The Black Death took place in 1348 and caused the social fabric to crumble. Many areas of society fell as a result of the Black Death’s dominance in Europe. This period of illness affected many areas, including family, gender, class, community, and church relations. People abandoned their morals to protect themselves during the Black Death.
Family relations were greatly affected by the Black Death. The Black Death saw the loss of support systems for the sick person and their families. Many family members were afraid of what would happen if the Black Death struck. Parents were leaving their children, while their spouses were abandoning them or vice versa. There was no longer an instinct to look after each other. The infected person would eventually fall asleep before the family could leave. The social fabric was slowly being eroded as the family dynamics changed. Family members felt the need to make changes, particularly when they realized that the entire family was being run by one bier. They were trying to help each others but falling prey to illness. It can be demoralizing to see how caring people are for each other die. The survivors got married after the Black Death had ended. The way society functions is changing with all the new marriages. It is not the same families that created the medieval society. Gender relations was another aspect that was affected by Black Death. At the start of Medieval times, only the male relatives, friends, and neighbors were allowed to attend funerals. The Black Death began to eradicate more people and women started to not show up at funerals. As there were many people dying simultaneously, the number of funerals was too high to accommodate everyone. They began to fear that they would contract the Black Death themselves and they didn’t want to be near them. The Black Death was not something that people cared about when they got it. If a woman is sick, it doesn’t matter if she is being taken care by a male or female. Women who had survived illness did not feel the need for chasteness around men. They knew how things were from the time she was taken care of. The Black Death saw many women and men abandon traditional dress. The medieval society changed as people started to abandon traditional gender roles. From that moment onwards, the social fabric and behavior of the medieval society changed.
During its existence, the Black Death had a significant impact on class relations. There was less labor available as people died. As there were fewer people to do the same work, the laborers realized that they could get more pay for their work. They were asking for more money from their employers to do the same jobs as before. This required them to choose between losing money and losing crops. The king issued a law stating that laborers should be paid the exact same amount as before to make sure they were not left behind. The king enforced the rule but many laborers refused to work even though they were paid more. The king discovered that the laborers were refusing to work unless they received a raise, and he ordered them to be imprisoned. However, the laborers claimed they didn’t take any extra money, and they were released once more. This caused disruption in the economy and altered class relations within medieval society.
The laborers who did funerals also asked for more money than regular laborers. With more people dying, there was more work and laborers were looking for more compensation. Many people carried the dead to graves for a living, and they were often paid. The job was also dangerous as many who carried the dead could contract the Black Death. Due to the spread of the black plague in Europe, certain jobs required pay increases due to increased risk or the increase in people involved in the job. This affected medieval society’s economic situation. People became less concerned about death and began to pay lower prices for many goods as funerals became a daily occurrence.
Other than those items that needed to be used for funerals or helping people who were affected by the Black Death and other expenses, everything became less expensive. The prices of candles and other items that were used to feed the sick went up. The class relations in medieval society changed dramatically as a result of the shifts in supply and demand.
The Black Death brought about a shift in community relations. When the Black Death became fatally contagious, people stopped wanting to care for the sick. The Black Death was not the first time that the community came together to support one another during illness. Affected by the Black Death, anyone suffering from the disease would be abandoned by the family. Instead of screaming out of a window to draw attention to themselves, they would attempt to shout it out to the passersby. With the abandonment of small villages, the chance of someone passing was decreasing. The Black Death was a threat to the lives of many people who left their homes. People began to leave their communities. People began to withdraw from their communities, which was affecting the whole society. They were not communicating with each other. This also had a negative impact on communities as some believed that the Black Death was due to the Jews poisoning the water. Because the Black Death brought about more fighting, it caused more problems within the community. The Black Death was a more prominent topic in medieval society, with more theories being made public.
Last, but not least, the Black Death had an impact on the church. There were originally many people who could help with the dying or do funerals. But the Black Death took away those church workers who cared for them. This time, there were only a few priests available to provide the necessary services and sacraments. Society that had relied on the church to provide religious events needed to find other ways to live their faith. A low number priests was also detrimental to the dying. The pope granted full forgiveness of sins and allowed them to confess their guilt to anyone they chose, as long as they had enough workers to support these people. Only those who paid higher wages could be granted the privilege to become a church member. Medieval society was altered by this. No one was getting the benefits of the church; only those with the means to pay more were eligible. It was difficult for a society that had used these items before to adapt to the fact that they couldn’t have them anymore.
The Black Death was not just about killing people. It had a profound impact on family, gender, and community relations. The Black Death led to the destruction of Medieval society’s social fabric. The Black Death had many secondary effects. This period saw people rethinking the beliefs they had previously believed to be safe from their death.