ROSALIND HOBBS

Rosalind Hobbs

The University of Tulsa

Media Inquiry

December 4, 2020

The Wrath of God: The Black Death and Society

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apocalypse (Bamberg Apocalypse), fol. 40v. Medieval Period: 11th - 12th Centuries.

Angels look down from heaven as they pour vials of the “Wrath of God,” pandemic, while men below look up in anguish, seeking to protect themselves, blaspheming and cursing their creator (Archive for Research on Archetypal Symbolism).

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              The Black Death, a global Bubonic Plague pandemic during the 1300s, is considered to be one of the most important pandemics in modern history not only because it’s high mortality rate but also because of its vast social implications. These characteristics makes The Black Death a standard for which researchers and historians judge pandemics and epidemics both preceding and succeeding it. This “Great Pestilence” that was The Black Death brought with it a riveting social, economic, religious, and cultural disruption that dismantled and unhinged the stability of 14thcentury European society.

 

              The reign of The Black Death was a global pandemic that terrorized Europe and Asia in the 1300s. Introduced into Europe in October 1347, a small fleet of infected ships, later called the “death ships,” docked from the Black Sea carrying both the dead and gravely ill and commenced the long, horrifying five years that would bring about more than 20 million deaths in Europe, almost a third of the population (History.com). Once the plague had arrived, it spread fast like fire met with combustibles, caught simply by conversing with the sick, even by “touching their clothes, or anything that they had before touched” (Boccaccio). Wielded with the gruesome weapons of infection, the Black Death brought about carnage that made death a lonesome and painful journey for the infected.

 

              For those ill, the bubonic plague was not a comfortable disease to undergo. As cataloged in the Rare Disease Database by the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), the Bubonic Plague, one of three subdivisions of Plague, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis. This bacterium, originally found in rodents, is a “zoonotic disease” that can be transmitted to humans. Symptoms of the Bubonic Plague include chills, fever, and enflamed lymph nodes, called buboes, all of which develops 2-6 days after exposure (NORD). While the Bubonic Plague does still exist today, the pandemic experienced in the 14th century is suspended in time as The Black Death. 

 

               During the 1300s, when untreated, these symptoms matured bitterly. Giovanni Boccaccio’s eyewitness account, Decameron on The Black Death in Florence (1348), describes the ugly ways in which the plague expressed itself in Europe in the 14th century as “tumors in the groin or under the arm-pits, some as big as a small apple, others as an egg; and afterwards purple spots in most parts of the body.” The grotesque nature of the symptoms was seen as nearly supernatural causing social turmoil.

The impact of The Black Death changed the 14th century European economy indefinitely. Producing and trading goods became very dangerous because of the contagion, causing an abrupt and extreme economic inflation (The Decameron Web). The demand for workers skyrocketed as many either died or were too afraid to work. This ignited the shifting of power as the poor gained leverage and the rich grasped to retain their control (Hutchinson 23). With a growingly limited working class, peasants became increasingly valuable and pushed to increase wages. In response, laws such as the Statute of Laborers (which was passed in England) was issued to force workers to take the same wages as they had before (Focus: Middle School World History). Revolt against these laws would yield steep punishment such as fines, imprisonment, and even potential branding on their foreheads.

 

              In addition to this redistribution of power, the nobility also suffered from within. Despite having less mortality than the poor, the nobility experienced a biological crisis as they attempted to appease their patterns of inheritance making it all the more difficult to produce heirs (Hutchinson 23). The consistency of noble family bloodlines was scarce creating a fragile upper class. This created more social mobility and made it much more accessible to climb the ranks of power (Benedictow 73). To fight against this fragility, the nobles began to place a renewed appreciation on rituals, ceremonies, and clothing that reminded both themselves and the opposing classes of the social division that demanded conformity.

 

              The Black Death not only had an impact within societies and their classes but externally between clashing states. The onset of the Bubonic Plague in Europe coincided with the Hundred Years War between England and France. Despite a de facto truce between 1347-1350, the peace did not last, and the resumption of the war brought about catastrophic collapse for the heavily pandemic-affected populations further compounding economic decline (Jedwab et. al, 12). Little could be done to secure any preservation.

