The Black Death was the event in European and world history caused by a terrible strain of the bubonic plague (Yersinia Pestis) that quickly spread across Europe in the mid-1300s. Smaller breakouts of the plague had happened before and after the 1300s, however, the Black Death of the mid-1300s was the most notable as over twenty million people were killed in a period spanning from 1347-1352 alone, or about one third of Europe’s population, and anywhere from fifty million to one hundred million Europeans were killed in the entire fourteenth century. The Black Death is considered the most devastating event in mankind’s history because it destroyed medieval Europe’s society, economy and religious institutions. The plague was spread quickly
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People did whatever they wanted and did not care at all. Some people prayed to God, which of course was not effective. In fact, some extremists walked around town to town whipping themselves. This group was known as Flagellants. “...Despite condemnation by the Catholic Church, the movement gained strength and reached its greatest popularity during the onslaught of the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. Wearing white robes, large groups of the sect (many numbering in the thousands) roamed the countryside dragging crosses while whipping themselves into a religious frenzy.” (The Flagellants Attempt to Repel the Black Death, 1349", EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com) The Flagellants do not have a central leader. They believed that they showed repent to God and they would be forgiven, because one of the popular beliefs of the time period was that the plague was some form of a punishment from a higher deity. In addition, people didn’t do their jobs, didn’t take care of children, and essentially didn’t fulfill any of their responsibilities. Would you? Since nobody was doing what they were supposed to in their society, everything stopped and fell apart. Imagine a big factory line, just stopping. Everyone leaves, machines stop. It would cripple. In the European society for the time, large cities were almost completely
People did whatever they wanted and did not care at all. Some people prayed to God, which of course was not effective. In fact, some extremists walked around town to town whipping themselves. This group was known as Flagellants. “...Despite condemnation by the Catholic Church, the movement gained strength and reached its greatest popularity during the onslaught of the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. Wearing white robes, large groups of the sect (many numbering in the thousands) roamed the countryside dragging crosses while whipping themselves into a religious frenzy.” (The Flagellants Attempt to Repel the Black Death, 1349", EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com) The Flagellants do not have a central leader. They believed that they showed repent to God and they would be forgiven, because one of the popular beliefs of the time period was that the plague was some form of a punishment from a higher deity. In addition, people didn’t do their jobs, didn’t take care of children, and essentially didn’t fulfill any of their responsibilities. Would you? Since nobody was doing what they were supposed to in their society, everything stopped and fell apart. Imagine a big factory line, just stopping. Everyone leaves, machines stop. It would cripple. In the European society for the time, large cities were almost completely