Impact Of Black Death On Society

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KENNETH T. WRIGHT World Civilizations I HIS 103 Impact of the Black Death Stuart Collins 21 November 2011 Impact of the Black Death Black Death is often fatal without prompt and appropriate treatment. It affects mainly poor and remote populations. Late diagnosis is one of the major causes of human death and spread of the disease, since it limits the effectiveness of control measures. The bacterial agent for the disease is Yersinia Pestis. It is considered to have permanent reservoirs in central Asia, Siberia, the Yunan region of China, and areas of Iran, Libya, the Arabian Peninsula, and East Africa. Rodents was infected with Yersinia pesti, producing blood poisoning.Fleas feed on dying rodent and carry the toxic to unexpected victims.…show more content…
At the time no technology existed to deal with the disease. The disease actually hit England six times by the end of the century. ”The Black Death had a huge impact on society. Fields went unploughed as the men who usually did this were victims of the disease. Harvests would not have been brought in as the manpower did not exist. Animals would have been lost as the people in a village would not have been around to tend them” (cited in webmaster 2011). “Following the plague we find a clear sense of society turned upside down in England. The rulers of the kingdom reacted strongly. Some elements of legislation indicate a measure of panic. Within a year of the onset of plague, during 1349, an Ordinance of Labourers was issued and this became the Statute of Labourers in 1351. This law sought to prevent labourers from obtaining higher wages. Despite the shortage in the workforce caused by the plague, workers were ordered to take wages at the levels achieved pre-plague. Landlords gained in the short term from payments on the deaths of their tenants (heriots), but 'rents dwindled, land fell waste for want of tenants who used to cultivate it' (Higden) and '...many villages and hamlets were deserted...and never inhabited again'. Consequently, landed incomes fell. The bulging piles of manorial accounts which survive for the period of the Black Death testify to the active land-market and the additional administration caused by the onset of plague. But all too often the administration consists of noting defaults of rent because of plague” (cited in webmaster
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