Consequences+of+the+Black+Death

__Consequence__

The Black Plague is a bacterial infection found mainly in fleas and the rodents that carry them.The Black Plague was one of the worst economic disasters in European history. It started in Italy in 1353 and spread North and West across the continent. It killed anywhere from 17 to 28 million people or 2\3 of the population. Financial business was interrupted as tax collectors died and their creditors, people who the money is owed to, found themselves with no money. Not only had the tax collector died, his family died, and many of his blood relatives. The number of people without work was very low and severe, and consequently, when people needed to buy something, the wages rose. Farms and entire villages died out or were abandoned as the few survivors decided not to stay there. Whole families died, with no heirs, or people who got the property once the owners died, leaving their houses standing empty. Between 45% and 75% of Florence died in a single year. One-third died in the first six months. In Venice, which kept excellent records, 60% died over the course of 18 months: five hundred to six hundred a day at the height.The recent research is pointing to a figure more like 45% to 50% of the European population dying during a four-year period. In some regions, two thirds of the population was destroyed. Many surviving countryside people fled, leaving their fields and crops. Entire countryside provinces are recorded as being totally depopulated. Surviving records in some cities reveal a devastating number of deaths. In crowded cities, it was not uncommon for as much as 50% of the population to die. In Western Europe, laborers gained more power and were more in demand because of the shortage of labor. In gaining more power, workers following the Black Death often moved away from annual contracts in favor of taking on successive temporary jobs that offered higher wages.