Black Death Source Analysis

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The lives of ordinary people improved as a result of the Black Death The interpretation argues that the period saw social development beneficial for the peasantry. Source 7 notes newly available opportunities for women in work, linking the change to effects on the population. Challenging this aspect are sources 3 and 6, in which the negative impact on the ‘ordinary’ people is revealed. Another claim of the interpretation is that any change was down to the Black Death. Source 1, written in 1336, presents a pre-plague insight on social turbulence; however, sources 2, 4 and 5 see change relating to the aftermath of infection. In light of the context offered by the sources, the problems with the interpretation can be amended to reflect the issues…show more content…
In this sense, it differs from the extract in source 5, authored by French writer Froissart. Source 5 describes the conditions under which serfdom existed, shedding light on the ‘unhappy people…[beginning] to stir’ in their struggle for freedom. Matters of provenance dictate the weight of the attitudes demonstrated by the sources; though both sources are from parties with motivation to report subjectively, the same frustration of the lower classes is evident, inadvertently in source 1 (the extract is more focused on the events themselves than the reasons behind the villeins’ complaints), but specifically is source 5. The product of this cross-reference is the realisation that, before the outbreak of the Black Death, ‘ordinary’ people were facing on-going oppression from the upper classes. In support of the interpretation, the stated improvement would only have been achieved if such a struggle existed in the first place. It is for this reason that the interpretation is correct to note the steps towards social mobility beneficial for the specified ‘ordinary…show more content…
In fact, pre-plague England was more politically and socially stable than it had been for a considerable length of time. With this in mind, the content of source 4 appears to support the interpretation’s claims that the Black Death was responsible for the sudden change to radical behaviour. The chronicler of the source speaks of the ‘selfish and lofty wishes of the workers,’ also acknowledging that those wanting to hire the workers ‘[would have to] give them what they desired.’ Authored by an individual of an ecclesiastical body, it is clear that the disapproval with which the matter is reported is due to the recognition of significant and harmful change. In turn, this supports the idea that the Black Death was a catalyst for the worst fears of the nobility and church figureheads. However, the long term effects of these demands saw the peasantry facing strict legislation to ensure that they couldn’t take advantage of their position, seen in the Ordinance of Labourers extract in source 3. Therefore, describing these changes as improvements is inaccurate when taking into account the complete effects on social
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