DBQ - The Effect of the Black Death on European Society

Question: What do primary sources during and after the plague suggest about the direct effect of the Black Death on European society?

The Black Plague caused the result of twenty-five million people dead and the rest of the society trying to rebuild Europe. The Black Death brought about numerous effects on European society which would change the face of Europe. Rules in society had to be redefined and lives had to be changes due to peasant rebellions, loss of jobs, political and social upheavals, and hatred of the Jews.

The first source is "The Ordinance of Labors" from 1349. The text is taken from a document written in 1915. It is describing the king's attempt to fix wages and put a control on prices "to laborers at their pre-plague levels." The writing says that "..many seeing the necessity of masters, and great scarcity of servants, will not serve unless they may receive excessive wages ." One of the results of the Black Death was the shortage of labor and pay for society, and this document explains how the king was trying to improve labor and payment.

The second primary source suggests that "the period following the Black Death saw a number of political and social upheavals, caused by the disease itself, as well as wars and other insecurities." This means that the disease, along with other wars and insecurities, caused tension and turmoil in Europe. A common name for a peasant was a "Jacques", and in 1358, the Jacquerie took place, a peasant rebellion. The text is taken from The Chronicles of Froissart , and written by chronicler Jean Froissart.

Three different selections are a part of the third primary source. The "Confession of Agimet of Geneva, Châtel, October 20, 1348" begins by explaining that people of both sexes were imprisoned separately because they are thought to be guilty. It was thought that the people brought about the plague in the wells, springs, and other things that the Christians used. The second selection suggests that the death was greater among the Saracens than the Christians. It also put the blame on the Jews. "In the matter of this plague the Jews throughout the world were reviled and accused in all lands." It was believed that the Jews put poison in the water and the wells. Because of this, the Jews were burnt all the way from the Mediterranean to Germany. This source included text originally from Jacob Marcus's "The Jew in the Medieval World: A Sourcebook, 315-

1791."

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/seth/ordinance-labourers.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/froissart2.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1348-jewsblackdeath.html