5. People Eventually Adapted to the Tragic Consequences of History’s Greatest Plague
Take the experience of the world’s reaction to Covid-19, and multiply it many times over, to get an idea of how contemporaries felt about and reacted to the Black Death. The shock of a plague that wiped out up to two-thirds of the population – which is what the Black Death did – was great, to say the least. The economy contracted sharply, as trade came to a standstill, and wars came to a halt. However, people are adaptable, and adapt to the tragic just as they adapt to everything else.
Medieval people soon adjusted to the Black Death, grew accustomed to the plague, and took its frequent recurrences in stride. The immediate reaction to the first and deadliest wave was only temporary: the dead died, but life went on for the survivors. Within a few years, trade had resumed, the economy picked up, and the survivors went back to waging wars and settling their disputes and differences by killing each other.