It Was An Event That Changed Everything In Medieval Europe. There Was Virtually

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Term Paper Title	It Was An Event That Changed Everything In Medieval Europe. There Was Virtually
# of Words	1154
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.62

     It was an event that changed everything in Medieval Europe. There was virtually no aspect of Medieval society that was not affected by the arrival of the plague in Europe. The lack of adequate knowledge or a significant response lead to the death of millions of people. With the loss of a significant portion of the populations of Europe there was also a distinct shift in society away from the ideas and views of the past. Organized religion suffered a great blow as the plague ravaged the clergy as much as the general population. Medical and sanitary knowledge was forced to advance as societies began to realize the dangers of their ways.
     The arrival of the Black Death in Europe marks a pivotal moment in history. It retains the status as the greatest catastrophe in European history. The illness that fell upon the people could not be fought by the medicine or doctors of the time. The mortality rate of those afflicted ranged from 30-80% depending on when the infection occurred. Death came quickly to those afflicted and when one member of a household died there would surely be more in a few days. In Paris 800 died in one day, and the city was to lose close to 50% of it’s population. Florence would lose 80% of its citizens. London would lose one half of its people to the plague. Graveyards filled up and mass graves gave way to the dumping of bodies into rivers and streets. This act, besides encouraging other diseases clearly shows a change in the society’s views on death.
It was the common practice of most of the neighbors, moved no less by fear of contamination by the putrefying bodies than by charity towards the deceased, to drag the corpses out of the houses with their own hands, aided, perhaps, by a porter, if a porter was to be had, and to lay them in front of the doors, where any one who made the round might have seen, especially in the morning, more of them than he could count; afterwards they would have biers brought up or in default, planks, whereon they laid them.
                         (Boccaccio, TheDecameron)

Boccaccio’s description of what happened to those who died from the plague in Florence is key to understanding the impact of the plague on society.
     When the plague arrived in Europe people felt compelled to find the cause of the scourge. Many people believed it was an act of God in punishment towards non-believers. This lead to widespread persecution of non-Christians. As time passed however, the plague got worse and people began to notice their living con...

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