Religion
The Black Death paid no attention to class boundaries nor religious affiliations, the richest and the holiest in society died a miserable death along with the sinners. The plague produced a number of questions the all-powerful Christian Church could not answer. Why were the clergy and monks dying with the poverty-stricken labourers?
If the plague was a test from God, why were God’s messengers failing the test? These spiritual questions were asked by the survivors and many people lost faith. Just as importantly ,the Christian Church lost credibility as an exclusive communicator with God.
People started to find their own path to God away from the organized Christian Church. One group known as the Flagellants roamed across Europe whipping themselves with a scourge to get closer to God. The physical suffering was meant to atone for their sins.
This questioning of the Christian dogma reached the English theologian John Wycliffe, who expressed dissent against the abuses of the Church. As so often happens in history, this increase in freethinking would lead to further changes, most notably 200 years later when the Reformation began.