During 1346-1353, the Black Death hit Europe killing more than 20 million people. The disease had everyone on their toes making sure they weren’t getting sick. The plague had been distributed from between the boats and brought to the docks where the ships were unloaded, and men who were on the ship were already dead as the boats arrived while everyone was waiting. The disease took a toll on all ages, religion, and beliefs. At first the townspeople thought it only effected the men and women, but the disease affected the livestock, and all their crops. Once they were affected, they couldn’t work, because their muscles were getting weaker as they got sicker. The symptoms that held them back were painful swelling in their armpits, legs, lymph nodes, …show more content…
As the days grew long and time slows down, their minds started to wonder what was causing the mysterious disease. As their minds wandered, they began to think that God was punishing every single one of them. Their sins like: greed, blasphemy, heresy, fornication, and worldliness were causing the disease to get way out of hand. The only way to get rid of the disease is to win God’s forgiveness back. Apparently, God had thought that if they didn’t stop sinning, then he would bring a disease among them and make them beg for His forgiveness, His punishment took a huge toll on their lives as their population started to decrease as they all got sick. “Some people believed that the way to do this was to purge their communities of heretics and other troublemakers–so, for example, many thousands of Jews were massacred in 1348 and 1349 (History.com Staff).” If they were sick or weren’t sick but considered a Jew, then they were killed because the others wanted to take out the evil for God to win back His forgiveness so the disease would go away for good. After all their forgiveness, the disease was still not disappearing an no one knew what why after they done what they thought was a good idea to get Him to forgive them …show more content…
“They know that the bacillus travels from person to person pneumonically, or through the air, as well as through the bite of infected fleas and rats. Both of these pests could be found almost everywhere in medieval Europe, but they were particularly at home aboard ships of all kinds–which is how the deadly plague made its way through one European port city after another (History.com Staff).” If they just walked outside and breathed in the air they more than likely would have caught the disease. The main reason for the outbreak was the rats and fleas. Rats were boarded on all kinds of ships and just so happen the rats were boarded on the ships that were docked in Britain, and allowed the rats to bring the disease the shore, because the people who were on the ship were sick and died and boom the rats were exposed. When the rats went to land the bit people and that is how is was distributed from rats to people. Fleas were also infected because they had bitten animals like: rats, sheep, pigs, cows, donkeys, horses, and other lives then it would bite the towns people which was also how it was distributed to
I was observing the spread of the plague right before my eyes. I knew how the three types of plague were transmitted but the humans did not. The three types were the Bubonic, Pneumonic and Septicemic plague. The Bubonic plague was the most common plague in medieval Europe. It was transmitted by infected fleas that were carried by rats, when the rat died the flea would jump to a human to feed from their blood. The human bitten by the flea, was then infected and faced certain death, the flea would then find a new human to feed off. The Pneumonic plague, being the second most common type in medieval Europe, was far more deadly and contagious than the Bubonic plague. The Plague would attack a human's respiratory system and was spread through the air by a victim's cough. The last type of plague was the Septicemic, it was the rarest and deadliest form of the Black Death. The Septicemic plague was also spread by fleas, like the Bubonic plague, but moved directly to a human's
Doctors in Medieval times did not know the cause of the plague and were unable to find a cure. To help prevent the disease from getting too bad, doctors would give their patients flowers and other scented things, as they believed the rats wouldn’t like the nice smells. Because Christianity dominated their lives, many people believed that they had caught the disease as a punishment from God for their sins. They would sit and pray all day. Some people whipped themselves for punishment, which only helped spread the disease when the blood was flicked.
The Black Death “bubonic plague” was not picky when choosing its victims during the medieval times and thrived in heavily populated areas. The symptoms of the Black death were, “boils the size of eggs in their groins and armpits, black blotches on their skin, foul odors, and severe pain” (The Earth and its People pg. 309). The sudden occurrence of the Black Death is still not fully known, but “The origins of the Black Death can be traced back to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in the 1320s.” ( Geoffrey), by fleas, mosquitoes, and rats transferring the Yersinia pestis bacteria. The plague had major effects on trade, the economy, social status, and the religion of Europe and China. However, out of all the bad things about the Black Death, good
The Bubonic Plague or the Black Death has been in the history books since the medieval times. This deadly disease has claimed nearly 1.5 million lives in Europe (Gottfried). The Black Death hit Europe in October of 1347 and quickly spread through most of Europe by the end of 1349 and continued on to Scandinavia and Russia in the 1350s. Not only did the plague effect the European population by killing one-third to two-thirds (Gottfried), it also hurt the social and economic structures of every European society.
In the middle ages people had no idea about how any disease such as the Black Death could spread. The Europeans think “it disseminated by the influence of the celestial bodies, or sent upon them by God in his just wrath” (Boccaccio). In other words, they think the plague came from the sky or sent by God. They think maybe it is God’s way of cleansing the earth or punishing them for their unfair behaviors. Some think that a supernatural origin caused the disease. This disease is a bacterium infection which has a variety of symptoms, such as, nose bleeding, tumors in the groin or armpits and black spots or
In fourteenth century Europe, the main object of the people's’ fears was the Bubonic Plague, more commonly know as the Black Death. They were nothing less than ecstatic when the giant outbreak of the disease had diminished, but it could not be put out completely. In 2015, nearly 15 cases were reported of the Bubonic Plague. The most recent being reported on September 14, 2015, in Marquette County, Michigan. Residents described fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes in the armpits, neck, and groin.
