The Black Death and an Educational Renaissance

An infectious disease causes a pandemic that decimates the major urban centers in northern Italy. Doctors are recognized by their masks. The economy is disrupted through the loss of a workforce. The social order is overturned. Many turn to religion as a response to the pandemic, yet dogmatic norms are questioned. The pope issues indulgences for both those who must practice social distancing as well as for those who are deceased. 

The parallels are stunning. It’s truly hard to tell if we’re talking about the 14th century or the 21st century. The parallels, though, enable us to comprehend our own situation by analyzing a previous situation. In doing so, we can start to plan for an uncertain future by considering new possibilities that are likely to emerge in a post-COVID-19 society. After taking stock of the outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1348 and its impact on European society thereafter, we can then consider some of the similarities and differences between then and now. The goal is to identify how we can anticipate changes in education that are likely to emerge after COVID-19. Last week Kolby wrote an excellent article that looks at our present situation, giving guidance for how we can best approach education while we are social distancing. This article looks to the past to help us consider a possible future.

The End of an Era

It’s important to recognize that the people of the middle ages didn’t think of themselves as the people of the middle ages. It is a label we’ve placed on a rather long era from the fall of Rome (476) to the fall of Constantinople (1453). There was no headline, though, in 476 that stated “The Middle Ages has Begun.” It is difficult to argue that the middle ages is indeed a coherent label for the 1000 year span. So much developed during that time frame that the label becomes meaningless. Yet when we think of three major eras: the ancient world, the middle ages, and the modern world, we can see how the middle ages functions as a bridge from the ancient world to today. The bubonic plague is one of the major events that demarcates a change in era. Europe in 1347 looked and operated very differently than Europe after 1453. We could say, then, that the bubonic plague began the end of an era.

What was the bubonic plague? The strain of bacterium called Yersinia pestis was carried by fleas and rats transported from the East to the West on trade ships. It is not surprising that Genoa and Venice were the epicenters of the European pandemic, as they were the most eminent trade ports in the 14th century. Marco Polo, for instance, was a Venetian who opened up new trade with the East. Venice dominated trade and became a center of massive wealth. The communication between the far East and the West directly led to new ideas and innovations pouring into Europe. But it also opened Europe up to a new infectious disease, and Europe was not well positioned to meet the challenges of Yersinia pestis. Something like 20,000,000 people (or roughly 30% of the population) in Europe died of the bubonic plague during the 1350s. One can only imagine the fear that spread throughout Europe as everyone was either directly or indirectly impacted by the plague.

The structure of society shifted drastically, eventually leading to massive economic, political, religious and social changes. The feudal system of lords and serfs eroded as the decrease of property value diminished the power of the lords and as labor shortages encouraged serfs to leave manors in search of higher wages. Confrontation with death and mortality caused many to become cynical and many others to become religious. The hegemony of the Roman Catholic church in European society slowly broke up. Many priests who were called upon to give last rites themselves contracted the disease. New priests were rapidly ordained with less training, leading to an erosion of theology and an increase in corruption within the church. Simultaneously, major centers of learning began producing new thought leaders questioning the authority of the church.

The Protestant Reformation can be seen as a consequence of the shifts in society caused by the Black Plague. Education turned away from the authority of the church and toward human reason and the autonomous individual, namely humanism. (Too often humanism is viewed as an anti-religious philosophy; however, I see no evidence that humanists were anti-religious. Instead, humanists examined religion critically as they did every element of society. When we look at the art of the humanists, they were as inclined to treat religious themes as any other.) The end of Christendom meant the emergence of new political configurations, approximating something like the nations we now know in Europe. In other words, many of the trends that demarcate post-medieval Europe from the middle ages can be traced directly or indirectly to the outbreak of the bubonic plague in the 1350s. The 1350s may not have been the end of an era, but it was at least the beginning of the end of the era.

An Educational Renaissance

The impact of the bubonic plague on education was significant. Almost immediately after the outbreak of the plague, students vacated centers of education, such as the new universities that had popped up in northern Italy, Paris and Oxford. The loss of enrollment and qualified educators led to the decline in the quality of education between 1350 and 1380 (See William J. Courtenay. “The Effect of the Black Death on English Higher Education.” Speculum 55 (1980): 696-714.) However, given the massive decline in the general population due to the plague, it’s all the more surprising to find that enrollment at places such as Oxford increased already by 1375, so much so that Oxford established New College in 1379. It is interesting to note that four colleges at Cambridge were established during the heart of the bubonic pandemic – Pembroke (1347), Gonville and Caius (1348), Trinity Hall (1350), and Corpus Christi (1352) – perhaps indicating that a flourishing of education was already underway concurrently with the plague.

