The Causes And Effects Of The Black Death In The 14th Century

The Black Death also known as the Bubonic plague from the Decameron was written by Giovanni Boccaccio during the 14th century CE (Nystrom 80), spread across Europe from central Asia such as Florence. The disease, among other infectious diseases, became a generic world plague that was a very harmful during the Middle Ages. The diseases spread across places such China, Florence, and Persian old empire and also it was well-known disease that was associated with the Mongol empire and suffered a terrible death toll during the spread of the plague (Strayer 324). Based on history, not less than millions people of Europeans died. It killed about 60 percent of the Florence population in a few months. The plague devastated nations and caused populations …show more content…
The church lost a lot of people, and its political and social power was greatly weakened, but the church became richer through acts of giving. Less educated priests, kings, and queens were given the roles to perform sacraments. The kings and priests who were more educated died from the plague, or ran away to different countries, so there were fewer kings and queens to take care of the land of Florence, as most of them were even afraid because they thought they would also die from the plague. Churches at that time became extremely busy, trying to donate to people who were affected by the plague. Unfortunately, they were not able to reach all of the victims due to being so busy with others. The church had no reason why this disease was affecting people, but they were more concerned about what brought this disease. It led many people to turn to other religions and beliefs, such as Flagellants. Flagellants were people who believed that causing harm to themselves would prevent the Black Death from spreading to them. Unfortunately, this radical practice to prevent the disease didn’t work. Overall, the church’s power was greatly weakened due to the plague. The church became unstable due to the causalities that the Black Death had brought. Because so many popes and high-ranking people died, the peasants who were lower-ranking in …show more content…
This focused primarily on the impacts that the plague had on the Church and the Jewish people of Europe. Throughout the years of the Bubonic Plague, the Church held a decisive position. Much of the scientific knowledge for healing during the medieval era came from Church theology and spirituality. This meant that those who served the church, priests and other kings, were in high demand for healing. Laws were passed to the members of the church to receive higher percentages of noble lands and estates, which would act as a financial shield from the plague (Zapotocsny 1-2). While the Church would be severely impacted by the effects of the Black Death upon Florence, another religious group would find greater reason for concern. During the centuries of confusion and devastation that the Black Death enacted, some of the people were needed to help explain such desolation. Jews in medieval Europe were already subjected to heavy suppression, confined to the limits of their ghettos. Rabbinical law would prove a saving grace to the population, however, as it necessitated a high standard of living in Florence and was thorough in hygiene and sanitation. This provided immunity to many Jewish