At the very top of feudal society were the monarchs, or kings and queens. As you have learned, medieval monarchs were also feudal lords. They were expected to keep order and to provide protection for their vassals.

Feudalism in 12th-century England was among the better structured and established systems in Europe at the time. The king was the absolute “owner” of land in the feudal system, and all nobles, knights, and other tenants, termed vassals, merely “held” land from the king, who was thus at the top of the feudal pyramid.

The kings believed they were given the right to rule by God. This was called “divine right”. Lords and Barons swore oaths of homage and fealty to their kings. The Lord held absolute power over the fief or manor including holding court and deciding punishments for crimes.

Feudalism was the system in 10th-13th century European medieval societies where a social hierarchy was established based on local administrative control and the distribution of land into units (fiefs).

Serfdom, condition in medieval Europe in which a tenant farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord. The vast majority of serfs in medieval Europe obtained their subsistence by cultivating a plot of land that was owned by a lord.

How the Black Death Led to Peasants’ Triumph Over the Feudal System. In the year 1348, the Black Death swept through England killing millions of people. The dispute regarding wages led to the peasants’ triumph over the manorial economic system and ultimately ended in the breakdown of feudalism in England.

The Black Death marked an end of an era in Italy. Its impact was profound, resulting in wide-ranging social, economic, cultural, and religious changes. These changes, directly and indirectly, led to the emergence of the Renaissance, one of the greatest epochs for art, architecture, and literature in human history.

With as much as half of the population dead, survivors in the post-plague era had more resources available to them. Historical documentation records an improvement in diet, especially among the poor, DeWitte said. “They were eating more meat and fish and better-quality bread, and in greater quantities,” she said.

The Black Death brought about a decline in feudalism. The significant drop in population because of massive numbers of deaths caused a labor shortage that helped end serfdom. Towns and cities grew. The decline of the guild system and an expansion in manufacturing changed Europe’s economy and society.

However, historians have suggested the Black Death had significant consequences: Psychological: the Black Death had a huge influence on the way people thought about life. Social: poor people began to hate their poverty and their ‘betters’ – some historians think this helped to destroy the feudal system.

It is not known for certain how many people died during the Black Death. About 25 million people are estimated to have died in Europe from the plague between 1347 and 1351.

After the Black Death, lords actively encouraged peasants to leave the village where they lived to come to work for them. When peasants did this, the lord refused to return them to their original village. Peasants could demand higher wages as they knew that a lord was desperate to get in his harvest.

And we know some physicians tried to rupture and drain the buboes. But many people instead turned to the church for a cure, praying that God would end the great pestilence. Religious reactions took two extreme forms: the rise of the flagellants and the persecution of Jews.

Because the Black Death killed so many people, there was much more demand for the workers and peasants who survived. They were able to get better wages and working conditions and such after the Black Death. This helped to improve their standard of living and it also helped to give them more power over their lives.

There are two main forms of plague infection, depending on the route of infection: bubonic and pneumonic. Bubonic plague is the most common form of plague and is caused by the bite of an infected flea.

New cases of the bubonic plague found in China are making headlines. But health experts say there’s no chance a plague epidemic will strike again, as the plague is easily prevented and cured with antibiotics.

The Plagues of Egypt (מכות מצרים‎), in the story of the book of Exodus, are ten disasters inflicted on Egypt by the God of Israel in order to convince the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to depart from slavery, each of them confronting Pharaoh and one of his Egyptian gods; they serve as “signs and marvels” given by God …

The plagues are: water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the killing of firstborn children. The question of whether Bible stories can be linked to archaeological discoveries is one that has long fascinated scholars.

The plague decimated Constantinople and spread like wildfire across Europe, Asia, North Africa and Arabia killing an estimated 30 to 50 million people, perhaps half of the world’s population.