Name ____________________________________ Date: Thursday, September 25, 2014
Act 1.4 Key
Title: How Might the “Black Death” Have Changed the Way People Viewed the World? Author: Rees, Anderson Gerrits, Allaire
Source: Our Worldviews: Explore, Understand, Connect
I can statement: I can explain the factors that shaped the Renaissance.
Pages 25-28
Key Words/Concepts Defined
Main Idea
Pestilence: A usually fatal epidemic disease.
As a result of the Black Death, the Middle Ages Feudal System
was abandoned thus, creating an opportunity to spread the
more liberal Renaissance worldview.
Epidemic: a fast widespread disease
Mortality: Death
Astrology: The study of planets, stars and comets in the
belief that their movement and positions affect daily life.
Write an article summary in your own words or
create a figurative representation (picture). Do
not list facts. Give an overview.
What are the facts? List at least five.
Varying Reactions to the Disaster

Legitimate authority disappeared as the
ministers and the executors of the law were
either dead or locked up with their families
resulting in no duties being carried out.

People also began to abandon all property and
escape to cities like Florence in an effort to
avoid God’s perceived wrath.
The Break Down of Social Order



Family system fell apart
Financial system was becoming irrelevant
Morality had been abandoned
Mass Burials

Death totals were so extreme that religious
custom was abandoned and mass graves of
hundreds were used.
Prevalent Beliefs about the Plague

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As a result of the Black Death, the Middle Age
feudal system collapsed thus, challenging its
worldview. Initially, the Plague would breakdown
the hierarchical social order of the Middle Ages.
With death tolls reaching 90 percent in some rural
areas, there would not be enough people alive to
tend crops. In an effort to avoid starvation those
left alive would abandon feudal estates and
migrate to seaboard cities in hopes of building a
new life. Moreover, the worldview that held God as
the center of existence would be severely
challenged. With the uncertainty of the Black
Death’s causes, many abandoned the moral
teachings of the Church as they felt at best
abandoned by God or at worse punished by God.
Given a weakened spiritual belief and a collapse of
the feudal system, society would be forced to
rebuild itself. What would be the Plague survivors’
new worldview?
Doctors believed health was linked to astrology
and the Plague was caused by movement of the
planets.
Punishment sent by God
Caused by magic or the Devil
Some blamed cultural or ethnic groups different
from their own.
Burning incense would purify the air and keep
the Plague away.
Relate: Based on what you know of the Black Death, what effect do you think it would have the worldview
of the Middle Ages?
It likely shook people to their very core. The political-socio-economic feudal system of the previous 800 to
1000 years would collapse in on itself, as there would not be enough people to tend the crops in rural areas.
People would leave these areas and head to cities on the sea in hopes that fish could help them stave off
starvation. Likewise, spiritual beliefs with God as the center of existence would likely polarize. On the one
hand, people may become more pious believing this to be God’s judgment on humankind with hopes of
attaining entrance into Heaven. On the other hand, people may have perceived the Plague as evidence of
God abandoning them, so they chose to abandon the strict moral behaviour of the Middle Ages.
Name ____________________________________ Date: Thursday, September 25, 2014
Act 1.4 Key
Reflect
How do you think the western world, would react if it was to face a plague event afflicting 50 percent of
the population?
Given what happened during the Black Death in the Middle Ages, I think it would fair to say our society
would likely collapse. If half of the population in Canada dies, our ability to feed ourselves would be
quite limited. Starvation would become the reality to many who survive the disease. Those left behind
will become more individualistic. They would focus on their own or a small groups well-being at the sake
of the larger society. Canada would likely become a morally bankrupt society as people would abandon
its laws in order to obtain resources that would allow them to survive. Even if a law was broken, who
would be left to enforce it. In time groups would unite, food supplies would be adequate for society to
rebuild itself. How this society sees the world may be quite different from our own.