Black Death and its impact on Western Civilization

Black Death and Religion

The Black Death adversely impacted the reputation of the Catholic Church since its own adherents (including clergy) were ill and dying and the Church proved impotent to cure them. This feeling of disillusionment towards the church was reinforced by oen of the theories of its transmission that speculated that it was disseminated through the air by way of "miasma' (otherwise known as " bad air). The fact that the Church could not annihilate this bad air, caused distrust in the powers of the Church. As a result, people went to either extreme. They either flagellated themselves (e.g. The religious group called the Flagellants who traveled from town to town whipping themselves in imitation of Jesus' Crucifixion) and burned and killed others (such as Jews) to atone for their sins, or they indulged in excesses of hedonism. The general...
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