-
New inventions made an impact on daily life at the same time that the effects of the plague were felt.
I. Changes in Urban Life
Byproduct of Black Death
- a. Byproduct of the black death: greater regulation of urban activities by town governments
- i. Authorities tried to keep cities cleaner by enacting new ordinances against waste products in the streets
- 1. Bathhouses closedà decline in cleanliness
-
I. Changes in Urban Life
Prostitution
- i. Medieval society thought it was lesser evil: better to take a prostitute than seduce virgins or wives
- 1. Demand high since males married late
- ii. 14th century: recession increased supply, while new hedonism increased demandà brothels
- 1. City authorities could supervise and tax prostitutes
- a. Charters granted to set up brothels
- b. Prostitutes had to wear special clothes to distinguish them
-
I. Changes in Urban Life
Family Life
- i. Medieval: nuclear families; wealthier had servants, apprentices, etc.
- ii. Before Black Death: late marriages common
- 1. Husbands: 30s or 40s; wives: 20s
- a. Expense of setting up household necessitated the delay I marriage
- iii. Postplague: reluctant to postpone living
-
I. Changes in Urban Life
Genders
- i. Fourteenth century: strengthened development
- 1. Aristotle, Aquinas, etc: men were active and domineering; women passive and submissive
- a. With training of lawyers, doctors, and priests, this idea was accepted
- b. Evident in legal systems, many of which limited the legal capacity of women
-
I. Changes in Urban Life
Genders--> Women
- 1. Women expected to give up active functions in society and remain subject to direction from males
- a. Although some women were running businesses, they were viewed as incapable of undertaking all men’s activities
- ii. Europeans in the 14th c. imposed a division of labor roles between men and women that persisted until the Industrial Revolution
-
I. Changes in Urban Life
Benefits of Women from effects of hte Black Death
- i. Benefits of women from effects of the Black Death
- 1. Death of males opened up new jobs for women
- a. Cloth making allowed women to assume better paying jobs as weavers
- b. Brewing an all-female profession
- c. Widows carried on husband’s business
-
I. Changes in Urban Life
Children
- i. Parents in High and Later Middle Ages invested considerable resources and affection in raising children
- 1. Increase in specialized roles accompanying spread of commerce and city growth required commitment to educating children in market skills
- ii. Schools to educate young
- 1. Florence: 8000-10000 boys and girls ages 6-12 went to grammar schools
- a. 1100 boys went to six secondary schools preparing them for business
- b. 600 studied Latin and logic
-
I. Changes in Urban Life
Effects of Plague
- 1. Same cities concerned about survival and health of children
- a. Hospitals established catering to needs of foundlings, supporting them until boys taught trade and girls could marry
-
I. New Directions in Medicine
Medical Hierarchy
- physicians
- surgeons
- midwives/ barber-surgeons
- apothecaries
-
Physicians
- i. Physicians, usually clergymen who were educated in universities and studied ancient people
- 1. Trained in theory but little or no clinical practice
- 2. 14th c: educated in six chief medical schools
- a. Pre-plague medicine of university trained physicians
- i. Four humorsà human beings microcosm of the cosmos
- 1. Blood (heart)= air
- 2. Phlegm (brain)= water
- 3. Yellow bile (liver)= fire
- 4. Black bile (spleen)= earth
- ii. Good health from balance of these: sickness= unbalanced
- iii. Job of medieval physician was to restore proper order through remedies
-
Surgeons
Mid-wives/ barber-surgeons
- i. Surgeons who operated
- 1. Knowledge= practical experience
- ii. Midwives and barber-surgeons
- 1. Delivered babies/ less trained than surgeons and performed menial tasks such as bloodletting and simple bone fractures (respectively)
- 2. Barber- surgeons shaved, cut hair , and pulled teeth
-
i. Apothecaries
1. Filled herbal prescriptions and prescribed drugs on own authority
-
Post-plague
- a. Postplague: they were unable to deal
- i. When King Philip VI of France requested an opinion of the medical faculty of UParis, their advice was worthlessà crisisà new approaches to health care
-
Results of inability to provide good medical advice
- 1. Rise of surgeons to greater prominence because of practical knowledge
- a. Recruited by universities
- b. Equal with physicians
- c. Greater emphasis on practical anatomy into university curriculumà medical textbooks
-
Santiation adn public health
- i. Increased attention to public health and sanitation
- 1. Public health laws and municipal boards of health (prevent plague)
- a. Boards of public health consisting of medical practitioners and public officials enforced sanitary conditions, reported on and attempted to isolate epidemics by quarantine, and regulate doctor activities
-
The Clock
- i. Mechanical invented at end of 13th; perfected in 14th
- ii. Time-telling clock byproduct of larger astronomical clock
- 1. Best designed by Giovanni di Dondi
- a. Contained zodiac signs but struck on hour
- b. Expensive; installed in towers of churches or municipal buildings
iii. First clock striking equal hours was in church in Milan
-
Conception of time
- 1. Middle Ages: time determined by natural rhythms or church bells rang at 3 hour intervals, corresponding to ecclesiastical offices of church
- 2. Made it possible to plan one’s day and organize one’s activities around regular striking of bells; new regularity into lives
-
Eyeglass and Paper
- i. Introduced in 13th; refined in 14th
- ii. Not really effective by modern standards and expensive
- iii. High cost in parchment forced people to write small; and eyeglasses helped
- b. Paper made from cotton rags
-
Gunpowder
- i. Invented by Chinese; appearance in west in 14th
- 1. Changed warfare
- 2. Use in cannons
- a. Dangerous as it caused explosions
- i. Attack on castle using the “Lion” killed king James II and retainers
-
Canons
i. Improvement made and made them valuable in reducing both castles and city walls
|
|