Term Paper on "Black Plaque"

Term Paper 7 pages (1894 words) Sources: 4 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Black Plague

BLACK DEATH and the DECLINE of FEUDALISM

In order to understand its contribution to the end of feudalism in Europe, it is important to understand the nature of the black Plague, or "black death," as it was known to Europeans, and its effects on individuals and their communities. The Black Death of the 14th century is believed to have killed 50 million people, including one-forth of the population of Europe (History.com).

Formerly known as a bubonic plague because of the "buboes" or boils it caused, scientists now agree that the black death was also a pneumonic one - dispersed in the air and contracted by the respiratory system. It is now known that the disease was spread through fleas that generally thrived on rats. This strain of plague thrived on animals and human alike, mowing down any living creature in its path and giving rise to the scavenger population, which thrived on the remains. The plague is believed to have started in Mongolia, making its way through Constantinople, then spreading like a spider's web throughout Europe, surrounding Italy and reaching as far north as Sweden, and as far south as Cairo (Kelly). The disease was carried back and forth throughout established shipping trade routes, infecting "...every port city and trading center throughout Europe and Asia..." (Uretsky). The plague cut a swathe through the civilized world, transported by traders by ship and on foot, from region to region, country to country.

More recent studies have determined that the spread of the plague may have been exacerbated, in addition to newly acquired mobility, by environmental factors. In the late 13th century, a number of environmental disasters took place, including droughts, floods and volcanic eruptions. Although there is reason to believe these accounts may have been exaggerated in a desperate attempt to explain the devastation, "tree ring data indicates that the early fourteenth century was one of the most severe periods of environmental stress in the last two thousand years - perhaps due to unusual seismic activity in the world's oceans" (Kelly pg. 14). Some believe that these events may have jolted otherwise obscure and dormant rodent populations into unusual activity (Kelly).

Wreaking immediate havoc on the human body, the black death caused painful boils, anal bleeding, delirium and other disgustingly abominable conditions leading to death, generally within three days of contraction. Touching the clothing, belongings or body of one infected by plague, or even breathing the same air, was enough to contract the disease.

The medieval plague was "the second greatest catastrophe on record," surpassed only by World War II in terms of death, destruction and suffering (Kelly, pg. 11). It is generally accepted that Europe lost at least 33% of its entire population in the early14th century due to the black death, some cities losing even up to 75%.

The feudal system in place in medieval Europe was made up of an imbalanced structure of the rich and poor, tied together by family relationships:

For noble and peasant alike, the family was the single most important social unit of the Middle Ages and the basis for other relationships. Functioning as a form of social security, the family provided protection and care to the children, the aged and infirm. Family alliances of blood and marriage were utilised to strengthen feudal ties and to increase power bases. "(Ucalgary).

But, "The pyramid of power which was the Feudal system ran to a strict 'pecking' order - during the Medieval period of the Middle Ages; everyone knew their place"(middle-ages.org). The King was the ultimate owner of the land, but the noble class had control over huge parcels of land, or manors. Vassals were required to attend a noble lord at his court, initiate an army if necessary, and oversee the agricultural work on surrounding manor owned by the lord. The workers, or serfs, lived clustered in small villages, each family having its own plot of land for which it was responsible. In exchange for loyalty and the bulk of their crops, serfs were granted a plot of land to work, and were militarily protected by the nobility from hostile invasion. At the bottom of the social ladder, serfs were under the absolute control of the lord for life, and although protected by the lord, were generally destitute. Upon the death of a serf, his plot of land, or "fiefdom" was granted to his eldest son, or was repossessed by the lord of the manor if there was no son (Britain Express). Basic community services were performed by the common people. While the noble class lived in opulent luxury in magnificent castles, while serfs lived in desperate poverty. The clergy had great influence over the entire lot, since the King ultimately answered to the Pope. The entire feudal network consisted of a complex web of mutual dependencies which the black plague would begin to dismantle in the early 14th century.

It is difficult to imagine the breadth and depth of the epidemic that people of that time named "the Great Mortality" (Kelly). It wiped out hundreds of thousands of lives in a very short time, in many different areas, so rapidly that farming stopped, the community's day-to-day business ceased to function, and even customary procedures for handling the dead came to an abrupt halt. The profession of medical physician was a newly emerging field, and doctors were scarce, their work being heavily monitored and impinged upon by the church. Doctors were powerless to cure the overwhelming number of plague patients and either fled, or became infected themselves (Nohl pg. 46).

Doctors became prisoners, led into hospitals in handcuffs to do what they could for the dying.

Those who could afford to fled at the first indication that the plague had arrived. Some sealed their homes and attempted to stay cloistered inside, avoiding contact with everything and everyone, but even that proved ineffective (Nohl, pg 13-15). Some made the decision to drink and be merry until they died, knowing that their lives were hanging in the balance and would likely come to an abrupt end in the very near future. But once the plague arrived, it moved swiftly "...so that not only few were healed, but (well-nigh) all died, within three days after the said signs were seen; some sooner, and others later, commonly without either Fever, or any other accident"(Nohl, pg.11).

Families, devoted to one another through love and through the feudal system to which they were tied, were broken and destroyed.

When the plague struck a family member, the others, out of fear for their lives, often abandoned the infected member. "The most terrible consequence of the danger of infection was that the patients were forsaken by everyone, even by their nearest relations. Then there was no love, no faithfulness, no trust. No neighbor would lend a helping hand to another"(Nohl, pg. 18). Thus, the very basic family structures that were at the foundation of the feudal system began to deteriorate.

When the plague was in full force in a community, such a dearth of population was left that the lowest castes of people, such as convicted prisoners, were often set free in order to serve as corpse bearers, greatly changing their former social status. Bodies were stacked and piled out in the open, creating a ghastly stench and attracting parasitic vermin and wolves, which moved in and took advantage of the lack of human strength to fend them off. " There have been such a quantity of orphans that they were collected by cart-loads and in the hospital formed a small army of children...such as had recently lost their mothers and were well on the way to returning to the lap of our common mother, the earth"(Nohl, pg. 22). At its peak the plague would take a life within 24 hours, leaving no one left to tend to the survival of others. With so many children left without parents, malnutrition also set in, perhaps weakening the population even further.

As dwellings emptied and the plague wiped out lords, ladies and servants alike, the few survivors of any caste became free to inhabit properties and take the riches left behind by the destruction of entire families. John Kelly states that, "...death on so vast a scale led to great chaos and social dislocation" (Kelly, pg 204). Houses and castles were left empty when entire families died. Those who were left often either inherited massive amounts of wealth, or inhabited and acquired the dwelling and wealth of those who succumbed.

The devastation caused by the plague contributed greatly to the decline of the medieval caste structure that had been in place for hundreds of years, because it was indiscriminate in its destruction -- nobility, royalty, clergy and were just as likely to drop dead as were their servants and field workers. The black death could be seen as a great equalizer, in that no amount of money or power could save anyone from its curse. Further, there developed such a shortage of labor due… READ MORE

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