TIMED HELP Source 1

A caricature of a French medieval death-crier during the Black Plague. The man is wearing an apron with skulls and crossbones ringing a bell and holding a lantern.

An 18th-century rendition of a medieval French death-crier caricature

Source 2

"[The death-crier was a] frequent object of caricature during the ages when [the] terror [that] ruled the minds of men was human life itself—its brevity, its uncertainty, and the absurd, ill-timed suddenness with which [it was sometimes cut] short. . . . The only way to avoid unending anguish was to do what the Church commanded and to avoid what the Church forbade. Terror from that time ruled Christendom. Terror covered the earth with ecclesiastical structures, gave the Church a tenth of all revenues and two-fifths of all property. . . . The tolling of the church-bell spread the gloom . . . over the whole town; and the death-crier, with bell and lantern, wearing a garment made terrible by a skull and cross-bones, went his rounds, by day or night, crying to all good people to pray for the soul just departed.”

James Parton, a secondary analysis of medieval Black Plague caricatures, 1877

Which of the following best reflects the pattern of the church’s authority within the decentralized political climate of Europe, as described in Source 2?

1. The church was believed to be a destabilized political institution prior to the Black Plague, but its authority eventually strengthened because of the terrorizing practices it adopted during this pandemic.

2. The church continued to be viewed as an overreaching institution and a societal authority that contributed to the overall decrease in life expectancy during the Black Plague.

3.The church initially expanded its ecclesiastical and financial reach in the midst of widespread panic, but, eventually the chaos of the Black Plague consumed and undermined the church’s authority.

4. The church continued to be viewed as an institution that had little authority and maintained only symbolic power throughout the Black Plague.