 

              The Black Death stood out as unique against other pandemics in the sense that it had a considerably unusual demographic preference, this led to the concept of the plague being unnatural or supernatural. The Bubonic Plague, unlike other diseases that typically strike children and the elderly, had a distinct preference for men and women in the prime of life, magnifying the economic impact of The Black Death as it left orphans, widows, and destitute families in its wake (Snowden 29). In contrast to previously mentioned sources, Snowden, in Epidemics and Society: From The Black Death to The Present, describes pandemic as never showing a “predilection for the poor.” Despite the mortality rate being higher among the poor than the rich, The Black Death did indeed attack universally leaving none immune. This unmerciful nature created the sense that this plague marked the “final day of reckoning . . . the day of divine wrath and judgement” (Snowden 29). This, of course, instituted an atmosphere of panic and hysteria.

 

              As illustrated in “Bamberg Apocalypse” from the 11th-12th centuries, plague was considered to be laid upon mankind by the heavens, a divine retribution of sorts. This woke religious revivals obsessed with pleasing their angry god, looking for who to cast blame upon (Snowden 29). However, tragically juxtaposed against those burdened by this divine punishment was many who experienced an extreme religious untethering as their pleas for savior remained unanswered. Snowden describes this, not so much as atheism, but as a psychological shock that may even be considered, with historical hindsight and anachronism, as posttraumatic stress (32). Populations were left both in a state of fear, making them malleable towards faith, and angry towards their god, pulling them further from the church.

           

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              These spiritual conflictions paired with the extreme exposure to the reality of mortality fed the cultural change that would eventually lead into the emergence of the Renaissance. The suffering people began to experience an obsession with death that expressed itself in art and architecture in a tragic and pessimistic yet beautiful way (Herlihy 116). Many identifiable motifs can be trailed through various artwork of the 14th century. Once of which is the Dance of Death which is now considered an artistic genre that illustrates the unbiased nature of facing one’s end. Many artists sought solace in the idea that life is fleeting and took upon themselves a new carpe diem mantra (Pullan 123). The Black Death paved the way for an interesting new relationship between man, mortality, and faith that created the foundation for what would soon become the Renaissance. 

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            Whether divine punishment from God or simply the unfairness that is mother nature, pandemics and epidemics not only freeze societies in their tracks but also dismantle them with meticulous attention to economy, religion, and culture. The Black Death is no exception to these patterns, it is even one of the greatest instances for historical comparison. The Bubonic Plague ravaged through 14th century Europe with a relenting carelessness that left millions dead. The economics and socioeconomics of affected societies were entirely upheaved by The Black Death leaving the people viable for evolution and change in ways that would be reflected through their relationship with faith, art, and culture.  

            

Works Cited

Bamberg. Apocalypse. Medieval Period: 11th - 12th Centuries. Bamberg: Lib., Staatliche Bibliothek; Bibl. 140.

Benedictow, Ole L. The Black Death 1346-1353: the Complete History. Boydell, 2008. 

Boccaccio, Giovanni, et al. The Decameron. Norton, 1348. 

Focus: Middle School World History. CEE, 2011. 

History.com Editors. Black Death. History.com, A&E Television Networks, 17 Sept. 2010, www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death.

Herlihy, D., The Black Death and the Transformation of the West (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1997)

Hutchinson, Dale L. Disease and Discrimination: Poverty and Pestilence in Colonial Atlantic America. UNIV PR OF FLORIDA, 2019. 

Jedwab, Remi, et al. Economic Impact of the Black Death. “Institute for International Economic Policy Working Paper Series,” Aug. 2020. 

National Organization for Rare Disorders. “Plague.” NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders), 5 Sept. 2019, https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/plague/.

Pullan, Brian. A History of Early Renaissance Italy: from the Mid-Thirteenth to the Mid-Fifteenth Century. 1973. 

Snowden, Frank M. Epidemics and Society: from the Black Death to the Present. Yale University Press, 2020. 

The Decameron Web. “Social and Economic Effects of the Plague.” Decameron Web, Plague,

2010, www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/plague/effects/social.php.

Uffizi.org. 2014. Allegory Of Spring Or Primavera By Botticelli At Uffizi Gallery In Florence.