Demographic Crises
Long-term Effects
The long-term effects of the Black Death are difficult to assess. Oddly enough, there has been little work on the later plagues and most historians speak only vaguely of the impact of the decline in population. These pages are a far cry from original research, so all I can do is mention the generalities. I'll do so in the same terms in which this course is structured, by themes.
Politics and Religion
The political effects of the Black Death are negligible. Death might carry off this or that leader, but the only significant effects were those I mentioned in the wake of the original outbreak, and these were only temporary. Plague did stop armies from time to time, but outbreaks of disease had had this effect all the way back to ancient times.
Similarly, the effect on the Church were fleeting. If anyone lost their faith due to the Black Death, they were few in number and their crisis has gone unrecorded. The only really significant impact was the persecution of the Jews, an intensification of a general move to expel the Jews that was in motion at the time anyway. The flagellant movement was not significant of itself, but was simply another manifestation of popular religion.