After the Black Death

Recurrence of the Plague(2nd Plague Pandemic)

Recurrence in Europe

From Biraben, Les hommes et la peste

Years Deaths in London from Plague

Years Deaths in London from Plague

From Biraben, Les hommes et la peste

Recurrence of the Plague(3nd Plague Pandemic)

The Plague in Modern Africa

From Simon Neerinckx et al, “Human plague occurrences in Africa: an overview from 1877 to 2008”

Plague in the United States

From Kiersten J. Kugeler et al., “Epidemiology of Human Plague in the United States, 1900–2012”

Global Plague, 2000-2009

From Thomas Butler, “Plague Gives Surprises in the First Decade of the 21st Century in the United States and Worldwide”

Scholarly Assessments of the Long-Term Impact of the Black Death

“The Black Death did not bring the Middle Ages to an end; it did not cause the decline of chivalry and feudalism; it did not hasten in the Renaissance; nor did it cause the rise of nationalistic spirit, humanism, science, the passion for exploration, realism in literature, national languages, or the democratization and secularization of society which we associate with the period that followed it. … It is simplistic to assign to any one event, no matter how momentous, the full responsibility for such change. … Yet so many of the attitudes of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance seem to have been formed at least partially by the plague.”-George Deaux (1969)

Changes in Medicine

• George Deaux (1969)– “Doctors and laymen alike were profoundly impressed by the failure

of the ancient theories to help prevent or cure the plague.”• Robert Gottfired (1983)

– New doctors, new ideas– Rise of surgery and anatomy– Growth of vernacular medicine– Growth of hospitals– Public health / sanitation

• Samuel Cohn, Jr. (2002)– Doctors became increasingly optimistic about their ability to cure

plague– Improvement in sanitary measures

• Nicholas Weill-Parot (2004)– Plague treatises stayed within existing medical notions

Changes in Economy• Philip Ziegler (1969)

– “The Black Death did not initiate any major social or economic trend but it accelerated and modified – sometimes drastically – those which already existed”

• Robert Gottfried (1983)– Migration from villages to towns; reduction in agriculture– Improved situation for peasants– Growth of industries (especially textiles)– Technological advances in fishing, mining, metallurgy– End of Italian near-monopoly on trade

• Ole Benedictow (2004)– “As a long-term situation, the great imbalance between people and resources created a

high and consistent demand for manpower by those having at their disposal unused or underused resources in the form of land or of productive equipment and ships, which translated into a great improvement in the material well-being of ordinary people.”

– Shift of economic center from Italy to the Netherlands and England.– Expensive labor led to “the development of more efficient production, better equipment

and productive machinery, better organization of work.”– Government as well employed cost-cutting measures and developed more efficient

methods.

Changes in Education• Philip Ziegler (1969)

– New set of teachers, new ideas– Growth of vernacular education

• William Courtenay (1980)– Primary education suffered immediately, while university education was

not greatly affected– There is a change in university subjects around 1360, but this may reflect

changing interests rather than quality of education– Less enrollment in theology and canon law, but increased enrollment in

civil law (financial factors)• Robert Gottfried (1983)

– End of medieval intellectual traditions (such as scholasticism)• Weak teachers had to fill in for those who died

– Rise of intellectual traditions outside the university, including Humanism and vernacular education.

Did the Plague Lead to the End of the Middle Ages?

• Factors in the End of the Middle Ages– Government: Stabilization into forms approximating

the modern State (professionalization of policy-makers) (after 1450)

– Technology: Rise of Print (from 1470s)– Trade and Exploration: Discovery of America (1492)– Demography: Expulsions of Jews (1492-1501) and

Muslims (1492)– Religion: Protestant Reformation (1517)

A Note of Optimism

“It was a tragedy of ordinary men. As such, the story of the Black Death is not a story of economic and political events. It is only partially a story of change. … It is the story of the suffering, confusion, endurance and rebirth of men whose names we shall never know. It is the story of the preservation of institutions, more than of their destruction, of the reassertion of values after temporary demoralization. It is the story of the persistence of ordinary life in the face of universal disaster. … Mankind survived this most deadly catastrophe of recorded history, and survived very much intact.

--George Deaux (1969)