What Happened After the Black Death Ended

The Black Death devastated Europe, claiming 25 million lives and up to 80% of the population in some cities. Survivors of the plague, which lasted from approximately 1347-1353, struggled with skyrocketing food prices, psychological torment, and survivor guilt. Even Renaissance scholar Petrarch wished he was never born.

In spite of the many tragedies it caused, the Black Death also had ripple effects that improved conditions in Europe in its aftermath. The awful time period didn't only galvanize pub culture, it transformed Europe's feudal society, spurring the 14th-century Renaissance in Italy and shifting wealth from the aristocracy to workers and peasants.

#BlackDeath #MedievalEurope #WeirdHistory

[Julie]

I was so surprised how similar our behavior is to those who lived through the plague.
Food prices skyrocketing, people quitting their jobs and/or demanded better paying jobs. Human nature has always been the same, never changes.

[princegrace]

I passed all my history classes thanks this this man he is the one who made me love history like i do now

[dp]

Peasant: I survived the worst catastrophe in human history please pay me more

Upper class: Best I can do is raise taxes

[amyfisher]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[zimmy]

People taking advantage of the plauge by making prices higher, sounds familiar

[waikatowizard]

The Black Death plague is the reason I was able to trace my ancestry back to the end of it. Shortly after it had blown through Europe, the Bishop in the part of Germany my mum's ancestors come from granted/sold a farm to one of my ancestors. That deed of ownership was the reason I could find out as much as I did about our past (the farm is still held by a different branch of the family, still bears the family name of my grandmother). I couldn't imagine trying to live through the plague, when so many of the people you knew, died so quickly.

[fleadukey]

“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” Edmund Burke

[Thursdaysindecember]

Oh. My. Goodness. Just realized all the modern essential oil stuff is a new version of “good smells” causing healing

[TheFirstManticore]

Dousing the hands with vinegar might actually help - it kills germs on surfaces.

[miken]

The economic impact of the plague on Europe was huge - basically it started the transformation from a static agricultural economy to a slightly more dynamic urban economy. Serfs, who had previously been tied to the land owner, now had other land owners competing for them, and willing to offer wages not serfdom. They often moved to towns where they were free. This increased demand for nonfood goods, which increased wages, and demand for workers, and then wages. It transferred power from the old landowning elite to urban business owners, the new capitalists. It took several centuries for the results to work through economies but the extreme deaths caused by the waves of Plagues were one of the key reasons why Europe industrialised and the rest of the world didn’t.
The plagues had far less impact on sparsely populated areas like Russia and there serfdom lasted until the 18th C, and longer. This severely limited their economic and social development.
The current Covid crisis in extremely minor in comparison in terms of deaths, but the resultant social changes may prove huge.

[cityraildude]

"if it wasn't for everyone I've ever loved, I would have wanted to live in any other period!" WOW!

[wickedninja]

Think about this....if you are of European descent and Asian/Middle Eastern then your family made it through all those plagues and survived.

[VGINI]

Crazy how history is just a repeating cycle ...same play different stage...

[bluesmurff]

This made me remember than during the industrial revolution, they purpusely kept a part of the population out of work so they could treaten their workers if they dared ask for better conditions or a better salary

[EtioDesign]

Fun fact: The meaning of the word Quarantine comes from the italian word Quaranta that means Forty in italian, because during the Black Death they would stay in lockdown for forty days.

[WaysideWade]

The artwork of the infant breast feeding on what might be a corpse sure gets your attention. 🧐

[madmattgaming]

At least those who were dousing they're hands in vinegar were getting close to hand washing I guess.

[ModernPlumbingFan]

This is the only channel that makes me excited to watch plague death stories

[AdrianSpencerElizalde]

Remembered how we were just talking about the Black Death in one of our classes, then school was abruptly suspended 2 days after due to COVID-19.

[archeewaters]

The Renaissance was a fantastic period of time! Too bad it took a plague to stimulate it. Will you please do a history of life after the Spanish flu? Thank you