Some things are not as they seem. “Ring Around the Rosie” sounds like a pleasant children's nursery rhyme, but many believe it is actually a macabre song about the Black Death in Europe. The Black Death was a serial plague epidemic that occurred in the 1300s. More than 20 million Europeans died during the Black Death. A third of the population of the British Isles died from the plague. Furthermore, a third of the French population died in the first year alone, and 50% of people in major French cities died. Catastrophic death rates like these were common throughout Europe. However, much like the poem “Ring Around the Rosie,” the true effects of the Black Death differed from what many people believed. Although tragic, the Black Death caused several positive social changes. Specifically, the Black Death aided society by contributing to the economic emancipation of peasants and the disempowerment of the nobility which led to the decline of manorialism, as well as encouraging the development of new medical and scientific techniques by demonstrating false methods and ancient beliefs. In the chaos it created, the Black Death weakened the archaic system of manirialism by causing peasant incomes to rise. Manorialism was an economic system in which a large class of serfs worked in the fields of nobles in exchange for a small share of the crops. Due to the outbreak of the plague, however, there were not enough servants for this approach to remain viable. The death of many serfs due to the Black Death meant that those who remained could demand larger shares of the crops as their services were rare and therefore more valuable. Further compounding the increase, many farmers whose requests were denied often left… middle of paper… information about geography, technology, and navigation, all of which would be important in the years to come. Thus, the scientific method laid the foundation for the development of a more modern and accurate understanding of the world. The Black Death fundamentally changed the way medieval society operated. Outdated systems such as manorialism collapsed and an ideological revolution occurred within the sciences. Although these changes came at a high cost, their benefits to society were immense and helped medieval Europe become a more modern society. If the Black Death had not occurred, many scientific advances would have been stalled and obsolete economic systems would have been maintained. Ultimately, by destroying what had previously been accepted, the Black Death caused a reshuffling of the socioeconomic and scientific practices of medieval Europe.