Changes

The Black Death (1347-1350) was a pandemic that devastated Europe and Asia populations. 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, resulting in wide-ranging social, economic, cultural, and religious changes.<ref> Burckhardt, Jacob (1878), ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014044534X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=014044534X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=c69db648577e5fea459a41232bb349e6 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.

To Black Death spread to Italy from modern-day Russia. Genoese merchants spread the plague while 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. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMHGO4K/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00CMHGO4K&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=15e48ba82dfc5f5eeee14a1e5eca5898 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. Furthermore, the population did not have any natural resistance to the disease. Italy was the most urbanized society in Europe, Milan, Rome, Florence, and other Italian centers among the largest on the continent.<ref> Pullan, 1973, p. 89</ref>

<blockquote>"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. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140449302/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0140449302&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=199bd9b0ec199319d106dc174065bb99 The Decameron].'' (Penguin Classics, Hammondsworth, 1987) trans Mark Musa, p. 6</ref></blockquote>

{{Mediawiki:TabletAd1}}

====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 labor force.<ref> Hay, Denys. ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521291046/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0521291046&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=20ec38bb2892fda8011774d1b91c7f5b 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 phenomenon 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 labor shortages, there was a move from labor-intensive farming such as cereal to livestock and an increase in industry and agriculture more labor-saving devices employed.<ref> Pullan, 1997, p 145 </ref> The impact of the Black Death was contrary to feudalism in Italy. Feudalism was a system whereby peasants and farm laborers were 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.