5 ms·

If I understand correctly, the main point is that the destruction of institutions lowers the quality and quantity of life that can be supported. That makes sen

If I understand correctly, the main point is that the destruction of institutions lowers the quality and quantity of life that can be supported. That makes sense. The bigger surprise to me was that after the Black Death, quality of life for the survivors improved. I suppose that's because there was less dependence on institutions, or maybe the Black Death caused less damage to institutions than to people?

champagnois 5y ago
A theory proposed by a professor at my school was: The black death killed a lot of the people who grouped in churches and ignored the common sense precautions of staying away from people. This could be seen as a culling of what was largely the weak and foolish third of society. Coincidentally, with fewer people to do the labor around and a generally smarter stock of people remaining, the upper classes were forced to pay more for services that keep the world running. There was a huge impact on labor markets, claimed the professor. Thirdly, and likely related to all of this, the renaissance began.
- Calavar 5y ago
  > The black death killed a lot of the people who grouped in churches and ignored the common sense precautions of staying away from people. Was that really considered common sense before we knew about germ theory? I'm not asking rhetorically; I'm legitimately curious about whether the average medieval peasant had any intuition about the fact that disease was communicable.
  - analog31 5y ago
    I don't know about the Medieval period, but reading a book about Galileo, I noted that his communications with the officials in Rome was hampered by the fact that the cities along the mail route would close their gates and impose a quarantine whenever a plague went through the region. So at least they had a hunch that the disease could be carried from A to B, even if they didn't know by what.
  - champagnois 5y ago
    Even prior to advanced theories, we know of plague doctors who made efforts to protect themselves. People knew there was something going on between infections that spread them even before the more advanced germ theories of Pasteur.
    - denton-scratch 5y ago
      > plague doctors who made efforts to protect themselves. Indeed - the figure of Il Dottore from the Commedia Del Arte wears a mask with a long "beak". The beak was stuffed with sweet-smelling herbs; in those days, they thought that it was bad smells that spread disease. Perhaps people gathered in churches because they burned sweet-smelling incence in churches?
- chmod600 5y ago
  That theory presumes a correlation between the behaviors that lead to contracting the plague, and a general foolishness/uselessness to society overall. Sounds like a stretch to me, but I'm no expert.
thomassmith65 5y ago
Could it not be as straightforward as people inheriting property and goods?
ska 5y ago
> . I suppose that's because there was less dependence on institutions, or maybe the Black Death caused less damage to institutions than to people? The article had some specific ideas on that; e.g. after 1/3 of all farmers died, the ones that were left abandoned the least efficient land and concentrated on the best land, which made them more efficient. Also being in demand, they made a better living.

champagnois 5y ago

A theory proposed by a professor at my school was: The black death killed a lot of the people who grouped in churches and ignored the common sense precautions of staying away from people. This could be seen as a culling of what was largely the weak and foolish third of society. Coincidentally, with fewer people to do the labor around and a generally smarter stock of people remaining, the upper classes were forced to pay more for services that keep the world running. There was a huge impact on labor markets, claimed the professor. Thirdly, and likely related to all of this, the renaissance began.

Calavar 5y ago
> The black death killed a lot of the people who grouped in churches and ignored the common sense precautions of staying away from people. Was that really considered common sense before we knew about germ theory? I'm not asking rhetorically; I'm legitimately curious about whether the average medieval peasant had any intuition about the fact that disease was communicable.
- analog31 5y ago
  I don't know about the Medieval period, but reading a book about Galileo, I noted that his communications with the officials in Rome was hampered by the fact that the cities along the mail route would close their gates and impose a quarantine whenever a plague went through the region. So at least they had a hunch that the disease could be carried from A to B, even if they didn't know by what.
- champagnois 5y ago
  Even prior to advanced theories, we know of plague doctors who made efforts to protect themselves. People knew there was something going on between infections that spread them even before the more advanced germ theories of Pasteur.
  - denton-scratch 5y ago
    > plague doctors who made efforts to protect themselves. Indeed - the figure of Il Dottore from the Commedia Del Arte wears a mask with a long "beak". The beak was stuffed with sweet-smelling herbs; in those days, they thought that it was bad smells that spread disease. Perhaps people gathered in churches because they burned sweet-smelling incence in churches?
chmod600 5y ago
That theory presumes a correlation between the behaviors that lead to contracting the plague, and a general foolishness/uselessness to society overall. Sounds like a stretch to me, but I'm no expert.

thomassmith65 5y ago

Could it not be as straightforward as people inheriting property and goods?

ska 5y ago

> . I suppose that's because there was less dependence on institutions, or maybe the Black Death caused less damage to institutions than to people? The article had some specific ideas on that; e.g. after 1/3 of all farmers died, the ones that were left abandoned the least efficient land and concentrated on the best land, which made them more efficient. Also being in demand, they made a better living.