Catastrophe

When thinking of the Renaissance, many people think of the elaborate architecture, a renewed sense for the arts, and Black Death.  Chapter three deals with an interesting period during the Renaissance, a time when disaster struck repeatedly, pestilence was rampant, and people became desensitized to the death that surrounded them.  Between the years 1347-1350 a dark ominous cloud covered all of Europe, the plague, or better known as Black Death. 

The plague was unstoppable, especially because it did not discriminate against age, gender, creed, class or race.  With the growth of towns, and ships coming steadily in and out of ports, the spread of diseases was inevitable.  Zophy, the author, points out that contradictory to what scholars use to believe, that the Black Death was caused by the Bubonic plague, recent scholars have attributed many deaths to exposure to anthrax, or have theorized that it wasn’t spread through the fleas of rats. The causes are still unknown and are hypothesized and studied today.  Although we may not know the exact causes of the Black Death, what is known, is that people were ignorant to scientific factors that started such epidemics.  Instead, they turned to the Church and the heavens for the answers.  As epidemics ripped though towns and villages, people began to move out, leaving the land empty.   

Not only were epidemics a daily stressor, unbridled famine and revolts were also an every day fear in Europe.  Some actually viewed the Black Death as God’s retribution.  The Black Death also caused a questioning of the pecking order, because the Black Death was the fear of all.  The peasant class began to attack the elites.  All of Europe was feeling hostility from the surfs that inhabited their countries.  Work was scarce, trade was meager due to fear of the plague spreading, and power was in the hands of few.  People resorted to violence, conflict, and wars, some of which lasted for a hundred years, and some of which concerned internal affairs, such as the hundred Years’ War and War of the Roses.  

The Hundred Years’ War was between two monarchies of Britain and France.  According to Zophy, the period of the conflict actually was 116 years.  During this time both France and Britain were deep in conquest of one anther.  Both monarchies were looking to establish a strong hold over the other, but France would not be happy with a British monarch on the French throne.  With the war underway, and neither side relenting, the war continued to devastate both countries. 

At the same time a young girl named Joan of Arc came into the picture claming that she had a direct link with God.  During this period many claimed that they had channeled the message of God.  Joan was different; in fact, she disguised herself as a young man in order to get closer to the influential religious leaders of the time.  She did, and the war headed into a new direction.  Joan continued to lead the French to victory until her death.  Even with Joan of Arc dead, the French armies continued on the road to victory. 

Britain eventually lost the Hundred Years’ War and turned to sorting out affairs of the Crown.  In 1455 discord began to amount between King Henry who represented the house of the red roses and Edward IV who represented the white roes.  King Henry was blamed for the disgraceful loss of the war.  Soon he and his wife would be overthrown and would flee to Scotland.  Edward IV would rule England for the next twelve years until his death. 

Chapter three was interesting because it illustrated the crucial state of affairs and events that made the Renaissance both legendary and infamous.  Many of the changes that took place had lasting effects on all of Europe, from a women leading an army into victory, to kings being overthrown, and most importantly a questioning of religious beliefs. We may try to recreate such an atmosphere with Renaissance fairs or imagine what it must have been like to live in a time where wars and revolts were an everyday occurrence, God was present, death was close, and hunger part of life.  The reality is the Renaissance will always be an appealing field of study because it was the period of disaster.