That is how the victims of the Black Death felt. The Black Death had many different effects on the people of the Middle Ages. To understand the severity of this tragic epidemic you must realize a few things about the plague. You should know what the Black Death is, the cause of the plague, the symptoms, the different effects it had on the people, and the preventions and cures for the plague.

The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague or the Bubonic Plague, which struck in 1349, and again in 1361-62, ravaged all of Europe to the extent of bringing gruesome death to many people of the Middle Ages. The Black Death struck in 1349, and again in 1361-62, but was restricted just to Europe (Rowse 29).

It was a combination of bubonic, septicaemic, and pneumonic plague strains (Gottfried xiii) that started in the east and worked its way west, but never left its native home. One of the things that made the plague one of the worst was that there were outbreaks almost every

There was another cause that some people strongly believed brought the disease into their world. Doctors at the University of Paris claimed that on March 20, 1345, at one o'clock in the afternoon, a conjunction of three higher planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars caused a corruption of the surrounding air, which made the air become poisonous or toxic (Gottfried 110). This is a highly unlikely theory unless you are coming from a basis of Astrology.

Since people were dying left and right, it should be expected that there would be a decrease in available labor. So now there are half as many peasants to do the work, and the same amount of fields. This amounted to too much work to do, and little peasants to do the work (Hartman 235). This would obviously not work out. Everything was being ruined, overrun, or neglected because of this sudden, but expected shortage of workers (Hartman 235).

Many people sat around and faced the fact that they would eventually be taken in by the plague, and some tried to do something about it, religiously. Many people, religious or not, tried to take refuge in Godly practices. Some tried easing their conscience through "exaggerated penances" (Strayer and Munro 463), or others doubled their devotions and encouraged revivals (Strayer and Munro). Varied people "filled their hearts with unbearable anguish about the Sorrows of Mary and the sufferings of Christ," yet these same people filled with anguish flocked to executions and tore each other apart in their frequent civil wars (Strayer and Munro 463). Almost all people thought they would live through the plague if they gave into the surge of religious hysteria.

Although all the people suffered, the peasants suffered the most. This is because they lived in such unsanitary conditions and had the least care. In many places whole villages of peasants were wiped out completely (Hartman 235), and in less than one month.

The peasants saw this happening and they knew they could receive something good out of this. The laborers also saw that they were on demand, and so they demanded higher wages (Hartman 235). Now that wages rose, prices rose along with it (Hoyt and Chodorow 635). The mortality rate of the region not only produced a labor shortage, but a sudden increase in the income per capita (Hoyt and Chodorow 635). When the plague had ended, half of the workers on the estates of the nobles in England disappeared (Hartman 235).

Some topics in this essay:
Black Death, Strayer Munro, Hoyt Chodorow, Middle Ages, Jupiter Mars, Europe Rowse, Mediterranean Sea, , black death, Mediterranean Norwich, strayer munro, Sorrows Mary, strayer munro 462, munro 462, gottfried xiii, middle ages, hartman 235, munro 463, rowse 29, hoyt chodorow, strayer munro 463, people middle ages, durant 1002, black death effects, black death black,