The Black Death

In these days, medicine was in its infancy. Surgeons were more often than not barbers; doctors routinely used leeches to "bleed the bad humours (sic) from the body" to treat just about every illness. The concepts of quarantine and hygiene were unknown. People lived in densely packed quarters, sometimes three generations of the same family living in the same house. In the cities, raw sewage was dumped in the streets. The conditions were ripe for contagion, but the periodic outbreaks of typhus and smallpox paled in significance with the Black Death.

By the time the epidemic had burned itself out (though there were to be periodic outbreaks all over Europe even as late at the 19th century), so many people had died that it became impossible for the landowners to work their lands. The concept of feudalism, though it would linger for another 100 years, was destroyed by the plague. Being so few in number, workers were at a premium, and wages rose. The stirrings of reform in England, which would come to a head in the reign of Richard II during the Peasant's Revolt, began in the aftermath of the Black Death.

The faith of Europe had been shaken to its foundations, and in the following decades, religious and social reform were the inevitable result. It is for this reason, that the historical view of the latter half of the 14th century is usually considered to be one of unrest and social crises. The changes between the two halves of that century are enormous; they include the introduction of gunpowder, the increased importance of cities, economic and demographic crises, political dislocation and realignment, and powerful new currents in culture and religion. Though in itself, the Black Death did not cause all the changes, the plague exacerbated old problems, and added new ones.

Next week: Wykliffe and Lollardry

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