On The Impact Of The Epidemic On The Process Of European Medieval Society

The development of human society should be due to the interaction of various factors and powers. Earlier historiography has successfully made much research into the reasons for the social transformations and the historical movements mainly from the society itself. However, with the human beings' self-comprehension deepened and their sights widened, the historians who study social history have generally paid much attention to the influence from nature, especially to the relationship of nature, humans, society and their interactions. From the middle of the 20th century, human society has experienced rapid development, but meanwhile we also are facing environmental pollution, ecological disturbances and many other harsh situations. Thus, people began to probe into the relations between nature and human development and social advancement. So it was realized that not only human but also natural factors can be the motivating force in the development of human society. Nature, humans and society together created human history. Plague, an important element of nature, always affects human beings and human society deeply, and even plays a very significant role in the procession of human society, specifically during some great social transformations. Therefore, to study the influence of plague on human beings and their society will be very helpful to acquire a complete understanding of the relationship among nature, humans and society.My thesis aims at analyzing the influence of plague on the procession of Medieval European society so as to deepen the comprehension of Medieval European history as a supplement to the traditional view. During my argument, which is based on the historical materialism of Karl Marx and modem ecotypic conception of history, I use the knowledge of various subjects, for example, psychology, sociology, history and demography.Firstly, I introduce the reasons why I chose the topic and present a review of foreign and domestic studies on it. In chapter one, afterinspection of the evolution of germs, the repeated eruption of plague as well as the struggle between human beings and plague in history, I make an evaluation on the historical affects of plague. In chapter two, I interpret the fact that the decline of population on account of the plague directly led to changes in economic, politics, religion, military affairs and many other aspects in Medieval European society. My conclusion is that plague is also a considerable factor in the history of medieval society.