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An epidemic of the '''bubonic plague''' commonly called '''The Plague''' or the '''Black Death''' killed millions in Europe and many parts of Asia between 1347 and 1352. The plague was spread and transmitted by rats and other rodents, who [[Carrier|carried]] infected fleas in their fur.
An epidemic of the '''bubonic plague''' commonly called '''The Plague''' or the '''Black Death''' killed millions in Europe and many parts of Asia between 1347 and 1352. The plague was spread and transmitted by rats and other rodents, who [[Carrier|carried]] infected fleas in their fur.
The devastation of the serfs, who made up the vast majority of the population, also strengthened their socio-economic position. The scarcity of labour meant that, through proto-strikes, they could bargain with land-owners to improve their conditions of life. This led to the beginning of the end of [[feudalism]] in [[Europe]], as it weakened the force behind the success of the manors. The plague also created a demand for more centralized government that could respond effectively to disease.
The devastation of the serfs, who made up the vast majority of the population, also strengthened their socio-economic position. The scarcity of labour meant that, through proto-strikes, they could bargain with land-owners to improve their conditions of life. This led to the beginning of the end of [[feudalism]] in [[Europe]], as it weakened the force behind the success of the manors. The plague also created a demand for more centralized government that could respond effectively to disease.
The Black Death spurred monarchies and city-states across much of Western Europe to formulate new wage and price legislation. These legislative acts splintered in a multitude of directions that to date defy any obvious patterns of economic or political rationality. A comparison of labor laws in England, France, Provence, Aragon, Castile, the Low Countries, and the city-states of Italy shows that these laws did not flow logically from new post-plague demographics and economics - the realities of the supply and demand for labor. Instead, the new municipal and royal efforts to control labor and artisans' prices emerged from fears of the greed and supposed new powers of subaltern classes and are better understood in the contexts of anxiety that sprung forth from the Black Death's new horrors of mass mortality and destruction, resulting in social behavior such as the flagellant movement and the persecution of Jews, Catalans, and beggars.<ref> Samuel Cohn, "After the Black Death: Labour Legislation and Attitudes Towards Labour in Late-Medieval Western Europe," ''Economic History Review'' 2007 60(3): 457-485, </ref>
The Black Death spurred monarchies and city-states across much of Western Europe to formulate new wage and price legislation. These legislative acts splintered in a multitude of directions that to date defy any obvious patterns of economic or political rationality. A comparison of labor laws in England, France, Provence, Aragon, Castile, the Low Countries, and the city-states of Italy shows that these laws did not flow logically from new post-plague demographics and economics - the realities of the supply and demand for labor. Instead, the new municipal and royal efforts to control labor and artisans' prices emerged from fears of the greed and supposed new powers of subaltern classes and are better understood in the contexts of anxiety that sprung forth from the Black Death's new horrors of mass mortality and destruction.<ref> Samuel Cohn, "After the Black Death: Labour Legislation and Attitudes Towards Labour in Late-Medieval Western Europe," ''Economic History Review'' 2007 60(3): 457-485, </ref>
==Popular response==
==Popular response==
Anxiety levels were very high--death was at hand for everyone. One result was social behavior such as the flagellant movement and the persecution of Jews, Catalans, and beggars. In some regions such as Alsace the Jews were blamed and were driven from the main cities.
Artists often depicted the mass trauma using three popular cultural representations that surfaced in performance, poetry, and painting: the Triumph of Death, the Dance of the Dead, and Death and the Maiden.
Artists often depicted the mass trauma using three popular cultural representations that surfaced in performance, poetry, and painting: the Triumph of Death, the Dance of the Dead, and Death and the Maiden.
The story and image of St. Sebastian became popular; the arrows with which he was pierced represented the plague, but he survived the deadly assault and became a protector against the plague.
The Plague was commonly interpreted by popular religiosity as a divine punishment despite some efforts to treat the disease medically. The theological interpretation viewed premature death by the plague as either God's rescue of His own from unmitigated evil or as punishment for the victim's sins. Other interpretations blamed the plague on evil lifestyles or, in the case of Bavarian physician, humanist, and astrologer Joseph Grünpeck (d. 1532), on unfavorable juxtapositions of the heavenly bodies. Piety, contrition, and repentance were recommended as therapies, along with intercessory prayer by the saints and sometimes even exorcisms and magic. Natural remedies included treatment with garden herbs. Intended for both physicians and literate society at large, the treatises indicate a close relationship between practical piety and natural-empirical treatment - something Dutch historian [[Johan Huizinga]] called "the almost irreconcilable contradictions" of late medieval religious life.
The Plague was commonly interpreted by popular religiosity as a divine punishment despite some efforts to treat the disease medically. The theological interpretation viewed premature death by the plague as either God's rescue of His own from unmitigated evil or as punishment for the victim's sins. Other interpretations blamed the plague on evil lifestyles or, in the case of Bavarian physician, humanist, and astrologer Joseph Grünpeck (d. 1532), on unfavorable juxtapositions of the heavenly bodies. Piety, contrition, and repentance were recommended as therapies, along with intercessory prayer by the saints and sometimes even exorcisms and magic. Natural remedies included treatment with garden herbs. Intended for both physicians and literate society at large, the treatises indicate a close relationship between practical piety and natural-empirical treatment - something Dutch historian [[Johan Huizinga]] called "the almost irreconcilable contradictions" of late medieval religious life.
<ref>http://wcbstv.com/national/topstories_story_142072816.html</ref>
<ref>http://wcbstv.com/national/topstories_story_142072816.html</ref>
==Further reading==
==Further reading==
{{Middle Ages}}
* Cantor, Norman. ''In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Plague-Black-Death-World/dp/0060014342/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240217033&sr=1-3 excerpt and text search]
* Cantor, Norman. ''In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made'' (2002) [http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Plague-Black-Death-World/dp/0060014342/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240217033&sr=1-3 excerpt and text search]
* Cohn, Samuel. "The Black Death: End of a Paradigm", ''American Historical Review'' 2002 107(3)
* Cohn, Samuel. "The Black Death: End of a Paradigm", ''American Historical Review'' 2002 107(3)