, the plague equalized the poor and the rich in Europe because it killed all people regardless of their social status. This made different people to have respect for one another despite the differences in social status. The other positive aspect of the plague is that it made people to seek forgiveness from God because they felt that the plague was a punishment from God (John, pp 231). In this connection, the plague helped to draw people closer to God because they able to repent.
The other positive aspect of the plague was depopulation. Europe had been densely populated before the plague (Albert, pp 23). The reduction in population as a result of the plague led to the decrease in the number of available workers who were now able to demand higher wages in their jobs. In addition, there was also reduced competition for the available resources among the peasants in Europe. The reduction in population was a positive aspect of the plague because it led to improved way of lives for those who survived. The peasants had power over their employers because they could ask for better pay. This led to a noticeable upward mobility among the poor people in the European society (Albert, pp 29). Moreover, the competition for the little available labor as well as increased innovation after the plague led to the capitalism which later contributed to renaissance and reformation.
Although the church had lost many people through the plague, it experienced growth in its reaches as many people turned to the church to say masses for the dead and also pray for forgiveness (Albert, pp 23). In addition, the less educated priests also got their employment when the educated ones had died. This shows that the plague had positive aspects because it created jobs for people. The plague led to a new social hierarchy which favored women and the waged people because it made it easy for them to express their wants to the richer people (Albert, pp 23). In this connection, the plague had positive aspects in Europe because it led to better lives for the poor through increased payment and better working conditions, brought more people to the church to seek forgiveness and encouraged respect between people of different social status.
References:
Kelly, John. The Great Mortality: An intimate History of the Black Death, the most devastating plague of All Time. New York Publishers. Harper Collins Publishers, 2005.
Camus, Albert. The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 1348-1350: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Series in History & Culture). New York. Bedford publishers, 2005.
