“There were corpses everywhere, and everyone was treated more or less the same by their neighbors, who were moved no less by fear that the corrupt bodies would infect them than by any pity they felt towards the deceased. They dragged the corpses out of their homes (alone or with the help of porters, when they could retrieve them) and left them in front of their doors." This unimaginable picture was described in the introduction to Giovanni Boccaccio's work The Decameron. Boccaccio lived in Florence during the period of the plague and was part of the 25% of Florentines who survived the “Black Death” or “Great Pestilence” as it was known at the time. The “Black Death,” which began in Asia around 1330, spread to Europe in 1347, rapidly raging across the continent killing thirty to fifty percent of the population (Cantor, 7) by 1350. The effects of the plague were physiological , social, and economically catastrophic. Physiologically the “Black Death” was catastrophic in the rate of decline and violence of the afflictions, having rarely been equaled by modern diseases. The horrific symptoms experienced by Europeans starting in 1347 were gruesome but also short-lived, as death could be expected within two to five days of contracting symptoms. The first sign of illness resulting from the most common form of infection, bubonic plague, was the appearance of large buboes, extremely swollen lymph nodes, on the groin, neck and/or armpit; the "tumors", as they were called, which grew until they reached the size of an egg or a small apple (Boccaccio,4), and then spread over the entire figure. Subsequently, you may experience flu-like symptoms: high fever, muscle aches, vomiting and chills. Internal bleeding... half of the paper... aralysis. It was very difficult and dangerous to trade products locally and internationally, causing trade to almost completely cease. But as the price of goods soared, the cost and demand for able-bodied workers also skyrocketed. This altered the economic construction of feudalism; the lords needed many laborers to cultivate their vast amounts of land, allowing peasants to demand high wages. Servants were also free from being tied to a single master. Wages began to rise faster than prices, resulting in higher standards of living, less class inequality, a redistribution of wealth, and blurred financial distinctions.(social.php) However, governments attempted to enact laws that prevented a increase in wages, but it was not effective. The lords needed workers and were willing to pay illegally high wages, even at the risk of punishment. `