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The Bubonic Plague: The Black Death In Europe

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The Black Death was a bubonic plague that infected Europe during the years of 1347 - 1350. The plague was introduced to Europe by a foreign source, Europe suffered from severe economic and social losses. Throughout history, documentation of the Black Death was adjusted to different viewpoints of historians, causing primary and secondary sources to occasionally depict the event differently. The Black Death was an important event in European History as it remodelled Europe, the European society, and economy significantly.

The Black Death was caused by foreign, infested cargo brought from other countries, resulting in unpleasant consequences for the citizens of Europe. The disease was carried by fleas, which lived on the hairs of rats. People …show more content…
The history book states, “The Black Death, 1348 - 1350, killed so many villeins that the lord of the manor could not get enough people to live and work on his estates. Some villages were deserted. In other places many villeins stopped doing their labour services for the lord and paid low rents instead. The villeins became free and their lives improved. Because of the shortage of villeins on their estates the lords had to employ labourers on their estates and pay them higher wages.” (Shephard, 2001, Pg. 126). While the entry recorded in 1350, by a King’s advisor, read, “The King ordered that reapers and other labourers should not be payed more than they used to receive. But if anyone wished to have the labourers he had to pay them what they wanted. Many small villages were completely deserted; there was not one house left in them, and all those who had lived in them were dead. The lords had to reduce their tenants’ rents, and those who received day work from the tenants, as is usual from villeins, had to release them. Land everywhere remained completely uncultivated.” (Shephard, 2001, Pg. 126). The 1350 entry corrects the history book by saying that labourers were not paid higher wages, instead were given the wages they originally received, except if anyone wanted them, they were required to pay the labourer what he wanted. As well as saying that villeins did not voluntarily stop doing day work but were instead released from their work.

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