Era Before The Black Death Religion example essay topic

The Black Death arrived in England in August 1348 and only petered out in 1350, until there were further outbreaks in 1361. The plague was brought on by fleas, transmitted by rats and could be caught either by direct contact with a flea, or by airborne droplets of saliva coughed up by infected humans. This brought the overall death toll to around half the population of England, which had stood at four or five million, and it was not selective of social status, religion or age. The Black Death caused an upheaval in the main religion of the day and the lives of the ruling class and peasants were altered indefinitely. The society of England prior to the Black Death was never revisited.

"The Black Death speeded up the process of social stratification and drew a sharper distinction between country and parish gentry". In the era before the Black Death religion played a very important part in people's lives. Everyone (rich and poor alike) was expected to attend church regularly and had to pay a tax of one tenth of their goods to the Church. The priest was usually the most knowledgeable person in a village and people looked to him to explain things they did not understand. He was also the person to whom they confided in and confessed their sins and it was vital that he was called upon to give the last rites before someone died. Priests and other church leaders taught that the power of the nobility and the poverty of the peasants was part of God's plan.

As long as people accepted their station in life and did what was expected of them, they were assured of an eternal life in heaven. For such eternal happiness, peasants were willing to accept their short, wretched lives on earth. With the onset of the Black Death many questions concerning the church arose. The church said that the Black Death was God's will, although the reason for this horrific punishment was unknown. One of the worst aspects of this disease in Christians' minds was that people died without last rites and without having a chance to confess their sins. As a result people were allowed to confess their sins to one another or 'even to a layman, and, if a man is not at hand then to a woman'.

This was something that would never have been tolerated before the plague. Many priests died, or fled from their posts and finding quality replacements proved difficult. Priests played an important role in blessing the sick and so as a result thousands of new, inexperienced, unreliable, and sometimes corrupt priests were ordained as replacements, as is written, "priests cannot be found who are willing out of zeal [and] devotion". Filling church offices with the young or incompetent was not a practice that began with the plague, but it did intensify during the pestilence Christianity remained a dominant force in their lives, but many people began to believe they did not need clergy to lead them to salvation but rather that it was possible for them to have an individual relationship with God. People began to undertake a variety of good works that required no involvement of priests, such as giving money to hospitals or poor monasteries, and even going on pilgrimages. It also became common for people to pick out a special saint known as a 'plague saint', to pray to for protection.

The sacramental wafer was taken as often as possible, instead of the old prescribed minimum communion of once a year. Just as some people turned to religion, others turned away from it, denouncing God for doing such a terrible thing as sending the plague into the world. Many people became worshipers of Lucifer, calling themselves Lucifereans, and praying to him for help against God. Although the church suffered an enormous loss of prestige during the Black Death, the majority of people remained deeply tied to Christianity and were more thirsty than ever for spiritual values in an uncertain and frightening world. The impact that the Black Death had on the church essentially helped pave the way for the Protestant Reformation.

Prior to the Black Death the dominance of the nobility over the peasants was an acceptable practice. Most of the peasants were owned and dictated to by powerful landlords. They could not question their master's authority and were expected to obey his every command. This they believed was the rightful thing to do in order to gain salvation into the kingdom of God. Although there was this clear distinction of classes the Black Death did not adhere to this principle and the lives of both classes were deeply affected. The Black Death took the lives of many, no matter of one's status, sex or age.

The peasants who survived the Black Death believed that there was something special about them, almost as if God had protected them. Therefore, they took the opportunity offered by the disease to improve their lifestyle. Many lords were short of desperately needed labour for the land they owned, as many of their labourers had died from the Black Death. Lords actively encouraged peasants to leave the village where they had lived to come to work for them. When peasants did this, the Lord refused to return them to their original villages. For the first time the peasants began to realise that they were a necessary commodity in order to sustain the lives of the rich.

They took advantage of this and it is written, "the labourer is angry unless he gets higher wages, and he curses the day that he was ever born a workman" which resulted in greater prosperity. This meant that they also enjoyed a higher standard of living and security of employment. To curb peasants roaming around the countryside looking for better pay, the government introduced the Statute of Labourers in 1351, which basically stated that they were to be paid no more than what they had been paid in 1346, and they could not leave the village they belonged to. This angered many peasants, and the final straw was when an unfair poll tax was imposed on peasants which meant that every individual peasant was required to pay the same amount as the wealthy landlord paid. They displayed their anger by rioting in the city of London. They looted, killed, destroyed and burned property.

William Dene wrote, "All the labourers, skilled or unskilled, were so carried away by the spirit of revolt". Finally the king agreed to meet with them and he granted them what they wanted. Therefore, it can be argued that the Black Death led to the peasants' revolt. The rebels had made some permanent gains, which altered their lives for the better: the poll tax was eliminated, and no more laws were passed to cap wages or limit the peasants' movements. This meant that the peasants enjoyed a greater sense of freedom after the Black Death. These new rules that were established after the Black Death made the lives of the peasants fairer, and caused them to have a more worthwhile role in society.

However, the impact of the Black Death on the lives of the ruling class was not as beneficial, and their world was turned upside down. Although they still had plenty of land, they suddenly had a difficult time finding enough peasants to work on it. This shifted their attitude, and rather than being interested in getting promises of loyalty or obedience, they were more interested in getting money for their land by either renting or selling it. In England the nobility faced a major reduction in income, as they were said to have fallen below twenty percent between 1347 and 1353. The aristocracy depended on their offspring to continue looking after their land but this too became a severe problem because not many of their children survived the Black Death and so the land that had been in the family for many generations now had to be rented or sold. It is therefore fair to conclude that the lives of both the rich and poor and the role that the church played in their lives was indefinitely altered due to the devastation brought on by the Black Death in England during the time between 1348 and 1349.

This is clearly illustrated in the fresco called "The Dance of Death". . Although the church continued to hold an important role in the lives of the people, the Black Death caused them to realise that the church was not as infallible as it had always made itself out to be. This caused the people to explore new ways of finding salvation. For the first time in years the peasants began to question their downtrodden existence and the Black Death gave them the opportunity to break free from their oppressive circumstances. John Ball wrote, "things cannot go on well in England, nor ever will until everything shall be in common... and all distinctions levelled".

6 This in turn affected the lives of the nobles who had grown familiar with the dominating role that they had played in the English society. Although the plague caused immense suffering it also broke down the harsh and often inhumane feudal structure and allowed society as a whole to progress forward to a better future..