Why is it so important to understand the Black Death if one is to really understand the culture of the Middle Ages?
In order to fully understand the Middle Ages, a researcher must know about everything that affected the culture in that time period. The Black Death was a horrible disease transmitted by a bug that could easily kill a man in the time era that it was present in. Many different events and even sicknesses played a big role in the culture and way of living in the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages was a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era (Wikipedia, Middle Ages). It is very important to have full knowledge of the Black Death in order to completely understand the culture of the Middle Ages because the Black Death affected the ways of living, such as artwork, religion, and life itself, in so many different ways that it almost entirely changed the culture in this time period. Some say that this topic is not the most important event that helps to understand the era of the Middle Ages. Many believe that people do not have to know about the Black Death in order to research and have knowledge of the Middle Ages.
The Black Death causes changes in the life of artists and people in the world of artwork because that was all they focused around. "Much of the most useful manifestations of the Black Death in literature, to historians, comes from the accounts of its chroniclers. Some of these chroniclers were famous writers, philosophers and rulers such as Boccaccio and Petrarch" (Wikipedia, Black Death). It made the works of art made by the artists change because it put a different perspective into the eyes of the artists. It gave them more violent and brutal images to depict. It almost became a more gruesome stage of artwork. The Black Death changed the ways a artists worked and if you did not understand that while researching the Middle Ages, you would not understand that era of time.
Believe it or not, the Church and the Christian life were highly affected by the reign of the Black Death. “It lost prestige, spiritual authority, and leadership over the people. How? The church promised cures, treatment, and an explanation for the plague” (Insecta). The Church was highly affected because they promised to have God cure the Black Death. When the Black Death was not cured, people became furious with the Church and God because they were dying from something they believed was going to be gotten rid of. People were so upset that they started riots around the churches, destroyed properties of Christians, and even killed some of the priests that told them to pray the God. The Black Death caused a craze in the lives of Christians and churches in Europe during the Middle Ages.
When the Black Death started to overtake the European countries, many people were becoming terribly weak and dying a lot more than before the disease. “The Black Death killed off a massive portion of Europe's population. The plague is more effective when it attacks weakened people and Europe at the time was already weakened by exhaustion of the soil due to poor farming, the introduction of more sheep which reduced the land available for corn, and persistent Scottish invasions.” (Insecta). People’s lives were changed forever due to this sickness. Many lost a lot of loved ones in the fight against the Black Death. The economy was affected also. The economy dropped and caused many people to lose their jobs and have even more problems. Ever since the Black Death came along, people’s lives seemed to become worse.
In order to fully understand the era of the Middle Ages, researchers must comprehend the Black Death. It changed society and life in several ways. It changed the way religion was, the way art changed, and the way people lived. The Middle Ages were greatly affected by the Black Death.
Sources:
Wikipedia, Black Death http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_death
Wikiepdia, Middle Ages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages
Effects on Church, Insecta- inspecta http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/fleas/bdeath/Church.html
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