Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2013

 

The Flagellant Movement in the Black Death in Western Europe (1348—1349)

(Abstract)

 

Li Huacheng

 

The flagellant movement flourished while the Black Death was raging in Western Europe. It was a collective behavior aimed at salvation through self-flagellation and was influenced by the eschatological theology of millenarianism. While the plague ravaged Europe, a relationship grew up between the church and the flagellants that contained differences but also interdependence. However, as the movement grew, it developed antichurch tendencies. More importantly, because of the periodic nature of the plague outbreaks and the limitations of the movement’s religious doctrines and practical effects, its followers began to splinter and grow fewer, providing conditions for their expulsion by the church. At the same time, the movement’s mode of organization and its radical actions in massacring Jews, etc., had a detrimental effect on society, leading to the opposition of the secular power. Under attack from all sides, its decline was inevitable. The flagellant movement reflects the "little tradition" of Western European society in the Middle Ages. Seen from the perspective of the changing relationship between the great tradition and the little tradition, it can give us a more comprehensive understanding of the world of faith in medieval Western Europe.