Author: Hendrik van Nievelt

Publisher: Origo

Published: 2021-11-17

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13:

Medieval feudal society was built on a sociopolitical and economic system guided by feudalism and the transcendental views of Christianity. Both of these institutions were put to the test during the Black Death epidemic, the deadliest disaster humankind has suffered, given the population of the time. Without a doubt, this event revolutionized medieval society in every way and accelerated a process of change that had been brewing for centuries.But the impact of the plague went well beyond loss of life. It fatally wounded the spiritual, social and economic foundations of the medieval world, to such an extent that one could shift the traditional timeline and mark 1347, the year the plague began, as the true end of the Middle Ages. We can read many statistics on the economic and demographic impact of the Black Death in Europe, but nothing reflects the ordeal better than the painting, “The Triumph of Death,” by Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder. We cannot help but shudder at the helplessness and despair of these people trying in vain to escape their fate. Peasants, nobles, priests, kings, and bishops, all made equal by death, while armies of skeletons chase after them, proclaiming the end of times. In the face of an ordered, hierarchal medieval society, this painting shows us chaos, disorder and equality in death. In this book, I will attempt to summarize, first, how the Church and feudalism were the bases of medieval society, then in the following chapters describe the principal economic, social, and spiritual effects of the plague and how Europe was changed forever.