| The Black Death, with its great significance in the history of Europe, has a profound effect in the development of the whole society. Although scholars in western countries have expounded the event a lot, they left some misunderstanding on it. That's because they neglect the research on the Black Death itself, but only deduce the inevitable aftermath of the Black Death, which is based on certain theory of society and population development. The following thesis will deal with the relationship between the Black Death and the population development in Britain, on the basis of the knowledge on the Black Death itself.The first part is a review of exposition on pestilence in western countries. According to the New Theory of Population, which affects deeply in the western academic circles, the only reason for the Black Death infected area being so wild is a so-called excess population, caused by the balance between population increase and economic development being disrupted. Thanks to the infection of Black Death the population decreased sharply, which makes a new development become possible. By this theory, the effect of pestilence is neglected and the Black Death is recognized as a kind of Necessary event. Many scholars criticized the population pattern, however, they still didn't pay enough attention to the Black Death itself. It is said in this thesis that we should give the Black Death a specific analysis, as the Black Death is not a Necessary event, but an Emergency, which has affected deeply hi the development of British population. The thesis discusses the point in three aspects.First, the second part of the thesis deals from the pathogeny view, the Emergence of the plague, hi recent years, many scholars deny the statement that the Black Death is plague, which makes others doubt whether the Black Death is really coming from other parts of the world or not, andwhich may also strengthen the opinion that the Black Death is a Necessary event. The thesis not only refutes the above opinion, but also does some amelioration on the opinion that the Black Death is bubonic plague. From the etiology, the Black Death is plague, and was bubonic plague in the first several periods, then several kinds of plague erupted simultaneously, among which pneumonic plague is the most serious one, and is probably a cause to some endemic disease. Since the Europe has never had an Inveterate focus of plague, there is no doubt that the plague is coming from other parts of the world. The social surroundings may also be a reason for the popularity of pestilence; but they're the intrinsic conditions in the long steady structure, form which we can not draw a conclusion that the plague is a Necessary event.Second, the third part Indicates that, the increase of population at that time didn't inevitably lead to the plague disaster. From the end of 13th century to the beginning of the 14th century, the population increase slowed down and even decreased in some degree. Three's some valuable point in the explanation on the imbalance of population and economic, in the New Theory of Population. It is necessary to take these facts into consideration, but shouldn't exaggerate the effect. They only treat human beings as consumers but neglect the importance of human as producers. As producers, human beings not only produce food and other things, but adjust themselves vigorously in the face of difficulty. The adjustment is first reflected in the birthcontrol of people. It is secondly reflected in the transformation from extensive cultivation to intensive farming, which is more important, between the two. The result of evaluation also proves that the population is not really beyond control. However, at the end of the 12th century, human beings' adjustment faced great difficulty, because of the "the little optimum" and the deterioration of weather. The weather change is some activity of long steady structure and people will gradually get usedto it. But it is the plague, an emergency that made the adjustment impossible.Third, t... |
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