preview

Black Plague DBQ Essay

Decent Essays

In the late Middle Ages the worst evil known to man terrorized Europe. People were dropping dead everywhere and there was no place to put them. This vicious culprit was known as the Black Plague. During the 14th century in Europe millions of people died from the plague and the plague brought about great change. Before the plague there was peace and prosperity in the High Middle Ages and after the plague things were different. Historians consider the outbreak of the Black Plague a watershed moment because of great social, religious and economical changes. The first reason that historians consider the outbreak of the Black Plague a watershed moment is that it brought about great change socially bringing about the end of feudalism. Before …show more content…

Religion changed majorly since the start of the middle ages. Before the middle ages people were very devoted to Christianity. This all changed when they prayed to God to stop the plague and he didn't answer their prayers. According to Source A, it showed people becoming very distant to the church. People grew especially distant when some priests didn't properly bury the dead either because the priests didn't want to get sick from the plague or there were just too many bodies. In addition, according to source E, many Christians blamed the plague on Jews. "Campaigns to kill Jews took place in southern France, Spain, Poland, Austria and Germany. Jewish populations were massacred, burned alive and attacked by dogs." This was another reason for there to be conflict between Jews and Christians. The result was large groups of Jews either migrating or being kicked out of countries into other ones. According to source A many Jews went to Poland because Poland's King Casimir III the Great allowed Jews to stay there. Fast forward 600 years later and a man by the name of Adolf Hitler came along, and his targets, Jews, were all grouped together. As you can imagine one of the first places he captured was Poland. The religious change had many long term effects, even 600 years

Get Access