What Effect Did the Black Plague Have on Europe?

By Staff WriterLast Updated April 01, 2020

The Black Plague, also known as the Black Death, was the largest pandemic in the history of Europe and had a disastrous effect on the demography of the continent. The plague also had large-scale economic and social effects.

The outburst of the plague took place in 1348, and even though exact death toll figures do not exist, it is believed that up to 200 million people lost their lives by 1352. Some of the effects of the Black Death include abrupt inflation, peasant revolts that resulted in the empowerment of the poor and a fragmentation of the Church. Some historians argue that the Black Death brought the end of feudalism.