How Did The Black Death Affect Europe

Have you ever heard of the Black Death? A lot people are familiar with the horrible plague that spread across Europe from early 1348 to late 1349. However, most do not know just how big of an effect it had on the nation of Europe. Over time, the disease caused famine, mass death in highly populated areas, and even led to rebellion and uprising from poor people, or “peasants”. The disease ravaged the continent of Europe for around two years, yet it left tens of thousands of casualties in its wake. The first effect that the Black Death had on Europe is that it led to a great famine. The article “Black Death” sates, “But there were many bad years before the Black Death when too much rain and cool weather ruined the crops, and several diseases
The article “Black Death and Sin” states, “In Western Europe, common folks were more inclined to rebellion. With labor in short supply they were aware of their added value as producers and eager to improve their situation. In response to rising wages, authorities started to fix wages at a low level – the opposite of a minimum wage. Hostility toward employers and authorities increased. Peasants and other workers tried to dodge these impositions. Peasants called for a reduction in service obligations. In cities, workers rose against the wealthy merchants who had been running city hall. Peasants and workers revolted in Spain, the Netherlands, southern Germany, Italy, and England.” This is saying that because of the disease, people were not happy. People such as laborers were in much higher demand, so many started to say that they needed to be payed much more to support there families. In response, the authorities in many European countries set something similar to a maximum wage; a pay limit that no workers of any calibur can be payed more than. As you can imagine, this led to many revolts by workers saying that this was unfair treatment. They started to say that if they were getting payed less, then they were going to work less, too. This meant that things were not getting done, which made people even more upset. Then the people who were not doing anything were saying, “if they payed us more, we would do it!” This lead to many people attacking the authorities and business owners, blaming them for things not hetting done. This issue went on for years after the Death, and caused many of the nations such as the Netherland’s economies to plumit. This was a very bad thing for the continent of Europe, which suffered for decades after the horrid