How The Black Death Occurred During The Late Middle Ages

The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague, was one of the worst events that occurred during the Late Middle Ages. With almost half of the population killed by the plague, many wondered where it came from. It first came from the East to Italy by trading routes through sea, which eventually spread the disease throughout Europe. With the plague now spread throughout many places in the West, the Black Death was uniformly experienced in the West. One example was that when the people knew that they have come down with the plague, they “[…] visit one tavern after another, drinking all day and night to immoderate excess; or alternatively (and this was their more frequent custom), they would do their drinking in various private houses […]” (Boccaccio 75-76). This shows that even if they know they are going to die soon, they want to live their life. They know that the plague is infecting everyone and they should stay at home, but they decided to drink all night and all day. However, it is a common that while some go out to live their life, others stayed in their house to avoid the plague. Though Boccaccio has pointed out that, “But even worse, […] was the fact that fathers and mothers refused to nurse and assist their own children […]” (Boccaccio 77). The importance of a family unit is now gone, because everyone wants to protect themselves from getting infected with the plague. Even if the mother wants to help their children, they are not able to because they don’t have money to feed them. They also don’t want to get their children sick if they get infected by the plague yet. However, if the child dies, their parents just leaves the child on the streets and abandons it. There is no proper burial for anyone who died because many individuals died from getting infected by the plague. One of the most significant event during the Black Death was that “Most of the trades disappeared, for a number of artisans devoted themselves to handling the dead, while the others […]” (Al-Maqrizi 87). …show more content…
This is significant because without trade, selling clothes and crops will be harder. With trade routes that stopped, all individuals could relied on was to plant crops so they could earn money by selling it. However, “How many times did one see a laborer […] guide his plow being pulled by oxen suddenly fall down dead, still holding in his hands his plow, while the oxen stood at their place without a conductor” (Al-Maqrizi 85-86). With no one farming, food resources will be low. Even if some people are able to harvest, they are just not able to get enough people to because most of individuals living within their borders are infected with the plague. With trade routes blocked, many people can only relied on these crops so they can be able to eat and sell to others. Selling farmed crops would be hard too because the currency of the money has increased. The currency had increased because many individuals didn’t have enough money to provide for their family and for themselves, so they had to increase the prices of food and other resources. After the plague, “Everyone appeared