DBQ #2: What do primary sources during and after the plague suggest about the direct effect of the Black Death on European society?

The Black Plague caused a great shortage of labor, which allowed workmen to be able to control wages, changing the order of society, but the Ordinance of Laborers was created to control this; there was also an uprising by the peasants in France called "Jacques," who were angry at they're rulers for not protecting them, so they rebelled, killing many of the elite in France; and the Jews, who have always been persecuted throughout history, were again persecuted by being blamed for the Black Plague.

The Ordinance of Laborers was issued in 1349 by King Edward III. Before the law was made workers were exploiting the situation that the landowners were in. The Black Plauge had killed millions of workers causing a shortage in labor. The surviving workers were wanted by landowners to work their fields so that the land wouldn't go to waste. It was the law of supply and demand. There was a limited supply of workers, but there was a high demand for them. So naturally the wages of workers rose. This raise in wages caused goods to be more expensive to produce. The King came up with the Ordinance of Laborers to control this. The document said that "every man and woman of our realm of England....within the age of threescore years, not living in merchandise, nor exercising any craft, nor having of his own whereof he may live, nor proper land, about whose tillage he may himself occupy, and not serving any other, if he in convenient service, his estate considered, be required to serve." This basically says that everyone under 60 years old has to work. It also said "...take only the wages, livery, meed, or salary, which were accustomed to be given in the places where he oweth to serve, the twentieth year of our reign of England, or five or six other commone years next before." This says that the workers can only receive wages that are higher than what they were before the plague. The ordinance also required that; food may not be over priced and that employers may not hire more workers than they needed, among a few other things. The Ordinance of Laborers is a valid source of information. It was a document of laws from 1349 made by the King of England himself. The Black Plague changed the economic structure of England.

The Jacquerie was a great rebellion by the Jacques. They set out to kill rich nobles, knights, and squires because they felt that they were not doing their job. They were angry with the rulers of their country. The Jacques did terribly gruesome things to the elite. They burnt down their houses and castles. They would rape the women multiple times before killing them. They would kill whole families; men, women, and children. They killed the person in torturous and disgusting ways and before the person's family members. In the article Jean Froissart: on the Jacquerie, 1358, it says, "...they slew a knight and after did put him on a broach and roasted him at the fire in the sight of the lady his wife and his children; and after the lady had been enforced and ravished with a ten or twelve, they made her perforce to eat of her husband and after made her to die an evil death and all her children." The Jacques killed a knight and roasted his body over a fire in front of his wife and children. They then raped the wife ten or twelve times and then forced her to eat her husband before killing her and all of her children. These happenings were absolutely awful. The Jacques were crazy with anger. France was in a state of anarchy. In order to regain control leaders would have to give the Jacques what they wanted changing the workings of society.The article by Jean Froissart is a reliable source. It is his account of what he witnessed of the Jacquerie.

People were extremely afraid of the Black Plague. They did not know how it came to be or how to stop it. They blamed it on the Jews, saying that the Jews had poisoned wells and other water sources. Jews confessed to this accusation in order to escape being tortured. This added to the hatred of Jews throughout history. Several towns and cities, including Berne, Zofingen, Freiburg, and Basel, banished Jews or burnt them. In Strasbourg the town-council did not want to harm the Jews. They were kicked out of office though and a new town-council was formed. The new council gave in to the mob and had the Jews burnt. They also said that the Jews were not allowed to come back for 200 years. The article, "Jewish History Sourcebook: The Black Death and the Jews 1348-1349 CE" describes the burning of the Jews. It says, "On Saturday - that was St. Valentine's Day-they burnt the Jews on a wooden platform in their cemetery. There were about two thousand people of them. Those who wanted to baptize themselves were spared. [Some say that about a thousand accepted baptism.] Many small children were taken out of the fire and baptized against the will of their fathers and mothers. And everything that was owed to the Jews was cancelled, and the Jews had to surrender all pledges and notes that they had taken for debts." It was another truly awful and unjust event that happened during the Black Plague. Blaming the Jews for the Black Plague was just another thing that built up more prejudice against the Jews that would come out at later points in history.