The Black Death (1347–53) not only killed a third of Europe's population but also destroyed many of the Italian banking and nascent insurance houses that had financed Mediterranean trade, creating a catastrophic loss of institutional financial infrastructure.

Boccaccio's 'Decameron', written in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death, is framed by the total social disruption the plague caused; the collapse of commercial institutions, alongside mass human loss, made risk, mortality, and the fragility of civilisation central themes of late medieval European literature.