INTRODUCTION
Europe before the plague, commonly
known as the Black Death, was a place of social advancement and urbanization.
Particularly important during this period from 1200 to 1400 was Italy, where
the seeds of the Renaissance were sown. Before the Black Death swept through
and decimated populations and slowed the progress of all of Europe, Europeans,
especially in Northern Italy, were enjoying a period of growth not seen since
the Roman Empire.
Those who benefited most during this
period were the artisans and merchants. In Florence, merchants collected church
taxes. This led merchants to form banks. One such family – the Medici family –
did so well in the 14th century that their descendent Cosimo de’
Medici was later able to take control of the city from the merchant oligarchy
that was ruling. The engine behind the forward progress of the merchant class
in Florence was wool. Wool became one of the two most important manufactured
products that Europe could sell in foreign markets. The wool merchants were
important figures in Florence, and at the peak of the 14th century
up to half of the city’s population were involved. The city itself was enclosed
in a series of walls, the last ring being completed between 1284 and 1333.
These walls provided protection, but they also increased density; more people
lived closer together, making the spread of disease more rapid and deadly.
Shipbuilding was to Venice as wool was
to Florence. In Venice, the merchants lived well like their Florentine
counterparts, except that they made their money through shipbuilding. When
Venice gained independence from the Byzantine Empire around the year 1000,
Venice achieved the freedom to further expand. Like wool in Florence, Venice
shipbuilding required the hands of many trades. In Venice’s arsenale, or “Arsenal”, artificial pools
connected by canals that led to open sea were created to build and house ships.
Here, carpenters, sail-makers, caulkers, and designers all worked together to
make ships efficiently. As a trading port, Venice brought in all kinds of goods
and then sent those goods throughout Europe, creating a perfect route for the
plague to follow throughout Europe when it struck in 1348.
The century before the Black Death
struck in 1348, Europe, especially North Italy, saw great growth. However, this
growth also caused greater urbanization, which facilitated the spread of the
plague. Venice, although a great trading city, proved deadly when the plague
broke out, for the very same ships spreading wealth and goods through Europe
also spread the plague.
Andrew Conley
THE ECONOMIC EFFECT
OF THE PLAGUE
In
the fourteenth century the Black Death spread across Europe devastating the
populations of western civilisation both urban and rural. Estimates give the
death toll as ranging between 18 to 50 million people depending on different
historical and modern scientific sources. This would be approximately 30-60% of
the population. Disaster of this epic scale affected all Europeans of this age
and severely affected the advances made in the Renaissance era..
Such
a massive and rapid death toll most certainly caused there to be an incredible vacuum
in both the workforce and the economic marketplace. Suddenly, workers and their
goods would be in much higher demand. Effects would be wages rising, also prices
rising rapidly, while evidence exists to suggest rents lowered as demand
decreased in urban centres especially. Evidence supporting this can be found in
contemporary sources.
With
such a profound shortage of labour and skilled workers there were abandoned and
uncultivated lands. Fewer lands being worked for food production meant that
there would be less produce to sell at markets creating a higher demand than
supply and therefore rapid inflation. However, the common rural person in
agrarian communities did not get their food from market, they ate what they
grew, so any food they were able to sell would make them that much more money
arguably lessening yet not avoiding the economic impact felt in urban centres.
Richard
Holland
THE SEVERITY OF THE
BLACK DEATH
Most
commonly known as bubonic, it would cause dangerous swellings called “buboes”. It was transferred by fleas to rats and then
to humans. It originated in Asia where large sums of people were killed, and
brought over to Sicily in 1347 when merchant travelers brought infected rats
with their ship.
The
infection could spread one of two ways.
1.
Septacaemic: or infected by the blood,
death results in a few hours.
2.
Pneumonic: spread via the air, death
results in a few days.
The
Plague hit the cities the hardest, however when it came to the county side it
did major damage as the population was already weakened by famine. Children and
the Elderly were the greatest impacted. It
lasted generations from 1347-1720.
CHART OF DRAMATIC
POPULATION DECREASE
City
|
Population
Before Plague
|
Population
After Plague
|
Florence
|
100,000
|
30,000
|
Venice
|
120,000
|
84,00
|
Bolongna
|
54,000
|
34,000
|
Padua
|
38,000
|
18,000
|
Pisa
|
50,000
|
10,000
|
“In
thirteen hundred and forty-eight of a hundred, there lived but eight”
Jade
Popper
 |
| The picture is drawn by an Artist named
Gilles Le Muisit. He was an artist and a painter during the time when black
death has spread. The picture shows people burying people who died from Black
Death. |
Social Impacts of the Black Death
The Black Death was one of the
most devastating events in history, resulting in millions of deaths
across Europe. With the death of up to 50% of the population in cities
and in rural areas there is a large impact on social areas of the
region.
The first major impact was when the plague first broke
out and everyone needed someone to blame. Due to its incredible rate of
expansion, no one could work out exactly what was causing the plague,
and many people blamed it on God’s anger or one of many natural
phenomenons, like earthquakes. Many speculated that the Jews were also
involved in poisoning the water, and as such they persecuted them
heavily, ending in many Jewish deaths in an attempt to stop the plague.
As
well as this persecution, the Church was seen to weaken. This was
caused from a few different reasons, the major one being that priests
were not able to help the sick, and therefore the power of god was
questioned. The church also tended towards keeping itself apart from
the general populace after the realising that there was nothing to
prevent the plague. This led to the people seeing the church as weak,
and turning their backs on the world.
After the plague decimated
the population of Europe there was a much smaller available workforce
and a lot of spare land, so this allowed for higher wages and for more
of the common people to own their own land. Because of this trend
landlords were forced more often to use freedom to buy the services of
the peasants in their service. Overall it caused a complete reversal in
power across Europe as the peasants were now required to work in an
effort to reconstruct what Europe had been.
James Muus
Blog question: "The
Black Death 'choked' the ideas of the Renaissance, do you agree?"
