Each New Day

I have heard before that the child’s game “Ring Around the Rosy” came out of the time of the Bubonic Plague. I read this again today. The part that sings “ring around the rosy” represents a traditional dance in which people held hands and marched in a circle around a tree. “A pocket full of posey” stands for the flowers people would carry in their pockets to help cover the stench of the disease. “Ashes, ashes” symbolizes the piles of bodies that had to be burned to help keep the disease from spreading even more. And the phrase “we all fall down” signifies all the people dying.

In reading about the Bubonic Plague and the effect this had on the middle ages, I have learned and been reminded of quite a few things. The Black Death was carried by fleas who bit infested rats and then bit humans. It spread rapidly because of the ignorance of medical practices and hygiene. The plague wiped out about 1/3 of Europe within 1-3 years (depending on the source you read.) Because of the lack of workers during and just after this time, nobles had to begin to pay their former serfs and peasants. This allowed the common people to accumulate some wealth and helped to put an end to fuedalism.

As we are beginning to wrap up our study of the middle ages, we learned today about the influences that worked to bring about the end of the middle ages. One of the biggest influences was the Hundred Years War and it’s final days (to everyone’s great relief.) The Bubonic Plague-The Black Death-killed over 1/3 of Europe’s population within one year. The invention of guns, travelers spreading news of other lands and peoples, and the weakening and splitting of the Catholic church all also played a part in ending the Middle Ages. Lastly, the invention of the printing press and the distribution of books to the common people helped to bring on the “rebirth” of the Renaissance.