What are the effects that the black plague had on society?

Answer 1

Society changed immensely because the plague killed off most of the serfs who worked the fields for the land owners. Without this cheap labor, the landowners who survived could not care for their holdings on their own, and so, many of them simply abandoned the land, leaving it to the surviving serfs. With less people to feed, the survivors thrived and were able to live better lives than they had under the old feudal system.

Answer 2

The Effect that the Black Death 'The Plague' had on Europe was massive; the population in Europe lost twenty-five to fifty million people. This essay will firstly be giving some background information of the Black Death, secondly, how the Black Death affected the life of a peasant, thirdly, how the Black Death affected the church and lastly, how it affected the every day life of a European.

The Spread of the Plague

The Black Death was a highly contagious disease which would usually kill somebody within the period of

3 - 7 days. The disease would spread at walking pace and would also be carried by rats and fleas. The Black Death came in three forms, the Bubonic Plague, Pneumonic Plague and the Septicemic Plague. The Bubonic Plague would start of with somebody getting largely inflamed spots around their neck, groined, thighs, underarms and stomach, they will feel nausea, have major migrans and have aching joints. The Pneumonic Plague's symptoms would consist of your lungs getting infected; as a result, they would continuously be coughing up bloody and mucus. The Septicemic Plague's symptoms involved a high fever including their skin turning dark shades of purple.

The Black Death massively changed the way that peasants lived. Farmer's slaves would die of the Plague and farmers needed slaves to help around the farm so the farmers would pay twice the amount of money for peasants to come and help. So in the end, life of the Peasants was dramatically changed by the Plague because they would become very rich.

The Church had taken a huge advantage of the Black Death. They would tell people that someone that they knew who was a victim of the Black Death is in purgatory and the church said that the only way they could get out of purgatory is by paying the church money.

Another way the Black Death affected the church was that people were starting to question the church because they were doing exactly what the church said to do in order not to get the Plague but they were still getting it. A good example is Source 2 (attached on the back of this sheet), this source shows people whipping themselves as a punishment instead of getting the Plague. But I am sure that at least 1/3 of those people shown in the source got the Plague. So again people would turn on the church and stop believing in God.