Thursday, 10 May 2012

The Black Death: Europe in the Later Middle Ages

Hi everyone,

Before beginning this week's blog post I've been asked to pass along a message from Clare.


Dear Students,
You will have received en email from SETU (Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units), inviting you to evaluate ATS 1316. Please do so! We really want to know what you think.
These surveys are taken extremely seriously by the University. They are used when staff members apply for promotion, or for other jobs. They are also used to make changes to the units for next year, drawing on student comments. These blogs, for example, emerged out of comments by students that they sometimes felt disconnected during first year. Hence, we have tried to build community and encourage your readings by running these blogs.
So let us know what you think of the unit. YOU ARE VERY POWERFUL!
Many thanks, Clare

 ...

Week 11: Famine and Disease: The Calamitous 14th Century - Tutorial Discussion Post
By: Louise, Ryan, Laura and Suzanne

Ryan's thoughts,

Question 1:
Explain the nature of the ‘flourishing urban civilization’ that Margaret King describes in Italy prior to the Black Death. What were the economic foundations of the civilizations of Florence and Venice?

In the years prior to the Black Death both Venice and Florence were extremely prosperous and productive. The wealth these cities produced attracted an increasing population, which in turn led to the cities dramatically increasing in size. In Florence the two main industries credited to the wealth of the city were banking and the wool industry. Venice, on the other hand, focused on trade and shipbuilding. Both cities were open to private enterprises which generated new ideas and more employment which aided the economy and prosperity further. The men who helped run the cities were merchants and had interests within their city to make it attractive and easy for trade to continue under their authoritative control.

Florence in the later Middle Ages

Venice in the 14th Century
















Suzanne's thoughts,
QUESTION 3
Does the extract from Petrarch’s Letter to Posterity indicate an optimistic or pessimistic sense of legacy?

This week's reading were clear and informative. We were represented with a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, highlighting the abundant economic and civic prosperity of European cities before the devastation of the black death in 1348. It is particularly sad to read because just as Europe’s people were enjoying the benefits of a civilised urban culture, were they so quickly plunged into the darkness of unimaginable suffering and dismay.

In his Letter to Posterity, Petrarch confesses that he wished he could live in any other time but his own. Although Europe had at last entered an age of economic abundance, Petrarch felt that it was also a time of ignorance and intellectual neglect. Petrarch was interested in exploring the every-day issues that were apparent in his own time such as ‘the nature of religious life, the striving for fame, the passion of love and the value of different forms of knowledge”.
The passage reads as a type of confession, a short twelve-page document, written for the people of the future. In my opinion, Petriarch writes with a pessimistic tone, rather than describing himself as the embodiment of perfection, he is candid and honest about his life and his achievements. He doesn’t embellish his intellectual triumphs but speaks introspectively of his faults and humanness.  The passage opens with “you may have heard something about me- although it is doubtful that my poor little name will travel in space and time”. I think Petrarch’s honesty is refreshing and that the passage is most important because it is one of the first instances of self-realization in historical texts. Above anything else, it is a diary chronicles a man’s thoughts and dreams.  This modern outlook has gained Petrarch the title of “Father of the Renaissance” by modern scholars.

Petrarch



Louise's thoughts,
Overall, I found the readings for this week very interesting, particularly the development of a large and structured society and the forms of government which they developed which were so unlike the feudal societies they paralleled with. And yet, they worked so much better, keeping the people perfectly happy for hundreds of years, allowing the cities to flourish and grow because many people would have wanted to live in them. I chose question four, because I am particularly interested in how the Plague affected the very structure of these self-governing cities.

4.  How does King characterise the economic and social impact of the Black Death?
Margaret King uses very graphic primary sources to help her describe the impact of the Black Death, accounts from people who were in the midst of the events of the plague. They describe a complete breakdown of society, where no one supported anyone else and family members abandoned each other, husbands and wives, parents and children. Often doctors would refuse to treat people because there was nothing they could do and they did not wish to be infected themselves. Families would just drag their dead into the street, bury them themselves, or allow them to be thrown into mass graves. The governing bodies attempted to curb the infections by quarantining certain areas.
The economy went mad, servants were difficult to find, and even then, their pay was highly inflated. The same was true of doctors, who could only be tempted to treat someone at an extremely high rate of pay.  

Victims of the Black Death

2 comments:

  1. I love the black death. Its interesting to see that when things really go pear shaped the Church seems at its weakest and most corrupt. I suppose it is difficult given the Church is demanded to help a phenomenon they have no understanding of. I also enjoy hearing a story about how the royal family of England simply left the city, and waited it out in the country side, surviving. They must have thought that they were blessed, when realistically they were secluded. I look forward to the presentations all in all, a genuinely interesting topic. Wilson Hill.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Everyone,

    This weeks topic interests me. I never really thought about the economic situations before the plague,but it all comes together and makes sense. It was interesting to note the wealth of Venice and Florence before the plague, both specializing in certain industries in order to gain wealth (Venice specialized in ship building which helped to increase trade and Florence specialized in banking and wool production).
    However, everything started to fail as the black plague entered Europe. it was said it came from a virus in a flea, that was carried from a species of rat. The disease was transmitted from rats - fleas - then humans. After the emergence of the plague, the population which was once prosperous, fell dramatically. I found it most surprising that mothers and fathers would leave and neglect their children as they feared to receive the virus. Even prisets would flee the city all though some stayed to help the sick, conduct confessions and/or perform funeral masses.

    These are some points i found interesting from this weeks readings. Looking forward to this weeks lecture and tute.
    Emily.S :)

    ReplyDelete