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[[File:Blackdeath,_tourmai.jpg|thumbnail|Contemporary Image of Black Death]]
The Black Death (1347-1350) was a pandemic that devastated the populations of Europe and Asia. The plague was an unprecedented human tragedy in Italy. It not only shook Italian society, but transformed it. The Black Death marked an end of an era in Italy, its impact was profound and it resulted in wide-ranging social, economic, cultural and religious changes.<ref> Burckhardt, Jacob (1878), ''The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy'', trans. S.G.C Middlemore, p. 14.</ref> These changes, directly and indirectly, led to the emergence of the Renaissance, one of the greatest epochs for art, architecture, and literature in human history.
==The Impact of the Plague of Italy==
[[File:Danse_macabre_by_Michael_Wolgemut.png|thumbnail| Dance of Death image from 15th century woodcut]]To Black Death spread to Italy from modern-day Russia. It was spread by Genoese merchants fleeing a Mongol attack on their trading post in Crimea. The plague was carried and spread by the fleas that lived on the Black Rat and brought to Italy on the Genoese ships.<ref>Pullan, Brian S. ''History of early Renaissance Italy: From the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fifteenth century'' (London: Allen Lane, 1973), p. 76 </ref> The population of Italy was ill prepared for the spread of the disease. There had been a series of famine and food shortages in the region and the population was weak and vulnerable to disease and furthermore, the population did not have any natural resistance to the disease. Italy was the most urbanised society in Europe, Milan, Rome, Florence and other Italian centres among the largest on the continent.<ref> Pullan, 1973, p. 89</ref>. The majority of the urban population in cities such as Naples were impoverished and lived in squalid and dirty conditions. These factors ensured that the diseases spread quickly and that there was a high level of mortality, among the poor, although even the rich could not escape the plague.<ref> Andrew B. Appleby's "Epidemics and Famine in the Little Ice Age." ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History''. Vol. 10 No. 4., p. 56</ref> From the cities,the plague spread like wildfire to the small towns and villages of the peninsula.
There is no firm data on the impact of the plague on the population of Italy. However, some examples show the full extent of the disease on Italy. It has been estimated that the population of Florence was halved, it fell from approximately 100,000 to 50,000. This was not unusual and all the major cities of Italy experienced a similar drastic decline. The death rate in rural Italy may not have been as great, but nevertheless, there was a significant loss of life. In general, the population of Italy may have dropped by as much as a third.<ref>Pullan, 1973, p. 156.</ref>
The Black Death was also an economic crisis as trade ceased because of fear of the spread of plague. As trade stagnated, businesses failed and unemployment rose. The plague caused a complete social breakdown in many areas and crime and violence became more common. Boccaccio in the Decameron, describes people abandoning their occupations, ignoring the sick and living lives of wild excess, as everyone expected to die. ‘Thus, doing exactly as they prescribed, they spent day and night moving from one tavern to the next, drinking without mode or measure, or doing the same thing in other people's homes, engaging only in those activities that gave them pleasure….. And they combined this bestial behavior with as complete an avoidance of the sick as they could manage.'<ref> Boccaccio, Giovanni. ''The Decameron.'' (Penguin Classics, Hammondsworth, 1987) trans Mark Musa, p. 6</ref>
==Socio-Economic Consequences==
The social consequences of the plague on society came to be profound. The high mortality rate resulted in a drastic decline in the labour force.<ref> Hay, Denys. ''The Italian Renaissance in Its Historical Background''. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1997) p. 19</ref>. Wages rose for both agricultural and urban workers. The survivors of the Black Death generally had a higher standard of living than before the plague <ref> Hays, 1997, p. 78 </ref> This was a phenomenon that occurred in both urban and rural areas. The crisis caused by the Black Death led to many changes in the economy, in response to the fall in the population. Because of the labour shortages there was a move from labour intensive farming such as cereal to livestock and increasingly both in industry and agriculture more labour saving devices employed.