There were rats, mostly from larger cities where sewage and sanitation were not in existence, and as a result the streets, alleys, and gutters got real gross...to say the least.
Then there were fleas...ok, here is how it worked. Black rats had arrived in Europe and England from the merchant ships of the East, places like China and different parts of Asia. There was this bacteria called Yersinia Pestis, which were in these black rats...BUT...the rats were ok because they had built an immunity to this bacteria.
It quickly emerged as one large "Pandemic" ( Greek for "all people"), and many people did die.
First, you might have a pneumatic reaction, which pretty much was a "good-bye"to your lungs. In a 3 to 4 day period, your lungs would basically liquefy and you would cough them up...a horrific experience to say the least.
The second method, a septicemic reaction, which would basically annihilate your entire body and within the same time frame and you were pretty much "history".
Physical signs were lumps in your groin and armpit areas followed by black spots on your arms, thighs, and other parts of the body, and often times there would be no fever.Sad to say, this diabolic killer was estimated to kill 60% of Europe's entire population, reducing the world's population from 450 million to possibly 350 million.
The Black Plague seemed to go in cycles, history recording this killer as early as 412 B.C. up to our present day.
Between 1348-1350, Europe and England seem to take its "heaviest blows". England is reported to have lost 50% of its population with London suffering even higher losses.
From this tragic human loss came a "spin-off" from the Black Death. Because of so many people passing, labor became in much higher demand, in places like England for example. So, during this time, the Feudal System was in "full operation", and peasants had obtained a little more bargaining power with the Lords of these grand Estates.
In fact, in 1351 there was a "Statute of Labourers" law passed and enforced in England that forbade peasants receiving any higher wage than they had received prior to the rise in the Black Plague, which would be 1346.
Controversies soon developed and escalated between the very rich and the very poor, and in June of 1381 an interesting sequence of events took place.
Commonly referred to as "The Peasants Revolt", an army of peasants from Kent and Essex in England marched on London and actually captured the Tower of London. It ended up with the Archbishop of Canterbury being killed along with the King's Treasurer. King Richard ll, only 14 years old at the time, would end up meeting with the peasants at a place called Mile End to seek solutions to the increasing crisis.
What had developed over approximately 30 years (1351-81) were many peasants were experiencing new found freedoms from working on large estates owned by "Lords". In fact, a number of Lords were giving peasants their freedom and a higher work wage.
When this "Statute of Laborers" was consistently resurfacing, the peasants were prepared to fight for what they had gained.
What really "lit the fire" were 2 factors: 1) the church (who else)...they required all peasants to work 2 days a week for the church to plant, grow, and harvest their crops, along with livestock, etc. Of course, all work done was entirely free (the peasants received nothing...no pay...nothing)and the church and its high officials got wealthier and wealthier at the expense of the peasants. This put a tremendous amount of "weight" on the peasants in meeting their own needs, while the church enjoyed the benefits of "slave labor".
The 2nd factor was England's war with France, the "Hundred Years War" (you know, Joan of Arc and all those people). Guess who supplied money for war costs?...Yep...the peasants...through taxation.
In 1380, you know what "hit the fan". King Richard ll introduced a new tax, "The Poll Tax".
Peasants were now required to pay an extra tax...and this tax was being repeated (3 times in 4 years) and demanded. If a peasant was unable to pay the Poll Tax in cash, they would pay in seed, tools, or anything that could be deemed profitable for the next year.
In May of 1381, a tax collector was sent to Essex, to the village of Fobbing...to find out why the peasants of this village had not paid the Poll Tax....and he got thrown out of the village by the local peasants.
In June of the same year, soldiers were sent to the village of Fobbing...and they too got "booted" out. (I would imagine some of these peasants were veterans of the Hundred Years War, so they weren't exactly fearful of a few soldiers coming to their village...especially if the soldiers had been peasants themselves).
Two names came up during all this: a John Ball who was actually a priest of the Church who supported the peasants and their cause, and a Wat Tyler, who was the leader of the peasants in Fobbing.
So, this group of peasants marched to London to express their complaints. They destroyed anything that even resembled a tax record or a tax register. They even destroyed the buildings that contained government records on peasants who had paid taxes, burning the buildings to the ground. The people in London supported the actions of the peasants and opened their gates and let them in. Thus, it was officially named the "Peasants Revolt".
The "Achilles Heel" of the peasants uprising...was their lack of discipline. After they had marched to London, there was way too much partying, drunkenness, and looting. Foreigners in the London area ended up being brutally murdered by the local peasants. Their leader, Wat Tyler, demanded discipline, but he never got support from his "demand".
On June 14th, the King met with the peasants at Mile End. At this meeting, King Richard ll agreed to all the demands of the peasants, and wished them to go home in peace.
Some did...and some did not. The "Did Nots", that is to say the ones that remained in London, murdered both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the King's Treasurer, having their heads cut off on Tower Hill. King Richard ll feared for his very life during this traumatic time.
The following Day, June 15th, 1381, King Richard ll met with the peasant "rebels", but this time he met them at Smithfield, outside of London's city walls. The Lord Mayor, a Sir William Walworthe had made the arrangements because he didn't want the "rebels" to possibly start a fire in London, or if there was physical contact, be able to move more freely in Smithfield vs. the small streets and close quarters in London.
At this meeting, the Lord Mayor killed the peasants leader, Wat Tyler, and the result....
by the end of summer in 1381 the revolt was over. The priest who supported the peasants, John Ball, was hanged, and King Richard ll did not honor any of the promises or agreements he had made with peasants, saying he had done so under fear for his own life and threats as well. Besides, the agreements had never been made into law.
So, things for the peasants returned to their former days, prior to the Black Plague...except the Black Plague brought greater supply and demand for the peasant, and was able to increase their wages over the next 100 years.
The Church...taking advantage of the poor...even if the poor are their very own...how sad is that?
"For the Sacred Scriptures are clear, "Do not muzzle the ox when you are using him to tread out your grain", for the workers deserve their wages." 1 Timothy 5:18
" For the Law of Moses says: " You must not muzzle the ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain...for you." Now tell me, do your really think it was the ox God was thinking about when He said this?" 1 Corinthians 9:9
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