The world the plague made : the Black Death and the rise of Europe / James Belich.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Belich, James, 1956- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Black Death--Social aspects--Europe.

Black Death.

Diseases and history.

Black Death--Europe.

Pandemics--History.

Pandemics.

Middle Ages.

Europe--History--476-1492.

Europe.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 622 pages) : maps

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 2022,

Summary:

A groundbreaking history of how the Black Death unleashed revolutionary change across the medieval world and ushered in the modern age. In 1346, a catastrophic plague beset Europe and its neighbours. The Black Death was a human tragedy that abruptly halved entire populations and caused untold suffering. but it also brought about a cultural and economic renewal on a scale never before witnessed. The World the Plague Made is a panoramic history of how the bubonic plague revolutionized labour, trade and technology and set the stage for Europe’s global expansion.James Belich takes readers across centuries and continents to shed new light on one of history’s greatest paradoxes. Why did Europe’s dramatic rise begin in the wake of the Black Death? Belich shows how plague doubled the per capita endowment of everything even as it decimated the population. Many more people had disposable incomes. Demand grew for silks, sugar, spices, furs, gold and slaves. Europe expanded to satisfy that demand—and plague provided the means. Labour scarcity drove more use of waterpower, wind power and gunpowder. Technologies like water-powered blast furnaces, heavily gunned galleons and musketry were fast-tracked by plague. A new “crew culture” of “disposable males” emerged to man the guns and galleons. Setting the rise of Western Europe in global context, Belich demonstrates how the mighty empires of the Middle East and Russia also flourished after the plague, and how European expansion was deeply entangled with the Chinese and other peoples throughout the world.-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Maps

Introduction: Plague Paradoxes

Prologue: Globalising Europe

Part I A Plague of Mysteries

Introduction

1 The Black Death and the Plague Era

2 The Origins and Dynamics of the Black Death

Part II Plague and Expansionism in Western Europe

3 A Golden Age? Economy and Society in the Ear ly Plague Er a

4 Expansive Trades

5 Plague Revolutions?

6 Expansive Labour: Castas, Race Mothers, and Disposable Males

7 States, Interstates, and the European Expansion Kit

Part III Western Europe or West Eurasia?

8 Plagues Impact in the Muslim South

9 Early Modern Ming-Muslim Globalisation

10 Entwined Empires: The Genoese Paradox and Iberian Expansion

11 The Ottomans and the Great Diversion

12 The Dutch Puzzle and the Mobilisation of Eastern Europe

13 Muslim Colonial Empires

14 Plague and Russian Expansion

Part IV Expansion, Industry, and Empire

15 Empire? What Empire? European Expansion to 1800

16 Plaguing Britain

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

A NOTE ON THE TYPE

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691222875 (electronic book)

9780691222875

0691222878

OCLC:

1310241168