Introduction
Black Death was a plague that ravaged Europe between 1346 and 1353 claiming the lives of a third to half of the population when it hit. The oriental rat flea infected rats with the Yersinia pestis bacteria and the rats infected by this bacterium transmitted it to humans. Scientists have been speculating that Black Death was brought by other factors like typhus, Ebola or the anthrax virus but a tooth from one of the victims 600 years ago prove that the Yersinia pestis bacterium was the cause. This paper will focus on the economic impact of the Black Death and the changes that occurred to European society after the catastrophe.
Effects of Black Death in the European society
The most noticeable effect of the Black Death was the abrupt decline in the population. It did not only affect families but also stagnated the economy that Europe had been mounting for over 300 years. During this time, not many people were learned and they assumed that the catastrophe was a punishment from God. Possessions were redistributed all the way through heritage and some of the remaining poor survivors became rich as the richer acquired more wealth and this made it hard for the regime at that time. They had a great task ahead of them because they had to balance the revenues between the affluent and the underprivileged. This, in turn, brought a high demand in many career areas such as notaries, teachers, sophisticated lawyers and physicians. Many of the remaining people turned to religion that they had ignored (Byrine, 2004).
Economic effects of the Black Death
Wages rose significantly due to the shortage of laborers, which was the immediate effect of the Black Death. The regime tried to fix the increments on the wages but the shortage was too hard to ignore and Europe at this time enjoyed the highest increase ever in salaries. Upper earnings and the undersized mechanized caused high price increase and marketable classes attempted in the direction of maintaining their location in receiving laws that were passed in regulating the industries (Nelson, n.d). This meant that with the higher wages, the more people got money that was used on themselves. The population decrease of the country also affected the demand and supply market. The supply was high but the demand was low causing the prices to decrease drastically. This also affected the property owners at that time because the tenants took advantage of the shortage of laborers’ to demand better services hence they started living free (Horrox, 1994).
Conclusion
On a final note, there is no exact number that is known of deaths that resulted from the Black Death. However, it is believed that a third to half of the population perished. With such a great number of deaths, the population was greatly reduced. This led to a great reduction of laborers, a phenomenon that led to an increase in demand. With increased demand, the wages for their services hit the ceiling. In one way or another, Black Death enhanced the living standards of the surviving peasants because they got riches in a comparatively easier way and they were in high demand. The survivors also developed a fresh economy to reinstate the feudal structure. The European society has also balanced the economy towards the entry of a new beginning.
Reference
Byrine, J. P. (2004). The Black Death. Westport: Greenwood.
Horrox, R., ed. (1994). The Black Death. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Nelson, L. H. (n.d). The Great Famine and the Black Death. 2010. Web.