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The Bubonic Plague. The Black Death. Began in Asia and spreads to Europe in 1347. Background:. Genoese merchants arrived in Sicily with disease. Spreads along trade routes, sweeps through Italy, on to France, Germany, England and other parts of Europe. Unlike other epidemics:.
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The Black Death Began in Asia and spreads to Europe in 1347 • Background: Genoese merchants arrived in Sicily with disease Spreads along trade routes, sweeps through Italy, on to France, Germany, England and other parts of Europe. • Unlike other epidemics: It did not bring people together • Scapegoats: Jews: Medieval Holocaust Women, accused of witchcraft • took 4 years to hit all of Europe • Killed 1/3 of population or 25 million • 3/4 of people who got it, died
Impact of Plague • Economic: • towns population decline • trade declines • prices of goods increase • labor shortage • wages increase • farmlands abandoned
Social/Political Impact of Plague • Serfs leave manor for better wages, nobles oppose this • Peasant revolts • Pessimism: General sense of despair see how quickly life could end “Happy is he who had no children” “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die.”
Impact of Plague on Church • Loss of prestige when prayers fail • Some clergy refuse to have services for the dying *plague acted as a ______________to change forces that were already waning in the Middle Ages. catalyst *Medieval society was collapsing, its final death blow: 100 Years War