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History of Medieval England - Tuesday 6th Period: Lecture 10: The Black Death
So, one day in the 1340s, a rat jumped off a ship in Genoa harbor and started a plague.
Okay, it's not that simple.
Starting about the year 1000, Europe as a whole had been undergoing a warming trend, which made lands farther north viable for farming and increased the growing period of lands further south. This lead to increased prosperity and surplus -- which allowed more people to give themselves over to luxuries such as art, science and literature. It also meant that the shores of Europe were no longer being invaded by Germanic and Scandinavian peoples, so the military class was left with little to do. Luckily, the military class's excess energy could be siphoned off easily, first by sending them on Crusade and later by fighting between countries and within countries.
Trade had become very important, now that each hand was not needed for the sole purpose of growing food. People moved into cities whose numbers blossomed. There was far more interchange of people and ideas between different cities, different countries, and even different continents.
However. Starting about 1300, the warming trend reversed. Growing seasons grew shorter, surpluses disappeared, and people died of hunger. The ones who survived were weakened -- and so were their immune systems.
THEN, in 1346, a rat jumped off a ship, etc, etc. The ship had come from China, which had been devastated by the plague. Let loose into a new population that had no resistance to it, it went like wildfire.
England was somewhat protected by virtue of their island land. However, much of England's wealth was founded on trade, particularly in woolen cloth, so the Plague eventually reached them. Those who could flee cities did so -- although they often carried the Plague with them wherever they went.
When it was over, the balance of power had shifted. Most of the dead were city dwellers and peasants on the land -- the people who were the basis of England's wealth. Correspondingly, labor became the scarce commodity. A peasant who survived, a tradesman who knew the ins and outs of the ports and ships, a craftsman who was the only left of his guild could demand more value for their labor. Demand better working conditions. Demand a greater voice in the laws of the land.
It was, quite simply, the beginning of the end of the Middle Ages for England. However, it would take another one hundred and forty years for the political reality to catch up.
OOC:Wait ye for OCD threads. Go ahead.
Okay, it's not that simple.
Starting about the year 1000, Europe as a whole had been undergoing a warming trend, which made lands farther north viable for farming and increased the growing period of lands further south. This lead to increased prosperity and surplus -- which allowed more people to give themselves over to luxuries such as art, science and literature. It also meant that the shores of Europe were no longer being invaded by Germanic and Scandinavian peoples, so the military class was left with little to do. Luckily, the military class's excess energy could be siphoned off easily, first by sending them on Crusade and later by fighting between countries and within countries.
Trade had become very important, now that each hand was not needed for the sole purpose of growing food. People moved into cities whose numbers blossomed. There was far more interchange of people and ideas between different cities, different countries, and even different continents.
However. Starting about 1300, the warming trend reversed. Growing seasons grew shorter, surpluses disappeared, and people died of hunger. The ones who survived were weakened -- and so were their immune systems.
THEN, in 1346, a rat jumped off a ship, etc, etc. The ship had come from China, which had been devastated by the plague. Let loose into a new population that had no resistance to it, it went like wildfire.
England was somewhat protected by virtue of their island land. However, much of England's wealth was founded on trade, particularly in woolen cloth, so the Plague eventually reached them. Those who could flee cities did so -- although they often carried the Plague with them wherever they went.
When it was over, the balance of power had shifted. Most of the dead were city dwellers and peasants on the land -- the people who were the basis of England's wealth. Correspondingly, labor became the scarce commodity. A peasant who survived, a tradesman who knew the ins and outs of the ports and ships, a craftsman who was the only left of his guild could demand more value for their labor. Demand better working conditions. Demand a greater voice in the laws of the land.
It was, quite simply, the beginning of the end of the Middle Ages for England. However, it would take another one hundred and forty years for the political reality to catch up.
OOC:
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10
Re: TALKING IN CLASS: Medieval England Lecture 10