Bubonic Plague Dbq Analysis

The Plaque DBQ The Black Death also known as the Bubonic Plague and many other names, devastated European society by affecting its economy, social structure, government, and church in a series of outbreaks taking place years apart for over 300 years. When the Black Death began to surface for the first time people panicked and believed in supernatural reasons that had caused the plague but during the course of time different groups of people such as the state or government, the middle class, and the church either began to have a different attitude towards the plague like a rational or selfish point of view or they kept believing in supernatural beings that caused the plague. The Black Death first appeared in Europe in 1347 when 12 Genoese
The Black Death affected Europe dramatically. Economically, for traders and merchants the Black Death ceased all transactions between countries because people wanted to limit the Black Death from spreading so one of the best things to do was shut down all ships traveling from country to country including trading and merchant ships. Europe's economy began to collapse. Socially, the peasants suffered the most. Since peasants lived in such close quarters and were not very hygienic the Black Death hit them the hardest while the rich who were able to afford leaving the cities were hardly affected because they were separated from the infected population. This affected Europe greatly because there were less and less peasants and serfs to do work for the nobility and middle class. The remaining peasants began to demand an increase in pay and better rights since there were only a few of them that survived they took advantage. Eventually this led to peasant rebellions all over Europe. The Black Death also affected the Catholic Church. People at first thought the Black Death was a punishment for sinners from God. But soon people saw how not only sinners but also non-sinners, bishops, and monks were being affected by the
According to an Lisabetta Centenni, an Italian housewife, she had asked the church for help with her husband, which she believed had a malignant fever, and they sent a piece of bread said to have touched a saint and it cured her husband instantly (Doc 7). This Italian housewife was most likely very religious for her to ask the church for help. She probably had the belief that God had created the plague for sinners and when her husband had was believed to have the plague she asked the church for help. During those times people lost faith in the church but the church also gained money selling potion that supposedly cured the plague. Another example is a diary entry written by Nehemiah Wallington, an English Puritan, which stated that she had been meditating alone and thinking, what if the plague came to her home, who would she give up first of her family (Doc 8). Nehemiah, being a Puritan, was very religious and already believed in supernatural forces such as God even before the plague. Nehemiah most likely believed that the plagues was a punishment for sinners and was trying to decide who was the sinner in her home so that she would be left alone. She was biased because she was already religious and she was already believing in irrational and supernatural forces like