Living in Europe in the middle of the 1300’s would have been heartbreaking and dreadful. Not only were the living conditions very poor but there was an unknown disease that was wiping out a large percentage of European population. One cannot imagine the fear of wondering whether you or someone you loved was going to catch this deadly disease. No explanation would make a person feel safe from catching it or dying with it. The people of Europe just lived their lives as best they could realizing that nothing they do could ever stop this. They did not have the power to stop this it was far too beyond them. This unknown disease is known as the Bubonic Plague.
The plague was passed among many rodents by
…show more content…
Most peasants and serfs lived in small villages of windowless thatched wooden huts. It would not be too bad if the people knew of sanitation. They dumped their wastes into rivers from which they drank. They also dumped them into nearby fields where livestock graze and livestock slept under the same roof as the people. Washing was a similar problem. People rarely washed themselves or their clothes. Fleas lice and other vermin were part of life and to be endured with. Most rats were ignored which was not good because they were major carriers of the disease.
Many of the doctors of the time were amazed at the horrible disease. Physicians were stumped about cure or even remedies of this illness. The only advice they could offer is to get away from it and start off new
somewhere else. Many physicians followed their own advice and deserted areas where the plague was to be found. Many doctors told patients that the disease came because of a corrupted or polluted atmosphere. There were a few attempts of doctors finding a remedy. Gui de Chauliac recommended a variety of pills, purges, and bleeding. These are all known as medieval remedies. Chauliac seemed to think on the brighter side of things. Others like Chalin de Vinario put his own opinion quite bluntly, “Every pronounced case of the plague is incurable.'; All the doctors lacked one important connection: the spread of plague between the rats.
People started to abandon cities and run off to the country side where it was believed to be a safer place to live, away from all other people. It is known that some family members would leave their own loved ones who had contracted the plague and venture to clean areas. Doctors would refuse treatment on the sick in hopes that they could somehow be spared for the epidemic. Yet there was one group of people who as a whole looked out for those who were sick: the clergy of the Catholic Church. Priests, nuns, and monks were typically the only glimmer of hope for the sick. With everyone else shunning the sick or abandoning them, those with the plague were happy to receive whatever help they could get.
The victims of this plague suffered from delusions, nightmares, fevers and swellings in the groin, armpits and behind their ears. Some of the sufferers went into comas while others reported being highly delusional. At the time period this was going on there wasn't any medicine that they have tried to cure this plague. This plague ended up being contained in 750 CE it took 208 years for this plague to pass because they couldn't find a cure for it because they didn't have a strong medical field this plague spread exponentially. They couldn't find a way to actually cure this disease because it was combined with the Black Death so they were killing all their skilled doctors before they could even begin to start on a cure for this disease. One historian by the name of Procopius has reported that 10,000 people per day have been
In the early 1300s, life in Europe was completely normal. The plague had yet to even be a thought in their minds. Many people had heard a rumor
History reveals the mid-14th century as a very unfortunate time for Europe. It was during this period when the continent became afflicted by a terrible plague. The source of the pathogen is known today as bubonic but was colloquially known as “The Black Death” to Europeans of the day. The plague caused a tremendous number of deaths and was a catalyst of change, severely impacting Europe’s cultural, political and religious institutions.
Norman F. Cantor, In the Wake of the Plague (New York: Harper Collins First Perennial edition, 2001) examines how the bubonic plague, or Black Death, affected Europe in the fourteenth century. Cantor recounts specific events in the time leading up to the plague, during the plague, and in the aftermath of the plague. He wrote the book to relate the experiences of victims and survivors and to illustrate the impact that the plague had on the government, families, religion, the social structure, and art.
Epidemics would break out in Europe and the origin of the disease would never be identified. To top that off, the Bubonic plague “returned to Europe at least once a generation since October 1347” (Manchester 34). The medieval period was a time of alarming disease for people to be living in.
When Bubonic Plague visited England in 1348, it was called the Great Mortality. We know it as the Black Death that lasted until 1352 and killed vast populations in Asia , North Africa , Europe , Iceland , and Greenland . In total, it extinguished as much as fifty percent of the world's population.
