Crisis of the Late Middle Ages 



I. Black Death 
   

A. Role of disease in history

1. played a part in weakening Athens, Roman and Byzantine Empires

B. Greatest biomedical disaster in history 
           

1. A third of the population is killed in three years

a. bubonic plague and also anthrax

b. spread by rats (plague) and cattle (anthrax)

c. plague recurs in Europe for several centuries

2. Economic and population growth made Europe more vulnerable

3. Climactic change and crop failures
      
   

C. Experience of the Plague

1. shock to an optimistic culture

a. Triani's Triumph of Death

2. How to respond?

a. penance

b. attack on Jews




II. Results of the Plague

A. European population takes hundreds of years to recover its numbers

1. emerging Renaissance delayed

B. Final destruction of serfdom in Western Europe

1. labor shortages mean better wages

2. But also peasant frustration--peasant revolts

C. Effective end of the "spiritual revolution"

1. on top of the failure of the crusades

2. grave damage to institution of the church

3. growing tendency to personal mysticism