The Black Death is the name given to the epidemic of plague that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351. So much death could not help but tear apart economic and social structures and it did - the disaster affected all aspects of life. Depopulation created a shortage of labor that hastened changes already creeping into the rural economy; the substitution of wages for labor services was accelerated, and social stratification became less rigid. Lack of peasants and laborers sent wages soaring, while the value of land plummeted. For the first time in history the scales tipped against wealthy landlords as peasants and serfs gained more bargaining power. Without architects, masons, and artisans, great cathedrals and castles remained unfinished. Governments, lacking officials, floundered in their attempts to create order out of chaos. Tension and conflict within church and society, as well as between states, brought about constant unrest and disorder. The plague caused many peasants to demand a restructuring of society, often with a religious fervor. A more democratic system was demanded thereby limiting aristocratic rights and privileges.

England was at war with France by now, as the Hundred Years War erupted in 1337. Englishmen were unhappy that the popes were closely associated with their country’s enemy. In Germany, the popes gave offense by their intervention in the affairs of the Holy Roman Empire. Such intervention was nothing new, but now it helped to bring about a virtual declaration of German independence. In 1356, the Golden Bull, which made into law the system of choosing the emperor by a college of seven electors, made no reference to papal approval in the electoral process. By thus ignoring the popes, who had always claimed that no man was emperor without their approval, the German princes served notice that henceforth they intended to conduct their political affairs without papal sanction. The face of Europe was indeed changing.

However, the Italian and Northern Renaissance would damn all of this as the "media aetis," a Dark Age. Europe was about to become refreshed and the awakening of the European mind was real and continual. Just as men’s minds would be, so the religious institution was to also be reborn. The Renaissance was a period of transition, beginning the modern age in Europe. During this period, great changes in the economy, society, politics and culture would take shape, ultimately leading up to the modern age. At the end of the Hundred Years War, economic activity renewed across the region. The cities and towns of Italy and Northwestern Europe became linked through land and sea trade. Eventually, a rise in population brought about changes to the social system previously developed. There were also considerable changes in European thought and culture as the invention of movable type printing transformed books, communication, and most importantly thought. Artists developed techniques of painting in three dimensions, and architects created ways to make buildings more spacious and larger. Most importantly, during the upcoming Renaissance, a greater importance was placed on the individual. Individuals and humanity in general needed to understand the world and to make it serve the needs of humanity. The time of the plague fell into the Renaissance, a transitional period, from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age and the plague by eliminating so much of humanity, allowed for a different type of thought. The plague indeed created enormous changes but was just one of the catalysts to the new thinking.

When hopes for a better life were brusquely dismissed, or savagely repressed by the nobility, many commoners rose in rebellion. The French Jacquerie of 1358, the Eng

Some topics in this essay:
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