The Black Death first arrived in Europe in 1346, and it’s arrival was devastating. The Black death itself was a confluence of two plagues: the bubonic plague and the pneumonic plague. This killer combination killed around a third of Europe’s population; this death rate was due to the fact that Europeans did not have immunity to it. Overall these terrible plagues were incredibly devastating to Europe, but what were the effects that the black death had on Europe?
A lot of things happened in Europe due to the black death. Most people reacted to it in either two ways: the first was by indulging in earthly pleasures, and the second was by doing extreme penance for their sins. Both are pretty extreme reactions. People started getting married more and having more children after 1350, to most likely make up for all the lives that perished.
Peasants and serfs basically left the land and any feudal obligations they had. This left a labor shortage, which caused wages to rise greatly, which caused the landowners demand wage stability to the government. The government fixed prices of goods, taxes were enforced, and serfs were forced back to their lord’s land. It was basically a mess of chaos; finally in England people had enough and a peasant revolt got started. The reasons for the revolt were many but a few of them were due to government corruption and mismanagement. The king of England put down this revolt and arrested hundreds of people, and executed over a hundred.
In conclusion, there were many effects in Europe due to the black death. People behaved in extreme ways, and overall things were pretty chaotic and unstable due to the mass number of deaths. Overall the effects of this plague were very negative to Europe.
The Dreamer 