The Early and Central Middle Ages were times of relative stability and deep faith in the church. But the Late Middle Ages were quite different, as Europe was hit with multiple crises at the time, including the Black Death, the Great Schism, and the Hundred Years' War. It was these events that caused Europe to undergo such a drastic change and transition from the medieval period to the Renaissance. Western Civilization changed a great deal during the late Middle Ages due to the seemingly unstoppable Black Death, lack of support by the church, and devastating effects of the Hundred Years War. When the Black Death came to Europe, it drastically changed many aspects of civilization. Many parts of Europe had been heavily overpopulated, but famines and the bubonic plague lowered the population rate. This led to many landlords in England getting the highest revenues of the medieval period and an overall efficient balance between labor, land, and Capitol. The Plague also resulted in many guilds recruiting new members and high inflation. With scientific cures for the plague seeming to …show more content…
Though nuns, monks, and Friars dedicated their work to helping the poor, church leaders were more concerned with bureaucratic matters than spiritual one. With people's spiritual faith already severely weakened by the plague, the great schism further lowered people's faith in the church and caused many people to challenge the church's decisions. Conciliarists believed that church authority should lie in the lay people, clergy, and theologians instead of the Pope alone. John Wycliffe spread the idea that scripture alone should be the core of Christian practice and belief, not the church. This lead to the idea that an individual could obtain salvation without the influence of the church. These new ideas led to the Renaissance and the Reformation, due to their individualistic properties and questioning of the
Many labels were used to characterize the Middle Ages, however the best were The Dark Ages, The Age of Feudalism, and The Age of Faith. The Dark Ages accurately identifies the Middle Ages because of all the death, destruction, and plague throughout. The Middle Ages followed the decline of the Roman Empire, which causes very harsh times across Europe. Also this time period consists of the plague which virtually slaughters one-third of Europe.
Moreover, the Black Death caused a gastric drop in the economy. Workers died, prices rose, and lords pushed laws so peasants couldn't demand higher wages leading to many revolts and rebellions. Due to the death of so many people, there weren't enough people buying products so the prices rose tremendously. Since the plague started killing millions of workers, lords would try force the survivors to work. But, the surviving workers began to demand higher wages since there were higher prices in the sales market.
The Black Death then lead to high inflation and a shortage of workers, which lead to an economic collapse. The Black Death also lead to less faith in religion and a breakdown of the feudal system. The Black Death altered life completely during the Middle
In 1347, Europe had just been infected by the Black Death. This epidemic killed over 2/3 of Europe’s population and lasted for over five years. The pathogen that caused the Black Death was Yersinia Pestis which causes many forms of plague. The Plague originated in central and south Asia then traveled through trade routes like the Silk Road, all the way to Sicily The Black Death killed most of Europe’s population, thus ending Feudalism by having not enough serfs and workers to run fields and farms. The land owners started to offer more for their work and labor, making the lower class more wealthy, and providing more jobs.
During the late Middle Ages, specifically between 1300 and 1500, European society would change significantly and in a multitude of ways. Around 1300, Europe’s previous growth and prosperousness came to an abrupt stop, largely due to a streak of plagues and famines which included the Great Famine of 1315-1317, and also the Black Death which occurred between 1346 to 1353. Plagues and diseases weren't particularly out of the ordinary during this period- because of the rise of population density, and also the increase in transport and trade. However, the Black Death stands out as a major contributing factor of change in European society because of its severity and wide-spread impact. The Black Death or the 'Bubonic plague' moved swiftly throughout Europe and affected large numbers of people (though, it mostly affected those
The Dark Ages Imagine yourself in a dark building not knowing what’s around each corner. You make your way through this building facing disease, hunger, war, pressure, and being stuck on the bottom floor of the building. This is exactly how the middle ages were. During the middle ages citizens were forced into religion and faced the issues following feudalism, hunger, disease, and war.
During the late middles ages, many pivotal changes occurred throughout the years that created change throughout the European life and society. Events such as, Heresy and the Church, The Church in the Late Middle Ages, The Hundred Years’ War and The Black Death. During the late middle ages in Europe, life still was a struggle and many remained in poverty, but was in the midst of a transformation. Population had decreased because of the Black Death, but was slowly growing and this change led to an increase in land; this increase came with a price increase as well. A price increase many could not afford.
Economic and Social Consequences of the Black Death The Black Death was no modest disease it swept all over Europe during the dark ages , had immense and annihilating effects and is in fact one of the most disastrous and destructive pandemics in human history. It rapidly spread through Medieval Europe during 1347-1351 killing more than one third of the population. In the midst of Italy’s overpopulated cities 50 to 60 percent of the population died while villages were completely swept of their people in England and Germany (Spielvogel World History and Geography 248-249). The Black did not only bring the tragedy of killing millions but it also came with many consequences such as economic inflation and extreme social distinction ("Social and Economic Effects of the Plague").After the intense shock of the Black Death, Europe’s economically declined, its internal affair were instable and its social systems
Three things that affected these periods were the classical heritage of Rome, Christian beliefs, and Germanic customs (slot notes). The Middle Ages are best described as the Dark Ages, The Age of Feudalism, and the Age of Faith. These three ages best label the middle ages instead of the golden age, because the rise after a decline is more important than a golden age.
The Middle Ages were the era of Reformation. The Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Catholic counter-reformation were all major reform movements that brought about much needed change. However, these three movements strongly disagreed with each other. Why did they disagree? Because they had different perspectives concerning Christianity and the church’s authority.
Throughout history, Europe has faced many adversities such as plagues that immediately impacted the people. The Justinian plague, which lasted from 541-549 AD, and the Black Death, which affected Europe from 1347-1351, are two such plagues that affected the societies of Europe. These plagues brought death tolls that affected the economy and military strength of countries. As a result of the Justian Plague, almost a third of the Byzantine population was wiped out. While many believe that plagues only brought about destruction, the plagues that affected Europe during the Middle Ages didn't only negatively influence the nations but also caused the region to enter a new age of prosperity.
The Black Death brought a period of growth to an end, and killed roughly a third of Europe’s population in just a few years. While the plague was present, a series of destructive wars were tearing apart trade and economy. Europe was repeatedly experiencing hard times and the Plague was when they just couldn't handle anything else (concourse). As more and more people died, it became much harder to find people to work fields, harvest crops, and produce other goods and services. Peasants began to demand higher wages.
The later events in the middle ages greatly impacted the lives of the Europeans. These events were the Great Schism, the Great Famine and the Black Plague. The Great schism was when the France and Rome collaborated with their religious pope and court, but in result to that Avignon started to overpower them and they preceded to fight. The members of the church started to feel their steady religious environment become unbalanced leaving them baffled. The Great famine started when the lands started to become overworked and the weather started to get bad in 1315, which caused the incapability of growing crops through 1000-1400 C.E.
New ideas about religion, politics, and culture, swept across Europe in the sixteenth century. The cultural norm began changing in ways that have affected even modern day society. People began questioning powers, especially in church. A major part of the Reformation was the call to purify the church. Many important and notable people drove this cause, and they acted as reformers.
This strong disagreement among Catholics led them to reform the church. The Renaissance influenced people to believe that the church was no longer the