European history. In the 1300’s, disease broke out in Asia and quickly spread to the
Just as people thought everything was well, population growing gradually, years of good harvest, this tragic plague struck. The stories told by my relatives scare me half to death, and I am quite glad I hadn’t the opportunity to experience such a disease. Its name first heard in Europe around the year of 1347, the plague stretched across our country, killing everything in its path. A friend of my grandfather’s was one of the first victims. The symptoms were even more horrific than the simple ring to the name: “high fever, aching joints, dark blotches caused by bleeding beneath the skin” the worst of it consisting of massive oozing boils latched onto the body.
One of the well known massive disasters that happened in the history of European is the “Black Death.” This fatal plague led to huge loss of between 17 million and 28 million lives in whole Europe. It took place from 1345 to 1353 and the death arrived by sea during the time when twelve Genoese trading ships had actually docked at the Sicilian port after travelling through the Black Sea. A horrifying surprise befell the individuals who were gathering on the docks when they realized that a great number of sailors had died, and the lucky sailors were extremely ill. In addition, they were covered by mysterious black boils which oozed pus and blood (Cohn, pg 514). This is why they named this kind of illness as the “Black Death.” Then what followed were other various symptoms such as vomiting, fever, diarrhea, chills, severe aches and extraordinary pains- and then death.
The Black Death, also known as the bubonic plague had huge effects and implications on the social, political and economic lives of people living in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Beginning in Asia, the plague quickly spread throughout Europe, following trade routes, devastating all who came in it's path. Symptoms of the Black Death included a fever, large swollen glands called buboes and general weakness [Brittanica, 2016] . Animals such as rats and fleas spread the disease through the streets of Europe, killing an estimated 25 million people. The Black Death caused an economic breakdown, disrupting trade and manufacturing, resulting in a massive increase in wages for workers or peasants. The construct of medieval
The Bubonic Plague or ‘Black Death’ is a highly infectious and potentially fatal disease that spread rapidly throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. The disease carrying Bacterium, Yersinia pestis, caused millions of deaths in the 1300s due to its highly contagious nature. Many people contracted the Bubonic Plague from bacteria carrying fleas, which carried the plague bacteria from an infected rodent (A.D.A.M, 2015). This particular disease isn’t usually spread from person to person, but instead through small rodents and animals that carry infected fleas, many people became infected from flea bites or direct contact with the infected skin or fluids of an animal, (Rare Diseases, 2014) However, according to some credible scientists, it is believed
In 1347, Europe was hit by the most deadly disease ever existed. Over the course of 2 years, 50 million people died in Europe alone, reducing the population by 66%. Over 80% of the total population in Mediterranean Europe succumbed to ‘The Pestilence’. Over 100,000,000 people died worldwide, reducing the global population by 25%. If 25% of today’s global population died, that would be 1781250000 dead, or one billion, seven hundred and eighty one million, two hundred and five thousand people. That’s over 33 times more than the population of England today! And the death didn’t stop there. People blamed ‘Gods Wrath’ on the non-Christians, which at the time in Europe were mostly Jews. 2000 Jews were slaughtered and burned during February 1349 in Strasbourg along the French-German border; this however did not stop the
The black plague, the foremost severe epidemic in human history, ravaged Europe from 1347-1351. This plague killed entire families at a time and destroyed a minimum of 1 village. Greatly causal to the Crisis of the Fourteenth Century, Not only did the black plague take a devastating toll on human life, but it to boot contend a major role in shaping European life among the years following. The black plague consisted primarily of plague; but plague was to boot gift among the epidemic. Symptoms of the plague capsulate high fever, aching limbs, and blood unconditioned reflex.
Around 1339 in northwestern Europe, the population was beginning to outgrow the food supply and a severe economic crisis began to take place. The winters were extremely cold and the summers were dry. Due to this extreme weather, very low crops yielded and those that grew were dying. Inflation became a common occurrence and as famine broke out, people began to worry. The time period of approximately 1339 to 1346 is now known as the famine before the plague. These seven bad years of weather and famine lead to the greatest plague of all times. In 1347, endemic to Asia, The Black Death began spreading throughout Western Europe. Over the time of three years, the plague killed one third of the population in Europe with roughly twenty five million people dead. The Black Death killed more Europeans than any other endemic or war up to that time, greatly impacting the Church, family life, and the economy. These three social pillars were changed forever.
The pandemic known to history as the Black Death was one of the world’s worst natural disasters in history. It was a critical time for many as the plague hit Europe and “devastated the Western world from 1347 to 1351, killing 25%-50% of Europe’s population and causing or accelerating marked political, economic, social, and cultural changes.” The plague made an unforgettable impact on the history of the West. It is believed to have originated somewhere in the steppes of central Asia in the 1330s and then spread westwards along the caravan routes. It spread over Europe like a wildfire and left a devastating mark wherever it passed. In its first few weeks in Europe, it killed between 100 and 200 people per day. Furthermore, as the weather became colder, the plague worsened, escalating the mortality rate to as high as 750 deaths per day. By the spring of 1348, the death toll may have reached 1000 a day. One of the main reasons the plague spread so quickly and had such a devastating effect on Europe was ultimately due to the lack of medical knowledge during the medieval time period.