The Bubonic Plague was a disease where the victim has swollen lymph nodes, called buboes. These swollen lymph nodes are often first found in the groin area, which is "boubon" in Latin. This disease became associated with the term "plague" because of its widespread fatality throughout history. Bubonic plague was also known as the "Black Death" in medieval times. This is because the dried blood under the skin turns black. Although it had very severe physical side effects, it also had a very critical impact on society in Middle Age Europe. It changed the way of life for many people and constituted how we live today. It created a shortage of food, had a negative effect on art, sharpened the social classes and gave the poor a little more freedom, and induced a general pessimistic view of life, but the two biggest effects it had were on the Catholic Church and on education.

The plague caused a severe food shortage for many reasons. Farmers left their farms to avoid the plague causing not enough food production, which, in turn, caused a rise in the price of food. Ironically, some people in urban areas died of starvation, not the plague. Because of the lack of workers and the lowered populat

Snell, Melissa." The Great Mortality, Part 3."1998.2.On-line. Internet. 12/30/2000. Available: http://historymedren.about.com/homework/historymedren/

Before the plague, the clergy controlled learning and the focus was art, architecture, music, and languages, all of which glorified the Catholic Church. But after the plague, secularism grew and questions brought about by the severity of the plague opened many people to a different way of thinking. Scholars no longer searched for answers in the Bible or preaching's of a priest; and thus, humanism was born. Strange to think that the crowning achievement of the Middle Ages, the glorious Renaissance, could owe its existence to the Bubonic Plague ("The Great Mortality, Part 3").

Also because of the Black Death, workers became scarce and because of this the peasants experienced a rise in wages. In fact, the demand for workers was so high that it threatened manorial holdings and many serfs were no longer tied to their lords. Soon, the wages were more than enough to support the peasants and most had extra money left over. This created a higher standard of living for the poor, giving them more power than ever before.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Catholic Church, Black Death, Sumptuary Laws, Dance Death, Bubonic Plague, Corpus Christi, Age Europe, John Wycliffe, University Prague, Melissa Mortality, black death, bubonic plague, catholic church, bubonic plague black, martin luther, plague black, people church, pessimistic view life, corpus christi, discovery reformation, effect art, view life, discovery reformation martin, swollen lymph nodes, division catholic church,
Approximate Word count = 1375
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)