It is instructive to remember that the Bubonic plague of the 1300's is partly responsible for the Protestant Reformation (and the Renaissance itself) because the Church (and other social institutions) proved to be absolutely ineffective at curing or preventing the plague.
Prior to that, the class structure of the middle ages was rigidly fixed. Such a great number of people died that things started to change. Prior to the plague, only "royalty" could wear linen (by legal edict), After the plague, there was so much extra linen clothing that peasants started wearing linen anyway. Modern medicine was started when people realized there was no way to combat or understand the plague. Entire towns were vacated and peasants left their landowners and moved into empty buildings or towns to start a new "free" life. The Church lost a lot of prestige because it was shown to be powerless to stop the death. The prayers of the Priests were absolutely ineffectual at stopping the plague.
copyright (c)2020
William Schaeffer
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