Did the Black Death pave the way for the reformation? The Black Death, or ‘Great Plague’ of 1347-52 must be considered as one of the deadliest pandemics to ever have struck Europe, and certainly one of the greatest tragedies to strike in the medieval era. The three strains of plague: bubonic; septicaemic; and pneumonic, were spread by fleas carried by rats, and could kill their victim in as quickly as one day. The Black Death is said to be responsible for the decimation of up to two-thirds of the European population at the time, which proved to have catastrophic effects upon all spheres of society and economy, ultimately resulting in the crumbling of society altogether for the most part. In terms of the reformation, amongst the most crucial consequences of the Black Death lay the changes within religion and social stance of the general populace, peasants in particular.
Peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350, and thought to have originated in China, the disease was transported by oriental fleas travelling on the backs of rats in certain travelling merchant ships and with the Mongolian armies, both travelling west. It is estimated to have killed around 30% to 60% of the population of Europe. The plague gradually travelled through Italy and France before arriving in south western England in the summer of 1348 - Bristol being one of the first cities to suffer it’s effects, as rumours of a ‘pestilence sweeping through Europe’ (Henry Knighton 1348) spread throughout the towns of England - but unfortunately it did not prepare them for the magnitude of what was coming their way. It spread through Bristol quickly, the cramped and dirty living conditions contributing to the plagues devastating effects. Contemporaries wrote in horror of
After his first sermon Rambert was so disturbed by the priest’s words that he tried to escape the town. Shortly after Father Paneloux’s sermon, Young Jacques Othon suffers slowly in front of Father Paneloux and while the boy was screaming and dieing slowly, He cried out “My god spare this child!” This had a large effect on the way Father Paneloux looked at the plague. Father Paneloux’s second sermon had a different domineer; he supplied comfort to the community instead of scaring them off. "It gives us a glimpse of that radiant eternal light which glows, a small still flame, in the dark core of human suffering. And this light, too, illuminates the shadowed paths that lead toward deliverance.
The renaissance humanism movement brought about by a vernacular literature adopted by Giovanni Boccaccio which helped paint a picture of what life was like in Europe during the Black Death. “This famous description of the Black Death appears in The Decameron, written by the Florentine humanist Giovanni Boccaccio, who goes on to describe the course of the rapidly fatal disease and also the speed with which the dead were buried. Boccaccio's descriptions of the pandemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe in the mid-fourteenth century highlight not only the horrors of the disease but also the inability of anyone, regardless of status, to escape it.”(Metmusem, 2013) Many suffered and art was not changed immediately it was more of a gradual change. Due to the excessive loss of life the labor force in Europe was greatly diminished this brought about higher wages for the existing workers and better rates. But the great constructions of the past were not possible with
It made its way west across Asia to the Black Sea by 1347. The plague appeared to have travelled by trade ships, along with refugees and trading goods. When the Black Death reached the shores of Europe in 1348, it almost instantly unleashed a rampage of death. Bates, C., Salkeld, L. (2011) described “The Black Death is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by bacteria carried by fleas that lived on black rats.” (p.1). The Back death is recorded as the worst diseases in history.
Beginning is the late 1340’s; nothing was more destructive to the social and economic structure of Europe than the Black Plague. Also referred to by its more scientific name of Bubonic Plague, it was the most prevalent of three main types of plague which also included pneumonic and septicemic. The plague is thought to have begun in central Asia and spread along the Silk Road into Europe. The most common belief is that fleas who had bitten infected rats and then bit humans were the cause of the spread. Symptoms of this plague included but were not limited to sub epidermal hemorrhages, swollen lymph nodes, and gangrene.
In West Africa, Buruli ulcer was an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium ulcerous. The disease is named after Buruli, a region near the Nile River in Uganda; where it has emerged in several West African countries. People thought that the disease was a curse because they could not find any other explanation for it. A native from Buruli stated, “Witches are known mainly for spreading mysterious diseases in Ghanaian societies, like tuberculosis, Buruli, and leprosy” (Yikje et al.
For example in the 12th century, there were a lot of Christians who believed that the Jews possessed magical powers and had gained the magic powers from making a pact with the devil. Judensau images began to appear in Germany. Also in the Middle Ages as the Black Death swept across Europe in the 14th century, eating up half of the population, Jews often became the scapegoats. Rumours also spread that they had caused the Black Death by poisoning wells. This caused hundreds of Jewish communities to be destroyed by hatred and violence.
Wiesel starts to blame God for the misdoing he has posed on him especially since he was a devout worshiper. This soon turns into Elie completely rejecting God and doubting his entire existence. For most of us, at first glance, this seems extremely harsh and irrational but I too would feel this way. Wiesel put his heart and soul into the loving of God and he felt as if he was betrayed. “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.” In the book, many literary terms are used to depict the silence portrayed through many characters.
Anger: It is common for persons experiencing loss to feel angry and feel the need to blame themselves or others for their situation. It is not uncommon to feel that God is punishing you. Norman is getting angry about how his life after the war is like. He constantly neglects his problem and says, “If Sally had not been married, or if his father