With lacking medical knowledge, people never really grasped the concept or the cause of this epidemic; therefore, they did not know what to do to help cure or stop the spread of it. “In spite of only sketchy medical knowledge, the epidemiology of the plague was fully understood by the 18th century. It took many years of research, after the fact, to finally comprehend all the ins
Summary: The Black Death, by Philip Ziegler, covers the epidemic that spread throughout Eurasia around 1348. The book mostly focuses on England and how the disease affected this area. The book also covers other portions of Europe such as France, Italy, and Germany but not as in depth. Ziegler uses the research of many historians to piece together what occurred during this time of grief. Ziegler starts off the book explaining the origins and nature of the plague. He explains how the tartar attacked the port city of Genoa by catapulting diseased corpses in the city’s compound. The Genoese decided to flee and went further north, which caused the spread of
Sometimes, like most explanations back then, it was the work of God and punishment afflicted upon Europe for whatever reasons of the time. For these people, the only cure was to be somehow forgiven by God. This was usually done by people carving or painting the symbol of the cross on the front doors of their house with the words “Lord have mercy on us” either near it or on it. Another great contributor to the destruction of the Black Death was the Great Fire of London which helped eradicate most of the rats that carried the disease and wiping out most of the people with the disease. The plague actually repeatedly continued to remain in Europe and the Mediterranean throughout the centuries. The major occurences of the plague happened around the year 1346 and 1671. The Second Pandemic Black Death was pretty active in the years 1360 and 1667. All of Europe was ravaged and it impacted Europe so devastatingly that it took 150 years for the population of Europe to be fully recovered. Quarantining people was another way of combating the plague in ancient times. Taking anti-bio tics was advised was advised in case you came into contact with a victim of the disease. In early 2011 it was discovered that the bacteria Yersinia Pestis was actually the culprit for one of the most devastating pandemics ever to surface in the world. While
The plague of the black death was a panic and disaster in Western Europe because it leads the death of ⅓ of the population. It quickly spread all over the continent, destroying full towns and cities. Moreover, the plague reached its peak of destructions in 1349, which was a “wretched, terrible, destructive year, the remnants of the people alone remain.” Life before the black death arrived for the serfs it was unpleasant and short. Nevertheless, Europe before the black death arrived was successful and the trade at the time was strong. The spread of the plagues was traumatic and unexpected because it spread so quickly.
A plague is a bacterial infection that can take on more than one form. One of the greatest plagues that have stricken mankind throughout history was the Black Death. The Black Death was the outbreak of the bubonic plague that struck Europe and the Mediterranean area between 1347 and 1351. This plague was the most severe plague that hit the earth because of its origin (the spread), the symptoms, and the effects of the plague.
The plague that struck Europe and Asia in the 14th century was undoubtedly the most devastating disease or natural disaster the world ever faced. The Bubonic Plague or Black Death killed an estimated 25 million people from 1347 to 1352 in Europe, which accounted for one third of Europe’s population.??-1 Historians believed that the Plague started in Asia and then spread to Europe. The plague lasted for five devastating years, but it’s wrath did not end in 1352. The Plague would reappear through the later centuries, including the Great Plague of London around 1656 in which 20% of London residents died.??-2 Although some of the later breakouts of the Plague decimated populations, this paper will primarily focus on the Plague from the 1300s. More specifically, this paper will address the origins of the Plague, its biology, the symptoms of the Plague, where it was most devastating, how it was transmitted, and how it stopped. During this period of time, many myths about the plague arose, and who or what was to blame for it. There were also many unanswered questions, why some regions were susceptible and others were not. Scientific information about the plague did not exist at the time, but some recent excavations and research have brought new insight into the plague.
the fact it was believed it made it easier for one to be infected by
One cold afternoon we were sitting inside the castle waiting for Brandon and Brian to get home from school when my husband told me that he thought things not going well and he needed to leave so he packed his things and left.