The Black Plague

None Were Left Unaffected by the Black Death

Throughout history, several epidemics have threatened the existence of human life, from the Black Death itself, to anthrax, small pox, diphtheria, and gonorrhea. Each of these diseases has had a profound effect on man, but none as devastating as the Black Death. After striking in the mid-fourteenth century, 20 million lives had been taken, leaving Europe with only two-thirds of it’s original population. The main carriers of the plague were rodents, chiefly rats, and being bitten by one generally bestowed upon you the plague. It would be assumed that the group of people most greatly affected by the plague would be the peasant class, who worked in the fields where the majority of rats were found. To assume this though, would be erroneous, as the royalty and gentry were hit just as hard as the peasant class. After the Black Death hit, there was nobody who wasn’t in some way greatly affected.

Observed first, is the affect of the Black Death on the royalty. The royalty was hit as hard as any social class, percentage wise. “The biomedical catastrophe took away charisma from kings, eroded popular support for their veneration and self-esteem as God’s anointed and as war leaders and money providers” (In the Wake of the Plague, Norman Cantor, 218). One way the royalty used the plague to their advantage was by contributing to the Jewish conspiracy, thus killing off many Jews, to whom much of the royalty owed a substantial amount of money. “It was a long way down from the sunny day when Princess Joan in 1348 had sailed from Portsmouth to Bordeaux to journey to Castile and there build through marriage the Plantagenet empire in Spain. When Joan landed on the quay in Bordeaux harbor the rise of the Plantagenets to European dominance seemed unstoppable” (Cantor 218). Indeed it seemed unstoppable, but Princess Joan was stopped in her tracks when she was struck by the plague and passed away. Her death undoubtedly altered the course of European politics forever. As in this case, royalty would pass away and somebody else would take their place, performing that position’s duties differently, and thus altering the course of history itself. There were several measures taken by the royalty to counteract the plague and minimize their chances of contracting it. First, they would leave their homes, and go to live in a manor somewhere in the countryside, eliminating (or so they thought) the chance of catching the disease from someone in the crowded city. Another measure was tapestries. The royalty would keep their windows closed, and order humungous tapestries and carpets to cover the windows. They reasoned that this would keep the airborne factor of the disease out of their homes. One other measure taken to combat the airborne factor of the disease was not bathing. The royalty would go for weeks at a time without bathing because the rational was that bathing opened up their pores to the disease. As a result of the plague, the royalty lost many important members of the throne and clergy, leaving many dowagers to claim the royal reigns.
Women carried little respect in the 14th century, sometimes even being referred to as property. This soon changed though, for the Black Death was a benefit to women and their rights. “Among the gentry, dowagers flourished” (Cantor 203). Women of the gentry were less susceptible to the plague because they stayed inside most of the day, unlike the men who ventured out often to check their fields or herds. This being the case, many more men than women of the gentry were taken by the plague, thus leaving many dowagers to many estates. These women who suddenly fell into such hefty amounts of money and land, gained respect and loyalty, the cause of friends attempting to obtain a portion of that money. Many times though, several dowagers were left to the same estate, causing much grief over who received what. This could sometimes even tear apart families. Even for those women not part of the gentry, the Black Death was still beneficial to women’s rights. In the middle classes, when the husband died, the wife was forced to take over the family business, thus giving her more power and independence to do as she pleased. For example, by 1450, the beer- and ale-brewing industry was mostly women’s work, the result of the plague taking the lives of the male owners. These women were not happy about the fact that they had become widows, but they certainly enjoyed the luxuries that came with it.
The ethnic group most highly affected by the plague, is by far the Jewish community. After being beaten into submission, a certain Jew named Agimet addressed a panel of judges with a confession that he had poisoned several water wells in Germany and France. It was then believed that this Jew was the cause of the horrible bubonic plague, which was at that time beginning to sweep across Europe. With such a confession, the Jewish conspiracy began. Rumors then began to spread quickly throughout all of Europe, that the Jews were responsible for the Black Death, the result of which was a contaminated water supply. After that, Jews were persecuted everywhere for the horrible crimes that they had supposedly committed. As we know now though, it was not the Jews who were responsible for this pandemic, it was flea bitten rodents who carried the disease. After the conspiracy began, Jews were either killed, in most cases burned, or segregated from amongst the Christians. This however, turned out to be a benefit for the Jewish population, as seen here:
“Segregated in their own quarters (where the Jews lived as humble artisans except for a very small elite of bankers and rabbis), the Jews were cut off from the rodents on the wharves and the cattle in the countryside, the main carriers of infectious disease. These conditions may very well have isolated the Jews from the hot spots of plague and their practical quarantine aroused suspicion that they were responsible for the disease to which they themselves seemed immune” (Cantor 163).

It did benefit the Jews not to be exposed to the pandemic, but it certainly did nothing to help the conspiracy against them. Of course the Jews were enraged by the treatment they were receiving, but what could they do? The Jews were outnumbered by the conspirators 14:1, which led numerous Jews to believe that there was no way out; thus many Jews committed suicide instead of waiting for their killers to come. This was not entirely the case though; occasionally a group of Jews would band together and retaliate back against their persecutors. From this conspiracy, the only thing the Jews gained was a bad reputation. A plethora of Jews were helplessly slaughtered and by such inhumane methods at that. The Jewish community was lucky, in that it was not greatly exposed to the plague, but the conspiracy that came with it proved to be much deadlier than the plague itself.

In the mid-fourteenth century Europe, it was unfeasible to come across someone who hadn’t been affected in some way by the Black Death. Every social class, no matter which you were a part of, was deeply affected by the plague. The Black Death caused a shortage of labor, leading the price of labor to skyrocket dramatically, and thus leaving the royalty and gentry with fewer funds. Women of the time gained from the plague not only wealth, but much respect as well. The Europeans were unable to determine the cause of this atrocious pandemic, and were thus forced to put the blame on someone or something else. Roughly one-third of Europe’s population was decimated as a result of the plague; what problems do you suppose might arouse if one-third of America’s population today were to be eliminated?

Works Cited

Cantor, Norman F. In the Wake of the Plague. New York: Free Press, 2001.