Black Death DBQ

The Black Death caused turmoil during the years it was prominent and the years that followed. European society was changed socially, population wise, and blamed the disease on the Jews.

The King attempted to freeze wages paid to labor workers in 1349. There was such a shortage of labor workers because of the Black Death that the King’s attempt was in vain. The social structure was beginning to change because there was now a need for labor workers as opposed to the excess before the plague. Now the surfs were given more power because the supply and demand had changed in their favor.

After the plague hit and almost half of European population was wiped out, peasant revolts started occurring frequently. There were political and social upheavals caused by the chaos brought by the disease. Ladies were abused by the peasants who revolted in France in the year 1358. Houses were burned and people were murdered viciously as the peasants tried to gain more and more strength and power for themselves.

It was the Jews who were blamed as a scapegoat. It was said they tried to poison Christendom by putting poison the public fountains. Stories were made up about the Jews because they were a minority in Europe so they were easy to blame. Some of the things said may be true but it is highly unlikely that the Jews were the cause of 25 million deaths from a disease spread entirely through Europe.