The Black Death

The Black Plague caused an outbreak of fear, superstition and religious concerns between the 15th and 18th centuries. Even though the true cause of the plague was fleas on rats, Europeans blamed anything and anyone they could to rid the plague. A mass fear led to extremely drastic techniques to prevent the plague and extreme effects on the life of the surviving Europeans.
The Black Plague destroyed a third of Western Europe's population (about 25 million). The plague was spreading, even to Rome. Once people realized that their odds of surviving were 1:3, they became afraid. They were not only afraid of death, but the pain as well. Many lost hope and started to only think about who was next. Others were so thunderstruck that they entirely isolated themselves from the world. Entire nations isolated themselves even from trade. Also, once one was sick, they had an even less chance of surviving. The nurses at hospitals helped the sick die so that they could collect their money quicker.
This mass fear led to extravagant superstition. Many isolated themselves from other towns in the belief that the plague would spread. Others created obscure cures for the disease. A few would hang frogs, dead or alive, around there necks to cure themselves. "Ring around the rosies a pocket full of posies"; posies were used to fend off the disease. When the Europeans could not find an explanation for the spreading of the disease; they created an assortment of things to blame. Some believed that the wigs were hair cut off from the infected. Others believed that the air was infected. Some further blamed God. A few believed it to be caused by "dogs' urine clogging the rushes on the floors of houses". If they did not blame those things, then they blamed each other.
Religious effects and responses to the plague caused a reduction of religious leadership and faith. Many believed that the plague was caused by God because of mans sins. Some resorted to self-mutilation to stop the plague. Also, many priests and church leaders strove to help the sick. In doing so, they themselves got sick and died. The plague even spread to Rome. This is where many religious leaders were. The lack of religious leadership got so great that women began to become priests.
Other than the obvious physical effects of the plague (death), fear was the driving force of the plague effects. This fear caused the superstitions which led to blaming God. The fear caused an economic shut-down of trade and farming. However, after the plague, the remaining peasants were better off (there was a higher demand for workers). Despite the pros of the plague, it still caused what was called "civilized" in the 1400's to cease to exist.