A2 Ocr, personal study - The Black death

so i chose the black death for my personal study
and the examiner chose my question to
how convincing is the view that the black death's impact on england in the later fourteenth century has been over estimated ?
i'm a bit lost at the minute
any help would be greatly appreciated

Reply 1

NickiM

Have you made notes and things from books? Do you have enough resources? If you do, then I find making a really detailed plan with the quotes and things you'll use, more useful than trying to sit there, thinking of something.

Or do you not know the arguments you'll use?

I'm doing OCR A2 personal study at the moment on the Salem Witch Trials and am loving it, so can help you a bit :smile:

.

FadetoBlackout I think would be able to help you more on the Black Death aspect.

PM me if you like :smile:

Reply 2

FadeToBlackout

Industrial_trash

Look at the sources and the overall recovery.

During the outbreak itself, chroniclers and others wrote about how the whole world was upside down, that there was complete social dislocation; yet within a few years things had returned to more or less normal and life went on. Yes, there were some upheavals- a shortage of labour led to a demand for better wages, more female labourers, Latin started to die out and the vernacular was used more often, there was a shortage of priests- but these were coped with by society. It never collapsed and life went on.

So you're looking at a set of sources from the time of the Black Death (Which, incidentally, is a nineteenth-century term- contemporaries tended to use "Pestilence", "Plaga", "Plag", "Epidemia", "Mortalitas Prima" [the great dying] and others) saying that the whole world was falling apart, that so many people were dying it seemed that there would be nobody left at all. Yet within ten years life returned to more or less normal, with no major upheavals. This is a big point showing that the impact of the Black Death was over-rated.

Another point to raise- the Black Death was not alone in the late fourteenth century. It affected the people from 1347, but by 1361 there was another plague, and then more. The Black Death is seen by some as only refering to the 1347 outbreak, but there were other outbreaks after it. So it's hard to examine the Black Death on its own.

In terms of historians, there are:

-Winslow; Black Death was a "shattering blow"

-Hilton and Aston; helped cause Peasant's revolt

-Gottfried; Breakdown of manorial system, end of traditional serfdom, big impact.

vs.

Ziegler: England still overpopulated after Black Death, Very speedy recovery- speeded up existing trends, didn't start them.

Suggested Reading:

Slack, "Impact of Plague"
Gottfried, "The Black Death"
Ziegler, "The Black Death"
Horrox, "The Black Death" (V. good collection of primary sources- GET THIS!)
Cohn, "Black Death Reconsidered"
Twigg, "The Black Death a Biological Reappraisal"
Shrewsbury, "The Black Death in the British Isles" (Old, most of his conclusions are now disputed.)

Hope that helps. I've got a load of printed articles and photocopied bits of books, filling four folders; if you want an article or book, chances are I've got it and I'll be only too glad to help.

Reply 3

Industrial_trash

FadeToBlackout

Suggested Reading:

Slack, "Impact of Plague"
Gottfried, "The Black Death"
Ziegler, "The Black Death"
Horrox, "The Black Death" (V. good collection of primary sources- GET THIS!)
Cohn, "Black Death Reconsidered"
Twigg, "The Black Death a Biological Reappraisal"
Shrewsbury, "The Black Death in the British Isles" (Old, most of his conclusions are now disputed.)

Hope that helps. I've got a load of printed articles and photocopied bits of books, filling four folders; if you want an article or book, chances are I've got it and I'll be only too glad to help.

wow
thanks for that
yeah ive ordered a few of those books , the ones i could get
living in cornwall there doesnt seem 2 be many in county and the library wont order out of county for me
i cant get the rosemary horrox book
but i made use of exeter uni library a few months ago and photocopied as much of that book as i could
i also bought the ziegler book and am half way through reading it now.
ive done some back ground reading

and the examiner bloke told me i need 2 make sure i reflect arguement, counter arguement
but that my whole subject needs careful handling
and to focus on elements such as labour and laws, sheep , and controll and such
and to find a book by gb harris .
i jus need a starting point really and as much information as i can get
any articles would be fab

thanks
x

Reply 4

FadeToBlackout

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6350

Look at the fourth point- you can expect acess to the national library network.

It might cost you a bit to order books in, but print off this page, take it to your local library and if they still refuse to order in books show it to them. :smile:

***

I've not, however, been able to find any references to a book by Harris about the Black Death.

***

You could also read

Herlihy, "The Black Death and the Transformation of the West" which is directly relevant to your topic.

***

I've also found four articles that you'll find useful. If you PM me your email address I'll send them to you. (They're in PDF format.)

Reply 5

Industrial_trash

ah i will
ill go sort out those library people
in cornwall they just dont like to do anything for anyone

no im not sure about the harris thing
on my question proposal form the examiner man
put
oxford history of england 1360- 1461 - gb harriss and that it would be very good
yet i find no reference to it in any library or online anywhere

thanking you
:smile:

A2 Ocr, personal study - The Black death

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