The long-term increase in enrollment against the backdrop of a decrease in population is a curious matter. All the more curious is the increased enrollment in theological programs at Oxford. Courtenay (“Effect,” 713) looks at several economic reasons why enrollment in theology flourished after the pandemic of the 1350s. A significant factor was the increased mobility and improved conditions of the European peasantry, especially in places like Italy and England. Families who would have never imagined a university-bound son were now able to place their child in the path of learning. This began in the local feeder or prep schools, where children learned basic writing, English and Latin grammar, as well as hymns and songs to support the weekly mass. Parish children would have learned in monastic schools. Boys as young as 13 could expect to sit entrance exams for the universities.

Obviously society didn’t experience a complete upheaval, and the peasantry of the 1300s didn’t become like the middle class of today. But enough people were able to take advantage of the economic circumstances of the post-plague situation to enroll in theological studies. Apart from economic circumstances, I would venture to guess that the plague inspired theological reflection in light of the confrontation with death and mortality. A yearning for theological insight seems to be a natural response to a global pandemic.

The implications of this new rise in enrollment at local schools and universities led to an educational renaissance and in time to the historical Renaissance. We can see how the devastating impact of the bubonic plague cleared the ground for new people and new ideas to emerge. Concern for society and the role of the individual led to Humanistic ideas. I’ve written previously about how in the unsettling events of the 14th and 15th centuries people looked to the past for guidance in making a new future. The classics were read once more, with profound political and religious movements emerging, most notably the Protestant Reformation.

Our Plague and Our Educational Renaissance

More and more figures are speaking out that there will be no return to normal after COVID-19. When we look back on the bubonic plague in the 1350s, there was no return to normal. There are many significant differences between then and now. They were dealing with a bacterium, and we are dealing with a virus. They had terrible standards of hygiene. We have a superior medical system. But there are some lessons we can learn that may help prepare us for what is to come after our plague.

First, we should be prepared for an overturned society. My family is fortunate that we can all work from home. My children can do online learning at home. My wife and I can work remotely. But what about those who can’t work remotely. I think about those people who have to work at the factory to make the face masks, the hand sanitizer, the toilet paper, and the respirators that we need. Will there be economic trends that enable the poorer segments of our society to be more upwardly mobile? I hope so. Will we classical Christian schools be prepared to receive new enrollment? We should have already been marketing our educational model to communities who assume their kids don’t belong at our schools. But if we haven’t been, now is the time to make ourselves known in under-served segments of our society.

Second, we should expect new interest in theological and spiritual reflection. Whenever we are confronted by death and our own mortality, a window of opportunity opens for gospel proclamation. The dance macabre image at the top of this article is a portion of a larger painting by Bernt Notke from St. Nicholas Church in Estonia. The church in the 1300s was able to conceptualize the seriousness of the pandemic, while also playfully addressing our human nature. Yes, we are frail, but we are not left without hope. The cross and the resurrection are ours to proclaim. We can expect greater cynicism about God and faith. The more people question biblical Christianity, the more we need to be prepared to teach. I would anticipate that a post-COVID-19 world will see people dissatisfied by secular mass schooling. Small schools teaching biblical Christianity will become more attractive in the wake of our plague.

Third, we should anticipate a turn to the past to chart the future of our global society. A global pandemic is likely to disrupt our trust in modern society. Schools like ours that have taught the classics, Western history, and the great books will be well positioned to meet the needs of society in ways that other schools aren’t. So many modern schools have abandoned the past and will not be able to easily retool themselves to glean the insight our society needs to feed our collective imaginations and address our deepest concerns.

Our plague will lead to our educational renaissance. This is a time when we should highlight our unique features as classical Christian schools. Most of our schools have shown we can handle the rapid transition to online learning environments. So many children are starved for learning with meaningless assignments, while our students are doing meaningful work. As we provide meaningful, purposeful and valuable education, we position ourselves well to gain the trust of those who will be looking for more substance in a post-COVID-19 world.