<ref> Pullan, 1997, p 145 </ref> The impact of the Black Death was contrary on feudalism in Italy. Feudalism was a system whereby peasants and farm labourers bound, as serfs, to serve a local lord. In the north of Italy, good farmland was plentiful and wages increased and the last vestiges of feudalism disappeared as serfs increasingly could purchase their freedom. In the south of Italy the opposite occurred, here, since the Norman kings, the aristocracy had been consolidating feudalism. After the Black Death, the elite responded to the labour shortages by strengthening the restrictions on the peasants and thereby strengthened feudalism in southern Italy. The consequences of the plague resulted in a growing divide between the North and South of Italy that persists to this day.<ref>Benedictow, Ole Jørgen ''Black Death 1346–1353: The Complete History'' (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,2004) p. 234</ref> In general, after a period of recovery, much of Italy became very wealthy as a more sophisticated economy emerged, especially in the North of Italy. This was crucial, as the increased wealth of Italy allowed the elite, such as the De Medici’s in Florence to become the patrons of great artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.<ref> Frederick Hartt, and David G. Wilkins, ''History of Italian Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture'' (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003), p 67</ref>
==Religious Consequences==
Initially in Italy the plague led to a revival in religion among many. The middle ages was a time when people believed that events are a result of God’s will. Many viewed the plague as a punishment for God for the wickedness and immorality of the people. There was an upsurge in religious observance and many sections of the public became swept by a religious fervour, as many sincerely believed that the Black Death was a sign that the end of the world was coming<ref> Benedictow, 2004, p. 234</ref>. Religious fanaticism spread throughout the peninsula and many men and women performed in extreme religious practices, such as the flagellants. The flagellants whipped themselves into a frenzy to atone for their sins. The Church suffered greatly during the plague, many priests and especially monks died. The monasteries proved ideal breeding grounds for the plague while many priests contracted the sickness as they gave the last rites to the dying <ref> Benedictow, 2004, p. 234</ref>.
==Questioning of authority==
[[File:Petrarch_by_Bargilla.jpg|thumbnail|175px|Petrarch- poet and scholar]]
The world was turned upside down by the Black Death. The mental outlook of people changed dramatically. Previously, people assumed that the world was fixed and God-ordained. The Black Death overturned old certainties. As we have seen religious orthodoxy and beliefs were undermined by the plague and its devastation. People at the time were no longer willing to accept the status quo. This is best seen in the political revolts of the time. <ref>Benedictow, 2004, p. 174</ref> The most famous of these, that of poor workers and weavers called popularly the Ciompi, that took place in Florence in 1378. For four years, the poor formed the government of the city. The revolt was one of several in Italy at the time. No longer are people as willing to question the old ways of doing things and no longer accepted things because they were sanctioned by tradition. The Black Death led to a great questioning of the old certainties. This led many, especially among the urban elite to use reason to understand the world. They also increasingly turned to the classics to find answers to the problems of life. The new spirit of inquiry helped to ignite the Renaissance, especially in politics and philosophy <ref> Ruggiero, Guido. ''The Renaissance in Italy: A Social and Cultural History of the Rinascimento'' (Cambridge University Press, 2015), p 648</ref>. However, that is not to say, that Italy rejected all traditions, it was still a very conservative society in many ways. However, those who questioned authority and the received wisdom, such as the Poet and Scholar Petrarch inspired the Humanist movement, which valued reason and critical thinking. The Humanist are essential in the development and progress of the Renaissance. <ref>Burkhardt, 1878, p. 67</ref>
==Cultural Change==
==Conclusion==
The Black Death devastated Italian society in the middle of the 14th century. It led to great socio-economic, cultural and religious changes. After the initial horrors of the plague, Italian society, staged a spectacular recovery. It became richer, the influence of the Catholic Church was weakened and the culture became more secular. The social mobility made possible by the loss of life meant that individualism came to be respected. The Black Death was to unleash the forces in Italian society that made the Renaissance possible.
=References=
<references/>
[[Category:Wikis]][[Category:Italian History]][[Category:Medical History]][[Category:European History]] [[Category:Renaissance History]]
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